Chapter 20
Cora bends over the sink, brushing her teeth in the bathroom when I get to our bedroom.
"You're still up." I lean against the doorjamb, watching. Her hair is pulled up in a messy ponytail at the top of her head, and her face is freshly washed. She wears minimal makeup typically, which is refreshing from all the painted-on faces I see in the media and at the absurd business parties I attend from time to time.
Cora is a real woman, not some fabricated image she wants to put forth. Everything about her is exactly as she is—pure.
She wipes her mouth with a washcloth and looks at me through the mirror.
"I was reading, time got away from me." She tosses the washcloth into the hamper. "You missed dinner," she says, turning around and leaning her ass against the countertop. She's wearing a nightshirt that hits her mid-thigh.
Having her thighs wrapped around me while I sink into her silky warmth has been on the top of my thoughts since the last time my cock was sheathed by her pussy.
Fuck. I've barely made it a full day without fucking her and all I can think about is getting my cock in her again.
"I had a meeting."
"You have a lot of meetings." She presses her hands against the counter and lifts herself up to sit beside the sink. Her ankles cross.
I step into the bathroom, unbuttoning my shirt and peeling it from my body. It's like peeling off a second skin. This suit and tie I wear to attend board meetings, and meetings with accountants. The pretense that I'm more than a mob boss whose body is scarred with the truth of my past.
"It's going to be worse next week. The Kustov businesses have officially been put in my hands."
"You're the sole owner?"
"I'm the biggest owner. There's a board and trustees, it's not as simple as one person. But I own enough of the company for it to be mine."
After my shirt hits the hamper, I reach for my belt, quickly shucking out of my pants.
Her legs slide open for me, when I get close to her, and I step between them, already wanting nothing more than to drag her ass to the edge of the counter and shove my cock into her tight, hot pussy.
"So, now that you own it, or the majority of it, are you going to keep running it the way your grandmother did, or are you making changes?" She leans back on her hands.
It's so normal, this conversation.
A married couple just having an easy exchange while they get ready for bed.
Except we're not a normal couple.
And I have more plans than just going to sleep.
Caging her in, I press my hands to the counter on either side of her.
"No. I'm not doing anything like my grandmother." I inhale her. She smells of vanilla and honey.
"No?" Her eyes fixate on my mouth. Does she want me to kiss her?
I want to devour her.
"I'm going to break the company into tiny pieces and sell them off to the highest bidder as soon as I'm allowed." I lean down and kiss her shoulder where the nightshirt has slipped and exposed her skin.
"You're going to kill the company?" she asks. "Is the company in bad shape?"
I drag my nose along her shoulder to her jaw and kiss her chin. "It's doing great. Makes more money than I could ever spend in my lifetime. Not the point."
"I don't understand." She gently pushes one hand against my shoulder. "You got married so you could take possession of a company you're not going to run? You're just going to sell it all off?"
"I could just run it into the ground, that idea had merit, but the board would make it impossible. And this way, I'll walk away much richer." I level my eyes to hers.
"You don't want it?"
"I do want it." I pause. "I want it destroyed and my grandmother's family name to disappear in the ashes."
She pulls back and blinks a few times. "Why would you do that?"
"Because that family abandoned my mother, turned their backs on her. When she was sick and dying, her mother still would not speak to her and didn't even send a flower to her funeral." Rage heats my skin.
"What about all of the people that work for the company? They'll just lose their jobs?"
"Companies are bought and sold all the time, Cora. This won't be any different."
She frowns. "You hate them so much, huh?"
Sadness touches the question.
"My mother deserved better from her family."
Silence builds between us.
"And what about your children?" she asks softly. "I mean later, when you have them. Wouldn't having this enormous company be something you can leave to them, for them to grow and work in?"
"I have several family businesses; I don't need this one."
"Yes, but Kustov Metals wouldn't be so violent." She touches the scar on my chest from a knife fight years ago. I won, but the fucker managed to cut pretty deep before I plunged mine into his throat.
"And you think my other businesses are?" I tilt my head. How much has my girl been investigating while she's been on her own these past few nights?
"Maybe not the restaurants and the dance clubs, but the other stuff." She pokes another scar on my shoulder. A bullet wound from ten years ago.
"What other stuff?"
She rakes her teeth over her bottom lip. "I don't know exactly what you and your cousins do, and I don't think I want to know, but I do know that dance club and restaurant owners don't usually get shot at, and have knives dragged across their chests." Her smile tilts.
"Should I be worried that you're able to identify my scars?" I tuck a loose strand of hair behind her ear.
She laughs. "Before I decided to go to school for a teaching degree, I wanted to be a writer. I liked to write scary stories. Some of my research was a little gruesome."
"Is that what you've been working on when I see you tapping away at your computer? Describing some twisted murder scene?"
She sighs. "No. I haven't played with writing in a long time. I've been mostly scouring the job market and working on scholarship essays."
"I told you; you don't need a job. And why would you need a scholarship? I'm your scholarship."
"I know, but at some point, I will, and?—"
I cover my hand over her mouth. Her eyes go wide.
"I don't want to talk about that. If we talk about it, it's going to ruin my mood." When she nods her agreement, I let her go.
"You mean this is a good mood?" she teases.
I huff a laugh.
"Oh, my god. I think you just smiled!" She bursts into a wide grin and cups my cheek. "Yes. I think so, your muscles are strained from the new movement."
I pinch her hip through the nightshirt. "You're being a brat."
A pretty pink blush rushes up her neck and covers her face.
"How do you treat brats, Sergei?" Her voice lowers into a silky soft tone. My cock aches to be inside her, and I'm done denying myself.
"Time to show you." I scoop her off the counter and toss her easily over my shoulder.
She giggles when I burst through the bathroom door and bring her to the bed.
Our bed.
"Get out of that nightshirt and lie down." I shove out of my boxers.
She sobers with my command. "I… can I keep it on? It's a little cold in here."
"Don't worry, Cora. It's going to get plenty warm."