The Mafia and His Obsession, Part 2 by Lylah James

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 3

 

 

Valerie

 

Viktor had a way to speak his words without actually saying them. His actions spoke louder, his kisses told me his thoughts, and his touches whispered his silent promises.

I understood them.

I believed them.

And I knew, just like he promised, one day…our story would take place beyond those four walls. We would be free from the chains that kept us here.

His kisses made me breathless, and I kissed him back, determined to steal his breath. He had left his mark on my soul and I wanted to leave mine on his, so this way—we would be one.

I smiled against his lips and he pulled away just slightly, so he could rest his forehead against mine. His chest heaved and his hands dropped to my hips, holding me, anchoring me to him.

I wrapped my legs around his waist. My eyes opened to stare into his dark ones. There was always something there, a touch of insanity. Some days he looked unhinged, a beast clawing from deep within. He had the power to crush someone’s neck with his bare hands, and I knew he had done it before, maybe more than once. Other days, he looked calm. But never less deadly.

Viktor Ivanshov was the type of man who lived on the adrenaline from making men whimper in fear, their blood running cold, and then he would stab his knife in precisely. A clean death. Although I had a feeling he liked it messy sometimes. There was a darkness in him that I should have feared, but I had never felt safer than right here in his arms.

He placed a chaste kiss on my lips and I moaned in response when he pulled away. A few minutes ago, he was a man set on killing Valentin. His face had hardened and his eyes—they had held so much cruelty, darkness, a promise of pain and blood for my husband.

But now, that look has disappeared, replaced by a boyish charm. The corners of his lips lifted with a small smirk, his signature move that gave him the perfect arrogant look. He knew exactly the effect he had on me. Viktor was so sure he could make my knees weak, and there was no denying it—he was absolutely right.

He made my knees weak, my heart sing, and he forced my soul to dance.

It was perfect in the most imperfect way. Our time together were filled with cracks and flaws, forbidden with a touch of perfection. It was toxic for both of us.

But damn it all to hell, it was us. And I didn’t want anything else.

With his tight grip on my hips, he lifted me off the bathroom counter. I kept my legs around his waist as he carried me out of the bathroom. Halfway to the bed, my towel slipped away and fell to the floor. My naked body pressed against his suited one. My softness molding around his roughness.

His hands went to my ass, and he squeezed the firm globes. When my breath hitched, he chuckled in my neck. His lips grazed tenderly over the throbbing veins.

Viktor set me down beside the bed. He reached for the dress lying on the chair and handed it to me. He settled on the edge of the bed and watched me. I did quick work of dressing myself, and he handed me the comb. All of it was done in silence.

I dressed. He stared. I breathed. He breathed. Thousands of words were left unsaid, but we understood the silence. It was comforting.

When I was done, he gripped my wrist and pulled me onto his lap. The sun was up across the horizon; our time was now limited. He had to leave before anyone would catch me outside my bedroom. It was a dangerous game of cat and mouse we played.

Viktor sniffed my hair and then buried his nose in my neck, filling his lungs with more of my scent. “You are such a caveman,” I said.

Even though I couldn’t hear my voice, I felt the vibration in my throat and jaw. I was finally getting a hang of how loud or soft I spoke.

“What can I say? You bring out that side of me. If I beat my chest and growl harder, would you let me fuck you? Tarzan style?” he rumbled. I looked up and found mischief in his eyes. God, how I wanted to treasure this moment.

My hand swatted at his chest, and he threw his head back, laughing. I watched him laugh freely, his whole demeanor transforming, and it made him look so young, so free, so handsome. He was beautiful.

My fingers traced his jaw and then his lips. “I wish I could hear your laughter,” I tried to whisper. “I bet it’s beautiful. Rich, rough, and dark, just like you.”

I watched his mouth say my name. Valerie. I touched the softness of his lips, stopping the rest of his words. “I want to hear you say my name, Viktor. I want things I can’t have, but I can’t stop myself from wanting them.”

I used to think that my deafness was my power. I had learned to make it my strength and used it against my enemies, those who wanted to torture and rip apart my soul.

Since I had met Viktor, I realized how desperately I wanted to hear his voice and listen to his laughter. It would have been music to my ears. I just knew it. It was little things like this we would take for granted.

“When I was younger, I used to dream of meeting my soul mate, the man I would adore and the man who would cherish me. I used to dream of our moments, the little things that would make us happy. I always thought I would be the perfect girl for him. I would never lack for anything. I would be everything he needed, wanted, and I would never give him my flaws.”

Viktor stayed silent, listening to my words. The only noticeable change in him was the way his grip clenched around my hips. He pulled me closer.

My fingers flexed over his jaw, and I touched his lips again. I couldn’t seem to stop feeling the softness and fullness of his lips, as if I were tasting his words.

My voice rumbled from my chest when I continued, my words slipping out. I told him my deepest secret. “But now all I can give you are imperfections and a body that has been used, a soul that has been bruised, and lips that have been kissed by a filthy man. I have so many flaws, Viktor. I am no longer a girl who can give her man something of her own, because I have…nothing. Everything has been taken and used.”

His dark eyes were intense, sharp, and they made my breath hitch, staring right into me, a mirror to my soul. His look screamed of madness; it was vicious and furious. Although in the deepest part of me, those eyes brought me calm. They soothed my bruised soul.

He saw the deepest cracks, his gaze whispering over every inch of it. He didn’t shy away from them, he stared…and it felt like he was appreciating them. Every flaw of mine, he cradled them as if they belonged to him.

Viktor held me closer, and my body trembled with the intensity he evoked. He nudged my cheek with his and then ran his nose down the length of the softness; he inhaled my scent again.

He slid his cheek closer and closer…until our mouths almost touched. My eyes closed, my lips parted, and I inhaled. His distinct scent, musky, with a slight touch of cigarettes and alcohol, but still holding a breath of earth, filled me. He smelled warm and mine.

His fingers slid up toward my waist, the side of my chest, and then my neck. He cupped the back of my head, and I opened my eyes. His lips moved, and I caught his words, focusing intently.

“Valerie, this collar around your neck doesn’t define you. It angers me that you wear it, it holds a symbol of your pain, but it doesn’t make me think less of you. Not ever. Baby, I don’t want perfection. I want your flaws and every bit of cracks you have inside of your heart. I want it all, because it’s you. No one is without imperfection. If you are, then you’re fake. My sweet myshka, I don’t have time for fake. I want what’s real. I want you. And you are everything I need.”

I couldn’t hear his voice, but I imagined how it sounded in my head. The command from him was overwhelming. It slid deeper under my skin and wormed its way into my bones.

His head came down again, his mouth slid closer, and I breathed, waiting for the kiss. But it never came. Instead he slightly pulled away so I could see his lips again.

“And you are wrong. There is something of your own that you can only give willingly. No one can force you.” He looked into my eyes and gave me a beautiful smile. Viktor Ivanshov stole my breath.

“Tell me, sweet Valerie. Have you ever given a man your heart?”

My heart collided with my lungs—over and over again, trying to break free. My vision blurred slightly and I blinked. A tear trailed down my cheek. Viktor watched it and then swiped it away. My throat grew tight at his words and I couldn’t seem to answer…I couldn’t seem to think.

Viktor Ivanshov made me breathless and speechless. He was my undoing.

His features hardened, but not in a mean way. More as if he were confident and subtly desperate for my confirmation.

“Tell me,” he pushed, his dark eyes boring into me. He devoured me silently, while barely even touching me.

My voice came out hushed when I finally spoke. “No.”

“Say it, Valerie.”

“No. I have never given a man my heart.”

His eyes grew molten. “Then you have something sacred that is only yours to give. Remember to never waste it on someone who isn’t worthy of you.”

“Are you?” I rattled. “Are you worthy of me?”

My hand fell to his chest and I felt his heartbeat. It was strong and fast. He shuddered at my question, looking both pained and nervous. A crimson heat started from my chest, to my neck, and covered my face. I was lost in the moment and asked the question thoughtlessly. But now…I was scared of his answer.

I knew even if he didn’t think himself worthy, Viktor would still be the man I would choose to give my heart to.

“No. I am not a worthy man for you. I am selfish,” he said. My brows drew together at the way he said his words, as if there were a different meaning behind them. “A selfish man who takes what is not his, and he feels no shame.”

The tip of his finger brushed against the curve of my lower lips. He brought his face closer. “Can I kiss you, Valerie?”

A soft question, an underlying demand, five words that came from his soul and mended mine.

“Yes,” I whispered.

My breathing refused to calm itself. My heart ran wild, and I sank into him, my Viktor. I trembled when he placed his lips on mine, overwhelmed with so many emotions that I could only close my eyes and feel his lips, his kiss.

I tasted him. Sweet and mine. Dangerous and mine. Desperate and mine. Wild and mine. Gentle and mine. He tasted of devotion, and I returned my adoration for him.

Viktor Ivanshov made me feel cherished, me—Valerie Solonik. Me, his enemy’s wife. Me, a used woman, a vessel for my husband. Viktor cherished what my husband didn’t. Me.

The sweet spot between my legs pulsed, and I moved around in his embrace until I was straddling his lap. Viktor groaned from deep within his chest. I felt the vibration through my bones, and I soaked it up.

Suddenly, it ended.

He violently pulled away from my grasp. My lips felt empty as he took his kiss away and my eyes snapped open. His were wide, shocked, and…was that fear?

His head turned toward the door, and my lungs squeezed. Our heartbeats pulled away from each other and we were left cold. My stomach rolled, twisted, and it hurt. I whimpered as I followed where his attention now lay.

My gaze focused on the door and I saw the knob turning.

No.