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TWISTED STUBBORN LOVE 16
ALEX POV:“Where is she?”I grasped Madeline by the throat, resisting the urge to squeeze until I wiped the smug look off her face.I’d never raised a hand to a woman outside the bedroom—and then only if they consented—but I was this close to losing my shit.After I saw the video of Madeline pushing Ava into the pool, which I recognized from my previous visits to the Hauss mansion, I broke every speed limit to get here. By the time I arrived, the party had ended and only a few stragglers remained. I found Madeline laughing with her cronies in the kitchen, but it had only taken a glare from me for her to excuse herself and follow me into the hall.“Why don’t you tighten your hold a little?” she purred. “You know you want to.”“I’m not here to play games.” I was holding onto my patience by a thread. “Answer my question, or Hauss Industries is over.”“You don’t have that kind of power.”“Don’t underestimate me, sweetheart.” It wasn’t an endearment. “Ju
TWISTED STUBBORN LOVE 17
AVA POV:If I had to describe Alex Volkov, a litany of words came to mind. Cold. Beautiful. Ruthless. Genius.“Patient” wasn’t one of them. It wasn’t even in the top thousand.But over the past few weeks, I had to admit I might have to bump it up on the list, because he’d been nothing but patient as he guided me through a series of visualization and meditation exercises to prepare me for my first real swimming session.If you’d told me two months ago that I would be “visualizing” and “meditating” with Alex freakin’ Volkov, I would’ve laughed my ass off, but sometimes reality is stranger than fiction. And you know what? The exercises helped. I’d visualize myself standing near a body of water, then use deep breathing and relaxation techniques to calm myself. I started small, with pools and ponds, and worked my way up to lakes. Alex also started taking me to bodies of water so I could get more comfortable near them. I even dipped my toe into a pool.I wasn’t cured of my fear of water, b
TWISTED STUBBORN LOVE 18
ALEX POV:I was on a warpath,and everyone gave me wide berth as I stalked down the hall toward the elevators. My new assistant, who I’d hired after firing the congressman’s insipid daughter for leaking my cell number to the Gruppmann CEO, pretended to be on the phone when I passed, and the rest of the staff kept their eyes glued to their computer screens like their lives depended on it.I didn’t blame them. I’d been biting people’s heads off left and right for the past weekIncompetent, every single one of them.I refused to entertain any other reason I’d been so cranky since my birthday, especially if that “other reason” happened to be five-five with black hair and lips that tasted sweeter than sin.I ignored the two people who scrambled off the elevator when they saw me enter, and jabbed the button for the lobby.That fucking kiss. It’d tattooed itself onto my mind, and I found myself thinking about it—about the way Ava tasted and felt in my arms—far more than I should. Thanks to t
TWISTED STUBBORN LOVE 19
AVA POV:The day had finally come.I stood five feet away from the pool, my skin etched with goosebumps even though the temperature hovered at a toasty eighty-four degrees thanks to the hotel’s state-of-the-art heating system.I wore a one-piece Eres swimsuit, courtesy of Alex, who’d handed me the shopping bag without a word when he picked me up for our lesson today.After weeks of learning relaxation techniques and acclimating myself to the thought of being in water, it was time for me to get in the water.I wanted to throw up. Panic gripped me, its icy claws digging into my sweat-slicked skin and drawing invisible blood. My stomach pumped in rhythm with my wild heart, causing my breakfast to slosh around like rubber ducks in a bath.“Breathe.” Alex’s calm voice steadied me somewhat. “Remember our lessons.”“Okay.” I dragged in a lungful of air and almost gagged at the smell of chlorine. “I can do this, I can do this,” I chanted.“I’ll go in firs
TWISTED STUBBORN LOVE 20
ALEX POV:It didn’t take long for me to secure the penthouse and all but drag Ava into the luxurious suite. I was so fucking hard my cock almost punched a hole through my pants, and the images I had running through my mind…Fuck. I was going to destroy her, but any remaining shred of conscience I possessed had disappeared the moment she’d uttered those words.Maybe I like those things too.My blood roared at the memory.Baby, you have no idea what you got yourself into, I thought, shutting the door behind me.Ava stood in the middle of the bedroom, wearing a dress over her swimsuit and a half-nervous expression. With her doe eyes and innocent features, she resembled a sacrificial virgin awaiting defilement.My cock throbbed harder.“Take off your clothes,” I said, my soft voice a whip crack in the silence.Part of me wanted to bury myself deep inside her as soon as possible; the other part wanted to savor every moment.Despite a slight shake in her
TWISTED STUBBORN LOVE 21
AVA POV:By the time Alex and I finished, I was exhausted and wrung out, and I would wake up sore as hell tomorrow, but I didn’t care. Alex hadn’t held back, and that was what I’d wanted. Needed.Somehow, in choosing to let go, I’d never felt more powerful. Strength in weakness, control in submission.“Aren’t you tired?” I yawned, watching Alex through half-droopy eyes. We’d gone at it for what must’ve been hours, but whereas I was ready to pass out, he looked alert and awake as ever.“If by ‘tired’ you mean you wore me out, perhaps,” he said in an uncharacteristically teasing tone. “But if you’re asking whether I’m sleepy, no.”“How is that possible?” I mumbled into my pillow.“Insomnia, Sunshine. I sleep a few hours a night—if I’m lucky.”I frowned. “But that’s…” Another huge yawn. “Not good.”Humans need sleep. How had Alex survived all this time on only a few hours a night? “We should fix that. Chamomile tea. Meditation. Melatonin…” My voice drift
TWISTED STUBBORN LOVE 22
AVA POV:Alex and I spent the rest of the weekend locked in our suite, subsisting on room service and orgasms and christening every surface—though I’m not sure “christening” was the right word to use, considering how filthy our activities were.Sex with Alex was sex like I’d never known it. Raw. Animalistic. Soul-destroying in the best possible way. It shattered every preconceived notion of who I was and molded me into something darker, more depraved. He called me Sunshine one moment and his whore the next.And I loved it.Even at his coldest, Alex had always treated me with respect outside the bedroom, but inside the bedroom, I was his toy. His to fuck and use—in the shower, pressed against the window, bent over the desk—and I craved it as much as he did.I screamed, my core clenching around his cock for what must’ve been the thousandth time as another orgasm ripped through and broke me into a million pieces of ecstatic agony.When the fog of pleasure finally faded, I found Alex sta
TWISTED STUBBORN LOVE 23
AVA POV:My friends had mixed reactions to Alex’s and my new relationship status. Jules was ecstatic, claiming she knew Alex had a thing for me and demanding to know what he was like in bed. I refused to answer but flushed a deep crimson, and that had told her all she needed to know. I think Jules would have died of disappointment had Alex’s bedroom skills not lived up to the promise of his devastating looks and intimidating presence. Luckily for me, they did.Stella, meanwhile, was worried. Happy for me, but worried. She warned me to take things slow and not fall too hard, too fast. I didn’t have the heart to tell her that train had left the station ages ago. Maybe not the “too fast” part, as Alex Volkov had stolen my heart, bit by bit, over the years, even before I thought I liked him, but the “too hard?” Heart, meet free fall.Bridget was neutral. I supposed princesses were inherently more diplomatic, which was why she said nothing other than if I was happy, she was happy.The spe
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