Santiago’s laugh is husky and sensual, trailing goose bumps over my skin. I keep my eyes shut, because I know after one look at him, I’ll be seriously considering climbing out of the tub.
He catches my hand and threads our fingers, anchoring me in the moment. “Back to my story, it’s getting to the good part where I first approached you. I don’t think anything would have stopped me. I was thinking how I wanted to know everything about you. I was also very aware of the insane chemistry we shared, and my heart was pounding, and all I could hear in my head was, ‘That woman right there, that Omega, is your reason. Catch her, fuck her, claim her, and never let her go.’ Only half of what I wanted to happen, happened before Kade fucking popped into our scene and you left. I wasn’t going to let any of that stop me from finishing what I started that day. You know I pretty much broke into Kade’s place, held a gun to his head, and told him to choose, but what you don’t know is, it took him literally one second to drop his badge on the floor and pack a bag. And the rest is history.”
I have to focus on the endless bubbles in front of me as I breathe through his confession. It’s a lot to take in, because I completely understand how overwhelmed he was. I felt it too and still do.
I continue looking at the foam. “Lying to people, and avoiding the truth, aren’t how I want to act. I get you could easily suggest I look in a mirror, but at the same time we weren’t really able to share, and I wasn’t sure I could trust any of you.”
“I hear you. Will you tell me about Kade?”
I pop my mouth open in mock shock. “Wow, so you are really taking advantage of us being alone and wanting to know all my secrets.”
His roguish charm blazes like the bright sun when I call him out before his more dominant side sparkles in his eyes atmy obvious challenge. “Sorry.” He grins, but he doesn’t hide his stronger, more assertive side.
I’m pretty sure we’re all past playing pretend, so I don’t cower under his dominance, though I do blush. I can’t help it; my body has a mind of its own when it comes to them.
He gives me another sip of water, reading my flush as something he needs to cool down. “In my mind, everyone is a threat to you until you tell me differently or they prove themselves.”
After swallowing, I lie back again. “Even though you effectively kidnapped Kade, an officer of the law, you still question his motivations?”
“Of course I do. But that’s being an Alpha too. It’s our genetic composition to always be aware and constantly looking for threats. How’d you two meet?”
I hum while thinking of the right way to talk about Kade without dragging his name through the mud. Kade hiding his actual profession from me is something for him and me to resolve.
“Honestly, we crashed into each other one evening at a bar, and we just clicked. I tried hard to keep our relationship in the friend zone, but he was under my skin the second we met.”
“He is persistent,” Santiago muses before he gets serious. “Which brings us to Aleksei and what he said last night.”
I watch as a darkness descends over his features.
“Don’t you like him?”
“I’m not his greatest fan, Quinn.” He rubs a hand over his face.
I wait for him to look at me before answering. “I hardly think you can judge him because of who his brother is. I mean, I haven’t leapt to any conclusions because of your surname.”
Will you give me the same respect when you find out who Victor is?I wonder. Maybe I should say it out loud, but we haveenough other crap to resolve before I have to be downstairs and act as Sergey’s wife.
Santiago’s mood dips a little, but mine would too if someone called me out. The test will be how he bounces back. I wait quietly, my hand skimming above the bubbles.
“Fair.”
I sit up and turn to face him properly, glad I’m not having this conversation naked. Aleksei’s shirt is probably see-through, but I don’t feel as bare under his scrutiny.
Rinsing the bubbles off my scarred hand, I place it on the edge of the tub. Santiago would have seen it, but showing him is different. It’s me making it something neither of us can pretend doesn’t exist.
“Just like you described what happened to you when we first saw each other, I felt that magnetic draw to Aleksei. Our circumstances were different. Very different. We didn’t get the chance to talk. He showed up in my emergency room, badly injured. A terrible mix-up with medication meant he went from needing care to being critical in the blink of an eye.
“He looked at me when it was happening, and I realized who he was, but him being my Alpha was overshadowed. I saved his life, and he inadvertently changed mine. He disappeared from the hospital before we had the chance to discuss the elephant in the room. Admittedly, he was out of it and almost unconscious when it happened. He didn’t know he’d bitten me. Then we skip along for a few weeks until I arrive in Russia. I had no clue he would be here, and when we met, he didn’t seem to recognize me at all.”
Given his expression, Santiago clearly needs a moment to process what I said. He doesn’t shut down or pull away, but I can see the cogs turning. I give him the space he needs, taking a big breath of air and sliding under the water. I had to wet my hair, anyway, but I think I need a moment too.
The bubbles give me a place to hide; the water drowns out the noise in my head. It’s blissful.
Until he meets me there.
His face suddenly appears under the water with me. His eyes are open and his smile so wide, I feel it in my soul. And while I’m probably exaggerating, I also think I taste his scent in the water.
His lips are on mine as he sits us both up and shares his air with me, pulling apart to growl against my lips. “Jesus, bebe, are you sure?”
