Page 98 of Bought By the Ruthless Pakhan

At night, Ivan climbed into my bed again.

I was about to call him shameless when he kissed me first.

"You heard, didn't you?" he asked.

I frowned. Heard what?

"My conversation with Nadia."

He had me there.

For a moment, I didn't know how to answer.

"What did you say?"

I decided to play dumb.

Ivan smiled. He lowered his head to kiss my lips, trailing from my mouth to behind my ear, then bit down. "I said I should've just carried you off without a second thought. It would make things between us so much simpler."

I glared at him. "Nonsense."

Ivan's smile deepened, his chest vibrating. "Not nonsense at all, kitten. Communicating with you is too much trouble. So I thought of a better method—pin you to the bed. You're so much more honest in bed. So much more obedient."

His words drilled into my ears.

My face flushed instantly. I raised my hand to push him away, but then remembered his arm injury and stopped mid-motion.

"Ivan."

"Yeah?"

"Is your wound better?"

He offered me his arm, gesturing for me to see for myself.

I rolled up his shirtsleeve. The wound had scabbed over, healing better than I'd expected. Pink new skin edged the sides.

"Not bad," I said. "A few more days and it should be completely healed."

I found ointment in the nightstand, dabbed some on, and applied it.

Ivan stayed quiet, enjoying my care.

His chin rested against my shoulder, warm breath slipping down my collar, making my skin tingle.

He kissed my cheek. "With you taking care of me, of course it's healing well."

His hand squeezed my waist, slid downward, stopped at the top of my thigh.

These past few days living here, almost every night was like this. The atmosphere naturally turned intimate. Bodies were more honest than words—one touch could ignite the fire.

I let him hold me. The cool scent of ointment mixed with his familiar cedarwood.

"Ivan," I stopped his movements, met his eyes, "who are you really?"

Ivan's arms tightened around me. He didn't answer.

Silence spread like a net, slowly unfurling, draping between us. The little warmth that had just budded in my chest cooled bit by bit.