Total pages in book: 82
Estimated words: 76572 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 383(@200wpm)___ 306(@250wpm)___ 255(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76572 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 383(@200wpm)___ 306(@250wpm)___ 255(@300wpm)
Ivan holds the door open for me. “Let’s go home. I can do the rest of the work I need to take care of while we are there.”
I stand and give Val a smile. “Thank you for spending time with me.”
She sighs. “I might just nap right here. See you guys later.”
It doesn’t take long to get back to the apartment. Once inside, he strips his jacket off and tosses it over a chair. “What did you want to tell me?”
I shake my head. “Nothing, really. We were just chatting about things. Want me to cook something? I’d love to do that for you.”
He cups my hips and dips his lips to my neck. “How often have I told you that you don’t have to do that? I can order something from probably anywhere and get it here in record time. I just want to touch you right now.”
He backs me into the bedroom until I hit the bed and fall backward. I shift until he can join me.
When he doesn’t go for my clothes, I freeze. “What’s happening here?”
He tugs me into the curve of his body, both of us fully dressed. “I just want to hold you right now. Feel you against me.”
The slow drum of my heartbeat in my body calms, and a new kind of warmth spreads. Fuck, I’m so gone over him. It’s going to kill me when I lose him.
“Stop thinking” His voice is a deep rumble in my ear. “I can feel the tension in your back. This is supposed to be relaxing.”
The hard bar of his cock against my ass singes my nerve endings. “Are you relaxed that way?”
He rocks his hips against me. “Very fucking relaxed, Malyshka. As much as I want you, we don’t have to always be fucking when I touch you.”
His statement has a soft undertone, and I latch on to it. I roll and pull his head onto my chest to run my fingers over the stubble on his scalp. What does his hair look like when he grows it out? He’s always kept his head cleared, his tattoos on full and intimidating display.
He rumbles and breathes heavily against me. “That feels nice.”
We lie there for hours, the sun disappearing and the city lights flickering in the window. Neither of us moved. At some point, I fell in and out of sleep, as did he. I don’t know what time it was, but at some point, I felt him shift his thigh over mine and cuddle closer to me, clutching me to him with an intensity I could barely breathe through.
The only thing I could do is clutch him back and hold him tight. I told myself I’d tell him, and right now, I feel it more than ever. So I take a deep breath and whisper it to the night. “I love you.”
He obviously doesn’t respond, no doubt passed out, but a tiny glimmer of hope wishes he would. I lie in silence, listening to him breathe, and eventually, let my eyes close and night take me under.
32
IVAN
Every day I spend with her, I think more and more that I can’t be worthy of someone like her until I kill her father. Until I destroy the man who hurt her so badly. It won’t be enough until I can feel his blood on my skin and know he will never hurt her again.
She seems to care less about her father or what he means to how our life is going. But Arthur is hanging over my head, reminding me every day that there’s still someone out there who can threaten her.
It’s late morning when I find her in the closet studying her clothes. “How did I get so many things so quickly? I’m used to being able to pack everything in a duffel bag.”
I lean on the door and watch her, not interested in the clothing unless I’m peeling them off her. “The party is coming up quickly. You’ll get another dress to wear.”
She sighs and slides her hands down the sleeve of a blouse. “Do I really need another one? I have a few in here already.”
As much as she complains, I notice her caressing the silk and cashmere in the closet. “We have to present a united front. We’ll all be dressed in similar colors.”
With a smile, she turns. “Like a knight in a fairy tale wearing their lord’s colors?”
“If that’s how you want to think about it, sure.”
She studies me and no doubt sees something in my face that I don’t bother trying to hide from her. “Let me guess, we are wearing a whole shit ton of black.”
I chuckle, and she freezes. “Did you just…laugh?”
Now I narrow my eyes at her. “Don’t overthink it. Anyway, this party is the last one of the season, so once it’s over, we’ll have at least a few months of freedom before the season opens again. It’ll give us time to plan how to get out of the council’s crosshairs and keep our family safe.”