He comes out wrapped in a towel, moving slow and careful. The need hits me hard and spreads through my chest like poison. This is wrong on every level. I want him too much.
It’s against everything I was raised to be. It’s everything my family would never accept. When I look into his green eyes, none of it matters though. All I want is to drag him down to me and keep him there, tell him it’s going to be alright even if it’s a lie.
“Can I lie with you?” he asks, biting his lip.
“Da.”
He hesitates, then lowers himself onto the bed, groaning as he stretches his legs out.
I sit up and lift Clover, setting her in her usual spot on the side of the bed. Then cross the room to switch off the light before coming back to pull the covers over him. He’s still only wearing the towel, but it doesn’t matter.
I lie on my side beside him. My hand brushes against his warmth under the covers, heat radiating off his skin in the dark. My chest tightens. It’s nothing, just skin contact, but it feels like fire.
I want to hold him still, keep him against me, keep him safe from whatever did this to him. I’ve gone my whole life withoutneeding to be touched. Now I can’t think about anything else. What did he do to me?
My hand trails up his waist and around his stomach. I pull him against me carefully. His head turns toward me, uncertain, but he doesn’t pull away. He shifts closer and lets his head rest in the crook of my arm.
I wrap my arm around his back and drag him closer. One of his legs crosses over mine as I slide my other hand down to his lower back. He’s soft against me, too soft, and every part of me wants to take more. I hold him close instead, burying the want under control.
His weight sinks into me. It feels wrong how right this is.
I should let go, but I don’t. I can’t.
Chapter 11
Kelly
Afeatherlight touch moving up and down my arm jolts me awake.
I was so out of it last night after barely sleeping for days. After what happened with … no, I’m not doing this today. My body still aches, but that’s probably my fault anyway for not getting out of the way fast enough.
It all crashes back to me now.
The break-in. Alexei standing there in my apartment like it was completely normal.
Okay, not breaking in, according to him, because apparently, if you make a copy of someone’s key without asking, it doesn’t count as breaking and entering.
Something’s seriously wrong with me because I keep letting this man rewrite reality, and I don’t even try to stop him. Maybe I just attract people who think they can do whatever they want with me.
At least he’s not like David; Alexei’s different.
I should care more that he’s probably been watching me since that night at the clinic.
Weirdly, I don’t because deep down I know he won’t hurt me.
His fingers keep dragging up and down my arm in slow, steady strokes. The effect it has on me though? That’s a different story entirely. When his eyes meet mine, I feel pinned in place under his stare. He is so attractive it’s ridiculous.
He ditched his leather jacket and black hoodie last night, and now he is only in some sort of white thermal shirt that clings to every line of his abs. The fact that he stayed the night and let me sleep curled up against him is weirdly sweet in a way I can’t explain.
He frowns like he’s thinking really hard about something.
“Why is your name Kelly?”
I can’t. I actually can’t with this guy.
That’s what he chooses to say first thing in the morning?
I roll my eyes. “Ultrasound screwed up the gender. My parents didn’t bother with a blood test, and they’d already promised my Irish grandmother they’d name the baby after her. So … Kelly. Then I showed up a boy, and they’d already bought all these pink clothes, so yeah, I’m wearing pink in every baby picture until I was a year old.”
