Page 63 of Poisoned Vows

“Fine.” I stalk towards her in two quick, long strides, and grab her by the shoulders before she can dart away. I hold her there, one hand gripping her arm to keep her from fleeing, and I reach for the knife in my pocket.

Her eyes go wide when she sees it. “Nikolai—”

“I told you that you wouldn’t like it. Now hold still, or you’ll like it even less.”

I’ve never cut a woman’s clothes off like this before. Never threatened one with a knife—and I know Lillianafeelsthreatened, even if I have no intention of cutting her. I don’t know how I feel about the odd thrill that it sends through me as I press the knife to the top of her sweater, the way my cock twitches in my jeans as I start to drag it down through the wool.

I’ve always been a brutal man. An efficient one, when it comes to pain. I do my job for my father well. But I’ve never gotten off on it.

The tip of the knife presses against Lilliana’s flesh, and her gasp has my cock stiffening in an instant. I have no intention of drawing blood, but there’s a faint pinkness as I draw it down, and my pulse leaps in my throat.

“See,krolik?” I murmur, slicing through the sweater slowly, revealing her bare skin inch by inch. “I have restraint.”

“Is this your job?” she spits out, the words hissing between her teeth. “Frightening women into doing what you want?”

I laugh, low and dark, dragging the knife a little lower, exposing the inner curves of her breasts. “You don’t want to know what my job is, little rabbit. It’s not this. I don’t hurt women.”

“You’re hurting me.”

“No, I’m not.” I press the tip into her skin a little harder, and I feel her shudder. A small part of me wonders if it’s from fear or desire, and the thought that it could be the latter, or evenboth, makes my cock swell even more. “If I wanted to hurt you, Lilliana, you’d know it. I am not hurting you. And the fact that you think I am tells me you don’t know enough about the world you’ve walked into.”

“That you’vedraggedme into.” She swallows hard. “I didn’t want to be a part of any of this.”

“Maybe not. But you were always going to be. I just made sure that your introduction to it didn’t end in your death.”

I jerk the knife down, slicing the rest of the way through the cream wool of her sweater, and it falls to either side. I can see the curves of her breasts in the light-colored bra she’s wearing, the pale flesh of her taut belly, and I want to reach out and touch her. I want to run my hands all over her body, devour her—but that’s not what I’m here for right now. Shehasto understand the situation she’s in.

Don’t pretend you’re not taking pleasure in this.I want to think that I’m not. But as I motion with the knife for her to shrug off the pieces of the sweater, my cock jerks again against the fabric of my jeans.

She doesn’t move, and I let out a sigh. “The harder you make this, the longer this will take,krolik,” I tell her, reaching out and pushing the sweater off. With three quick motions, I slice through the straps of her bra, and it falls away, too, leaving her bare from the waist up, standing at the foot of our bed.

“You can take the jeans off, little rabbit. Or I’ll start on those.”

Her fingers are trembling when she goes to undo the button, her eyes on the knife. She jerks it loose, shoving the denim down her hips, and this time she leaves the panties on—not because she wants to obey me, I know, but because she doesn’t want to be entirely bare before I make her.

“Those next.” I gesture at the black cotton, and she glares at me.

“Alright.” I shrug, stepping forward, and she shrinks away.

“Okay!” Her thumbs hook in the waistband. “I’ll take them off. Don’t—” she bites her lip, shuddering again as she looks at the knife, and I can’t help but wonder if she’s so averse to it because it frightens her—or because she likes it a little.

I’ll find out soon enough.

Lilliana slides the black panties down her hips, revealing the rest of her to me, and I have my answer without even touching her. Her pussy is pink and flushed, the lips faintly swollen, and I can see a hint of her arousal glistening at the edges of her folds—and not just because she still has my cum in her from before.

Thatthought is enough to make me rock hard. My cock strains against my fly, and Lilliana sees it, her lip curling as she sneers at me.

“Youdoget off on frightening women. Look at you. You’re hard as hell right now, from pointing that knife at me.”

“I’m hard from making you strip.” I glare at her, folding the knife up and putting it back into my pocket as she kicks the panties away. “But if you want to test that little theory of yours, we can try it.”

She swallows hard, and I nod. “Good. You’re starting to realize that mouthing off to me won’t make this better. Now let’s try the next step.” I reach for my belt buckle, and I see her eyes widen. “Turn around, and bend over. Grab the footboard.”

“No.” Her lower lip trembles. “Wasn’t fucking me out there enough for you—”

“I’m not going to fuck you.” I jerk the belt out of the loops of my jeans, folding the leather in my hand, and Lilliana’s eyes widen.

“Nikolai! You can’t—”

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