Chapter <b>27 </b>


    Elena’s POV<b>: </b>


    His hand cascaded down the length of my back, gliding over the soft satin fabric of my wedding dress. A shiver trembled up my spine, the weight of the evening crashing into me all at once.


    To be honest<b>! </b>


    I was exhausted. Bone–deep, soul–weary, emotionally–fried, exhausted. I didn’t want to think <b>about </b>what had happened earlier, about the looks I <b>caught </b>shing across the <b>sea </b>of guests, about the whispers that would no doubt follow me into Universitye Monday, I didn’t want to relive the moment Dmitri stood up like some scene straight out of a telenov and used me of–God, everything.


    I didn’t want to remember the look on his face. The betrayal. The bitterness. The raw, twisted hurt


    I wanted to forget everything.


    And right now? This–this moment, this warmth, this man who kept pulling me into a world I hadn’t anticipated–this was a perfect distraction.


    1 felt the soft flutter of fabric <b>as </b>the veil slid off my styled hair, Laose waves curled around my <b>shoulders</b>, pins barely holding them in ce. My breath hitched as I felt the slow descent of his fingers tugging at the zipper of my gown.


    Tjerked back slightly, cing my palms on his chest to bold <b>him </b>off “W–wait. We should wait until we get home.


    He paused, his erection hard and unrelenting against my thigh, The heat between us felt heavy


    Niki let out a chuckle, but there was something frustrated in the sound. “The office was okay, <b>but </b>the car is not?” he asked, palming my ass and pulling me flush against him again.


    “Niki!” I <b>hissed</b>, scandalized, but my protest died into a shaky moan as he bit down on my ear. My weak spot.


    “Shit–damn it. Not there-


    The reprimand was supposed to be sharp,manding. It wasn’t. It was breathless Wobbly. Embarrassing


    Heughed under his breath, low and velvety, and then started trailing kisses down my neck, licking and biting until I felt the airpletely vanish from my lungs.


    I pressed both hands against his chest and pushed.


    “<b>Niki</b>, please.”


    He willed. His dark eyes met mine and for a moment, the haze of desire in them lifted.


    He nodded, brushing the backs of his fingers along my cheek. “Alright. We’ll stop. But you won’t stop me the second we enter my apartment.” “Okay. Okay Geez” I sighed<b>, </b>slumping against him as he kept me firmly in hisp. I tried to move again, but he refused to let me go. My brows furrowed and I looked up at him.


    He was smiling.


    I tilted my head. “You know, it’s so strange seeing you smile like this.”


    The smile immediately vanished.


    1 groaned inwardly. “I don’t mean that in a bad way. You look good when you <b>smile</b>. I’m just not used to it since you’ve always been poker–faced. Whether on TV or in person.


    His eyes narrowed slightly, then he let out a <b>short </bugh. “Yeah? You think I look <b>good </b>when I smile?”


    I rolled my <b>eyes</b>. Of course, that was what he got stuck on.


    Confidence was his secondnguage. Allule too fluent, maybe.


    I sighed <b>again</b>. “How are youpletely fine?”


    His expression shifted. “<b>Fine</b>?”


    “After <b>what </b>happened today. Your parents didn’t even stay for the ceremony. You’re not upset?”


    He was a


    quiet for a montent,


    8:41 PM


    “It did bother me,” he admitted. “Not in a sad way. Just <b>annoying</b>. Like a stone in your shoe you didn’t notice until it stabbed you.”


    His <b>tone </b>was calm, distant.


    “I’m used to it,” he added. “My father’s <b>always </b>been like that Giving Dmitri everything. Taking his side. I learned <b>a </b>long time ago not to expect much from him. Or my stepmother.”


    I hit my lip, nodding slowly.


    “You’re lucky,” he <b>said</b>, ncing at me. “Having a mother like yours.”


    I looked down at my hands, a soft smile forming, “Yeah I am”


    No matter how chaotic everything had beentely, at least I had my mother’s love–fierce, protective, and unrelenting. That was more than some people ever got, More than Niki had ever known. And it made my chest ache in a strange, guilty way


    We settled into <b>an </b>awkward silence after that, minutes passed even <b>as </b>I felt his erection go down he didn’t let me off of hisp. Keeping the in ce.


    Just then, a soft knock against the divider startled me out of my thought. The <b>driver’s </b>voice followed, muffled through the ss. “We’ve arrived,


    I barely had a second to register that before Niki’s smirk deepened. He adjusted the back of my dress with practiced ease, smoothing out the Fabric as if it was second nature. His fingers moved to the veil, carefully settling it back over my hair.


    Then, before I could blink, he was out of the car and opening the door on my side.


    I expected him to hold my hands,


    “Wait–Niki!” I gasped as he leaned in suddenly and swept me into his arms


    <b>In </b>a full bridal cary.


    “Put me down! What the hell are you doing?!” I shricked, iling slightly as I instinctively clutched at his shoulders, borrified. “This <b>is </b>so embarrassing!”


    He didn’t flinch. “I want to show off a like,” he said with that infuriating calm, as though he hadn’t just lifted me like I weighed nothing. AGAIN! “Show off?” I sputtered. “To what Those are your employees in there, aren’t they?! What on earth would you get out of showing off to them” After all, he lived in the penthouse of his own office building. How that was legal or allowed, I had no idea. But at least it had its own private elevator from the basement. So why the hell was he going through the front entrancett


    w and confident.


    His grin only widened, eyes glinering with <b>a </b>smugness I wanted to wipe clean off his face “Believe me, malishka,” he said<b>, </b>voice low “there <b>are </b>eyes everywhere, You’ll understand once you wake up tomorrow.


    I groaned in mortification, already feeling the heat rising to my cheeks. I tried to hide my face in his shoulder as he carried me straight through the front door of the sleek ss building. Sure enough, a handful of employees turned to watch smiling


    some curious, some startled, one or two outright


    And me!


    I buried my face deeper into the crook of his <b>neck </b>and wished the marble lobby floor would swallow me whole.


    He held me like I was weightless<b>, </b>striding through the space without hesitation, straight into the other private elevator at the end of the hall


    The doors slid closed behind us with a quiet chime, sealing us off from the outside <b>world </b>as the lif began its slow, smooth ascent to the penthouse,


    <b>2/2 </b>