Page 12 of Corruption

Kiya

“A

ll settled in?”

I startle and turn around to see Vaughn standing in the doorway of the room I’ll be staying in for the duration of my stay with him. Until our wedding in March. At which point, I’ll move into his room and—

“Yes,” I say, trying not squirm as I tuck my bare legs closer to myself and tug the hem of my night shirt down some to try to cover them.

“I’m sorry if I seemed… disinterested, during dinner. It was hard to concentrate when a girl as stunning as you was sitting in my vicinity,” he says as he sits on the bed next to me.

He doesn’t sound sorry. Not actually. It sounds like an obligatory thing to get my guard down so he can pounce. Take me unaware.

I say, guardedly, “I understand that. It was hard for me to focus too. I was nervous. I wanted to make a good impression.”

“You did. DespiteNadezhda’sbehavior…”

“Nadezhda…?” I ask, no doubt butchering the pronunciation.

“Nadia.”

“Nadia? Oh! She was fine. I liked her. She made me feel at ease,” I say honestly.

I don’t know what game she was playing with Alik the whole time she was talking to me. But it never felt malicious throughout the rest of dinner and dessert. She seemed to genuinely be trying to get me to open up and make me comfortable.

“Are you trying to say I intimidate you?” Vaughn asks.

He does.

“No. Just you didn’t talk much is all. You didn’t seem very…” I pause to look for a suitable word before finally settling with my initial wording. “You didn’t seem interested much in getting to know me.”

“Quite the contrary, Kiya,” he says, taking one of my hands. Touching my face. Caressing my cheek. Invading my personal space. “I’m very interested in getting to know you.”

There are probably other non-hostile ways I can use to try to get him to back off. But they’re not going to work. I’m going to end up in trouble with this man regardless of how nice I try to be. I can see it in his eyes.

So I narrow my eyes. Frown at him.

“Get out my room,” I say firmly.

He laughs and says, “Sweetheart, I own this fucking house. You can’t tell me to leave any part of it.”

“Get. Out,” I say, and then reach up to grab his hand. Try to wrench it away from my face.

He only takes my chin tightly in his grip and yanks me to him.

“Make me,” he says, and then his lips are on mine.

I immediately try to pull away, but he keeps my lips attached to his with his grip on my chin. So I try to push him away by the chest with my hands. He doesn’t budge. I start punching him in the chest instead. When he gets annoyed with that, he grabs my wrists in one of his large hands, forces me back onto the bed. Covers my body with his. Settles between my legs.

I continue to try to push him off me in earnest, but Vaughn keeps me pinned down and puts his lips forcibly on mine.

He pulls his lips away and asks between kisses on my neck, “Are you a virgin, sweetheart?”

Yes.

“I’m not your sweetheart. Get off. Get—”

I feel his erection pressing into my thigh through his pants, and that’s when I panic. That’s when I decide to resort to begging.

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