The King - S.R. Jones Page 0,82
from. Wow, he’s a paranoid man.
I take in some shaky breaths and touch my throat. I’m going to be black and blue at this rate.
“What the fuck are you doing?” he asks.
“I’m … scared.” I hate saying it. Would rather he had stayed asleep so I could simply watch him like the creeper I’m becoming.
“And you thought you’d creep into my room, and what?” He stares at me, his face hardening. “What were you going to do?”
“Nothing,” I say.
“Bullshit. You didn’t come in here to do nothing. What were you looking for?”
He’s getting angry. This man is already paranoid enough to sleep with a gun under his pillow, and now one of his closest men has run off with his ex-girlfriend, after robbing him. Yet I thought it was a good idea to come and watch him sleep? Yeah, I’ve lost my mind.
“I really didn’t come here looking for anything. Nothing other than you,” I whisper. The admission coats my throat with sticky shame.
He blinks at me in the moonlight, twice in rapid succession as if unsure he’s heard me correctly.
“I just need… I can’t get warm,” I say.
“Let me go to the thermostat.” He moves to go past me, but I grab his arm, stopping him.
My fingers linger on his forearm with its thick muscle and smattering of hair. He’s got the best hands and forearms I’ve ever seen. Who would have thought something as simple as a man’s hands could be so erotic?
My fingers are pale in the moonlight against his darker tan skin. They’re small too, particularly against his size, and could be child’s hands when seen against his massive forearms and strong wrists. I want those arms around me, warming me, keeping me safe.
“It’s not the kind of cold the thermostat can fix,” I say.
“Cassie, if you get in this bed, I’ll fuck you. Is that what you want?”
It is, normally. Tonight, though, I’m far too fragile.
“Yes, it is.”
He sucks in a breath.
Then I add, “But not now. I’m a mess tonight, Konstantin. I hurt.”
“Your face?” he says.
I nod, and don’t add that my breast is so painful, I’m scared Denis has done some damage.
“Can you… Will you just hold me? Please?” I look into his beautiful eyes and wait for what seems like an eternity.
Then he turns from me, and I notice he’s wearing black boxer-briefs. I also notice for the first time his firm behind, and for a moment I regret my decision to turn down sex. Until my arm brushes my breast, and I wince.
“Get in,” Konstantin says, indicating the bed.
I don’t know if he’s going to hold me or fuck me, but I give him my trust and climb into the bed. He gets in after me, and a moment later those big arms wrap around me. His body comes up behind me, and he’s so warm. He shares his heat with me, finally helping chase away the frigid chill that settled deep down into my soul.
“I miss my grandparents and my friends,” I say.
“I know,” he whispers against my ear.
“I want to be free again.”
“I know, Cassie, but we can’t always have what we want.”
I sigh and snuggle further into him, letting my jailer become my comforter.
“It’s not safe,” he says then, with a softness to his tone that’s normally wholly missing. “I’m not keeping you here for fun and games, Cassie. Christ, you fuck with my head. It would be better all-around if you were gone. I can’t let you go, though.”
“Because if Popov gets to me, I’ll talk?”
There’s a moments silence, and then he replies, “Because if Popov gets to you, he’ll do terrible, painful, degrading things to you, and I can’t live with that.”
“Why?”
He shrugs. I feel the movement against my back. “I don’t really know. You wouldn’t be the first casualty of this war I’ve been fighting for a long time.”
“Maybe because I’m a woman,” I say.
He laughs humorlessly. “No, if you were Liza, I’d give you to Popov first thing in the morning. It’s not because you’re a woman.”
“Then why?”
“Because you’re … you.”
I open my mouth to say something else, and Konstantin squeezes me. “Cassie, go to sleep,” he commands.
“Okay,” I say.
And I do. Miraculously, I close my eyes and damn well fall asleep.
**
Light is the first thing I’m aware of and then pain, not in my face, but in my breast. Damn Denis and his fat fingers. Someone moves behind me, and I freeze. What the hell? Then I remember, Konstantin. I came to his