I put the plate in front of her, with a dish of sour cream and paper-thin slices of smoked salmon. “I enjoy cooking,” I admit, pouring coffee for both of us. “It relaxes me.”
She bursts into laughter, trying to smother it with her napkin when I raise an eyebrow. “Sorry, it’s just hard to picture you relaxed.”
“You relaxed me just fine last night.” I love watching her face flush that rosy shade, so similar to the skin on her ass when I spank it… fuck. And now I’m hard again. “Eat your breakfast. It’s getting cold.”
“Can I have my cell phone back? I have to call work, they must be freaking out by now,” she asks, looking down at her plate.
“I’ve already spoken to Boris,” I say, finishing my coffee. “He knows that you’re not coming back.”
“What?”She slaps her hand on the table. “You had no right to do that! That’s my job!”
“Itwasyour job,” I correct her.
Angrily pushing back her chair, she’s about to stalk off.
“Stop.” She does, though I can tell she hates that she obeyed me instantly.
“What am I supposed to do now?” She’s nearly in tears and it makes my heart twinge. Just a bit. “Sit here in your dark kingdom and stare out the window? Wait for you to knock me up so I have some purpose in life?”
She’s shaking, and I feel that twinge again. “No wife of mine is going to work in a restaurant, serving drinks and clearing tables. Spring semester at Harvard starts in a couple of months. You should start going through your coursework. I know you like to be prepared.”
Her look of shock is almost charming, her wide eyes and how her hand flutters up to cover her mouth.
“Wait. You mean I can go to school?”
“Of course,” I say. “You’ll need a strong security detail. I know that draws attention but it’s non-negotiable-”
Lucya leaps on me so quickly that we nearly fall out of the chair. “Thank you! Thank you,” she says into my neck, her face buried in my chest and her arms around my shoulders. “I was beginning to think I would never be able to go! Wait.” She pulls back, “What do you mean, I’m starting next semester? I have to reapply, and there’s an endless amount of paperwork to do…” Her explanations trail off as she looks at me suspiciously. “Do I want to know how you pulled this off?”
I smoothed my hands along her thighs. “No.”
“You didn’t kill anyone, right?”
“No.”
“Thank you,” she kisses my chin, my cheek, the corner of my mouth. “Thank you so much. This means everything to me.”
Wrapping my arms around her, I rock her slowly, loving the heat of her fierce little body against mine. “I know.”
Chapter Seventeen
In which there is so much sex, though I doubt any of us will disapprove.
Alexi…
I carry my littleKolibriback to the bedroom, laying her out on the mattress with her hair spread out around her, her dark curls blending into the black of the bedcover.
“Are you sore?” I ask, kissing my way up one long leg, then moving away before I get to her center.
“A little,” she admits, cheeks flushed. Still, her hand slides into my hair, her fingers lightly scratching my scalp.
Fuck, that’s good…
I nuzzle against her for a moment before resuming my kisses over her belly button, pushing her borrowed t-shirt up as I went. I linger on the soft skin between her breasts, and the hollow of her throat. She might be sore, but her breath was already coming fast, her pupils flared. “My poor hummingbird.” I soothe a couple of bruises with my tongue that I’d left on her neck last night.
“I’m notthatsore,” she says hastily.
“You always need to tell me,” I say sternly, “I don’t want to hurt you.”
