Page 16 of Twisted Fate
I wonder if I’m being ridiculous as I pour myself another drink. I stride out onto the patio, feeling the warm, dry air fill my lungs, and movement catches my eye to my left.
Sophia is walking out onto her private patio—also connected to mine by a low, black-barred fence with a gate. An easy barrier to cross, if I wanted to do so.
In the dark, she hasn’t yet seen that I’m standing here. My heart stutters in my chest as I turn just in time to see her fully—her pale skin luminous in the moonlight, her body only just covered by the barest scraps of a black bikini.
In an instant, my cock goes from soft to rock hard, throbbing with need at the sight of her.
She’s a fucking vision, all lean muscle and curves that I ache to run my hands over, the shape of her breasts a perfect, firm handful against the creamy skin of her chest. Her dark hair is piled up on her head, showing off her long, slender neck, and my lips tingle with the desire to run them across her skin.
She steps down into the water, and I take a gulp of my drink.
The burn isn’t enough to distract me, not as I watch the water kiss her calves, lap against her thighs, rise to brush against the hidden place between them.
It skims her stomach, her ribs, beneath her breasts, and somehow my cock grows harder with each lap of water against her skin, harder than I can remember ever having been in my entire fucking life.
She ducks beneath the water, disappearing for a moment, and I reach down to adjust myself, letting out a hiss between my teeth at the sensation of my hand pressing against my aching cock.
When she comes up out of the water, drops sliding down her skin in the moonlight, it takes everything in me not to open the gate and go to her.
I clutch the railing with one hand, knuckles turning white as I struggle to get my desire under control, to not either go to her or get my cock out here, stroking it until I get my much-needed release.
The sight of her, wet and lithe and achingly beautiful, is a vision that I’ll never be able to get out of my head. I can feel blood pounding in my temples, and I close my eyes briefly, tossing back the rest of my drink as I fight for control.
When I open my eyes again, Sophia is looking right at me.
“Come join me,” she splashes her hand against the water, her gaze impossible to read in the darkness. Her voice is light, but there’s a challenge in it, taunting me to deny her again, now that I’ve seen so much of her. “The water’s nice.”
“I’m sure it is.” It takes effort to keep my voice even, to not betray how very thin the thread of my self-control is right now.
She seems to realize that I’m not going to take the bait, turning to look out over the nighttime view of the savannah. "It's beautiful here," she says finally, breaking the silence. "Peaceful."
I nod, following her gaze up to the stars. "A good place to think."
She glances over at me. "Is that what you're doing? Thinking?"
"Always." My mouth twists ruefully, and I’m glad that she can’t see my expression clearly.
Sophia tilts her head, refusing to let it go. “Your position requires that you always be on, Konstantin? That you never allow yourself peace or relaxation or a moment where you’re just yourself, ever?”
“I’m the heir to the Miami Bratva,” I bite out sharply.
“I have responsibilities, Sophia. I’m sure that’s unfamiliar to you.
” I pause, hoping she’ll take offense and leave me alone.
I look out toward the grasslands, shrouded in darkness under the starry night sky.
It’s never possible to see this many stars back in Miami.
They’re endless here, a dusting of diamonds across a velvet canopy.
She doesn’t take offense—at least not enough to go back inside, and stop tormenting me.
“You’re worried about what happens when it all becomes yours,” she says it matter-of-factly, as she climbs out of the pool, walking toward the fence that separates my patio from hers.
“What you’ll do, if you’ll be a good leader. ”
“It’s more complicated than that,” I eye her cautiously. I’m not about to share my secrets with her, or what I think about on nights like tonight. There’s no world in which I’m going to allow Sophia Moretti that close to me.
“You know,” she murmurs softly, and I jump slightly, realizing that she’s very close to me now—close enough to touch, if I wanted to. The barrier of metal between us is nothing at all—it only comes up to her chest. I could reach across it to her. I could unlatch the gate?—
“I might have started out as a part of your father’s plan for you,” she continues, her voice soft and silky, “but I’m yours now, Konstantin. There’s no reason to push me away.”
I’m yours now. The words go straight to my aching cock, sending a bolt of white-hot desire through me. I want her so badly right now that it fucking hurts, but I don’t like being pushed. My entire life is managed, controlled by someone else.
I want to be the one in control in my own fucking marriage.
Sophia leans in, the scent of her warm skin and the chlorine from the pool wafting towards me, mixed with the dry, grassy scent of the night air. And for a moment… just a single moment, I can’t help but wonder what it could hurt to let myself lean in too… and take what I’m dying to have.