CHAPTER NINETEEN
Katarina
“What sort of proposition?”I ask, my body tensing against his. I’ve got to be honest, upset as I am, he’s the most comfortable place I’ve ever rested.
So odd. I have that feeling again that he’s my pain and my comfort.
He slides his hands down my arms. “Technically, it’s not new. It’s yours.”
My jaw hardens. “It’s too late to be partners, you’ve already shown you can’t be trusted.”
His hands still on my wrists. Looking down at them in the water, they’re massive compared to mine.
How easy it would be to hide in his shadow.
But he’s been more than clear. Any safety I found there would be an illusion of my own making.
He went to great pains to explain why he can’t be trusted.
“I told you, I’ve never lied to you, and I’m not now. Partners.”
I don’t believe him. His not lying is a technicality at best, and life has taught me that men will say and do as they please to get their way.
But also, I said from the start that my life was not of consequence.
I left Vegas for two reasons…. First, to make my father pay and then to protect Sasha. “Partners?” I repeat. “Is this a negotiation?”
“If you want to think of it like that.”
“I do. And I have terms.”
He lightly squeezes my wrist and then smiles into my hair. “I would expect nothing less.”
It reminds me again of how easy he’d be to fall into. “One, my sister Sasha must be protected at all costs.”
He stiffens behind me. “Sasha?”
I spin, blood roaring in my ears. “Why did you react like that? Do you know something? Is she all right?”
He reaches up gently holding my face. “She’s absolutely fine. And if she isn’t, Dimitri is worried enough that he’s got his eye on her and my brother. It’s safe to say that if Ryker steps a toe out of line, Dimitri will cut his balls off.”
“Dimitri?” Who knows what motivates my brother. From where I sit, he’s just another man who tried to sell me. “I want you to promise that if something happens to me, you’ll watch after her.”
He stares at me, his eyes growing dark. “You’re worried about her?”
“I’ve always been her soldier.”
His gaze slides down my body. “You’ve got the scars to prove it.”
I settle back against him, because I don’t actually want him looking at those now. I know what Win and I are doing, but Iguess I still want him to find me attractive. And my scars are ugly.
“What else?”
“Promise that when you make my father suffer, that you tell him I helped. That I was part of the machine that brought about his demise.”
He wraps his arms around me, squeezing me to his chest. “You’re talking like you won’t be there too.”
“I might not. I’m bait, remember.”
