Page 30 of King of Malice
My brow scrunches. “What are you talking about then?”
He sets us both down on Anna’s bed and then rolls her to my side so she’s laying on the mattress.
Before I can ask him what he means, he’s got me in his arms again.
To my shock, I’m still not afraid. My arms slip around his neck. Is it because this isn’t sexual?
Whatever it is, I’m far more comfortable than I’ve ever imagined I’d be in a man’s arms. It makes me wonder why I haven’t allowed a man access like this sooner. I tried to go slower… But then I’d stop myself. Maybe I should push a few of my very stringent boundaries. But this isn’t the man. In fact, Dimitri is the last man with whom I should test any intimacy. I know far too much about him to pretend he’s anything close to safe. “You should put me down.”
“You’re right. I should. You’re going to ruin me,” his eyes are dark and stormy and for the first time tonight, I’m afraid of him again. I stiffen, trying to slide out of his grasp but he only holds me tighter.
“Dimitri,” I plead. Ruin him? What does that mean? Has he learned the truth somehow? Does he know why I’m here? Panic rises in my chest, and deep down, I feel it.
It’s not just that I’m afraid he’ll hurt me. It’s that he might know I haven’t been honest. What will he think of me then?
It hits me right in the gut that I care about his opinion of me, his feelings. And what I’m doing…it could ruin everything.
Am I the bad guy here? That thought makes my eyes go wide and I shake the thought away.
But the fact I care so much already has me letting out a long breath of air.
I can’t believe how much he means to me already.
“Because when you hold my daughter like that, it makes me think…. You should be mine.”
My mouth falls open. This can’t be happening. “Dimitri.” He shouldn’t like me. I’m here to discover his secrets. And I shouldn’t care about him. He’s the man who took my friend.
“Sorry, milaya, I’m not putting pressure on you, but I’m also not great at remaining silent when there are words I want to say.”
Now that isn’t a surprise at all. We pass by my room and keep walking down the hall. “Where are we going?”
This time, I speak with real fear. Because I’m not ready for?—
“Hush, I know your fears. I would never push you to a place where I frighten you.”
I stare at him in complete confusion as he maneuvers the knob to open the door and then steps into the room with me still in his arms. “Being in your bedroom makes me afraid.”
“Give me a second,” he answers as he sets me down on my feet next to the bed.
Should I run? Wait? He opens out a drawer and pulls out a set of handcuffs. Who keeps handcuffs next to the bed?
Why is he taking them out now?
I stumble back, but he only tosses the metal rings on the mattress before he starts pulling his dress shirt from his slacks.
Then he undoes the buttons and shrugs off the shirt, pulling the T-shirt underneath over his head.
The muscles of his back ripple, his shoulders so broad, I stop my retreat to just stare. God, he’s beautiful.
He kicks off his shoes and then lays down on the bed.
All fear is gone, replaced with intense curiosity as he threads the cuffs through one of the slats in the headboard. “The keyis in the drawer.”
And then he opens one cuff and closes it around his wrist. “Come, Ava, and put my other hand in the open ring.”
“But why?” I stare at him in confusion even as my body begins to heat. Because with his hands cuffed…all I feel is pulsing need.
“I am yours to do with whatever you wish.” And then he manages to get his second hand in the cuff. “I can’t grab you. You’ll have complete control. Do you want to touch my body? Explore?”
