“I’m not a fool.” Myf shrugged her shoulders. “I won’t be giving my heart to anyone.”
Niko reached out then to cup her chin in his hand, and Myf couldn’t help but stare straight into his eyes. This was how she missed the way he moved forward until his lips landed on hers. Flailing around for a moment, Myf placed her hands on his shoulders. At her touch, Niko’s kiss immediately became dominating, and Myf felt helpless beneath it.
“What the hell is going on here?” Johann’s voice broke through the haze in her mind, forcing her to pull away from the kiss with a gasp.
He was standing in the entrance to her little alcove, a scowl on his face and something dangerous in his eyes. Myf knew that she had been stupid, letting herself be charmed by a total stranger. Just weeks after her engagement had been announced to the family.
“Ah, Johann. I’m just getting to know your lovely friend here,” said Niko.
“Fiancé.” Johann’s reply was so fast that Niko nearly didn’t finish his sentence.
Niko’s eyes widened. “Your what, now?”
“My fiancé,” said Johann, folding his arms across his chest. “That’s my fiancé you’re kissing.”
“What?” Niko turned to Myf. “Why didn’t you say something?”
“It had already been announced to the family.” She looked from Johann to Niko and back again.
“I’ve been away.” Niko’s answer was off-hand as he turned his attention back to his cousin. “I didn’t even know you were seeing anyone seriously. Let alone someone so …,” he swallowed thickly when he looked at her, “… beautiful. Much less gotten engaged. Johann you were fucking that blonde all last summer, and then that red head.”
“This wasn’t exactly my idea.” Johann’s voice was harsh, and Myf couldn’t help but flinch at the sound of it.
“Mine either.” She stood up suddenly, feeling sick to her stomach. “Now if you would excuse me.”
She went to push past Johann, only to have him grip her arm tightly, pulling her into an embrace. Before she knew what was happening, Johann’s mouth had descended on hers in a fiercely possessive kiss. For a moment Myf forgot her indignation and melted against him. It didn’t take long for her memory to return though, causing her to tear her mouth from his and pull out of his grip. “How dare you!”
There was something in his expression, something dark and desperate, which scared her enough that when he reached for her again Myf reacted without thinking. The palm of her right hand connected with his cheek with a loud slap. The force of which made her cradle her hand against her chest. Johann’s eyes widened in surprise, and as she watched he pressed his hand against his cheek.
“What the hell?” Niko was on his feet now, looking murderous as he glared at Johann. “This is how you treat your fiancé?”
“No.” Johann looked horrified. “God no.”
Myf felt the tears which had been starting to build up finally overflow, and she hurriedly tried to wipe them away. Both Johann and Niko looked shocked. Johann tentatively reached for her again and Myf couldn’t help the way she flinched at his touch, causing him to withdraw his hand. With a loud sob she pushed the curtain aside, hurrying out into the ballroom. She ignored the concerned looks that were thrown her way by the multitude of people there.
“Myf!” Cat’s voice rose above the crowd, but Myf ran from the room and into the hallway.
Chapter Twelve
“What the fuck!” Niko’s hand gripped Johann’s arm so tightly that he found himself cringing at the sudden shock of pain. “Johann, an arranged marriage?”
With his eyes still trained on the ballroom doors, he pulled his arm out of his cousin’s grasp before running his fingers through his hair. He had lost his helmet somewhere along the way, and for a moment he felt a sudden regret that it probably wouldn’t be found, and instead would end up as someone’s memento. “Yeah.”
“Well, how long has this been going on?” Finally turning to the other man, Johann wasn’t surprised to see that Niko still looked furious.
“My whole life.” Niko didn’t even answer him, and instead he simply walked away shaking his head and muttering under his breath. It was as he was watching his cousin stalk toward the bar that someone else came into his line of sight.
So short and petite that she almost appeared vulnerable, Myf’s twin sister Cat had an expression on her face that was frankly terrifying. Not only was this woman the Crown Princess, soon to be Queen, of Wales and had the full force of her country behind her, but she was also a force to be reckoned with. “You!” He found himself automatically flinching when she came to stand in front of him, completely expecting to be hit again. “What do you think you’re doing?”
“I overreacted, OK?” He took a step backwards from the tiny woman, still unsure about whether to expect violence or not. “I saw her kissing Niko …”
Cat’s sudden smile made him frown in response.
“Good for her,” she said. “It’s about time she did some experimenting.”
“Yeah.” It would just be his luck that when he had found a woman that he felt something more than a sudden spark of attraction that quickly fizzled out, she would be ripped from his arms. It caused a sinking feeling in his gut unlike anything he had ever felt before. “I suppose you’re right.”
“Oh, don’t look like a kicked puppy.” Cat stepped forwards and poked him in the chest. “Go and talk to her. You’re lucky you’re marrying that sister, I would have had your balls in a vice.”
Johann couldn’t help but smile at that. “What you and Valto do in your bedroom is entirely up to you.”
“Not just in the bedroom.” She winked at him before turning on her stiletto heels and walking back to where her fiancé was standing.
For a moment Johann let himself fantasize about what Cat and Valto probably looked like while naked and tangled up together on a bed. It only took a minute, however, for him to become disgusted with the idea of his cousin’s bare arse. Running his fingers through his hair, he turned and picked up Myf’s abandoned champagne and downed it in one gulp.
He knew that Cat was right. That he needed to follow Myf now and let her know that he was sorry, and that he had overreacted in a way that was honestly foreign to him. Hoping that nobody would take offense to him leaving the party early, he weaved through the crowd before slinking out of the doors and into the reasonably quiet hotel foyer. Thankfully Myf seemed to be reasonably predictable, and Johann knew that he would find herself in her room. This was a good thing as the idea of her out there on the streets on Manhattan when she hadn’t even had a chance to get her bearings yet was terrifying.
Standing in the corridor outside of Myf’s hotel door, Johann found himself trying to swallow down his nerves and get up the courage to knock. In the end he didn’t have to because the door was suddenly opened and Mattie walked out, a dark look on his face as he glared Johann down. “You really need to apologize.”
Part of Johann wanted to demand what Mattie had been doing in Myf’s room, but logically he knew that there wouldn’t have been time for anything to actually have happened. Also, there was the fact that he really did need to learn to trust both his best friend and his fiancé, it was just that in the past if Mattie were to sleep with someone he was seeing he wouldn’t be mad. Actually he would probably think that it would save him from having to break up with them. “Yes, I know.”
Those words seemed enough to placate Mattie, and he nodded his head before stalking off down the corridor. Johann watched him go for a minute before turning back to the door, which Mattie had shut behind him, and knocking sharply on it. When Myf answered it, Johann was saddened to see that she had clearly been crying, with her mascara leaving tear tracks down her pale cheeks. ”Oh.” Her voice was soft and sad when she saw him, though she did step back. “Come in.”
He entered the room, grimacing when he saw that Myf had somehow downgraded herself into a different kind of suite than he had booked. Johann sighed deeply, it was
going to be difficult to break her of this mindset and have her act like the princess she was. “I may have overreacted.”
“For years I’ve been watching you on the news.” Myf’s words were barely a whisper, as she sat on the edge of the bed and looked down at her hands. “As you ran around with various gorgeous women, and yet I wasn’t even a second though to you. Or your family.”
Johann stepped forwards then, though he came to a stop when she held up a hand. “Myf?”
“Yet just one man takes a fleeting interest in me, and you lose your mind,” she said. “I think that maybe you should have more trust in me.”
How was he supposed to explain to her how he had felt in that moment when he had seen her and Niko in an embrace? Johann wasn’t a fool, he knew that if he spoke about the churning jealousy in his gut, he was likely to seem like a possessive bastard. “Of course I trust you.”
She looked up at him then, a harshness in her blue eyes that he hadn’t witnessed from her before. “You were about ready to hit him.”
“I trust you Myf.” He approached her again, thankful that this time she allowed it. “It’s Niko I don’t trust.”
“Oh that doesn’t make any sense Johann.” Myf rolled her eyes at him. “As if I was going to let anything happen.”
With a deep sigh, he reached over and took her hand. “You were kissing him back.”
“He took me by surprise is all.” Her words were harsh, yet she threaded their fingers together in a way that made his heart swell. “I know that you think I’m weak, but I’m more than capable of saying no.”
Johann didn’t really have anything to say in response to this. He was more than aware that in the past six years he had only been around his fiancé for about a week. It was nowhere near long enough to know her, and though his first impression had been of a naïve and gentle woman, he was starting to see that there was more to Myf than that.
“Then why have you said no to me?” He looked down at their intertwined hands. “I’ve done far more than what Niko did.”
Myf gave a gentle laugh and then bumped him with her shoulder. “You haven’t done anything yet that has made me want to say no.”
Looking up at her, their eyes locked and Johann found himself leaning forward and pressing their lips together. Myf made a soft noise as he did so. Her long lashes brushed against his cheeks as her eyes fluttered closed, and with his free hand he cupped her cheek in his palm, groaning as the kiss immediately deepened. For several long moments Johann lost himself in the sweet taste of her, the fullness of her lips, and the softness of her skin.
They pulled apart slowly, and he used their joined hands to draw her even closer as he sat beside her on the bed.
“I’m not going to push for anything that you don’t want.” He stroked the pad of his thumb over her bottom lip, his breath catching in his throat as her lips parted beneath his touch. “I want you to desire me.”
As he spoke the words Myf’s breathing quickened and a flush came to her cheeks. “Desire you?”
He nodded his head and moved forward so that she all but straddling his lap. “Do you desire me?”
A scowl came to her face then. “I don’t think there’s a woman alive that doesn’t desire you.”
“Hmmm,” he moved his hands to her back, before sliding them downward to stoke her round hips, “if only that was true.”
Myf’s response to that was to lower her head and kiss him again. There was something about her being so bold, her lips parting awkwardly against his and Johann found himself sitting very still while letting her explore. “I desire you.” She whispered the words against his lips, causing a shiver of lust to travel down his spine. “The gods help me.”
Johann wasn’t able to stop his body’s automatic reaction to that, and he felt himself immediately harden beneath his silk boxers. Under normal circumstances he would have no problems with laying back and displaying himself quite proudly. However, he was fairly sure this was the first erection that Myf had been up close and personal with. While Johann had, naturally, got quite a bit worked up during their days together at the cabins, he had been able to spare Myf that knowledge. Now though, not only was she sitting on his lap, with their bodies pressed against each other, but it had also been six weeks since he had indulged in anything but his own right hand.
It was only as their mouths slid together in a way that had Myf pressing closer to him, that Johann knew that she had become aware of his condition. Not that she could really miss it. Johann wasn’t exactly a small man, even if he did say so himself, and with every slight shift of her hips he felt himself swell even more. “Are you alright?” He muttered the words against the sensitive skin beneath her ear. “We can stop here.”
“Just.” She let her head fall back as he kissed down the long length of her throat, and he felt her swallow, “I can handle a bit more.”
“What do you want?” He slid his hand up her back to wind the loose strands of her hair around his fingers, as he started to suck a light bruise into the pale skin of her neck. “This is your show, you tell me how far you want to go.”
Myf’s hands moved from his shoulders and into the hair at the back of his head, and after a bit of gentle tugging he eventually looked up at her. Lust had turned her usually light blue eyes incredibly dark, there was a flush to her cheeks, and her breathing was coming hard and fast. “I’ll tell you if you go too far.”
Though he enjoyed having her on his lap like this, he was hampered in how he could touch her. Using his hands on her hips to urge her to move, Johann soon had Myf laying on her back amongst the thick bedclothes. She looked uncomfortable, and he knew that the only way she was able to keep all that hair in such a way on her head was with a large number of hair pins. Pins that were probably sticking straight into her scalp in the position she was in. He moved to lie on his side beside her, running a gentle hand over her silky black hair, his fingers snagging on a few pins and he pulled them out. Rolling over he placed them on the bedside table, before turning his full attention back to the gorgeous woman next to him.
“You’re so beautiful.” Johann leaned down and kissed her again. “I’m going to touch you now.”
Myf’s breathing quickened even more, and her hands reach up to grip his shoulders. “Where?”
“Here.” Johann let his fingers feather over the curve of her left breast, surprised at the soft moan that such a gentle action caused.
“Oh.” Myf’s voice was breathy, and she pushed out her chest as though instinctively seeking his touch. Johann wasn’t the kind of man to refuse such a thing to a beautiful woman in his arms. Cupping her in his hand, Johann gave a gentle squeeze, watching as her eyes fluttered shut and her back arched. In that moment it would have taken a stronger man than him to not kiss her, and Johann took her mouth in a rather forceful kiss.
Myf’s arms immediately wrapped around his neck, and Johann released her breast so that he could loop his own around her waist and pull her close. With a soft noise she rested her thigh on his hip, and Johann couldn’t help the way he groaned at the delicious pressure against where he was hot and straining. “What do you want?”
“Want?” Her lips brushed his as she spoke. “I think I want you out of that armour.”
He pulled away from her, flashing his most charming smile before scrambling off of the bed and stripping off his costume. Johann had just been about to climb back on the bed to join Myf, when he noticed that she had moved so that she was reclined back on her elbows, watching him through heavily hooded eyes. So she found him attractive at least. Glancing down at himself Johann took in his hard and toned body, knowing that the hard work he put into maintaining it had got many a woman into his bed.
He watched as her eyes traced down the line of his body, coming to stop at where he was tenting the front of his light blue boxers. It was here that her eyes widened as if in surprise, and Johann had to swallow down his disappointment that his future wife might find certain parts of his anatomy distasteful.
“Alright?”
Myf nodded her head rapidly. “I think so.”
That wasn’t exactly the answer that he had been hoping for, and with a scowl he bent to pick his costume back up. Well, wasn’t this the most humiliating experience of his life? He wasn’t the kind of man who would push himself on a woman, Riika had it right when she had said that if a woman didn’t fall into his bed on their own merit he wasn’t interested. The very idea of forcing a woman into sex was enough to make him start to lose his erection. “We can wait.”
Her forehead creased as she frowned at him. “What are you doing?” He saw the moment that she came to a conclusion of some kind, because she sat up and hugged her knees to her chest. “I see.”
With that she got off the bed and started walking towards the attached ensuite, a sudden move that had him reaching out and taking hold of her wrist. “What’s wrong?” He drew her close, wrapping one arm around her waist. “Did I say something?”
“You don’t want me.” Her voice was unbelievably sad. “Which I should have really expected.”
Chapter Thirteen
Despite her distress at being rejected, Myf couldn’t help but melt into his embrace, her hands coming up to press against his chest. The skin was soft beneath the hard muscles beneath, and as if by instinct her fingers immediately began to explore the impressive body that she was pressed against.
“What are you talking about?” With his free hand, Johann tilted her chin up so that she was looking into his slate grey eyes.
“You …,” she flushed, “… lost your …”
Thankfully Johann didn’t seem to need her to voice exactly what it was that he had lost, and he smiled gently at her before leaning down and kissing her again. “Give me a minute and I’ll be ready to go.”
Myf’s breathing quickened at that, and she slid her hands up his chest so that she could wrap them around his neck. The dread that she had felt when she had seen his physical reaction to her on the bed was starting to dissipate. “Is that right?”
Dusk (Equinox Book 1) Page 7