Page 8 of Nikolai Petrov

Exhausted, sleep comforts me until searing pain throughout my body jerks me straight up. Barely knowing where I am, I fling myself from the bed and throw open the door.

I’m not sure which way to go.

The hall to the left seems to go on forever. To the right is only a few yards to the large double doors where I know Mr. Petrov’s room sits.

Clinging to the smooth wall for support, my right foot isn’t wanting to work correctly.

Step after step, I make my way slowly to his suite. Fire rips through my limbs. It takes everything within me to not tear the sticky shirt from my body.

Soundlessly, the door pushes open into the dark room.

“Mr. Petrov?” I can’t tell how loud my words are. They feel like an orchestra playing within my head.

The room opens into a dark void, but as my eyes adjust, the pale light through the window illuminates a huge four poster bed.

Leaning from the safety of the wall, stabbing pain doubles me over as I lurch toward the soft sounds of his breathing.

A small cry escapes my lips before I fall over the edge of the bed onto him.

With a grunt, his hand again finds my throat and he flips me over until he’s straddling me, pinning me with his weight against the soft mattress.

I can’t breathe.

“What the fuck?” His bare chest presses against my belly. Hot breath whispers over me as his nose nearly brushes mine. “Why are you here?”

Clawing at his fingers, I fight the blackening of my vision. My hips buck against him as I struggle to get a gasp of air through his vice-like grip.

He moves his thumb and a surge of cool air rushes into my lungs.

“You did not have to sneak into my room if you wanted to grind against me, little bird. All you have to do is ask.” He shifts his leg and something hard and long presses against my thigh.

He’s naked.

Is that his—?

“You have me excited. Is it my cock you’re here for? If you don’t use your words quickly, I’m going to think this is all you want.” He pulls away before driving his hard length up, pressing against my panties.

“There’s something wrong,” I mumble.

“Hmm, yes there is. You’re making it very difficult to not fuck my best friend’s daughter.” His muscular body frames me as his thumb drags slowly over my chin.

Heat burns through me at the sensation. Feeling him pressing between my legs distracts me with the pleasant lances of lightning it sends through me.

But, then a stab of pain pinches through my stomach and I wince involuntarily. “There’s something wrong with me. I feel sick, weak. I don’t know what’s going on.” My fingers still wrap around his wrist, but I don’t tug on his hand. There’s something oddly comforting having his hand encircling my throat, having him covering me, having him…want me.

I’ve been wanted, but never taken.

It’s why Svetlana has been drugging me, to make sure I’m pure for her brother to claim.

He grumbles under his breath and the heat of his body disappears. Cold sweat and another bite of agony rips through me as I curl into a ball on the crumpled duvet.

A light from his bathroom reveals him now wrapped in a dark robe standing next to a minibar in the corner of the huge room.

Two glasses sit on the counter of dark wood. He fills one with an amber liquid and the other with clear.

When he strides back barefoot, his broad chest is bare, showing a heavy canvas of tattoos and dark curls flecked with gray. I can’t help but glance at the way the black velvet of his covering bulges at the waist. If I didn’t feel like such crap, I might have been more curious to see what was hidden beneath.

“Here. Drink.” Pushing the clear fluid toward me, he bottoms the other glass in a single swallow.

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