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Chapter Fourteen

Viktor

Sofia and Knight watch sympathetically as I gather my things.

“I’m sorry,” Knight says. “That was a little intense, even for her. I wasn’t expecting that.”

“Can’t say I was, either.” I hold the painting by the back tab since it’s still a bit wet. “Did I accidentally paint a second voodoo doll and not notice?”

“She’s always had a flair for interpretive violence,” Knight says.

Sofia tries to soften it. “Maybe it was… cathartic?”

Something tells me Knova didn’t attend this event in search of spiritual healing, unless she was trying to exorcise me.

On my way out, I say, “Enjoy the wine. I hope we didn’t ruin your night.”

Knight snorts. “Puh-lease. If Knova ruined my day every time she lashed out, I’d have spent my whole childhood on Lexapro. She’s upset. About something. Talk to her. She’ll come around.”

Ugh. Communication. My greatest weakness. I stalk back across the street, painting in hand, trying to figure out how the hell I’m supposed to talk to a woman who just pinned my soul to a canvas and gave it Xs for eyes.

Just as I expected, my wife is in Hurricane Knova mode. I find her canvas with my voodoo doll likeness stuffed in the trash. Meanwhile, she’s making a racket in the bedroom.

I brace myself for a fight and head back to find her before she can do anything drastic. Sure enough, she has her suitcase open on the floor and is mashing her clothes into it without care.

I stand in the doorway and cross my arms. “That wasn’t nice, Knova.”

She doesn’t look up from her bag. “What would you know about nice, Viktor?”

I close my eyes and take a deep breath. “I think I’ve been pretty damn nice. I bought you clothes, food, drove you to get your car, gave up my bed, and gratefully walk around as the butt of your jokes. I think I deserve the benefit of the doubt, at least. At least, I deserve to know why you’re being so mean to me.”

Knova stops what she’s doing and whirls to face me. Her cheeks are flushed, and her eyes are bright as embers. “So what if you’ve bought me things? You think that means you can do anything you want, you entitled prick? I told you, buying me crap doesn’t mean that you own me. I don’t owe you shit.”

This is different from our usual squabbles. I’m used to play-fighting this woman, but it’s usually just that, a game. Whatever she’s feeling now has gotten under her skin. She’s truly furious with me, and while I don’t know the full story, I’ve got a sinking feeling it’s about more than just me not taking her on a date on my day off.

“Why are you so mad?” I ask, laying all my cards on the table.

Knova stalks toward me. “Because I know you went out to see a girl last Saturday, and you won’t admit it. Just tell me you’re fucking someone else!” She jabs her finger into my chest.

I catch her wrist and pull her closer. “I’m not fucking anyone else.”

“Liar!” She tries to pull away, but I hold on.

“I’m not lying. I swear. I haven’t slept with anyone else since I moved in to my condo.”

“Now I know you’re lying,” she snarls. “It’s been over a year.”

“Yup.”

She wriggles in a halfhearted attempt to get away from me. “You expect me to believe that you haven’t gotten laid in over a year?”

“Whether you believe it or not, it’s the truth.” I let my voice drop lower as I make a confession that I once swore I’d take to the grave. “Because you’re here, and you’re all I’ve ever wanted.”

She finally yanks free. “Bullshit. You had your chance. You don’t get another one.”

An incredulous laugh escapes me. “Are you serious? We were fourteen! I had two left feet and a huge crush on you. I was afraid of embarrassing myself in front of the whole eighth grade.”

“Actually, I was referring to Saturday, but sure, let’s go there .” She frowns down at her socks, which are patterned with little mushrooms. “The time when you embarrassed me in front of the whole school.”

Holy shit, she’s serious. Not only is she still pissed about me coaching the Special Olympics, she’s also still holding onto a grudge from middle school. For some reason, that gives me hope. If she didn’t care about me, she’d be able to laugh my old fuck-ups off. The fact that she’s still holding onto them means she isn’t over me.

I reach for her hands and take them both in mine. “It was never my intention to embarrass you, babe.”

Her hands ball into fists so that I can’t interlace our fingers. “I’m not your babe.”

“You most definitely are. And you’re going to listen to me. No storming off. No shutting me out.”

“No. I’m not listening to any more of your bullshit.” She yanks her fists free. “I’m sure you’ve got some great excuse for why you went out the other day.”

“I do—” I begin.

She laughs bitterly. “Right. And let me guess, you don’t actually do any outreach do you?”

“Yes, I do!”

“For fuck’s sake.” She presses one hand over her face. “What kind of outreach? Helping the league’s puck bunny population reach enlightenment? I don’t know what to think, Viktor.”

I take a step closer and lift one hand to brush her cheek. “Knova. Look at me.”

Slowly, almost reluctantly, she raises her eyes to mine. She’s so beautiful I can hardly stand it. Cheeks flushed rosy pink. Breasts heaving. Her anger isn’t gone, but it’s faded to the point where I can see how vulnerable she’s feeling. No wonder she’s mad. I know how many defenses she’s raised over the years, and she doesn’t like that I’ve squeaked through them.

“I promise I haven’t had sex with anyone else. Not since Knight got signed, and definitely not since our marriage. Cross my heart and hope to—”

“Don’t say it,” she blurts. “Please. Don’t say that.” She lays her palm over my heart.

“Aw.” I lean closer until our foreheads touch. “So you do care.”

“Viktor—”

I press closer, and she shuffles back until she hits the wall. I lean closer, pinning her in between my arms and lowering my mouth to her neck. Before my lips touch her skin, I whisper, “I’m going to have you. Right now. I’m going to show you what wanting you all this time has done to me.”

“Viktor—” she says again. Fuck, I love the sound of my name in her mouth.

“If you don’t want me, now’s the time to leave.” I kiss her neck. “But I think you do. I don’t think you’re mean at all. Just covering up your vulnerability with anger. But you know what I think most of all? You want to be a good girl for me, don’t you? You want to be used. Like a filthy little toy that belongs to me. You want to be ruined for anyone else.”

Knova’s breath stutters, and her thighs part wider. That’s all the answer I need. Her chest rises like she’s about to speak, but instead, she tilts her jaw and bares her neck. Submission wrapped in defiance. My favorite flavor.

Wrapping her arms around me, she grabs my shirt in her fists. I adjust my stance so that I can press one thigh between her legs. She immediately rolls her hips, seeking the pressure of my body against hers.

“That’s what I thought,” I say. I kiss the tender skin just below her earlobe. I reach up to press two fingers into her mouth, and she opens for me, whimpering as she sucks my fingers.

I’ve spent years fantasizing about what Knova would be like, but I never thought she’d be like this: urgent and quivering and eager to yield. I want to claim her. I want to fuck her until she begs for mercy.

I roll my hips against her, pinning her to the wall as I thrust between her legs. There are too many layers of clothes between us, but I’m not going to rush this. I’m going to make her wait.

Knova pulls back, and I let my slick fingers slide out of her mouth. “Hurry the fuck up. Stop wasting my time.”

“You’ve got quite a mouth on you.” I nip at her neck, making her squeak.

She pants a few times. “What are you going to do about it?”

I lower my hand to her neck and wrap it around her throat. Knova moans.

“You’re a little bit of a freak, aren’t you, wife?” I lick her neck, near the pad of my thumb. I don’t know what’s come over me, only that antagonism has always worked for us, so why wouldn’t it work now?

“You’re such a dick,” Knova growls.

I tighten my grip slightly. “That’s what you like the most about me, though, isn’t it? My dick? You seemed to enjoy it last week.”

“Fuck… you…” Knova whines and arches her back away from the wall.

“I think what you want,” I whisper, “is for me to fuck you .”

She melts against me, her words at odds with her body language. “I’m not sure you have it in you, Viktor.”

That’s it. When I release Knova, she almost topples into me. I scoop her over one shoulder. She responds by squirming, which makes her awfully hard to hold onto. I’m glad I only have to get her to the bed a few paces away. I drop her into the bed so that she’s lying face-up, glowering at me. I waste no time before lowering myself onto her and letting my fingers settle beneath her jawline.

“What would it take to make that sour mood of yours sweeten right up, I wonder?” I ask.

“You’re insufferable,” she mutters. “You think your dick is enough to distract me from my anger? From how much I fucking hate you!”

“I happen to believe that my dick can be pretty distracting.” I raise her shirt and push her bra up out of the way so that I can lick one of her breasts. The areola is dark against her pale skin, her nipple already tight and eager for my touch. I circle it with my tongue, and she bucks her hips.

“Arrogant,” she hisses.

“Brat,” I retort. I slide my hand between her legs on the outside of her jeans and rub her through the layers of fabric.

“Jesus Christ, will you hurry the fuck up?” she complains.

I sit up and flip her onto her belly, pulling her hips back against mine. Her legs slide off the edge of the bed, and she wriggles until I slide one arm beneath her hips to support her. Knova gasps when my other hand goes to the fly of her jeans and tugs it down. The damn pants are so tight that it takes a full thirty seconds for me to peel them down enough to reveal her ass.

I want to devour every inch of her. I want to bruise her hips with my hands, lick the sweat off her spine, and press my nose into the crack of her ass like a starving man. But I don’t. Not yet.

Because if I let go like that, I’ll say too much. I’ll say everything.

Still holding her in place, I slide my middle finger inside her. It’s easy enough; she’s already so wet.

“No wonder you were so grumpy tonight.” I nuzzle the back of her neck. “You needed this, didn’t you?”

“I don’t need shit from you, Viktor,” Knova snarls.

I add another finger and fuck her open with my long, slow strokes. “Really? Because you’re so wet for me right now. I think you like being nasty.”

“I’m horny,” she mutters. “It has nothing to do with you. I could go grab any random man off the street, and this would happen.”

I add a third finger. “Are you sure about that?”

“Do you always talk this much in bed?” she complains.

I bite the back of her neck—gently, but enough to make Knova jump. The change of angle allows my fingers to reach just a little deeper, and she shudders, tightening around me.

“Don’t act like you don’t like it.” I bite her again, a little harder. Same result. It’s incredibly satisfying. “Fighting with me gets you off. But you know what else is going to get you off?”

“Your fucking monologue?” she snaps.

I pull my fingers free of her quivering flesh and slap her ass hard enough to leave a handprint. Then I begin the war with my own zipper. “You’re going to come when I fuck that pretty cunt of yours, Knova. When I stretch you open and make you shatter so hard you see stars. And when you’ve had enough, I’m going to come inside you, because you’re. My. Wife. Because you’re the only one I want, Knova. Because I—”

Love you. Except I don’t want this to be the first time she hears it, when we’re fight-fucking after an argument I don’t even understand. When I tell her, I want her to believe me. Now is not the time.

“Because I know you want me as badly as I want you,” I say instead. “Is that what you want, Knova? You want me to stretch that greedy little pussy? Say it. Tell me you want my dick.” This time, I kiss her shoulders.

Please tell me if we still have a chance.

She groans into the sheets. “If it will make you shut up and fuck me, then yes, I—oh!” I thrust into her, and every tense muscle in her body seems to melt. If I wasn’t holding onto her, she’d slide right off the side of the mattress.

The second I’m inside her, my vision whites out at the edges. I have to bite down on the inside of my cheek to keep from telling her I love her.

I fuck her like she’s mine—because she is. I fuck her like she’s already wearing my name on her soul. I fuck her like I need her to remember this the next time she tries to leave me.

“You feel that?” I growl into her ear. “That stretch? That sting? That’s me, babe. That’s what you needed. You just didn’t want to admit it.”

Moving steadily, I use the strength of my hips as well as the strength of my arms around her middle for leverage.

Sometimes I wonder if the only thing Knova knows how to do is fight, but she doesn’t fight me now. She relaxes into my touch, moaning and panting as I claim her.

Given that I’m a little preoccupied with keeping us both upright, still mostly dressed and not at the most ideal angle for this activity, I can’t reach her clit. “Touch yourself, brat,” I urge.

Knova shifts in my arms until she can maneuver one hand between her legs. She arches her back to meet me, allowing me deeper, and I redouble the enthusiastic motion of my hips.

“You’ve gotten off on this before, haven’t you?” I ask. “You’ve touched yourself while you imagined how I would feel inside you.”

With a sudden cry, Knova tenses around me. The shock of her orgasm catches me off guard. My own hips stutter, and then I come and come and come with her tight cunt fluttering around me.

I press my face into her hair. “You can stop being mean to me now, Knova.” My thoughts are so jumbled right now, I can’t think clearly. I want more. I want her. I want to undress her and make love to her and fall asleep with her head on my shoulder.

I want to fix whatever went wrong earlier tonight. The problem is, I have no idea where to start.

But if I reach for her now, she might bolt. If I try to hold her too close, she’ll wriggle free. So I stay still. I stay quiet.

And I pray—for once in my life—that what I just gave her was enough to make her stay.