Page 33 of Unwillingly Yours

Would I ever have a time when I didn’t want him to touch me?

Hours later, I lay in bed, my legs open in anticipation and wondering where we would go from earlier. I had told him what I wanted, but his words haunted me.

Why did your father send you to marry me?

Washealso a pawn in this game? Were we both being manipulated? Forced to dance like marionettes on strings tugged by some unseen masters? Did he not have the power to change this marriage contract when his father died? He was the head of the Korolev Bratva. He could have undone this marriage with the snap of his fingers. And though I didn’t want to admit it, I couldn’t help but be curious.

He knew who I was and knew the day that he had been presented with the contract.

Yet he had gone through with it. Why?

My thoughts scattered as he joined me in bed but didn’t reach for me. I dared to breathe. He wasn’t going to have sex with me tonight.

Why? His words, his actions, were starting to drive me crazy, and I didn’t know if I exactly liked it.

Had something changed between us?

And if so, had it changed for the better?

Or was I on the precipice of something far, far worse?

Chapter Seventeen

Aleksey

“So? Do you think that her father is in on some sort of plan with our uncle?”

I watched as my sister’s gaze narrowed, looking up from the plate of pasta I was distracting her from. “I don’t know, Alyosha. Have you thought about asking your wife?”

Frowning, I picked up my glass of wine, swirling it around carefully. The restaurant was owned by a family friend, and it was always the choice for Alya’s dinners with me.

“I have asked her,” I said, irritated. “And she denied knowing anything about a plan other than what was in the contract.”

“Then there it is.” My sister waved her fork at me. “Maybe she’s not hiding things from you. If she wanted to kill you to avenge her brother, she would’ve done it by now. Why drag it out for this long?”

My frown deepened, and I placed my wineglass back on the table without drinking from it. The events of the previous night were still tugging at my mind. Elia’s words had surprised the hell out of me. Just when I thought that everything was as it should be between us. She didn’t want to be fucked and left alone, as I had been doing. Somehow, this farcical marriage of ours had become real in ways I never expected.

She had goaded me into kissing her. And the moment I did, everything changed. It was one thing to fuck her emotionlessly from behind without seeing her face and only hearing her moans. But it was quite another to have her lips against mine, to taste her mouth on mine, and to feel her own hunger.

It opened up feelings I didn’t want to deal with, feelings I didn’t want to have for her. She had been chosenforme, not by me.

“Be serious, Alya,” I told my sister sharply. “I think Uncle Misha is up to something.”

Alya rolled her eyes, clearly not intimidated by the tone of my voice. “You sound like Father when you say things like that. Has anyone told you how annoying that is?”

“Do not compare me to him.”

“Fine,” she sighed, placing her fork on the table. “But for the record, Alyosha. Father was devious and crafty. You? Not so much. So don’t flatter yourself.”

A laugh escaped me. “Dear sister, I’m afraid you don’t know me at all.”

“I know you too well,” she retorted. “And I can tell that you need to focus on taking this marriage and making something out of it instead of worrying about Uncle Misha. If he’s up to something, I’m sure you’ll figure it out. But you have a wife to take care of, a wife whose forgiveness you still need to earn. Focus onthat.”

I didn’t ask for this. Elia would say the same thing if she heard Alya’s advice. She hadn’t asked for this. She hadn’t made the conscious decision to marry me. I was the last person on her list to consider.

“This marriage is a contract, nothing more,” I said. “And there was no way for me to rip it up without sending our reputation down the drain.”

“Oh, come on, Alyosha!”

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