“You’re not going anywhere.”

“You’re angry.”

I grabbed the soap and rinsed my hands. The blood fell away down the drain as if nothing happened. “I’m not angry.”

“You didn’t have to kill him.”

“You think he was only going to be satisfied with kissing you? He didn’t even have the sense to listen to you tell him no. Sergei would have raped you to get what he wanted.”

She released a gasp. “You believe me.”

“Yes. I saw it.”

“But why did you blame me?”

“I was angry, Aurora. No man wants to come home to find his wife kissing another man. At first, it didn’t register that you were fighting against him. Sergei’s dead now and I’ve handled everything.”

“Oh. Will his death cause you trouble?”

“No. Sergei was alone in this world. No one will care that he’s dead.”

I watched her swallow a lump in her throat. “You care?” I asked.

“Yes. He … for the past few months, he’d been really nice to me.”

“He wanted to fuck you. Any man would be nice to you.”

She snorted. “Yeah, right. Can I go now?”

“No.” I handed her the soap. “Wash me.”

“Are you kidding me?”

“No.” I took hold of her wrist and forced her to touch my chest. Staring at her, I waited. What Aurora didn’t seem to know was how patient I’d been with her. It never happened for a man in my position to give their wife time to adapt. I hadn’t forced my will onto her. Demanded she spread her legs for me so I can put a baby inside her. I’d given her time.

What was my reward? To find another man kissing her and have blue balls for the pleasure of it—not happening.

Staring at her now, I noticed her movements were kind of jerky, but I wasn’t going to give her an out she clearly sought.

The soap ran over my skin, but that wasn’t the touch I wanted.

“Lather your hands up.”

She followed the instruction, and I took the soap from her. “Now, clean me.”

She shook a little as her hands went from my neck down to my chest. I was sure she hesitated at my neck as she’d been tempted to throttle me. I smiled. It wouldn’t be the first time a woman wanted to kill me.

Aurora was a good woman, though. She’d been trained well and so she worked her hands down, being careful not to touch my cock, which had swelled the moment she started to touch me.

When Ivan first told me I’d be marrying the Fredo daughter, there had been no attraction. No desire to marry this woman. I’d known her family had tried to insult us by giving us what he considered his second best, but something was happening to me.

I wasn’t entirely sure what.

I craved her touch on me, but more than that, I wanted Aurora to want me, to beg for my touch. Our wedding night had been a disaster.