Page 80 of Love Me in the Dark
“Y-you were at the auction,” I said.
“I wasn’t there to buy a woman.”
My heart sank. I’d pinned my hopes on him helping me. Perhaps I’d misunderstood his heated inspection of me.
“Oh.”
What did he want me for then? I couldn’t give up on finding Rada. I still had uses to trade.
“I can do other things. I’m a hard worker and came here for a cleaning job. I’m an artist, so I could decorate, and I cared for my parents before they died, so I can do any domestic task. Anything. Please, I can’t leave my sister there.” Tears welled in my eyes as Viktor continued to study me.
“You asked me why I took you.”
I nodded at him, fighting to keep my frustration under control.
“I’ve never wanted a woman so intensely from the first instant of meeting them.”
Shock rang through my body at his words.
“I am not impulsive, but how I already feel about you defies logic. So, no, I don’t want to trade your virginity for helping you. I will help you, and when you choose to give me your body, I will be your first and only man. You are mine.”
My brain glitched at his words, and my mouth fell open at the strength of conviction behind them. They were heady and intoxicating, but I couldn’t be naïve.
“I belong to you like property?”
“No. Belong to me as my wife.”
What? Be this man’s wife? That was insane, yet the gravity behind his words had a physical weight.
“I’ve never even had a boyfriend.”
“You wouldn’t need one.”
This was like one of those thought experiments Rada and I used to play.What if this were reality? What if this happened?But searching Viktor's face, I saw only a sincerity there that bordered on feral. Sinking into the crazy idea for a second, a nasty thought occurred.
“Do you have other wives?”
Viktor’s eyebrows slashed down. “No. You would be my only wife.”
“What about girlfriends, lovers?”
The corner of his mouth tipped up, and my stomach flipped over. He seemed to be enjoying my questions.
“No,Puhcho. You would be the only one.”
There he went with the endearments again.
“Why?”
“Don’t you feel it?” He hovered his large hand against my cheek, and the heat radiating from his palm made me turn my head slightly.
I startled as he pulled away, his chair scraping along the stone floor.
“I need to set a few things up, but Nik will be here today, and I’ll be back later. Think over what I’ve said.”
I opened my mouth to say something, but he quickly kissed my temple and left the room. My fingers feathered over the place he’d kissed, and my chest tightened as I wrestled with the conflicting thoughts and emotions running through me.
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