Page 64 of Bloody Lace

“I thought we were arguing about how I shouldn’t have gone to the lunch.” She throws the clothes that she’s holding on a nearby chair, crossing her arms over her chest. “And how apparently kidnapping your wife is better than letting her use her own judgement.”

“Your own judgement almostgotyou kidnapped!” My voice rises, because apparently I’m as ready to have this fight as I am to fuck her. I’ve never had the experience of being half-hard during an argument before, but then again, I’ve never cared about a woman enough to fight with her. All the arguments in my life up until now have been with my father, or with Vik.

Neither of which give me an erection. But it’s very clear that fighting with Evelyn does.

“How the fuck was I supposed to think that Nicci would dothat?” Evelyn throws up her hands, her eyes narrowing. “You can’t tell me that you believed for a second that that’s what would happen. You didn’t want me having lunch with your ex, but you didn’t think she was going to try to have me snatched. Iknowyou didn’t.”

“How?” I snap, even though she’s right. I thought Nicci was up to something, but I didn’t expect this. I didn’t think she had it in her.

“You wouldn’t have let me go if you’d had an inkling that this might happen.”

She’s right, and something tugs in my chest again at the realization that she knows me that well. That Evelyn has paid attention to what I say and do. That she’s taken me at my word. But I shove the feeling down, abruptly.

“You’re right,” I say tersely. “I wouldn’t have.”

“Because you get off on controlling me,” she snaps, and I feel a grin tug at the edge of my lips.

“L’vitsa, you haven’t begun to see what gets me off.”

Something flares in her eyes, but she shakes her head, her lips pressing together in a thin, stubborn line. “Stop changing the subject. There’s no reason that I shouldn’t have been able to go to that lunch, logically, without being paranoid that something that neither of us could really have anticipated would happen. So why are you acting like this? Like I did it on purpose. And why—” She hesitates, briefly, in the middle of her rant before flinging the last words at me. “Why do you even care so much?”

“Because I want you safe.”

I can tell that’s not what she expected me to say. Her expression blanks for a second, as if she was prepared to throw something back to whatever it was that shehadexpected, and then she frowns.

“Why?”

I step closer to her. I can’t help it. She feels like a magnet, drawing me in, and even though there already wasn’t much space between us, I close what distance there was. “You’re my wife,” I murmur, and it feels as if that answer should have been obvious. As if I could nevernotprotect her.

Evelyn flinches. “It’s not real,” she whispers, and for the first time, it sounds almost like she doesn’t believe what she’s saying. Like she’s struggling to remind herself of it, too.

And looking at her, feeling that pulse of rage still at the thought that anyone would dare to try to take her from me, I know one thing is true, whether either of us likes it or not.

“Some part of it is,” I murmur. And then I lean in, tangling my hand in her thick black hair as I drag her mouth to mine.

She resists for a split second, stiffening. And then my lips slant over hers, my hand pressing against the back of her skull as I pull her into me, dragging my tongue over the seam of her lips.

She gasps, her mouth opening under mine, her hands coming up as if to push me away, but instead they curl into my shirt as my tongue slides into her mouth. She tastes sweet, earthy, like red wine, and I growl as I twist her towards the bed, backing her up.

“Dimitri—” She manages the shape of my name against my lips, but the sound barely comes out, swallowed up in the kiss as I withdraw just long enough to nip at her lower lip before devouring her again.

I can feel her chest heaving against mine, her back arching, her body seeking out the pleasure that she now knows I can give her at the same time that her mind is fighting it. Her hands push at my chest, then tug at my shirt, her tongue dragging against mine as I deepen the kiss again.

I reach down with the hand that isn’t knotted in her hair, dragging her sweater up, the softness of her skin against my fingers sending a jolt straight to my cock. I groan against her lips, dropping the sweater abruptly to loop my arm around her waist, lifting her up as I tumble us both back onto the bed.

I need her underneath me. I need to feel her body pressed against mine, her legs wrapped around my hips. My cock is throbbing, rock-hard and aching, and I nip at her lower lip again as I reach down to drag her sweater the rest of the way off.

In the brief moment where I have to break the kiss to take off her sweater, Evelyn tries to squirm away. I pin her underneathme, tossing the soft fabric to the side as I grab both of her wrists and lift them over her head. Her eyes go wide, and she freezes underneath me, the only movement her chest heaving as she tries to catch her breath.

“I won’t fuck you,” I promise her silkily, even as my cock jerks in protest. “But I think it’s best if you’re tied to the bed while we finish this conversation,l’vitsa. Just as I promised.”

Her eyes go even wider, her lips parted, her skin flushed with desire. I reach down with my other hand, flicking open my belt as I jerk it free of the loops, and I feel her tense at the sound of the leather slipping free.

“If I didn’t know better,” I murmur, reaching up to loop it around her wrists. “I’d think you might be wet just from that sound,l’vitsa. Just as wet as you were when I spanked you.”

“I wasnot,” Evelyn spits, starting to wriggle again as I loop the other end of the belt around a space in the headboard. “I?—”

I press a finger against her lips, and she goes very still again. “What did I say about lying? I won’t hurt you, Evelyn, but I can think of other ways to show you what happens to that pretty mouth when you use it to lie to me.”

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