Page 55 of Beautiful Deception

“I need to know. Whatever this is…” I wave a hand between us. “It can’t happen if you’re going to marry someone else. I will not be involved in that. I have too much self-respect.”

“That only makes me like you more,” he admits.

“Viktor,” I say softly. “I need to know.”

“Natasha… is a means to an end. She’s the woman I need to marry if I want more connections within the mafia. It’s purely political.”

“So, you’re going to marry her.”

“I’m not sure.”

His admission catches me off guard. “You’re not?”

“I was set on marrying Natasha. But that was before…” His fingers brush my own.

“Before?”

“Before I met you.”

My legs almost buckle. How dare he say these things to me. I’m too weak to resist.

“Viktor.”

“I like the way you say my name.”

“Viktor.”

“Like you want me.” He settles his hands on my hips. I inch closer to him. No one can see us hidden behind all of these flowers and trees. It’s our own forbidden world.

“I want to keep my job.”

“I know. I would never fire you, Inessa. You won’t be punished for this.”

“We shouldn’t do this.”

“We keep saying that, don’t we?” He presses his forehead to mine. “Fuck, you smell good. You make me feel unhinged. Why?”

“I don’t know.”

His lips twitch. “So innocent. I didn’t want this. I didn’t want to involve any emotion into this.”

“This?”

“A relationship. I’ve been burned in the past. It’s easier to not care at all.”

“I wouldn’t know. I’ve never been in a relationship.”

“Fuck,” he says in a low voice that sends shivers down my spine. I’m desperate for him to pull me in closer. “You can’t say those things to me.”

“Why not?”

“It only makes me want you more. You’re untouched. You don’t know what that does to a man like me.”

He’s right. I don’t know. But I want to find out – and yet that’s the last thing I can want. I am playing a dangerous game getting this close to Viktor. It was never my intention. I really was just looking for a job.

My hands grip his strong arms. “Viktor.”

“You need to stop saying my name like that or I’ll push you against that tree and have my way with you.”

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