Total pages in book: 100
Estimated words: 96742 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 484(@200wpm)___ 387(@250wpm)___ 322(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 96742 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 484(@200wpm)___ 387(@250wpm)___ 322(@300wpm)
Evander takes the rings. He slides mine down onto my finger. “With this ring, you are my wife,” he says softly, voice thick and laced with emotion. “You are mine.”
“And you’re mine.” I put his ring on and we hold hands staring into each other’s eyes.
My husband, Evander Kazan.
“Congrats!” Helen shouts then she’s hugging us. I’m laughing with her, and even Evander’s grinning as Gareth hands out drinks. Dimitra disappears, but it doesn’t feel like a snub this time, more that she doesn’t feel comfortable with the celebration part of the evening.
I hope I can change that one day.
I hope I get the chance, and if I don’t, I hope it doesn’t hurt her more when I go my own way.
For now, I’ll enjoy this moment, my first moment as Camille Kazan, wife of crime lord Evander Kazan, the strangest moment of my life.
Chapter 33
Camille
“To marriage.” Evander raises his glass and I raise mine.
“To the Kazan family,” I say with a smile.
He seems conflicted about that toast but nods and drinks. I sip my wine, eyeing him cautiously. Lycus, Helen, and Gareth left ten minutes ago, and now I’m alone in our room with Evander. He’s sitting close, our thighs touching, the fireplace crackling with a low flame. I can feel the tension in his body.
“Can I ask you something?” I glance at him, feeling nervous.
He nods. “It’s our wedding night. You can ask me anything.”
“Why did you mother say she didn’t think you’d ever get married?”
His smile is soft. “She worries too much, but in this case, I can’t blame her. I was never interested in marriage until I met you.”
“Are you worried our arrangement will—you know, hurt your mother?”
He nods slowly. “I’ve thought about that. Although my mother puts on the facade of a grieving widow, she’s a Kazan to her core. She understands these things can be necessary. Besides, even if our marriage is fake, she’ll be happy that I took the plunge.”
My stomach does flips. I’m confused, tired, and the thought of hurting his mother weighs on me.
“But you’re not really interested in marriage still, right?” I ask him. “I mean, this is all about keeping me safe?”
His smile fades. “For all the good it’s done.”
“That wasn’t your fault. You saved me. If you hadn’t shown up—”
“I shouldn’t have needed to,” he says through his teeth. “I had a dozen men with you in that diner, and still someone managed to touch you. I should kill them all for failing me.”
“Evander,” I say quietly. “You don’t have to do that to yourself.”
He looks at me with a painful need and he puts a hand on my knee. “If something happened to you, asteraki mu, I don’t know what I’d do.”
“You’d move on, I’m sure. Your life would be a lot easier.”
“Don’t joke,” he says softly. “I’m not in a joking mood.”
“You never are.”
“No, maybe not.” He tilts my chin toward him. “But you’re my wife now, and I made you a promise. I will keep you safe. I will make that bastard Christopher suffer for this.”
I chew my lip, heart racing. Do I want this? Do I want more violence, all for me? I don’t know, but I’m torn between needing Evander to kiss me, and being terrified of him.
“Why do your aunt and your cousin hate you so much?” I whisper.
His gaze flashes for a moment, staring at my lips, down to my chest, and back to my eyes. “That’s what you’re wondering about on our wedding night?”
I nod slowly. “Please. I want to know.”
He grunts quietly and leans forward. He kisses my neck, and I let out a soft whimper as he moves back to my ear.
“I took over the family by force,” he whispers, pushing my knees apart, spreading my legs. I let out a soft gasp as he slowly moves up the hem of my dress, kissing my neck as he does it. “I committed the worst sin a member of this family could ever commit. I killed the lord and I took his place.”
I suck in a breath as his fingers brush against my soaked-through panties and his mouth finds mine. He kisses me slow, deep, my head a buzzing mess, my core a clenching knot of need mixed with want.
“Why?” I gasp when he grabs me by the hips and pulls me on top of him. He sits forward, reaching around my back to unzip my dress.
I let it fall forward and shimmy slightly as he pulls it off and throws it onto the floor, leaving me in nothing but a pair of lacy black underwear.
“That’s the question, isn’t it?” he purrs as he looks at me with burning lust. He kisses my neck while I move my hips slowly. I feel him getting harder and harder, pushing against me, thick and long and lovely. “My aunt and my cousin would tell you I murdered my uncle for greed. They’d tell you that I killed his heir out of jealousy. That I’m nothing more than a petty murderer. But it was none of that.”