Page 29 of Twisted Fate

“You remembered.” I smile sweetly at him as I reach for the drink, enjoying the crisp, cool taste of it. The heat of the day has burned off by now, leaving a slight chill in the desert evening, but the dryness still lingers.

It’s hard not to want to snipe at him. He makes it too easy. But I need to endear him to me. I need to be the adoring bride, however difficult he makes it.

His gaze drifts over me, just once, taking in my dress. It’s raw silk, clinging in all the right places, the straps so thin they could be snapped with a finger, the asymmetrical hem showingoff most of one tanned leg. A man would have to be dead not to notice how good I look in this, and I can see from the way Konstantin’s eyes darken, ever so slightly, that he’s still very much alive.

“That dress suits you.” His gaze returns to mine, carefully neutral, and I let my false smile settle on my lips.

“High praise coming from you,husband.” I let the smallest bite tinge my words, just because he’ll expect it, and it makes me feel a little better.

“I should compliment my wife every now and then.” He takes a sip of his drink, glancing around the gathering. “How long do we have to be here?”

“We don’thaveto be here at all.” I let that tinge of annoyance grow. He makes it so damn easy to be pissed at him. And any wife with half a brainwouldbe pissed at his nonchalance, his eagerness to get away. But it isn’t doing me any favors.

I know how to seduce a man. I don’t know how to get to one who has walls like Konstantin’s—ones that aren’t just solid and high, but laced with barbed wire at the top.

“We’re here. We should enjoy the resort, right?” I take another sip of my drink. “We’re on our honeymoon. Since you don’t want to spend it in bed, I see no reason to spend all of it hiding away in our rooms.”

“Or at the spa.” Konstantin raises an eyebrow. “I saw the charge to the room.”

I smile at that. “Begrudging me spending your money, husband?”

“Not at all.” He shrugs. “I have plenty of it to spare.”

So do I.With every day that I spend around him, I find myself wishing more and more that I could tell him who I really am, if only to see the look on his face when he realizes that the woman he’s been treating so callously could match him in wealthand deadliness.Maybe he’ll have a few last breaths before he dies, just so I can fill him in.

“Do you want to dance?” I gesture at the wooden dance floor, where a few couples are swaying to the bland music of the quartet. It’s nothing to write home about, but if I were here with someone I truly cared about, dancing with the view of the Serengeti around us and the gorgeous night sky above would be enough to make me want to. It’s the kind of thing a wife desperate to connect with her husband on their honeymoon would want too, I remind myself.

Konstantin shrugs, tossing back the remainder of his drink. “Sure. Why not?”

I bite back the reply that immediately comes to my lips and smile instead, giving him a look that I hope communicates just howhappyhis acquiescence has made me. I slip my arm into his, and I feel him tense, ever so slightly, as we walk to the dance floor.

He’s not immune to my charms. Far from it. He’s just controlled. Disciplined. I remind myself of that as we find an open space among the other couples, my heels clicking on the wooden floor as Konstantin’s hand slides to my lower back.

I’m not immune, either.Warmth flows over my skin at his touch. The back of my dress is cut low, enough for his fingertips to brush bare skin, and electricity runs up my spine as I feel a simmering heat between my thighs. There’s an ache there, one that begs to be sated, and I press my lips together, forcing the smile to stay on my face as I start to follow him through the steps of the dance.

Konstantin is silent, keeping a hand’s space between us, his gaze off somewhere in the middle distance over my shoulder. I search frantically for some way to draw him in, something to feel around for a possible chink in his armor.

“Is this how our marriage is always going to be?” I ask softly, just loud enough for him to hear over the music, but only him.

His gaze snaps to mine. “Luxury vacations in far-off countries? Don’t bet on it, Sophia. My life is in Miami, and yours will be too. I expect you to make a home and a life there with me, since you and my father brokered this marriage.”

“No.” I shake my head. “I didn’t mean that. I meant this… coldness, between us.”

“It could be less cold if you accepted my terms.” His eyes meet mine. “You keep pushing, Sophia. Trying for something that I’ve already told you won’t be a part of our marriage.”

“It’s not fair to me that you’re withholding it,” I whisper. “Without telling me beforehand that I’d be sleeping in a cold bed…”

“We’ve already established that it wouldn’t have changed anything.” He spins me out and away from him, pulling me back in and carefully stopping me before I can brush up against him.

“You want me,” I accuse softly. “You wouldn’t try so hard not to touch me if you didn’t.” I look up at him with a hint of a challenge in my eyes, pushing just a little, the way he just accused me of a moment ago. “Why not enjoy it, Konstantin? It could be so good. Most men would be happy to have a wife who wants them, who?—”

“I’m not most men.” He cuts me off abruptly, letting go of me before the song has even ended. “And I need another drink.”

He pivots on his heel, leaving me there as he strides back toward the bar. I’m stunned enough that I don’t move for a moment, my pulse fluttering in my throat. A simmering frustration burns in my chest; I’m not used to having to fight this hard to get my way with a man.Why didthishave to be Kane’s last job for me?I think with mounting irritation as I follow in Konstantin’s wake, trying to ignore the eyes on me as I go. I don’t typically care what others think, but even I’m not imperviousto the embarrassment of being left on the dance floor by my husband.

My irritation only grows when I see the woman standing next to Konstantin at the bar.

I pause briefly, watching her from a distance. She’s tall and willowy, draped in a red gown that plunges far below her cleavage and splits up one side, her blonde hair piled on top of her head in an artful updo of curls. A long, gold and ruby lasso necklace shaped like a snake drapes between her breasts—as if they needed anything else to draw the eye.

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