She’s never been more beautiful.
I tighten my arms around her waist. “We’ll get through this. Even if I have to kill the whole world to do it.”
She laughs, then cries, then laughs again, her arms draped over my neck as she clings to me like I’m the only thing keeping her from drowning.
Maybe I am.
Chapter 25
Chloe
I can’t stop shaking. My body sags like a twisted, wrung-out rag. I have that weird clarity and lethargy that come after an orgasm, but a thousand times stronger.
Normally, I’d rush to clean, to sort, to craft…anything to distract me from these intrusive thoughts. But in Kolya’s arms, with tears still tracking down my cheeks, I’m safe.
Protected.
I have no reason to run or hide behind happy thoughts.
His promise to“kill the whole world”rings in my ears.
I don’t want that, but just knowing he would, for me…
Another wave of sobs hits me.
My body is hot where I’m pressed against him, chest to chest, thighs to thighs. The rage that exploded out of me earlier has transformed into molten lava and pooled between my legs.
His hand rests at the nape of my neck, his fingers tangled in my hair, his heart hammering against mine.
We’re both alive.
Despite the bullets and the running and the lies.
But that’s not enough.
I pull back just enough to inspect the sharp angles of his hard, beautiful face. His dark eyes. There’s a cut above hiseyebrow where the fake plant hit him, a thin trail of blood already dried on his skin.
I did that. I hurt him, and he let me.
He deserves a reward for everything he’s done for me. I should repay him. Show him how much it meant to me.
Those thoughts ignite a primal instinct I didn’t know existed.
My hands move without my permission, tearing at his shirt, desperate to touch him. His muscles, coiled and ready, tense beneath my fingers.
I’m not thinking anymore.
“Chloe.” My name in his mouth is a warning.
Can’t think.
Can only experience.
Ineedhim.
He grabs my wrists, squeezing just hard enough that I gasp. “Stop.”
I freeze, my breath coming in shallow pants.
