Sweet Torture

Chapter-4

Katherine blew out a breath and started walking out of her room and into the vacant hallway. She wasn't going to stand around all day.

She should call her father. She'd picked up the phone about eight times since getting out of bed, but she just hadn't been able to bring herself to do it. Not yet. It would make it all too real.

How ironic that now she'd achieved her goal she was having trouble accepting it.

It's nothing more than a cermony and a piece of paper. At least you're not expected to stay with him forever, have his children.

Now that would have been a harsh reality. One she thought she'd been prepared to deal with, but one she was certain now she hadn't been. Not if the thought of a marriage ceremony was affecting her this badly.

She headed down the long hall, the sound of her high heels echoing off the high, flat ceiling. The corridors were extensive, weaving through the massive mansion. But she knew where Yazdan's room had been, situated on the opposite end of the mansion where the guests stayed. It was likely that Kayan's room was also there.

Yes, last night she'd spoken to him about avoidance. And then he'd tried to intimidate her by reminding her whose territory she was in. But she wasn't easily intimidated. She'd spent her life surrounded by strong men, holding her own against a father who exoected the worst and never praised her for her best. She always had to show strength.

She would never  be the leader of the Slytherines. She was a woman, and for some reason, her lack of male member made her ineligible. But she was involved in the politics of her gang,  and she didnot have a reputation as a shrinking violet. She didn't avoid conflict. She faced them head-on. And right now, she was looking for the tall, muscular conflict she'd tangled with the night before.

She looked into a couple of empty rooms before pushing open a door that revealed what could have been a modern, state-of-the-art gym. A lap pool, every sort of exercise equipment anyone could ever want.

And there was Kayan. Flat on his back on a weight bench, his breath hissing between his teeth as he pressed two massive dumbbells up over his chest.

She crossed the room tentatively, her mouth dropping open slightly at the sight of his body. Every muscle was chiseled, as though it were carved into rock, the only sign it could possibly be part of a real man, and not a statue, was the bunching and shifting  that happened with each breath and movement.

Pale skin, smooth and perfect, all of it fascinating. Unlike any man she’d ever seen.

She blinked and took a sharp breath. “Aren’t you supposed to have a guard or…….something?”

He stopped midmotion and swung his legs over the side of the bench, sitting up quickly, his ab muscles putting on show with the swift motion. “What are you doing here?”

“I came to find you.”

“What made you think that would be well received?”

“I didn’t really think it would be,” she said, fighting to keep her eyes on his face. She traced the cuts and scratches on his cheek with her eyes, hoping it would keep her mind off his naked chest. “It didn’t really bother me.”

The tendons in his neck stood out, a muscle in his jaw jumping. “It wouldn’t.”

Her eyes drifted lower. “No…..I……well, that’s not really the point….I…..”

“Seen enough?” He voiced the question in a near growl. Her eyes flew back to his face. His expression was cold. Closed. His lip curled into a sneer.

“Yes,” she said, feeling heat creep into her face. It wasn’t that she’d never ogled a man before. But they weren’t usually this naked, and she’d never been caught. Or at least, the man in question had been too polite to say, because she was a woman after all. Kayan didn’t seem to care.

He bent over and picked up a white T-shirt from the floor, his  fingers trembling slightly as he held it out. And then her eyes were drawn to an intricate design of tattoos, placed where she knew he’d been shot and her stomach tightened.

He pulled the shirt on and covered her guilty pleasure and the pain that was threatening to steal every last ration of thought from her head.

“I thought you might show me around a little bit today,” She said. She hadn’t thought any such thing but now she had to say something because it was awkward.

“You thought wrong, Bella.  I have work to do.”

“What sort of work?”

“The kind mafia leaders do- you must know something of that.”

“Truly not so much. The mafia family makes appearances and gives speeches.” It was a lie. She did a lot. Planning strategies, keeping eye on their enemy gangs, making sure their goods are shipped without any hurdles, managing budgets, paperworks, and yet, it was what he seemed to think of her.

“Ignorance isn’t your color,” he said.

“Got me there,” she shot back.

“I thought I might.”

“I  think we need to go over the original agreement drawn up by our fathers, and make any alternations we see fit,” she said.

“Do you?”

“Better now than after the vows, don’t you think?”

“Are you always like this?” he asked.

“Yes. I have been told I am impossible to deal with. I’m okay with that, actually, because I usually get my way.” In some circles anyway.

He made a sound, short and harsh, that might have been a laugh. “I imagine you have your ways of making sure your needs are met..”

She frowned. “If you are implying what I think you wear, don’t. I don’t use my body to get what I want. I use my mind. Or where were you not aware that woman were capable of that?”

“I wasn’t making a commentary on woman, only on you.”

“Well, I don’t like the commentary.”

“I have been told I’m impossible to deal with,” he said, repeating her earlier words back.

“I’m imagining that’s very true.”

“I always get my way”, he said, turning away from her.

He was so broad. His shoulders, his back. All the better to carry the weight of the world on them. And he did. She sensed that. Mostly because she felt like she did, too, sometimes.

“I promise, you can get back to the business of ignoring me….after we go over the agreement. And after you give me a tour of the grounds because I’m tired of feeling like I’m lost.”

He wanted her gone. That much was clear. But she was committed. To seeing this through, to doing the best she could.

To proving she could do this.

“I’ll go shower and I’ll meet you in my office.” He strode across the gym, headed to the shower, she supposed. He would uncover that amazing body again. For a moment she let herself envision it. Just for a moment.

“ I’ll see you there,” she said, hoping he didn’t notice just how delayed her response was.