Ignoring him, I asked, “I don’t, uh, I don’t have to sit on the floor, do I?”
I blinked, hating how the thought of sitting on the floor at his feet in front of his friend made my stomach churn.
Damien’s jaw clenched, and I wanted to take the words back. I didn’t want him to go back to being mean to me when he was starting to be nice. I didn’t want any of them to be mean. I opened my mouth, but Damien spoke first, his voice quiet. “No, Catalina. You sit between Nikolay and me. And you sit with your head held high. Do you understand me? You are the Mute Princess. You’re ours. And in this world, it means you’re royalty.”
I could only let out a broken gasp of air.
I nodded, and his eyes lightened. My response pleased him. I smiled and looked down at our feet. I was still in my bare feet, and Damien was wearing black shoes. His feet seemed to be twice the size of my own.
I wiggled my toes when I noticed his attention on them as well.
Movement from the side of the room caught my eyes. I turned to find a woman I didn’t know standing at the room's threshold. Like me, she had brown eyes and brown hair. That was about the only thing we had in common. She had nice golden tan skin, was about several inches taller than me, and was definitely curvy in all the right places.
Looking at her tight white, revealing dress that hugged her body like a second skin, I suddenly felt frumpy in jeans and a T-shirt. I shifted on my feet.
She wasn’t standing near us, but I imagine she would be Damien’s better physical match since I always felt like a kid standing next to him. I barely reached up to his chest. We probably looked odd standing together.
She was the kind of beautiful that hurt to look at.
Something like concrete settled terribly in my stomach. I didn’t like how I felt, looking at this woman who didn’t seem like a little girl trying to wade her way into the world. Like the way I felt most of the time.
The weight lessened some when she walked over to where Gabriel was standing, and wrapped her arms around his neck and kissing him deeply.
I shifted and looked away.
I wasn’t even comfortable watching people kiss. I doubted I could ever kiss any of my men in front of anyone.
I shot a sideways glance at Damien, trying to appear inconspicuous, only his eyes were already on me, and they were dark with an emotion I was quickly becoming acquainted with.
I quickly shifted my eyes away from him and tried to move out of his reach. He wrapped his arms around my waist, and leaning down, he whispered, “I can’t fucking wait until you heal.”
I bit my lips. I wasn’t brave enough to tell him I felt the same way.
He led me to the dining table, where Nikolay was already sitting, playing with his knife again.
The same knife he had used to cut off my panties in what felt like so many days before, just as he plugged me for the first time.
My cheeks tightened when he looked over at me, bringing the blade to his tongue and licking it.
“Weird fucker,” Damien said, loud enough for Nikolay to hear.
Nikolay laughed, wrapping his arms around me, the tip of the knife resting gently on top of my breast.
I looked down at it before I turned back to him and those wild green eyes.
Gabriel and the woman joined us.
I looked over at them when Gabriel spoke to me. “Catalina, please allow me to make an introduction.”
I smiled a little at the formal way he said it. And his eyes lightened when he caught my smile, which told me he probably did it on purpose to put me at ease.
He pointed to the woman next to him. “My friend, Melinda.”
Her lips twisted when he referred to her as his friend, and I looked away quickly, pretending I didn’t notice.
He continued as if he didn’t notice her reaction, though something told me Gabriel wasn’t the kind of man to miss much. “Melinda, this is Catalina Agnello.”
Her eyes widened slightly from my full name, and I wondered if it was because she recognized it.