When all of her belongings arrived at my penthouse suite, I’d been surprised. She didn’t have many.

Books.

She’d had close to three hundred books. All in paperback. I’d gotten the designers in, and one of the spare bedrooms had been converted into a library for her. I’d also granted her a credit card in my name to which she’d not spent a single penny. We’d been married a week, and I’d known other men in my position had been near bankrupt in that time by how wild their wives’ spending could be.

I glanced at my wife. She wore a silk negligee that showed off her full tits. I hadn’t given myself the pleasure of looking at her entirely, but one day soon, I intended to look to my heart’s content.

Removing my jacket, I took my gun with me. I didn’t go anywhere without at least two guns and three blades. I was a precautious man. I’d survived this long with them, and I wasn’t about to ruin my chances by fucking it up and letting down my guard. I’d seen what happened firsthand to men who got sloppy. They ended up dead, and I knew because I’d been the one to kill them.

Once inside the bathroom, I stripped off my clothes and stepped beneath the cold water of the shower. I didn’t like taking hot baths or showers. I liked the shock of the cold. It kept me alive and alert.

Also, I didn’t linger too long doing one thing. Men struck during these times. I’d lost count of the number of men I’d taken out while in the shower.

I turned off the water, wrapped a towel around me, picked up my gun, and walked back into the bedroom. With my back to Aurora, I put the gun beside my bed and checked the time to see it was a little after three.

“You need to be careful around Volkov,” I said.

I had no idea why I was giving her the warning. If she died doing something stupid, it was on her. I wouldn’t take responsibility for her mistakes. She was the enemy. A foreigner to me.

“I didn’t seek him out.”

Her voice was so low, I only just made it out.

I turned toward her, and she immediately shrank away. I didn’t need her fear. “Do as I say.”

She nodded her head after a few seconds’ hesitation, which pissed me off. While I’d been in the shower, she’d already put the book down and had sunk beneath the covers.

My dick was hard, but I was in no mood to fuck an ice queen.

I turned off my light, removed my towel, and climbed into bed.

The bed shook a little. I was sure she cried, but it wasn’t my problem. I had a lot of shit to do over the next few days, but sleep didn’t come to me.

My eyes adjusted to the darkness, and I could make out her outline. A sniffle escaped her. Time ticked by, and she finally fell into a fitful sleep. It was while she slept that I moved in close. I didn’t touch her, but I felt her body heat and breathed in the heady scent of lemon.