I’m already in so much shit if this gets back to Ilya before I can get us out of here.
"Why not?" She takes a step toward me. "You left me before."
My jaw tightens. “That was different. We’ve already talked about this.”
“Well, maybe I’m not done talking about it.” Her voice is as flat and harsh as mine as she approaches me. “Maybe I want you to think about the fact that neither you nor Ilya gave a thought about what was going to happen to me after I left that warehouse.”
I did, though.I bite back the words. That’s not going to help anything. Besides, it doesn’t matter. Thinking about what she was doing after, wondering about her,lustingafter her didn’t fix anything that happened. And it still won’t.
Only getting her out of here will.
“I know,” is all I can manage to say. I don’t know what else there could be.I’m sorryisn’t enough.I wish I could do it differently,can’t help anything.
"Do you?" She's closer now, close enough that I can see the way her pupils are dilated with adrenaline and fear. "Do you know what it's like to be left behind? To be abandoned by everyone you thought cared about you?"
"Yes." The word comes out harsher than I intended. "I do."
That brings her up short, and she stops, studying my face. "What happened to you?"
"Nothing that matters right now." I turn away, checking my gun. There are far fewer rounds there than I would like. "We need to focus on getting out of here alive."
"You keep saying that. But you haven't told me why I should trust you this time." She's right in front of me now. I can feel the heat of her body, smell the scent of her—woodsmoke from the first cabin and the sharp tang of the forest and fear, and the scent of clean, warm, feminine skin. "You work for Ilya. You left me once. Why should I believe you won't do it again?"
I take a step forward, and suddenly we're too close. Close enough that I can see the pulse beating in her throat, the way her lips are parted, the rise and fall of her chest as she breathes.
"Because I risked everything to get you out of there," I say, my voice low. "I killed Iosef's men. I burned my mission. I made myself a target. And I did it because I couldn't leave you in that cell."
"Why?" She searches my face, her eyes narrowed. "Why do you care?"
"I don't know." It's the truth. I don't know why she matters so much. I just know that she does. "But I do."
The air between us feels electric, charged, so thick I could cut it with my knife. I can see the moment she realizes how close we are, the way her breath catches, the way her eyes drop to my mouth.
I should step back. I should put distance between us. I should?—
She sways forward, just a fraction, and I can feel the pull. The want. It would be so easy to close the distance, to take what I've been wanting since the moment I saw her at that party two years ago.
But I don't.
She's been through hell. She's vulnerable and scared and looking for something to hold onto. Taking advantage of that would make me no better than the men who hurt her.
I step back, and the moment breaks. Svetlana blinks, and I can see the confusion in her eyes, followed quickly by something that looks like hurt, and a flash of irritation.
"We need to keep moving," I tell her, my voice rough. "As soon as I can get a signal, I'll call for extraction. But until then, we need to stay alert and get to that safe house.”
She nods slowly, wrapping her arms around herself again. "Okay."
I move to the window, peering through a crack in the shutters. The sun is rising now, illuminating the forest. It’s beautiful, but it also means we’ll be easier to track. We need to get out of here.
"Why should I trust you?" Svetlana asks again, quieter this time.
I don't turn around. "Because you don't have a choice."
"That's not an answer."
"It's the only one I've got." I hear the far-off sound of engines, and my stomach clenches. More of them are coming. "Look, I get it. Everyone in your life has let you down, it seems like. You have no reason to trust me. But I'm all you've got right now, so you're going to have to take a leap of faith."
Her jaw tightens, but she says nothing. I look back toward the window and take a sharp breath.
