My eyes slowly fluttered open. I winced at the bright light, a slight whimper slipping past my lips without meaning to.
“Shh, solnyshka,” a soft voice murmured. A warm hand caressed my cheek, stroking it with his thumb.
Alek.
I tried to open my eyes even more, tried to move in the bed so I could see him,holdhim. A pair of hands held me against the bed. “You’re all right. No need to rush.”
“Al… Alek,” I said, coughing a few times.
“I’m right here, baby. Take it easy.”
I focused all my attention on the places he touched me, grounding myself in the feeling. I inhaled and exhaled several times. “That’s it. Good girl.”
Hearing those words drove me wild. I knew I should have been focused on the pain, on my slight difficulties breathing, on anything other than how badly his hands pushing me into the bed made me want him. But after going a few days without him, I needed him. I neededmore.
My eyes opened once more, and the world came into focus. It took a few seconds to adjust to the brightness of the hospital room. There was a slight beeping noise coming from a monitor behind me, and I was covered by a thin bed sheet and an even thinner dress. The room smelled like antiseptic, cleaner, and a faint whiff of musk.
My gaze found him last, his body stiff in a small chair, leaning toward the bed. Alek’s hair was mussed as if he spent hours running his fingers through it. He wore his signature black suit, only instead of being pristine, it was rumpled, some of the buttons undone to reveal his tattoos. His eyes were dark, and his jaw was tight until I whispered, “Alek.”
“How are you feeling, baby?”
There was something guarded in both his tone and his expression, like he almost expected me to wake up and push him away. But I would never do that. I meant what I said before the fire. I wanted him.
I tried to sit up further, but my movements were constricted by the IV in my arm and the mask over my nose. I pulled that off and set it to the side. Then, I grabbed Alek’s lapels and pulled him to me, crashing our lips together.
His tense body softened against me. Alek brought his hands to my waist and my hair, his tongue thrusting inside of me. I moaned at the taste of him, at the feeling of his tongue practically making love to mine, always dominant.
“I love you,” I murmured against his lips, surrendering to the feelings churning inside of me.
“I love you too, Evangeline,” Alek said before pulling back with a groan. “Butfuck.We can’t.”
I stuck my bottom lip out in a soft pout. “Why not? Don’t you want me?”
He slammed me into the bed, his hand wrapping around my throat, and his teeth biting my earlobe. “Of course I fucking want you.”
Alek wrenched himself back, staring at his hand in almost horror. “I could have hurt you. Fuck!” he cursed, shoving himself off the bed. His chest heaved as he placed his forehead against the wall, clearly trying to calm himself.
It took a few tries to stand up, my legs wobbling as if they were still asleep, but eventually, I made it out of the bed, the IV dragging behind me. I felt better than I expected to, which was a welcome surprise. Alek stiffened when I placed my arm on his forearm and pulled him back to me.
“You would never hurt me,” I whispered before grabbing him by the back of the neck and pulling him into me.
Alek didn’t fight me much as our lips met in a gentle kiss that quickly deepened. Heat flared between us like the most natural thing in the world, building low in my core before spreading out to the rest of my sore limbs.
He kissed me like he’d been starved. Slow at first, reverent, his mouth moving against mine with a careful restraint that trembled at the edges. His hands slid to my waist, thumbs brushing the thin fabric of the hospital gown, as if reminding himself I was alive. That I was here with him, never going anywhere again.
I whimpered into his mouth, my fingers tightening in his hair. “I need you, Alek. I need to feel you in me.”
His grip tightened, and he pulled back. His lips traveled across my face with tender kisses. “Evangeline… I can’t. You’re in the hospital for fuck’s sake. Your brother went to take a call.”
“Becauseyousaved me. I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for you.” I tilted my head, pressing a kiss to his jaw, then his throat, breathing him in. Smoke and steel and something unmistakably Alek.
My hands wandered, slow and sure, relearning him. Feeling the tension coiled beneath his skin. Our time apart was too long. I wanted to memorize the look on his face as he came in me. I wanted to taste the devotion on his tongue.
“I want to feel you. Ineedto.”
He shuddered when I kissed the corner of his mouth again. “Eva,” he warned, voice rough. “We shouldn’t?—”
“Alek.” I pulled back enough to look at him. I tried to display every emotion on my face so he knew this was what I wanted, what Ineeded.
