“That’s why I made coffee.” She pointed at the cup, waiting for me to take another sip, and, like an idiot, I took another sip. I hated this shit. I set it down on the table.
When I turned to face her, my eyes caught her knee. Up close, the skin was scraped raw, and blood spread around the edges. She noticed me looking and pulled her dress down over it.
I looked at her. “Did I say I was planning to die tonight?”
“Sorry?”
“You could have thanked me tomorrow with your—” I stopped before I said what I actually thought about the coffee. “You didn’t need to sleep on the couch waiting and hurt your knee doing it.”
She waved her hand. “It’s nothing. Just a scratch.”
I wanted to take that at face value, but this was Inna, and Inna didn’t make cold coffee and wait on a couch past midnight just to say thank you. There was more, but she just wasn’t saying it.
“You’ll be moving into the mansion tomorrow.” I got up and started up the stairs.
“What?” She was on her feet immediately. “Why can’t we stay here?”
“We are married. Grandma will expect it.”
She followed me up and through the door into my room.
“Is it necessary? I have plans, and if we move there, it changes everything.”
“Plans?” I walked into the bathroom and pulled the first aid kit from the cabinet. “And who said you could make plans?”
She stood in the doorway. The coffee, the waiting, the knee she was pretending wasn’t bothering her, were all connected. She was smart, just not quite smart enough to play this in a direction I couldn’t see.
“The plan won’t get in the way of anything you need from me. And it’s easier if we stay here.”
“I’m curious.” I tore open a cotton pad and poured antiseptic over it. “What plans?”
“Cleaning.” She straightened slightly. “I can work as a cleaner in your organization just to earn money.” Her smile dropped the moment I stepped toward her. “What are you doing?” She looked down at the cotton pad in my hand, then up at me. “I can do it myself.”
“Sit down.” I signaled her to sit on the toilet.
“It’s just a scratch—”
“Sit the hell down.”
She gave up and sat down. She was suddenly mute. I pushed the hem of her dress back from her knee. The scrape was more raw than she was letting on.
“You were saying.”
She cleared her throat. “Let’s stay here.”
“No.”
She hissed and pulled her leg slightly. “Why not? We haven’teven talked about what you actually need me to do. Your family is going to figure out we are faking.”
I dropped the used cotton into the bin and faced her. She was close, sitting with her dress pushed back, and her lips parted. Standing in front of her, she could take my cock in her mouth really well.
Fuck!
“Act like my wife, Inna. If you do anything that makes anyone doubt what we are, you and I will have a serious problem.” My eyes stayed on her mouth for a moment. “I suggest you focus on what it means to be a good wife.”
Her eyebrows drew together. “Why do you always say no to everything I ask?”
“And who told you that you have the luxury of asking?”