Her gaze is pointed, and I clear my throat. “Why are you doing it now, then?”
“Because I want to. And because you told me that it wasn’t a request. Remember that?”
“Fair enough.”
With one long gulp, Victoria finishes off her glass and leans back into the couch, her head falling back. My eyes travel over her, from the curve of her nose down to the curve of her breasts, taking in every peak and valley of her body.
“If you said no to drinking with me, what do you think would have happened?”
Lazily, she turns her head towards me. “I’m not stupid, Matvei. I know you’re an angry man who doesn’t like to be told no. You’d probably hurt me or something. Isn’t that what you do? How you got to be the big bad boss that you are today?”
Her candid tone catches me off guard, and what’s more irritating is how correct she is. Intimidation is the way I rule. It’s how my father ran the business as well. As effective as it is, I hate how it’s made Victoria afraid of me.
“Well, if you’re not drinking in your spare time, what do you like to do?”
She shrugs. “Dunno. Baking is fun. Reading, too. Studying. I spend a lot of time getting ready for law school, reading my textbooks and whatever.”
“What a thrilling life you lead,” I tease.
She narrows her eyes at me before laughing and shrugging. “Yeah, well, it’s my life and I like it. Or at least, I did.”
Her sudden sadness catches me off guard. I place my cup on the table and turn towards her. “You’re not confined to this house twenty-four-seven. You’re allowed to leave every now and then. I just think it’s safer here than out there.”
A worried look crosses her face, and her eyebrows knit together. “What do you mean?”
“With the vigilante out there hurting people connected to me, it’s probably safer here than running around outside.”
“That’s so comforting,” she mutters. “I could be outside with a killer, or inside with a killer.”
Whiskey turns Victoria into a honest person, it seems. Part of me is pleased that she’s finally opening up. Not acting so guarded, so frightened.
But I should’ve known that, when she did show me her inner thoughts, they’d all be about how much she hates me. I’m the one fucking up her life, aren’t I? In her mind, I’m a violent, abusive monster who would punish her for refusing to drink with me. In her eyes, I’m a ticking time bomb, always waiting to go off. A wild beast who could snap at any moment.
“I’m not as bad as you think I am, Victoria.”
She narrows her eyes at me. “Mhmm.”
“I’m not.”
“Prove it.”
So that’s exactly what I do.
I take the glass from her good hand and pull her close to me, putting aside every concern and kissing her hard. She tastes like booze and warmth, her tongue stroking mine perfectly. This is a bad idea and I know it, but right now, all I crave is what we had in the hospital closet. I want that passion again, the ache that I know she has inside her.
The same one that burns inside me.
Victoria doesn’t fight me. She turns to me, practically climbing in my lap, and I kiss her deep, my fingers threaded through her hair. The moans she lets out when I press my lips to the throbbing pulse in her neck are addictive.
“God, yes, Matvei,” she groans, grinding down on me. “Prove it, please. Please, sir.”
This doesn’t sound like her. She’s not in her right mind at the moment. The whiskey’s hit her hard, too hard, and I can’t do this knowing that she might regret it in the morning.
It takes more effort than I thought it would to pull away from her.
“What’s wrong?” she asks, pouting.
I pull my phone from my pocket. “I just remembered I have business with one of the nightclubs I work with.”
“Oh.”
I unlock my phone and swipe through texts and emails, trying to look busy. “We, uh, we used to move product through there and it turns out someone is stealing from the profits. I need to take care of this before things get out of hand.”
I’m rambling like a total idiot, but I have to get away from her. I have to put distance between us, because if I don’t, I might give into her pleading, and that’s a line I’m not willing to cross.