I let her stew for a second as I try to decide how to play this. Marina is a beautiful, funny, smart woman and she really does deserve someone she loves, not some cold arrangement. But if I let myself get wrapped up in this, it might burn me.
"Why go through with it, then?" I ask her, starting to let myself wonder if there is a way to keep her around me longer while still accomplishing my goal to disrupt that alliance.
She's quiet for a moment. I can feel her tensing. "My family's scared," she says. "There's a new operation moving into thecity..." When she props herself up on her elbow, I know this is getting serious. "My family is... different. Obviously, you were at those illegal fights so you know a thing or two." She lifts an eyebrow, and I nod at her.
"A thing or two," I repeat, but I don't let on who I am or what I do. In time she'll learn, but right now, I still need this to go my way. Saying the name "Kuzin" around her will throw up alarm bells she shouldn't be hearing yet.
"Then you've heard of the Belovas... The Radins... Orlovs..." Her eyes search mine, but I give nothing away. "My father is a gun smuggler and if I don't marry Maksim Orlov, our enemies, the Radins, will start pushing us out. The family suffers, the business suffers..." She lies back down and sighs again. "I don't have a choice."
"And no little sister to marry him instead of you?" I say playfully, tickling her side, but she punches my hip softly.
"Stepan," she grumbles. I can't believe she's so comfortable with me. I hate that what I’m doing may end up hurting her. I really like her. In fact, I like her enough to wonder what it might be like if the Kuzins could align with the Belovas, save her family a lot of hassle.
"You'd sacrifice your whole life for your family?" I ask.
"It's just my only option." I hear the defeat in her tone and feel my heart cracking open. It sickens me to know her father would trade her like cattle. She's worth so much more than that and she deserves better.
"There's always another option," I say softly.
"Easy to say when you're not the one being traded."
Her voice isn't bitter when she says it. It's factual. She's accepted her position because fighting it won't change anything. The men in her life have made choices for her and if she doesn't follow through, her future is uncertain.
If I were a man who was just dating her, I know my response would be different, so I have to say something or she may get suspicious.
"What would it take for you to leave him? You know... stay with me? Be with me?"
She sits up abruptly, turning in bed to face me until the sheets, pressed tightly against her chest, twist and expose my dick. "We don't even know each other, Stepan. We just met, okay? And we had sex once."
I roll to my side and scowl on purpose, though I'm not feeling like scowling. Seeing her fiery side is hot. I want more of this side of her.
"Okay, but if you keep coming around, we'll get to know each other. I could convince you to leave that man and be with me if we end up having more than just chemistry, right?" I'm careful not to say anything insulting about Maksim Orlov because other than the comments she's said tonight, I have no way of knowing how she feels about him as a person.
"It's a very sweet gesture, but unfortunately, my hands are tied." Her head sinks and she sounds sad.
"So I can only enjoy you for a while, then?" I take her hand, pulling it away from her body, and the sheet falls, exposing her perfect breasts.
"I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner. I understand if you don’t want to see me again. I knew coming into this that it would be a fling and nothing more." Marina's sadness guts me and I reach for her instinctively, pulling her down onto my body until her lips press to mine and her tits are crushed to my chest.
"Then let’s make this the craziest fling we've ever had so I can remember you every day for the rest of my life." I grip her ass in both hands and grind up into her, and she smiles against my lips as I kiss her hard.
I'm so fucked.
Two impromptu dates and she's already under my skin.
I wonder what it will take to get rid of this Maksim guy for good so I can have her.
Because now that I've tasted what she has, I just might never let her go.
9
MARINA
The water in my bath is hot enough that my skin has turned pink everywhere I've been submerged the past hour. The bubbles are piled high as I soak and let my mind drift, trying to relax. I'm two glasses of wine in, a little fuller than normal too, and I'm feeling the delightful swirl of the alcohol as I think of Stepan and my predicament.
I can't believe he didn't even blink when I told him about Maksim. I assumed he may know a thing or two about the world of arranged marriages, but I didn't assume he'd take it all in stride.
I've seen him three more times in the past two weeks and each time, it gets harder to leave. I get so caught up in the way he makes me feel so wanted. There's never a second when I'm with him that his attention strays, and I've never seen him become short tempered or frustrated with me. It's like he genuinely wants to be in my presence, which isn't something I could ever say about Maksim.