The massive windows offer the same dizzying view of the city that mine do, but from a slightly different angle, revealing different patterns of lights and different flows of traffic.
Once again, the enormous painting snags my attention. Before, I pegged his room as sterile. Now, as I absorb the white brick walls, gray furniture, and the vibrant beach at sunset above the headboard, a new word pops into my head.
Home.
He lowers me onto his bed—our bed?—with the same care he’s shown all night. The smooth, expensive sheets are cool against my heated skin. They smell like him too. That musky evergreen scent that I’ve come to recognize. The pillow, softer than the ones in the guest room, yield beneath my head.
He slides in beside me, pulling the covers over us before drawing my back to his chest. His arm snakes around my waist, and his breaths warm the nape of my neck. Our bodies fit together like puzzle pieces designed for each other. The ridiculous thought has me smiling into the darkness.
“What?” He’s so attuned to me that he catches my shift in mood even without seeing my face.
“Nothing.” I cuddle his arm to my chest. “Just…this. Us. All of it.”
Us.
There’s that word again. But this time, it feels real.
He tightens his embrace, hugging me closer. “Good nothing or bad nothing?”
I consider the question carefully while taking inventory of my emotions. I should be plotting my escape. Hating every minute of this captivity disguised as marriage. Instead, I feel safe. Not just physically protected from external threats, but emotionally secure in a way I haven’t felt in years. Maybe ever.
While the danger hasn’t disappeared, Alexei has somehow come to represent security rather than threat. The man who could hurt me the most has become the one I trust not to.
“Good nothing.” I cover the hand on my breast with mine. “Definitely good.”
He kisses the nape of my neck, his lips lingering against my skin. “Sleep,lyubimaya. Tomorrow will be long.”
His meeting with the Falcones.
My art show.
All the complex realities of our situation wait for us beyond this moment of peace. But for tonight, none of that matters. All that matters is his solid warmth cloaking me.
This indescribable feeling has my heart aching with possibility. With him, there’s trust where there should be fear. Comfort instead of pain. Connection where only emptiness should live.
I’m falling for him, and I can only hope the landing won’t destroy me.
I don’t know what tomorrow will bring. Don’t know if this fragile bond between us can survive the harsh light of day in the violent world Alexei inhabits. But here in the dark, our connection feels real. Like it’s mine to keep.
My eyes grow heavy, sleep tugging at me despite my desire to stay awake and hold on to this moment a little longer. Behind me, Alexei’s breathing deepens. His body relaxes into slumber, and I let myself follow, drifting off in his arms.
I dream that together, all our broken pieces reassemble into one impenetrable whole.
Chapter 41
Alexei
I push through the nondescript brick entrance of the Banya Club, my body still humming from this morning’s activities. Three times. We fucked three times before eleven, and I still want more.
The pressure of my gun against my lower back reminds me of the world I’m reentering, but even that can’t erase the memory of Aurora’s thighs trembling around my head just hours ago.
The doorman nods in recognition. No words necessary. This place operates on unspoken rules that keep even Chicago’s most lethal men in line.
As I pick up a pen to sign the entry book, my wedding ring glints in the dim light. The white gold band is still unfamiliar on my finger. I have a wife. When that thought hits me again, my lips curve into a smile.
This morning, I woke to wet heat around my cock, Aurora’s mouth working me in the gray dawn light. Her hair spilled across my thighs like a curtain.
At first, I wondered if I was dreaming, until she sucked me in deeper and my hips bucked off the mattress. My hands tangledin her hair, holding but not guiding as she regarded me with those beautiful green eyes.
