Page 18 of Owned By her Enemy
And that’s the problem, isn’t it? What kind of daughter am I if I fall for my mother’s killer? The only person who cared about me, and he all but confessed to her murder.
This cage of Nikolai’s is better, prettier, bigger. But I’m returning to being trapped. There’s only one thing to do.
I have to kill him before I lose my nerve.
7
NIKOLAI
“Come out to the terrace,” I invite as she emerges from the house, pale. It’s being inside. She doesn’t like being trapped. She needs light and space and air, same as the little caged bird I called her.
“But…”
Drinks and laughter and watching the sunset over the calm blue ocean with her in my arms. I can’t stop touching her since I carried her up the stairs, and she is finding ways to draw closer too. Like she broke open a dam by taking my hand.
“Why don’t you show me the bedroom?” she blurts out.
I look at her speculatively. It’s odd. This is the third time she’s been over-eager about getting me into bed.
She presses her lips together and regards me from beneath her eyelashes, looking shy and impatient and a bit nervous. That agitation seems genuine enough. Perhaps I’m seeing problems where there are none.
But even so, there’s no need for any hurry. We’re going to do this on my schedule, and she’s my wife, so I can play a slow game of seduction.
I want her. Of course I can’t wait to have her come again. I’m longing for the feel of virgin pussy on my cock.
But I have the experience to know that a pleasure anticipated and savoured is all the sweeter.
“There’s time. But unlike the London mafia bosses, the police, banks, politicians, every man who works for me, and half of London, I can’t make the sun wait for you,” I tease.
She pauses for just long enough to make me suspicious, but then the relief that is undisguised on her face removes my doubts. Whatever she’s worried about—maybe that she thinks I’m going to jump on her and paw her like an animal before she’s wet and desperate for me—it’s not happening.
I tuck her into my side when she comes to stand close enough we’re touching, and she fits as though she was designed to be sheltered by me. Or I was designed to be nestled into by her.
My arm rests lightly on her shoulders and I indulge in threading my fingers into her hair as the colours get more and more intense. We watch silently, my skin tingling with awareness of her, her eyes trained on the sky as the sun dips below the horizon and the darkness fades to grey-blue.
It’s a small step, but she has come close voluntarily.
There’s still a question in my mind about her earlier behaviour though, and I have a way of discovering more.
“You can stay outside. Make a video.” I indulge in dropping a kiss on the top of her head and slip her new phone into her hands before disappearing into the house.
Inside, I switch on the string lights, and she looks up at them, delight brightening her face. They cast a golden glow over the decking, and above the night sky is just beginning its display. After nipping upstairs to open all the windows—I’ve noticed how that helps her—in the kitchen I turn my back and switch on my phone. My smile can’t be suppressed when I see that video she posted. The one we created together.
ListeningToHer:Love the backdrop and your singing is gorgeous, as ever. But more than that, it’s nice to see you looking happy. Were you?
I watch her in the fading light as the stars shimmer into existence. She tilts her head right up, staring at the sky as though she’s never seen them before. Those stars were always there, of course. Just maybe she couldn’t see them from Tottenham Tower, with all the surrounding glow from the city. The darkness reveals the light.
I indulge in watching her for a few minutes, until it occurs to me that perhaps she needs to think I’m distracted and not paying her attention in order to talk with her friend. I busy myself in the kitchen, figuring out what to make her to eat. I hadn’t planned on staying the night here, but it’s so obvious she’s happier outside of London, there’s no question about returning.
It takes only a few minutes and then when I check again—thank god I managed to turn off the alert on the beach in time, I was sure I was about to give myself away totally—there’s a message from her.
Rapunzel: I’m so glad you liked the video! And yeah, I was happy.
ListeningToHer: Good. You deserve it, little songbird.
Rapunzel: You’re too kind to me.
ListeningToHer: Never. You make it easy. I hope you have many more happy days.
