Her eyes darken, cheeks heating. “So you have had asecondto yourself then?”
She nudges my side with a soft giggle.
I lean in just enough to let my breath graze her ear. “I last much longer than mere seconds, baby.”
I pull back immediately, increasing the distance before I lose control entirely. I loosen my tie, roll up my sleeves, and catch her watching every movement like she’s memorizing me.
She’s as alert to me as I am to her.
“Why don’t you take time for yourself?” she asks, chewing her lip.
I shrug. “My life’s been a series of fuck-ups. We built an empire between mafia families in Russia and America. Took on the jobs no one else wanted. It nearly got me killed last year. I’ve never been safe enough to think about love. Or family.”
The words spill too easily. Like I’ve been waiting my entire life to have someone to talk to about everything. That the things I’ve bottled up over the years need to come out. I’ve never had anyone in my life I’ve wanted to talk about this shit to. Not until her.
“That sounds… sad, Drago.”
I smile faintly. “If your dad hadn’t taken me away from my parents, I’d have been dead before my sixteenth birthday.”
I rub at my chest, trying to silence memories I never allow myself. The only childhood memory I have is of my parents locking me in my bedroom while they got high downstairs. As years went on, I blanked more and more shit out. As I got older, they were home less, which was a blessing to me. When I was at an age I should have been playing outside with the other kids on our bikes, I was trying to figure out how to wash my own clothes.
“How so?” She asks, shaking me from my thoughts.
“You’re an inquisitive little thing.”
“About you,” she says softly. “Yeah.”
The air hums between us.
“My parents were dealers for a powerful man in Russia,” I tell her. “They kept stealing from him. When they got caught, they offered me as payment.”
She gasps, hands flying to her mouth. “What the hell? And I thought my parents were bad.”
Although I understand Lev’s reasons for sending Lily away to America with her mom, I’ll never quite comprehend how he didit to himself. If I had a daughter, I’d walk through hell to keep her with me. I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t let them go.
“Trauma doesn’t compete, Lily,” I say gently. “Yours doesn’t diminish because of mine.”
Her palm lands on my thigh, and I nearly launch out of my seat.
“So how did that land you with my father?”
I swallow. “He killed my parents for their crimes and took me instead. He offered Ivan their heads on a stake. Then he trained me to be indestructible.”
I brush a strand of hair from her cheek before I can stop myself.
“He trained me to protect you.” My thumb glides over her skin, and her breathing fractures into soft pants. She doesn’t need to know the extent of my protection. I’m already telling her more than I’ve ever spoken out loud to another soul.
“Now breathe for me, Lily,” I whisper, our noses almost touching.
I should put an end to this.
She. Is. Out. Of. Bounds.
Not mine to taste. To hold. To have.
She’s the daughter of my best friend.
Her fingers graze the back of my hand. “Are you going to kiss me, moy zashchitnik,my protector?”
