Total pages in book: 84
Estimated words: 82579 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 413(@200wpm)___ 330(@250wpm)___ 275(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82579 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 413(@200wpm)___ 330(@250wpm)___ 275(@300wpm)
“I have no idea what you want, little fencer.”
I flinch at the nickname. “Don’t call me that.”
He takes a breath and blows it out, obviously fighting to get himself under control. But what’s he struggling with? I’m tempted to walk toward him, to close the distance between us. It doesn’t have to be all pain and anger. It doesn’t need to be a lifetime of hate and acrimony. If we can hold on to that night and let ourselves be those people one more time—
“From now on, we’re colleagues,” he says, tone completely flat.
And I go very still. “What’s that mean?”
“You and I mean nothing. I have no interest in a wife, and I’m doing this out of obligation to my family. I assume it’s the same for you.”
“No, I actually really wanted to marry a total stranger. I volunteered for it.”
He doesn’t find my sarcasm amusing. “Then we cut a deal right now. That night never happened. You’ll be my wife in name only. We’ll live our separate lives and do the bare minimum to appease our families. Beyond that, I have no interest in you, and I don’t expect you to ask anything of me. Am I making myself clear?”
Slowly, the tiny speck of hope that was growing in my guts withers away and turns to bile in the back of my throat.
“I hear you. Lev.” I put emphasis on the name, mostly because I’m trying to hurt him now, because I feel like he’s hurting me.
It doesn’t need to be this way.
Except my future husband is a fucking asshole, and that’s how it’s going to be.
“Good. I’m glad you understand. Now, we’ll go out there, we’ll smile, we’ll pretend like we had a nice, productive conversation, and you won’t fuck this up. We never met. We don’t know each other. Understood?”
“You don’t have to be such an asshole about it.”
“Actually, I feel like I do.” His jaw works. Is that a little emotion from the ice king? I don’t give a shit if I pissed him off.
“That night wasn’t about you,” I snap at him, letting loose now. He wants to be enemies? Then we can be enemies. “I just wanted something for myself. All I wanted was to lose my virginity to someone I chose, and I had the bad fucking luck to end up in your shitty bed that night. So don’t misunderstand anything, Lev. We’ll get married. We’ll act like it’s all good. But I have no interest in you, at all.”
His surprise thrills me. I like that I got under his skin. He stares, and for the first time, he looks like he doesn’t know what to say. “Your… virginity?”
“Yes, dickhead. I was a virgin that night. And if I got my way, you wouldn’t have been involved at all. Guess we both got fucked.”
Surprise turns to anger. It’s cold and terrifying, a real fury. He comes toward me, jaw working. “You were going to throw yourself at some stranger, all to avoid sleeping with your husband for your first time?”
“I was taking control of my life,” I shoot back at him, standing my ground, even though I want to run. “Like I said, it had nothing to do with you.”
“That could’ve been anyone. You could’ve gotten hurt. What the hell were you thinking?” He stops on the other side of the coffee table. Eight feet separates us at most.
“What do you care?”
“I nearly cut that fucking prick’s throat.”
I rear back in shock. The casual way he says it sends my pulse skittering. I remember his shirt, stained with blood. “You did what?”
“That guy was going to follow you out into the street and do God knows what. I made sure he’d think twice before bothering a woman ever again. And there you were, stumbling around, throwing yourself into a stupid situation. You couldn’t have been more out of control if you tried.”
“Screw you, Lev. You don’t even know me at all.”
“I feel like I know you very well now.”
“Don’t be disgusting.” I jab my finger in the air between us. “You want to forget that night happened? Then you stop throwing it in my face. You want to be colleagues? Then you don’t get a say in what I do.”
He lets that sink in. I glare at him, and he glares right back. This went so absolutely fucking terrible, and I don’t know how we ended up here, but I don’t think I’ve ever despised someone so much in my entire life.
He could’ve handled this so much better. I gave him my freaking virginity that night, and he’s acting like the whole thing was a mistake. I want to scream into a pillow and sob myself to sleep, but I absolutely will not give him the satisfaction of knowing how much this hurts right now.