Total pages in book: 58
Estimated words: 53693 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 268(@200wpm)___ 215(@250wpm)___ 179(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 53693 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 268(@200wpm)___ 215(@250wpm)___ 179(@300wpm)
From the brief flash I saw of her, she was much prettier than I’d imagined. Her body was petite, but even yards of fabric couldn’t hide the curves she carried so confidently down the hall. Voluptuious was more like it. She wasn’t the kind of woman I normally found attractive, but I could already feel my cock growing hard at the sight of her.Her hair was mostly hidden by a veil, but I saw streaks of pale red. Her eyes were puffy with unshed tears, but they were a stunning, light shade.
I fall back against the wall, as if pushed by the force of her. My glimpse of her lasted for maybe five seconds, but when I close my eyes, she’s all I see. Those supple peaks of her breasts spilling out over her dress. Hips that would drive me wild all night. How could I have thought I was walking into the wedding of some boring, spoiled child?
Katrina Mikhailov is the most stunning creature I’ve ever laid my eyes on, and I must know her. An inhuman urge rises up in me to rip off her wedding dress and uncover the secrets hidden beneath. I want to stare into her light eyes and drown in their depths as I plunge into her.
I shake my head hard, trying to release my mind from the assault of these thoughts, but it’s no good. In a matter of mere seconds, this girl, this woman has robbed me of rational thought. It’s her wedding day. I should go back to my seat and watch her say “I do” to the sniveling Zaitsev boy. I should forget that I’ve seen her.
My legs start to move, but not in the direction of the church. They aren’t obeying my rational mind. They do not care what is right or proper or expected. Every cell in my body is pulling me toward her because I must know her. I must have her. The boy getting drunk off his ass in the groom’s suite doesn’t deserve her, and she is much too good for him. She should be mine.
CHAPTER TWO
Kat
I stare at myself in the full-length mirror in the bridal suite, and a rush of waves fills my ears. My mother is going on and on about how beautiful I look, but I can’t hear her. All I see is a porcelain doll, a pawn in someone else’s game. This dress is not beautiful, it’s suffocating. When I walk down the aisle, I’m being led down it in chains.
And aren’t brides supposed to be thinner and whispier? I feel like a whale dressed up in a tulle net. Despite what Mama says, the only reason Niko would ever agree to marry me is because he was forced. I should feel lucky that I’m walking down the aisle at all, but I just feel trapped.
My chest heaves and my breathing increases. I can’t do this. I absolutely cannot do this. The collar of my dress feels like it’s choking me, though it’s far from my throat. The veil is wrapping around my head, squeezing my brain. I have no choice in this. From now on, I will belong to a man I do not love, and this stupid outfit will carry me to him.
It’s an expensive dress. The most expensive I’ve ever worn. Seamstresses spent days hand-sewing the beading around the bodice. The lace was imported from Europe. Papa has spent weeks bragging about how much of a small fortune this wedding has cost him, but the dress is my mother’s crowning glory. She designed it with the seamstress, with no input from me of course. I’ve often wondered if this wedding is meant to celebrate me or them.
The answer is obvious, of course. Today doesn’t feel like a celebration. It feels like a funeral. I’m mourning my future, my independence. I’ll be saddled with a boy I don’t love who will turn into a man who tries to control me and manipulate me for the rest of my life. It’s too much.
I turn on my heel, walking quickly out of the suite before anyone can stop me. I can hear my mother’s high-pitched voice over the waves in my ears, but it doesn’t stop me. It spurs me forward. I need to get the hell out of here.
My feet begin moving faster, and I kick off the high heels that are meant to slow me down. They were expensive, custom-designed like the dress. I hope they break. I hope they shatter into a million pieces. I hear them clatter somewhere behind me and keep going. They won’t stop me, now. Not my father, not my mother, and certainly not Nikolai Zaitsev.
I thought I had more time than this. When I’d begged my father to let me attend college, he’d told me he’d pay under one condition. I would have to marry my brother’s best friend Niko in exchange. At the time, I thought that would be fine. After all, Niko is handsome, and I’d had a huge crush on him as a girl.