“Can you?”
“With a gun?” I shrugged. “Of course—any fool can do that. Hand to hand, I am not so sure.”
Ranger ran his gaze all over me, though what he looked for, I could not say. “He said two weeks. And made me promise to tell him if I thought you wouldn’t make it.”
“I already told him I am ready.”
“You lied.”
“No.” I tapped my head. “I feel ready, up here and in my heart, because I have to be. Jake is my brother and he needs me.”
“He needs you to stay alive,” Ranger countered. “That’s not gonna happen if some giant cartel cunt comes at you before you’re fit to fight.”
“It is not about size. You know this.”
Ranger’s gaze flared with heat.
He tempered it, digging in like he always did when he cared about something. “You’re not fucking ready,” he said plainly. “You’re one of the toughest bastards I’ve ever met, but you’re not there yet. Even if you train every day?—”
“That is what I will do.”
This man was argumentative. The epitome of belligerence. But he was also perceptive. And whether I liked it or not, he knew me better than anyone who was not Jake.
“I’m not going to lie to your brother, Vik. If you ain’t sharp in two weeks, I’m gonna tell him.”
“I respect that.”
“Do you?”
“I respectyou.”
Ranger exhaled through his nose. “That’ll do, I suppose. Are you hungry?”
I was not, but it didn’t matter. If I was to train, I needed to eat. And Ranger needed to eat because the extra bacon in the refrigerator truly made him happy.
Which made me happy.
We separated to put ourselves back together. The shower felt like a strange place now, but I did not think of all the times I had been held to a tiled wall against my will. I thought about Ranger and the utter acceptance he gave me for anything that did not cause me harm. His open gaze as he’d dropped to his knees and swallowed my cock.
I had come twice with him.
I had comeonhim and down his throat, and I had fallen asleep certain that if I could only have stayed awake, I could have comemore.
The scent of bacon reached me. I shut off the shower and ventured out of the bathroom, expecting the brand-new experience of Ranger cooking breakfast.
I did not expect my sister.
Katya had her back to me, tending a pan with one hand while she peered at something Ranger showed her, and curiosity burned my soul.
I dressed in clothes I could train in and emerged to the sound of her soft laughter.
Ranger smiled too and it was a world away from the grump he sent everyone else’s way.
“Is this witchcraft?” I spoke Russian to my sister. “He does not smile at me so easily.”
Katya had a shy grin of her own. Meek, if you did not know how strong she was. “It wasn’t easy. He’s cross about the fish.”
Of course he was. Ranger was good at many things, and bearing a grudge was one of them. “He will forgive you for bacon. Why are you here?”
