They got back to the hotel after their heated argument at the event and while Andrei proceeded to lock up, Serenity indignantly headed for the spare bedroom of their hotel suite determined to occupy the 'Andrei free' space it was offering.

She was seated on the soft velvety cushioned mattress staring distantly at the adjacent window, her hand restlessly fumbling with the clutch bag on her lap as she tried to calm her nerves when a rush of cold air suddenly alerted her of another presence inside. The upper half of her body turned with an irate growl and watched as Andrei stared at her with an arresting gaze. Oh, how she'll make him feel her wrath now that they're alone.

She stood vehemently from the bed taking definite steps towards his direction. Her anger no longer restrained. It was evident in the way her eyes threw daggers at him on every step of the way yet he remained unfazed by this.

"You heartless manipulative bastard!" She seethed, venting her frustration by punching him in the chest for good measure. He grimaced and rubbed at the spot she had hit.

"What the hell is your problem?" He growled at her.

"My problem?" She managed to keep a voice just under a screech. "You" she pointed an accusing finger at him. "You conniving bastard tricked me-"

"I tricked you?" He sounded genuinely baffled at this.

"Your ingenuine acts of concern lured me into being so sentimentally vulnerable to you about that place and you took it as an opportunity to take that land away from me" she hissed in fury.

Andrei shook his head in confused frustration. It finally dawned on him that his wife was oblivious to his intentions. "You're misreading my intentions Serenity"

She nearly laughed at loud at his remark standing in front of him with a defiant stature and an accusing gaze. "What are your intentions then?" She demanded. "Tell me"

"My intentions were entirely good-" He tried to reason out as calmly as his patience can take him.

"Hardly believable" she interrupted hotly. This made his eyebrows lower and his eyes darken. He was never accustomed to being interrupted when talking. In fact, she was the first one to do this. Nevertheless, he ignored the offending remark.

"Last week your father called" he finally spoke. "He told me to put the property into auction and-"

"Wait, so you're the one who's undertaking the transaction" she interrupted yet again and Andrei had to swear softly under his breath.

"Let me finish damn it" he groaned gazing down at his wife's contemptuous questioning eyes.

"He told me to put it into auction yet he never mentioned that you were unaware of it; that he never discussed it with you. Your father knew already that you were gonna say no that's why he came to me in the first place. If I had known that you were against it then I shouldn't have placed it in the fundraising. Earlier I offered to cancel it yet you declined my offer so the least I can do for not mentioning it to you especially when I heard your reason was to buy the land. My intentions were good because I will give it back to you" He finished off with grim humor.

The couple was staring at each other no more than two feet apart. Serenity's anger was still a hard linger to the atmosphere surrounding them. It stubbornly refused to subside and concur with his words.

"What part of 'I can manage myself' did you not understand earlier?" She gritted the words menacingly slow.

"Because I think I did not fail to assure you earlier that I'm as financially able as you are and that I don't need your help" she flared, angry that he expected her to believe what he meant in his words.

She scoffed wrily, her words continuing with deliberately dry humor. "I see, There's a catch to it, isn't it? Because It's so magnanimous of you to place a staggering amount on that property just to give it to me"

Andrei released a low grumble in his throat. His right hand came up to massage his aching forehead. His wife's stubbornness to concede is just lashing at his nerves. His jaw clenched and his lips thinned in obvious anger but surprisingly enough he let it go.

Andrei momentarily turned his back on her only to shut the door close then lean on it. His actions had really garnered a response from the woman for she now regarded him with a confused frown.

"Seriously, " he began after a long silence that she stubbornly refused to break. "What is wrong with you?" She gaped at him, unable to believe the stupidity of the question. "And try to keep the sarcasm down to a minimum" he added.

"Well, aside from the obvious fact that I believe there is a catch on what you just did" she shrugged. "No there's nothing else wrong with me"

"There is no catch!" He practically shouted but sooner swore under his breath regretting that he startled his wife with the sudden rise of his voice.

He sighed before continuing. "Why can't you just accept my offer and believe me?" He asked exasperatedly, weary of where this pointless conversation is heading.

"Because I don't want to owe you something!" she pointed out her eyes boring into him with a defiant frown.

He looked frustrated but seemed to recognize that she would not budge on the issue. "Then don't think you owe anything from me" his tone was now hinted with the first signs of tiredness and retreat.

"I'll pay you," she said with a finality in her voice that's meant to warn him not to defy. He seemed to not like the idea for his face had gone back to the familiar icy mask she despised so much but quite quickly as it came it too disappeared in a haste because all that was left from the icy trace was a calculating gaze. Serenity thought that he might be considering it for a moment.

"Fine," he said tonelessly. "But not in the way you're expecting" he gingerly approached the confused woman who seemed to be glued on her spot. He came up in front circling his arms languidly around her waist, his hands clasping together at the small of her back and it hovered dangerously close to her butt.

Her own hands came up to brace herself away from the unwanted touch yet her physical protests don't seem to have an effect on him. In the end, Serenity had to tear her eyes from his and settled herself tensely between his huge form.

"I'm not in the mood," she said flatly as her neck took great pains to avoid making eye contact with him. As her head craned to the side to avoid his intent stare, her neck, on the other hand, was giving her away; it exposed soft sensitive flesh that looked tempting in his eyes.

The proximity was making her feel the familiar arousal that he had earlier on the event and for a moment she was tempted to take back her words. In the end, she simply stood there and did nothing.

"Well then, we can work on that besides it has been a week since our last" his voice was a hoarse whisper of seduction that sounds so maddeningly convincing.

"And whose fault was that?" She challenged, eyes snapping back at him.

He stared at her thoughtfully all amused at the question. "Christ, did you expect me to wake you up in the middle of the night just to have sex?" The way her eyes gloomed for a bit was enough for him to realize that his words came out wrongly.

"Not that I mind" he quickly added. "I just... I know you'd be mad and we both had a long day at work so it wasn't best to wake you up just to take the little energy you had reserved for yourself" he finished softly and for once she let some of the anger go. Her eyes dropped to his chest defeatedly unable to comprehend what her next action would be.

"Look at me," he demanded softly when she kept her eyes glued to his chest. When she refused he muttered something beneath his breath before lifting one hand from her back to tilt up her jaw until her eyes met his.

She sucked in a harsh breath when his head ducked and his lips nuzzled on the sensitive flesh beneath her ear. She flinched when one of his hands went down to cup the roundness of her butt.

"Andrei" a betraying quiver crept into her voice. "I...I can't, not right now" his lips were now practically trailing hot kisses down her neck.

"Why not" he whispered in response to her former statement, his hands now eager to find the damned zipper of the dress she wore. When he found none for a lengthy while, he yanked at one of the straps, tearing it from the expensive fabric. Serenity protested weakly but his actions remained undeterred. His wicked, hot mouth moved down to her throat, licking, sucking, and nibbling the exposed skin along the way.

"Please..." She didn't know if she was begging him to stop or continue. She sighed wishing she was more adept at resisting him. "I'm on my period. Let me go" she demanded weakly when his lips trailed down to her collarbone.

"Serenity, " he groaned "I don't mind" His hands came upfront to stroke her breast amidst the fabric that clad it. Her back arched as a response to his sweet seduction and her mind rebelled against what she's about to do but in the end she settled with a firm decision despite the torturous nagging voice in her head. Serenity lifted her foot and stepped into his own, hard. He swore and lept back, leaving her enough time to gather her senses and flee.

Serenity was out of breath when she reached the other bedroom. Now in the confined space of the room, there was silence; calm and uninviting. She wearily headed to the connecting bathroom just across from where she stood. Once inside, Serenity wasted no time stripping the gown that he purposedly ripped earlier. She also let her hair loose from the pins that hold it together. Now, she stood beneath the hot and relaxing spray of the multiple shower heads in the luxurious bathroom, head pressed against the cool tiles as the water trickled every spot of her body when a sudden rush of cool air alerted her of the fact that the glass door to the cubicle had slid open.

She turned around abruptly to lash at the unwelcome intruder, covering her lady parts with her hands on the process.

"What the hell are you doing here?" She shouted throwing the bottles of soap, lotion, and essential oils at him as he slid further into the cubicle. Andrei had masterly dodged the offending pieces and he stealthily managed to take hold of his wife's hand before she could slap him.

She was naked and so was he. That makes it even harder for him to control the surge in his hormones.

"Damn it, woman, stop moving" he groaned as he restrained her with superior strength.

She kept on moving despite the tight clutches of his hands on her wrist and to her horror she found herself being spun by him, her naked back now pressed to his front, her wrists still in his hands, and her hands crossed over her chest. She felt his eager arousal pressed against her ass and Serenity thought that she had to thread her actions carefully if she wanted to avoid what's to come. At that moment, she stilled. Moving wasn't an option now. It's a lethal risk for seduction and knowing Andrei, he could easily turn her on in seconds.

Her entire body went rigid and her breathing became ragged but her eyes, however, managed to maintain the incandescent fury. "How did you get in here" she gritted not at all pleased with their current situation. One wrong move and she's doomed.

"This bathroom connects the two bedrooms" His breath was emitting hot air against her neck and his tone; that maddeningly sinful voice of seduction. F*ck it, she's really doomed

Even though Andrei groaned the words in irritation, it still sounded so sexy to her ears. Gods, she knew from the very start that her husband was blessed with a voice that can take any woman to heat without exerting much effort.

Serenity gulped warily. "Please, not now Andrei," she said, and even though she practically begged for his consideration, her voice did not lose the hardness in it.

His hot narrowed gaze dropped lower where it met the evidence of an unfertilized cell. The blood coming from between his wife's thighs mingled with the hot warm water that sprayed above them. His own face was a mask of tight control while his eyes were ablaze with annoyance and lust.

His eyes were restlessly darting from the floor to her naked body exploring every inch of her with his burning hot gaze, feasting his eyes with the mortal flesh that he couldn't claim at the moment. With a muffled curse, he spun her around so that this time she's facing him. His hands left her wrists where it now rested on her shoulders, holding her. Her own hands fell limply on her sides.

She tried her best not to drop her eyes to his throbbing erection that she could still feel despite the small distance that separates them.

His eyes were fixed on her face, exploring the contours of her soft feminine features. The fury had evaded her eyes. All that's left from the remnants of raw unshed anger was a gentler, softer presence that he kinda adored. Her mane of dark brown was turning into a deeper shade as the water coated it with its warm wetness. Her soft almond amber eyes bore into his with its signature innocence, her high delicate cheekbones added up even more to her alluring features and finally the unfamiliar contours of her ripe, generous mouth.

Serenity stared at his unfathomable brown eyes. His was heartbreakingly beautiful. They were chocolate brown and set between incredibly thick black lashes and beneath sweeping brows. She heard him sigh...

His hands clenched to gently squeeze her shoulders reminding her of its presence and he seemed to swallow with visible effort.

"You're so... beautiful" his voice was hoarse and he cleared his throat before continuing. "Resisting you was harder than I thought and it's only been seconds" he continued.

Serenity blinked unable what to make out of this sudden confession.

With a slightly muffled curse, he groaned and lowered his head to place a gentle kiss on the corner of her mouth. With that Andrei left her to herself wordlessly exiting the stall and the bathroom with a grace that only a man so dignified and respected like himself possess. She was left gaping at the unexpected affection. His words and his touch still lingered in the air. Finally when she came to her senses after seconds of zoning out Andrei was back now clad in sweatpants that left him naked to the torso and up, handing her a soft woolen robe. Only this time his eyes weren't a mask of warmness anymore. It got back to the original distant icy reserved that she loathed so much but this time it wasn't loathing that she felt, it was sadness...

How can someone change so drastically fast?

And with that, he left...again.