Isabella's POV
I stared in my sleep, but something was restraining my movement, making me moan in protest.
I slowly blinked my eyes open, and the first thing I felt was heat.
A heavy, unforgiving weight wrapped around my waist, holding me still. Warm breath against the back of my neck. A leg tangled with mine. A chest pressed along the entire length of my spine like a living cage.
For a split second, I didn't register where I was. But then it hit me like an ice storm, which left me frozen.
Mr. Volkov.
In my bed.
His arm locked around me like steel.
My eyes flew open, all the sleep vanishing from my system, my heart stumbling into a sprint as I lay there immobile, trying to calm my heartbeat down. For a couple of minutes, I didn't even breathe in fear that I'd wake him up. Then I tried, very slowly, very carefully, to slide out from under him.
Bad idea.
His arm tightened instantly, and my breathing ceased. I felt like a child trying to escape the danger zone after stealing candies or something.
His voice...raspy, low, half-asleep... and extremely deep ghosted over the shell of my ear.
"If you try to run," he murmured, "I'll drag you back under me," he rasped in that deep morning voice which sent a thrill of sensations down my spine.
My entire body froze.
He wasn't fully awake.
He didn't even open his eyes.
But my pulse… it bolted, slamming against my ribs. My breath came out shaky as I felt him nuzzle closer, burying his face deeper into my neck like he owned the right. His every breath sent shivers down my spine.
His hand shifted lower on my waist.
His fingers flexed.
His chest rose and fell, slow and heavy, pressing me deeper into the mattress.
And then... God help me... I felt him.
Hard.
Again.
Against the curve of my ass.
I gasped out loud. My eyes flew wide as I cupped my mouth shut with my palm.
His lips brushed my skin as he whispered,
"This is your fault, little dove…"
I nearly died on the spot with embarrassment. It was his organ. Attached to his freaking body, then how was it my fault when he couldn't even control it?
My cheeks burned. My body went hot and tight in all the wrong places. I swallowed a scream of embarrassment and tried to wriggle forward, just one inch...
He groaned.
A deep, rough, sinful sound from his chest.
Then both his arms banded around me in a violent pull.
I was trapped. Completely.
His strong cologne and manly scent completely engulfed me in the embrace of those solid muscles.
"Stop...stop doing that," I breathed.
He only tucked me tighter against him like a human vice, half-asleep, half-possessive monster.
And I hated, hated, the way my body relaxed into him.
For a second.
Just a second.
A sharp ringtone shattered the moment.
My phone beside the bed buzzed.
Thank God.
I reached out to grab it... But a hand slammed over mine.
Large. Veined. Warm.
Nikolai's.
His eyes blinked open slowly, stormy and heavy-lidded with sleep and something else entirely.
"Who is it?" he growled, lowly. Startling me. "It could be Jerry or Mia," I muttered.
His jaw flexed so hard I felt the movement against my cheek.
He snatched the phone before I could. And I gasped at his audacity.
One glance at the screen and his entire expression changed, shadowed, tense, dangerous.
"Why the hell is this man calling you at seven a.m.?"
I pushed myself up, hair a mess, heart still unstable from being pressed against him all night.
"Because," I snapped, "he doesn't break into my home and abduct me to sleep with him!" I almost yelled, my voice was a notch higher as he narrowed his eyes at my disrespect, but who gave him the right to snatch my phone like that? I snatched it back from him, and he let me.
His eyes flicked to me... slow, and predatory.
He lifted my chin with two fingers. I flinched at the touch, and he noticed as he forced me to meet his gaze.
"You didn't complain last night."
The heat shot straight through me as my face turned tomato red. He smirked.
A dark, sinful curl of his mouth that promised nothing safe.
I snatched the phone back, ignoring his glare, and swung my legs off the bed. My knees almost buckled.
Great.
Perfect timing.
"Where are you going?" he murmured.
"Away from you."
"Incorrect," he said casually.
Then, like some deranged caveman, he stood behind me, grabbed my waist, lifted me off the floor, and put me on his shoulder as if I were a rag of potatoes. What the hell!
"Mr. Volkov!" I growled.
Only for a harsh spank to bless my ass cheek as I jerked and my body went rigid and my cheeks burned in embarrassment.
I swear I'll spank him after restraining him to bed, and I won't stop until he cries for mercy from me.
He carried me straight to the bathroom like I weighed nothing.
"Put me down!"
He placed me on the counter instead.
My legs swung open slightly from the impact...my mistake. His dark eyes dropped instantly. And they darkened like hungry wolves. His voice was turning dangerously rough.
"Close your legs, bella… before I forget we're supposed to talk." I snapped my thighs shut so fast I nearly bruised myself. It even made a clap sound, and his freaking smirk was back, making me outraged, but I couldn't do anything against this giant of a beast.
He leaned down, cheek brushing along mine.
"Good girl."
My stomach somersaulted. But I want to kill him as well.
His fingers brushed the back of my thigh, deliberately slow before he finally stepped back.
"I need to go to the academy," I muttered, desperate for distance.
He stared.
Then nodded once, jaw ticking like he hated the idea of letting me out of his sight.
And thankfully, he left after making me breakfast. He didn't eat, though, just cooked for me and left silently.
While I was leaving, I noticed a small note near the main door as if someone had slipped it in from beneath the door.
"Don't get too close to him. You're mine, Isabella.
Your admirer."
My hands turn cold as I read that note. My eyes instantly fell to the door as I hurried to it and looked out through the peephole, and there was no one there.
Admirer? I don't have any admirers, but I knew he was talking about Nikolai. It could be a prank, but Jerry and Mia don't know about Nikolai.
I put that note in the drawer and consoled myself that it was nothing, but I made sure to keep my pepper spray when I left the house, and I was highly alert.
I somehow made it to the academy and through classes. Thankfully, today I don't have any of his classes, which was a relief. I left the academy early because I needed to find a job. I had applied at different places and had received mail that I was accepted as a part-time waitress at an elite restaurant. The pay was so good, short shifts, evening hours, and I was happy. I just needed to make a schedule when I got home.
I treated myself to a cheap dinner at a small street café. Warm lights. Soft music. Not many people inside. But I preferred outside. I sank into the chair, letting myself breathe.
For the first time all day… I felt okay.
Until...
That prickling sensation.
That icy crawls up my spine like someone was watching me. I looked up sharply. Scanning, but there was nothing.
No one.
Just moving cars.
A couple walking past.
A woman wiping a table.
But the feeling wouldn't leave.
Five minutes passed as my food came. I ignored the feeling. It could be my delusion because of the note I received in the morning.
I kept glancing around, trying to shake it off.
Then a chair scraped softly across from me.
I jerked, my heart slamming into my ribs as my eyes shot up. A massive man sat down.
Huge.
Tattooed arms.
Broad shoulders.
Blonde hair.
Cold, dark grey eyes.
6'2.
He leaned back casually, one arm draped over the chair, expression unreadable. And he smiled.
Slow.
Dangerously amused.
"You're beautiful," he rasped. Voice deep with the familiar accent of Nikolai. This guy looked Russian.
"I'm Lazar," he mused as he held out his hand for me to shake, but I was holding my beef cheeseburger with both hands, my cheeks full and ketchup smudged on my lower lip as I blinked at him, dumbfounded.
My stomach dropped. My fingers went numb around my burger. Because something in his eyes… Something in his presence…
Told me he was dangerous...