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Almost.

We walk back to our rooms after dinner, the night air drifting in from the open windows, cool and smelling of dust and grass. As Sophia walks next to me, her sugar and violet scent mingles with it. I can feel my blood rushing in my veins, my pulse quickening as we get closer to my room, and my cock swells with anticipation.

I could have her tonight, any way that I want her. I don’t think she’d say no, especially after last night. I could have my wife, instead of stroking myself to dreams and fantasies about her. It’s what I want. What she wants.

Why the fuck am I denying myself?

I grit my teeth as we come to a stop in front of her door, passing by mine. Sophia stops, and I swallow hard, trying to think past my rising lust.

“I meant to say—” Sophia pauses, her hand on her keycard. “Thank you for going on the overnight with me, Konstantin. Even if it didn’t turn out all that… well.”

I chuckle, low and deep in the back of my throat. “I should be thanking you,” I say wryly. “You helped save my life. Again. As you pointed out at dinner.”

She shrugs one slender, elegant shoulder. “You would have done the same for me, right?” Her gaze meets mine. “You did say you would keep me safe.”

“I did.” I pause, holding her gaze. “And I would.”

Something shimmers in the air between us, the beginning of that same tension that built to a fever pitch last night. And as I stand there, looking at my wife’s green eyes glimmering back up at me, I know if I stand here for even a moment longer, I’ll go into her room with her, or take her back to mine.

Her tongue sweeps over her lower lip tantalizingly, leaving a sheen behind, and my cock throbs. “Konstantin?” Her voice is low and rich as the wine we had with dinner, husky with need, and I take a step back, fighting with everything in me to keep my self-control.

With more willpower than even I knew I possessed, I take another step back, and another, until her perfume is no longer flooding my senses. “Goodnight, Sophia,” I say firmly, and I see her face fall slightly as I do.

I turn and walk away before I can change my mind, before I can give in to the desire that’s building, that’sbeenbuilding since the moment I met her. I hear her door close behind me as I walk toward mine, and I let out an exhale, stopping as I close my eyes.

Desire pulses through me, my cock still hardening with every step, as if she’s still here next to me instead of behind her bedroom door. I think of going back to my room, of giving myself the release I need, of trying to sleep with images of her burned behind my eyes, and the thought suddenly seems unbearable.

What the fuck am I doing?

I turn back toward her room, staring at the closed door. Sophia is my wife. My wife,mine… and I want her.

And for once, I’m going to take what I fucking want.

12

VALENTINA

Itruly have no idea what I’m going to do.

We’re back at the resort. I failed to kill Konstantin last night—in fact, all I did was manage to save his life… again. I sink down onto the edge of the bed, yanking the diamond hair clip out of my hair as I run my hands through it restlessly.

Now Konstantin is going to have security.Additionalprotection. Away from the bedroom, he’ll be more guarded than ever since we got here. And in the bedroom…

My heartbeat quickens at the thought of what happened last night, my thighs squeezing together. I’ve never come like that with anyone before. The way his mouth felt between my legs—my eyes close briefly, remembering it, how good it felt.

I thought he’d finish what he started tonight, that I’d have my chance. But he walked away…again.

I run my hands through my hair again, letting out a harsh sigh of frustration. And then, just as I start to stand up to go and get ready for bed, a knock at my door startles me out of my roiling thoughts.

I know who it is before I even go to open the door.

Konstantin is standing in the doorway, his blue eyes dark with a lust that I recognize—from other men, from the first time we met, from last night. My pulse flutters in my throat traitorously as I take him in—his tense muscles, his disheveled hair, his clenched jaw. My gaze falls to the open space at the top of his shirt, and I have to fight the urge to reach out and touch him.

"Can I come in?" he asks, his voice a low rumble that sends a shiver down my spine.

This is it. I can see it in his face. He didn’t come back to talk, or to do this by halves.

Unless something else unprecedented happens tonight, Konstantin is going to fuck me.