Page 64 of The Den of Sin
When I raised my head, I met his gaze full of smug possessiveness. “I like you in my clothes, malyshka,” he bent his head and placed a soft kiss on my mouth. His finger brushed over the skin on my collarbone. “And I marked you as mine.”
I went to the mirror to check what he was talking about when I saw it. Something between a hickey and a bite mark. I met his eyes in the reflection, a satisfied gleam in them.
“Vasili, you can’t be doing this,” I scolded him, although there was a part of me that liked the idea of being marked as his.I’m so dumb. “I might have interviews and nobody wants to see that kind of stuff.”
He smirked. “Tell them your boyfriend did it.”
My boyfriend?I stared at him in confusion. “Ryan?”
His expression darkened, and his smirk turned into a growl.
“No, malyshka. Not Ryan,” he growled, his hands wrapping around my waist and turning me to face him. “Me. Vasili Nikolaev.”
“Oh.”
His mouth roughly took mine, biting down gently on my lower lip. “I want to be your boyfriend, your man, your partner… whatever you want to call it.”
I should have something to say but all I could do was stare. Those were the words I wanted to hear five years ago. I would have given my soul to hear them. But now, I was hesitant to believe them. Maybe he wanted to hurt me again. And even with the warning alarms blaring in my brain, my body hummed with the idea of Vasili being my boyfriend. My man.
“Why?” I asked, my voice strangled.
“Why what?” Gosh, this almost felt like déjà vu.
“Why do you want to be my boyfriend now? What has changed?”
I was still that girl I was five years ago. Isabella Taylor, daughter of the woman that he blamed for breaking up his family. Back then I didn’t know any of the secrets. Today I knew too many.
“Because I was a jackass.” I studied him, waiting for him to continue. His light eyes watched me with tenderness and honesty. “You were right when you said it took two to cheat. It wasn’t all your mother’s fault. My parents were to blame too. In fact, it was all our parents’ fuck up. I should have never taken it out on you. As young and innocent as you were, you saw right through it all.”
The problem was that I wasn’t naive anymore. Five years ago, I had innocence and lofty ideals. The skeletons of our parents were unknown to me. Today, I wasn’t as fortunate. I didn’t have the luxury of being blind to the many mistakes my mother had made. Would Vasili still want me if he knew about all those secrets?
Eventually, I nodded. Did I really have a choice? Every part of me ached at the thought of never seeing this man again.
“If we’re going to do this, we should take it slow.” My heart wanted him, belonged to him; my brain warned, urging me to be cautious. Everything was happening so fast, and I was whirling in dangerous emotions and desires, all centering around Vasili Nikolaev. If we survived this dating for a few days, a week or even a month, then maybe I’d tell him everything. “Can we go now?”
Chapter Twenty-One
Vasili
There were so many emotions that skittered across Isabella’s face but the strongest one that resonated with me was hesitation, perhaps even fear, to believe my words. I couldn’t blame her, but fuck, it still agitated me.
I dialed up my club security guy. “Make sure the path to my car is clear,” I barked the order, mad as fuck.
Honestly, I shouldn’t be mad at anyone other than myself. I created those walls Isabella put around herself. Five years ago, she gave me everything, and when she woke up, I threw it all away. To avenge my mother and partially to protect Isabella. Even before I knew who her father was, there was a danger to anyone associated with me. She didn’t know all the reasons why I was so cruel to her the next day. Yes, the biggest part of it was her mother but also knowledge that she didn’t belong in my world. So, she hardened her heart and she moved on.
I had to find a way to explain to her what she meant to me five years ago, and still today. I would not give her up. I’d fight till my dying breath for her. Everything I did over the last five years, I did it for her. I made my empire stronger and my wealth bountiful, so I could protect her.
“All clear,” came the confirmation from my security.
I put my hand on the small of her back. “Let’s go, malyshka.”
She nodded, slipped her heels on, and fuck, I was hard again. She looked like a recently pleasured woman with her dark, messy mane coming down her back and her flushed cheeks.I did that,I thought proudly. And I would do that for the rest of our lives if she’d let me.
We walked through the hallway of my club and towards the private, back entrance where my Mercedes G-class SUV waited.
The moment I stepped outside with Isabella under my arm, my security guy opened the passenger door. As she sat herself into the seat, his gaze flickered to her exposed thigh and jealousy blinded me.
My knife was out of my holster and barely an inch from his eye. “Do I pay you to watch my woman’s thighs or open the door for her?” I hissed, anger simmering each syllable.
