Anatoli
I rest my hands on the windowpane, gazing at the beautiful, platinum-haired Valkyrie sitting by the poolside.
I'm standing by the floor-to-ceiling windows on the second floor and she's completely unaware of my presence.
I'm home in the breath of a break to see Avrora for two reasons.
The first is my dick misses her mouth. The second is to give her my engagement ring. Jayce is on his way with it now.
I've used the ring as the perfect excuse to come home and kill two birds with one clever idea. As I'm heading out to L. A. within the hour, I needed to get my fill.
Avrora is reading what looks like a boring-as-fuck textbook. The sight of its thick pages turn my stomach, but the woman holding it makes the whole studious bookworm look sexy. Especially while wearing those black-rimmed fuck-me-I'm-a-hot-librarian glasses.
A blue skater dress clings to her body, lifting her tits and showing off smooth thighs. The only thing I don't like is that bun on top of her head.
She wears her hair like that a lot. I don't know why when she has the kind of locks a man likes to run his fingers through, or grip when he needs to fuck properly.
Still, I couldn't care less about her hair when her body is made for all sorts of sin.
She's completely engaged in her book, but the waning sunlight highlights the disturbed look on her beautiful, angelic face.
Is that look about the crest? Or me?
Or is she thinking about Mikhail?
It's understandable if she's thinking about the crest. That's the only thing I'll allow because I haven't stopped thinking about it either.
Gytha is still trying to find a connection between Uther and the Butyrskayas, and Leif said he didn't know of one. Of course, he found the idea of Avrora recognizing the crest as odd as I did.
It's definitely a worry I'd like to get answers for. Just not enough to distract me right now from wanting Avrora. Given our last few wild encounters, I'm leaning toward believing she's just as worked up as me. But I can't push aside the fact that I know she's conflicted over Mikhail.
I'm supposed to understand because everything is still fresh for her, but like a teenage brat I don't want to, whether I believe that she loves him or not.
Maybe it's because I'm leaning more towards not.
When a woman loves a man, she wouldn't be easily tempted by another. She'd fight tooth and nail for that love and nothing would be able to sway her.
She wouldn't look at another man the way she looks at me and there would be no desire.
I'd have to be a sick motherfucker seeking my own pleasure, forcing her into something she doesn't want.
But maybe I am.
I can't be sure of anything, and I'm too fucked up to stop what she started.
My annoyance makes me dig my fingers into the hard wood of the window frame.
"Hey, boss."
I turn at the sound of Jayce's voice. "Hey."
"I got it." He walks up to me, pulls out a blue velvet box from his pocket and pops it open.
Inside sits a ring with a tiny princess-cut diamond nestled in the center of a platinum band.
I picked it from a brochure the other week and got Jayce to use Mikhail's engagement ring as a size guide.
Seeing it in real life hits home that I'm about to give a woman my name and make her my wife.
My wife.
What will being married to my enemy's daughter be like? I can only imagine.
"Is it alright?" Jayce gives me a tentative stare. "The jeweler said you can contact him if something's wrong."
"It's fine." I take the box and close it.
"Getting cold feet?" He smirks, casting a glance through the window at Avrora. "Or maybe from the look of you, it's something else."
I chuckle, then sigh. "There's no harm in enjoying my work."
His smile widens. "Definitely not. And she's a nice piece."
I slip the ring box in my pocket. "Tell my wife-to-be to meet me in my office."
Thinking of how my little Valkyrie will react when she gets my message makes me grin.
"Sure thing. After that, I'm hitting the streets with the team."
"Okay, report back tomorrow unless anything changes."
He dips his head and leaves.
I make my way to the office down what I call the haunted passage. As far as I know, no one died in this house but I've always felt that the Butyrskayas' presence remained here because this was a real home to them.
Once I'm inside my office, I sit in my chair and wait.
Avrora won't be in a hurry to get here, but she also won't want to take too long and suffer my wrath.
Ten minutes pass before her hesitant footsteps echo on the other side of the door. Although I left it ajar, she knocks.
"Come in," I call out, leaning back into the soft leather of the chair.
She walks in, her face a pretty mixture of fear and arousal when she sees me. I smile at that, loving the effect I have on her.
She's taken off her sexy librarian glasses, but there's never been a time since I've met this woman when her look didn't scream fuck me.
"Didn't know you wore glasses." I sit forward, resting my elbows on the desk.
A flicker of annoyance flashes in her eyes as she processes that I was watching her. "So now you're a stalker?"
"I just happened to see you by the pool, reading."
"Of course, I forgot there's no privacy here."
Wow, I like the fire. Although she seems more hot-tempered today than any other.
Have I cracked her?
No, not yet... this woman doesn't fracture easily. If she did, she wouldn't talk to me like that.
It's not that she isn't scared. She's terrified, but she's a fighter. Broken people fight because they've tasted darkness no one else could possibly comprehend.
What's working her up the wrong way is me.