Page 42 of Konstantin

I let out a wry laugh. “Look, if this is about sex…” My voice drops so the other tables don’t overhear. “Maybe we should just get it over with. That way you can be done with whatever interest you have in me.”

“You think I just want to fuck you?” His lips curl as he leansin, close enough that every nerve in my body sparks to life. “Net, katyonak. Of course I want to see you on your knees—begging, crying because you can’t take another orgasm.”

His hand grips mine, thumb drawing circles on my skin with rough tenderness. “But that’s not all this is. You’re the kind of woman I want to savor, Tessa. Slowly. Thoroughly. Again and again. Until you ache for it. Until you can’t breathe without it. Withoutme.”

I swallow hard, wanting everything he just described.

He’s dangerous. Arrogant. Criminal. Yet here I am being a whore for the enemy.

My lips wind into a smirk. “Bold of you to assume I’d be the one begging.”

Amusement flickers beneath the hunger breeding within his gaze.

“Oh, you will. And when you do, you’ll say my name like it’s a prayer…or a curse. Either way, you’ll mean every fucking syllable.”

My pulse skips, hand gripping the glass a little too tight.

This is exactly what I wanted, right? To make him want me, crave me. Until I’ve infiltrated every facet of his life.

Except I wasn’t supposed to feel this out of control of my own body.

“So, are you going to tell me who Nadia was?” I quickly change the subject, though the thought of that woman makes me want to punch something.

He sighs, like he’d rather talk about anything else. “We slept together. Once. Years ago. Her family runs in my circles, and she thought there’d be wedding bells, but I’ve never been one to desire marriage and I told her so.”

I’m surprised he gave me all of that. A man like Konstantin doesn’t strike me as the open-book kind of guy.

“So you never plan on getting married?”

He shakes his head. “There’s no need.”

“Me too.”

His brow pops. “And why is that?”

I laugh. “I need a reason, but you don’t?”

“Fair enough.” The sides of his eyes crinkle with his genuine smile.

“I’m sure your bed’s never empty, though. How many women are you sleeping with right now? One? Five?”

The image flashes through my mind: some faceless woman wrapped in his sheets, laughing at something he said, touching what I shouldn’t care about. But I do.

He squeezes my hand. “Right now? I’m hoping it’ll be you. No strings, of course. For either of us.”

My core tightens and I reach for my water, the cool glass the only thing keeping me grounded. I shouldn’t even be entertaining this. But it’s been so long. And that mouth… God help me, the things it did to me.

“You feel it too.” He drags his thumb over my knuckles. “Don’t lie to me.”

My throat dries. That voice could drag me straight to hell, and I’d beg him to take me deeper.

If he hadn’t destroyed my brother’s life, would I want him? Could I actually fall for someone who kills without blinking, who rules with fear and violence?

I don’t want to know the answer. But deep down in the darkest, most broken parts of me…I think I could. And that makes me just as twisted.

“No.” It’s barely a whisper.

His smile is murky and knowing. “You lie.”