Throne of Power: An Arranged Marriage Mafia Romance (Throne Duet Book 1)

I expect Rai to kick me in the balls like she promised she would. I’m already prepared to catch her knee.

But that’s sober Rai.

Drunk Rai stares at me with sadness so deep its sharp edge points at my chest.

I have no idea why I allowed her to get drunk in the first place, knowing full well she becomes even more unpredictable—and free—when on the liquor. She lost some of her shackles on the way here, and I’m seeing a glimpse of the carefree girl she was when Nikolai was alive, the girl who couldn’t care less about the traditional binds or what the world thinks of her.

“Why do you know I like black?” she murmurs, not attempting to release her wrists from underneath my hold.

“You think I forgot just because I left?”

“You should. That’s how it’s supposed to be,” she pants, slamming her eyes shut hard before she opens them again. This time, moisture coats her lower lids.

I wipe a finger under her eyes, taking her tears for my own. Everything that’s hers will be mine now, whether it’s her tears or her anger, or even her hotheaded stubbornness.

The moment I saw Kai’s henchman hold a gun to her forehead, I nearly killed them both then and there. For a second, I forgot about my mission and the fact that, for my plan to work, Kai and Lazlo need to be only injured, not gone. It wouldn’t do me any good to eliminate the two strongest heads whose organizations wouldn’t hesitate to seek revenge as a result.

However, at that moment, I wanted Kai’s vacant eyes, and I wanted them even more when he tried to touch her. It took godlike patience to hold on to my end goal and only threaten the bastard.

“I never forgot anything about you, Princess.” And it wasn’t by fucking choice. Rai has always been something I can never erase from my head, no matter how much I try to.

It’s like having an unreachable itch and not knowing where exactly it is located.

She closes her hands into fists, and she would probably hit me if they were free. “Liar. Asshole.”

“I’m fine with that, but do you know what I’m not fine with?” My voice gains an edge as I wrap my free hand around her throat. “You putting yourself in danger or running straight to it like you did today. Repeat that again and I’ll punish you.”

“You…you can’t punish me.” I don’t miss the way her drunken voice lowers at the word punish.

“Oh, I very much can and I will if you keep having such little regard for your fucking safety. Also…” I tighten my hold around her neck, not hard enough to cut off her oxygen, but firm enough to keep her attention on me. “You don’t let other men near you. You don’t touch them, act friendly around them, or talk to them more than necessary.”

“Or what?” she asks coyly. “You’re going to puuuunish me?”

“I will.”

“Hooow?”

“I have my methods.”

“Why don’t you show me?”

“Show you?”

“Yup.” She giggles then whispers as if she doesn’t want anyone else to hear. “Punish me.”

Fuck me.

My dick strains against my trousers with the need to rip off her flimsy underwear and fuck her into the mattress so hard she’ll remember me on her for days. I’ll mark her fair skin so it’s full of my bites and evidence of who she belongs to.

The only thing that stops me from doing so is her drunken state. I might be immoral, but I’m no rapist. Knowing her episodes, she’ll have little to no recollection of this in the morning, and I will not be integrated into her mind as the one who fucked her when she was wasted.

Besides, I want her completely in the act with me, and I sure as fuck want her to remember me come morning. After all, it’s no fun when she doesn’t scream.

“Why aren’t you doing it?” She bucks against the bed, but a squeeze of my hand around her throat keeps her in place. She groans, her cheeks heating with the effort. “You did it earlier.”

“When?”

“At the wedding.”

“No, I didn’t.”

“Yes, you did. Like this.” She lifts her head, and I give her a bit of leeway to see what she’ll do. Rai seals her lips to mine. It’s brief, almost like a peck, before she attempts to fall back. I let her, but I don’t allow her lips to leave mine.

Fuck it. I feast on her as I did at the altar, licking and nibbling. She keeps her lips closed for a fraction of a second before she opens up with a moan, letting me eat her whole.

Her eyes roll back as I kiss her hard and rough. I don’t stop to allow either of us any breath. I don’t stop when she whimpers, her body going slack underneath me.

I kiss her like this is our first and last time, like I’ve been deprived of it for life, and I probably have. Why the fuck wasn’t I kissing this woman before?

It takes all my self-restraint to wrench my mouth from hers. She’s panting, staring at me with heavy-lidded eyes that are asking for trouble, something I’m more than willing to provide.

I release her neck so I can latch onto the delicate skin of her throat.

Rai’s back arches off the bed as small, needy noises leave her lips. It’s the first time I’ve heard her arousal, and fuck if that isn’t a bloody turn-on.

I ravage her faster, licking then biting down, causing her to gasp and moan at the same time, as if she doesn’t know which one fits the situation. Despite her stony external image, her skin tastes like fucking honey.

Her scent, something like roses and citrus mixed with alcohol, intoxicates me, and I become drunk on her. Not the liquor—her.

Her taste and scent hit me straight in the head, and the animal in me rears up, demanding to play.

I bite and suck on her skin, imagining how it would feel if I owned every last inch of her body here and now.

“K-Kyle…” Her moan hits me in the head, too, like a double shot. Then she does something sober Rai would never do. She glides her stomach up and down my dick, grinding against me slowly, seductively even.

Holy. Fuck. I might come here and now like a bloody teenager.

She doesn’t stop her up and down motion, keeping a steady rhythm. “A-are you going to punish me, Kyle?”

“Yes, I will,” I rasp against her throat.

“Now?” The uncertainty in her voice gives me pause.

After one last lick to her neck, I begrudgingly release her skin and pull away from her, causing her to stop the grinding.

I was too close to taking an irrevocable step.

Rai blinks up at me, her half-naked body still splayed in front of me, tempting me to fuck it and her to the point of no return.

I pull the sheets from underneath her and cover her to the chin.

“What about my punishment?” She doesn’t hide the disappointment in her tone.

“Not in the mood.”

“Fuuuuck youuu.” She forces her eyes shut and a tear slides down her cheek.

Soon after, her breaths even out and she lets out a deep, pained sigh. I wipe her tear and pull her to my side as I lie on my back.

My lips find her forehead and she whimpers softly, her leg wrapping over mine.

“I’ll take a raincheck on punishing and owning you, Princess.”

Because when that happens, there’ll be no going back.