Page 24 of The Bratva's Arranged Bride
Even with her scalding looks aimed at me, revealing how much disdain she felt, it made me want her more.
I didn’t know why. I couldn’t understand why it was Tia specifically who got me so riled up, but I couldn’t deny her.
Regardless of how long I had been on my own before, denying any desire to have something long-term, she was piercing through to my past self and making me realize how worthless those convictions had been.
I didn’t want to resist, and I certainly didn’t want her to, either, but I couldn’t flip a switch to change that.
Tia was all I could think about, which only made everything else in my life that much harder.
That fierce independence of hers was maddening, but at the same time, her pride and resistance were the perfect challenge. It was sexier than I cared to admit, and not helping my plight in the slightest.
Given how it was an arranged marriage, and how Andrey clearly blindsided her with it all, I expected her to put distance between us. Yet she seemed to throw herself into it much harder than I expected, and she was fighting me at every turn.
It would’ve been in my best interest to not care and continue like the marriage made no difference to me, other than acquiring Andrey’s partnership. It would’ve been easier, too. But I just couldn’t help myself.
That need inside of me was so intense that I couldn’t shake it, regardless of my efforts.
Beneath it all, I wanted her. That was plain enough. But feeling her scorn went against everything I wanted. Her stubbornness was the one thing stopping me from getting to truly have her.
Each time she shut me out with that usual iciness, I just wanted to break through it even more. I wanted to push and push until she finally gave in.
It wasn’t good for me, but Christ alive…I just needed some kind of relief.
Having to see her, to be near her, and not be allowed to touch her was pushing me to my absolute limit.
Even if she didn’t know it, Tia had this unstoppable power over me, and the weight of that reality was pushing me further down with every passing day.
As much as I wanted to pass her off as being some kind of conquest, I knew that wasn’t true. It ran deeper than that, much to my dismay.
That first week was brutally tense, and I was hoping for any sign that she was starting to see me as something other than her enemy, but of course, that hope was in vain.
It left me with only one angle for me to exploit…the one thing I knew about her.
In an attempt to get on her good side, or at least to encourage her to loosen up a bit, I had her art supplies brought to the house.
Since I didn’t have a single artistic bone in my body, there was nothing of mine I could offer her, so everything was arranged accordingly.
It was supposed to be a nice gesture. A way for me to prove that I wasn’t going to snuff out her passions like she assumed I would. That I had every plan to encourage her, rather than force her to be a docile, emotionless doll.
After our first meeting, art was obviously important to her, so it seemed like a good place to start.
To get on her good side, I needed her to feel more at home, and if that didn’t help, then I didn’t know what would.
Tia seemed surprised when some of my men came in through the front door carrying armfuls of paint, canvases—some blank and others containing her work, and whatever else she had lying around.
Upon recognizing her things, she jumped up from the couch and followed the guys upstairs while they put everything in one of the spare rooms. I could only assume she wanted to make sure they didn’t ruin anything.
When I made my way up a few moments later, I found her standing in the middle of the room, watching closely while everything was dropped off.
Then, she turned to face me with a glimmer of shock in her features.
“What is this?” she asked after a moment, looking somewhat hesitant, as if afraid I might tear it all away from her without any explanation.
With my hands in my pockets, I shrugged and took a few steps into the room. “Consider it a peace offering.”
She blinked back at me while processing my words, and then that genuine surprise slipped away, and her walls went back up again.
As much as I didn’t want that to be the case, I anticipated that reaction.
