Total pages in book: 84
Estimated words: 81947 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 410(@200wpm)___ 328(@250wpm)___ 273(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 81947 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 410(@200wpm)___ 328(@250wpm)___ 273(@300wpm)
He launched out of the chair and caged me in with his arms as he leaned over the bed. “Listen very carefully, krasivaya. I’m doing my best to keep my anger in check. Keep fighting me and see what happens.”
The nurse popped her head into the room. “Did you need something?”
Var pierced me with his glare. I swallowed, unable to speak.
Keeping his gaze on me, he called over his shoulder, “No. Now close that door and don’t open it again unless I summon you.”
The nurse bowed her head. “Of course, Mr. Rubashkin. I’m sorry, Mr. Rubashkin.”
The nurse closed the door, leaving us alone again.
What the hell?
How had he cowed the nurse that easily? Did she know he was part of the Russian Mafia? Was that why? Did everyone in this freaking city fear this man?
Var rose and took a deep breath as he continued to loom over me. “We need to get a few things straight, Vivian.”
I lowered my head and looked away.
In this moment, all I wanted to do was go home.
I wanted to take a nice long bath, and then crawl into bed, pull the covers over my head, and forget about the whole embarrassing incident.
I still couldn’t believe I’d been so careless as to mix that varnish without making sure the room was properly ventilated. Stupid window.
Apparently, my skipping lunch after such a rich breakfast of Eggs Benedict on top of the two glasses of wine, which thinned my blood, didn’t help.
My cheeks burned with the thought of Var finding me collapsed in what was probably an unattractive heap on my apartment floor.
In my mind’s eye, there was also a humiliating pool of drool on the hardwood.
All I wanted to do was go home and forget all about it. As well as the last week.
Maybe one day, fifty years from now, I would enjoy remembering that insane time when I was sleeping with one Russian Mafia boss while being chased by another, all because of a couple of paintings… but not now.
Now, I just wanted to disappear under some covers in a dark room with a bottle of wine and a box of chocolate chip cookies.
His hand on my chin interrupted my thoughts. “Look at me.”
I was in no position to fight him. “I don’t see what you have to be angry about. I’m the one stuck in this hospital bed.”
When he spoke, his voice was low and calm.
“I told the staff you were my wife, because that is precisely who you will be as soon as I get you out of here. And after the stunt you pulled today, you’ll be lucky if you don’t spend the next year chained to my bed for your own safety.”
Wife?
Stunt?
Chained to his bed?
WTF?
I blinked several times. “Did they sedate me? Am I on some kind of drug right now, because I don’t remember agreeing to marry you?”
His thumb stroked my lip. “That’s because I didn’t ask.”
My brow furrowed. “You think we’re getting married… but you didn’t ask me. Are you sure they didn’t sedate you?”
His hand moved from my chin to wrap around my neck. As his breath brushed my cheek, he leaned down and whispered ominously in my ear, “Not only are we getting married. I’m going to fuck you senseless until this gorgeous body of yours swells with my child, binding you to me.”
I ripped the oxygen tube out of my nose and jumped out of the bed. Keeping my back to the wall, I shook my head. “You’re mad.”
He stalked around the hospital bed as he gestured toward it. “Get your ass back in that bed. Now.”
I lunged for the door.
He snatched me around the waist and pulled me back.
My legs kicked out as I screamed, “Get off me, you sociopath!”
Var fell back onto the bed with me in his arms before rolling to pin me beneath him.
Stretching my arms over my head, he pressed his hips down onto mine. “Fight it all you want, Vivian. You’re mine now.”
Although he had me trapped, he was careful not to put any pressure on my ribcage. I filled my lungs with air as a turbulent mix of panic, fear, and arousal took hold.
It was like I took some kind of sick pleasure in deliberately baiting this man to bring out a feral response in him. I was like Belle racing across dangerously thin ice, secretly hoping the Beast would catch me.
While it was bonkers to even contemplate marriage to him, it was also mind-blowingly hot to think he was determined to have me as his wife. I mean, most girls wait years for their boyfriends to propose. How could I not be a tiny bit flattered? Not considering, of course, that it was ludicrously irresponsible and insane to even consider it.
“Why are you doing this?”
He studied my face. His gaze was intense. “Because I won’t lose you. I refuse to lose you.”