“Fucking you is always the end goal, Kolibri. But I brought you here for something else.”
I slide my arms through the sleeves, then hold out my hand, expecting my thong back. But when the black garment appears, he crouches, lifting my good foot, then stretching it around my cast. I say nothing and watch as he does the same with my shorts. My stomach flutters at the gesture. The simple act shouldn’t feel intimate, but it does, achingly so.
Then, as if determined to undo me completely, to draw me deeper into a place I know I can’t ever come back from, he moves behind me, pulls the tie from my disheveled ponytail, and begins smoothing my hair back with clumsy fingers.
“Maksim, I can get that.”
“Let me fix the mess I made.”
His touch is gentle. Somehow, the quiet scrape of his nails through my hair, the warmth of his palms on my scalp, feels more intimate than anything that came before. My hair tumbles over my shoulder, and I run my fingers through the strands, trying to steady myself, to keep from melting into a puddle.
“Thank you,” I murmur, turning toward him. “How do I look?”
He dips suddenly, swooping me into his arms as he heads for the exit. “Ty vsegda prekrasna,” he murmurs, nipping at my bottom lip. “Always beautiful.”
I haven’t felt this many butterflies since…hell, maybe ever.
“So,” I say, resting my head on his shoulder, nuzzling against the hard plane of his chest, “now will you tell me what this is all about?”
Being carried around by Maksim might just be the only upside to a broken leg. A girl can certainly get used to this.
“Remember when you told me about Teddy? How you thought he deserved to retire?”
That gets my attention, and I perk up instantly. “Yeah?”
“Well, that’s what we’re doing. Retiring a goddamn horse.”
My mouth falls open, a slow smile spreading. “Wait—are you saying we’re here for Teddy? Like,stealinghim?”
“No,” he says with a faint smirk. “Saving him, Kolibri. Isn’t that what you wanted?”
“Maksim…” The word comes out soft, my chest clenching.
“We’re running a little behind schedule thanks to our detour,” he adds, glancing back toward the maze. “But my guy’s waiting with the trailer just outside.”
“You planned all this—for Teddy?”
He stops walking and meets my eyes. “No,” he says simply. “I did this for you.”
My cheeks burn, and I don’t even know what to say or how to feel. Everything hits at once, so heavy it blurs my vision.
“Thank you for doing this,” I whisper. “This is the sweetest thing anyone’s ever done for me. You must like me or something.”
He laughs quietly and sets me down in front of Teddy’s stall.
The air smells of hay and sawdust, and the fairgrounds beyond us are silent, empty. After tomorrow, the fair shuts down for the year, which makes what we’re doing tonight feel even more like fate. But that’s what it’s always felt like with Maksim since his return.
Fate. Destined. Written—no, carved in the stars. Him and me.
“I can’t believe we’re actually doing this. But where will he go?”
“I have a connection,” he says. “Someone I trust, out of state. Acres of open land, the kind of place where Theodore can live out the rest of his days the way you always wanted him to.”
Emotion floods my chest, and I throw my arms around his neck, rising on my toes to brush my lips against his. “I owe you big for this.”
“Net,” he murmurs. “You owe me nothing. Just you.”
“Done.” I grin, kissing down his chest. “Any way you want me. I’m yours.”
