“I don’t believe any of that.”
“I’m the one with the memories, remember?” He brushes his lips against mine and I taste something different than any of the other times he’s kissed me, but I can’t quite put my finger on it.
Kyle has always had a distinctive taste and smell, but right now it feels like a mixture of longing, despair, and something else.
“That doesn’t mean whatever you said happened.”
“It did.”
“In your dreams, maybe.”
“In my dreams, I’m thrusting into your wet cunt and feel it strangle my dick as you scream my name. Do you want me to show you?”
Blood rushes to my cheeks. How can he remain so calm while saying shit like that? I’m on the verge of combusting. “Let me go.”
“You’re a fan of that sentence, but you should know by now that it doesn’t work on me. I need to continue touching you so you can familiarize yourself with me again. You usually get aroused the moment I touch you.”
“That’s not true!”
Challenge twinkles in his eyes. “Do you want me to prove it?”
“No!”
“I’m in the mood to check.” His fingers leave my face and bunch the material of my dress.
Shit.
He can’t get that close this early. He just can’t. Because if he goes any further, I have no clue how I’m going to react to him.
“Are you going to force yourself on me?”
He pauses, the dark blues of his eyes zeroing in on me. “What the fuck did you just say?”
“I don’t want this, so if you go any further, you’re taking me against my will.”
“Against your will,” he repeats, as if he’s getting a taste of the words.
“Well, aren’t you?”
“If I want to fuck you, I will.” The darkness in his voice penetrates me to the bones. “I can and will use your body against you until you beg me for more. You’re my wife, Rai. You took vows, you said your ‘I do’, and guess what? I believe in till death do us fucking part.”
My heartbeat explodes like a thousand bombs thrown all at once. I try to regulate it, to think of the current situation, but the way his eyes hold me hostage keeps me pinned in place.
He’s going to act on his threat, and I have no will or strength to escape.
His mouth hovers an inch over mine and I slam my eyes shut, not wanting to look at him. Maybe if I don’t, this whole thing will end and—
Kyle’s lips brush against my forehead and he releases me. I blink, but before I can form a proper reaction, he lies on his back and pulls me atop him so my head is nuzzled in his chest.
“You’re tired, so sleep for now, Princess. I’ll deal with you when your strength is back.”
7
Rai
Kyle hasn't left my side.
He stays with me every step of the way, refusing to budge. When I wake up in the morning, he’s there to join me for a walk. When I sit down for meals, he pays extra attention to placing food on my plate. When I ask either Ruslan or Katia to help me with something, he dismisses them and takes over the task.
It doesn’t matter that I keep shooing him away; he bounces right back like he’s rubber. He’s impossible to deal with—or rather, get rid of. So I come up with the simple solution of pretending he doesn’t exist.
The keyword being, pretend. Because there’s no way in hell his presence can become invisible.
It’s been a week since I was discharged from the hospital, and as per Sergei’s orders, Kyle has been accompanying me to V Corp. In order to work without hassle, I had the doctor tell Kyle that even though I lost my memories from the past ten years, I can still access the part of my brain that stores my cognitive skills, and therefore I do remember how to do business.
While Kyle has been doting on me, he’s not an idiot. If I somehow give off vibes that I do remember and I’ve been lying to him all along, things will take a turn for the worse.
During the past week, I’ve been purposefully pretending to be asleep so I can listen to his phone calls. He hadn’t made one, but he often texts on his phone or uses his laptop. I tried snooping around in those, but as expected, they are password protected.
I still haven’t figured out his plan, but I will soon. If he’s going to remain secretive, I’ll have no choice but to take this to the next step.
Sergei appointed Kyle as a director, but his position doesn’t require him to be present on an everyday basis. Even so, he still shows up by my side as if he’s my senior bodyguard or something, and that makes it hard to concentrate on work and meetings, like right now. The more I ignore him, the darker his shadow perches on my life.
“That’s it for today,” I tell one of the directors. “Email me the proposal and your suggestions.”
He nods. Rustling of papers fill the conference room before the rest of the board members take their leave as well.
I stand up and grab my bag. On my way to the exit, a strong arm wraps around my stomach and pulls me back against his the ridges of his strong body.
“What are you doing?” I search the room, and thankfully, everyone else has left. Not that Kyle cares either way. He somehow always has his hand on me, whether at the small of my back, on my nape, my thigh, my hand—everywhere, basically. It’s like he can’t stop touching me or something,
“I’m taking you out for lunch.”
“I don’t want lunch. I have paperwork to finish.”
“You can finish it after lunch.”
“Or I can finish it now.”
“Or you can go with me and eat. You didn’t have a proper breakfast this morning.”
I hate that he notices the little things. He shouldn’t. That’s not how this is supposed to be.
“Whether I eat or not is none of your concern.”
“Of course it is. I can’t have my wife faint due to malnutrition.”
“My answer is still no.”
“You can go willingly or I can just kidnap you. I don’t have to tell you which option I would prefer, do I?” He winks, and I’m tempted to claw his eyes out.
It’s useless to fight him when he decides to be his awfully protective self. It’s a side of Kyle I haven’t witnessed a lot before, but it doesn’t affect me as much as I thought it would. Maybe because now I know what he truly is, who he truly is, so I don’t see it as protectiveness but as another way to manipulate me. After all, the reason he approached me was to get information and destroy those I love through me.
Shooing those thoughts away, I pull away from him and head to the parking lot. This is my chance to take this further. We don’t have time to waste—we never did—but I guess during the time I’ve been pretending I’ve lost my memories, I was hoping to unravel something from him and not have to do this.
Desperate times call for desperate measures.
I get in the car first and fasten my seatbelt, then type a text to Vlad.
Rai: Are you free?
Vladimir: Depends on the reason.
Rai: What if I told you I can get you the one who knows about the Irish’s plans?
Vladimir: Then I can carve out time.