Page 33 of Warlord’s Empire

“You sounded like you were in pain, or fighting with someone,” Saskia defended, running her hand over the sheets, imagining him there, sleeping, as he had been a few moments ago. Now that the shock was wearing off, her senses were kicking in, and they were sending alarm bells all through her body. She was surrounded by the scent of his sweat.

Radik nodded, seemingly unsurprised. “Still, you should never enter my room alone while I’m sleeping.”

Saskia frowned and stood, joining him at the window. “But I can enter your room otherwise?”

He gave a slight nod. “Of course, you aren’t prohibited from any part of my home or the compound beyond.”

“So, I’m allowed in your room, but not when you’re sleeping. Why?”

He brushed the hair from her face, his fingers leaving a wake of tingles before falling away. The heat of his body was so distracting, it took her a few seconds to register that he was speaking. “I prefer not to say. It’s not a subject I enjoy discussing.”

She bit her lip and nodded, but her thoughts were going at the same time her body was responding to him. Her nipples had become stiff and sensitive and her panties… well… she’d have to be made of stone not to respond to someone as hot as him.

“I understand… but if you’re having nightmares, maybe it would be better to talk about it.” She held her breath. Was she overstepping? She definitely would be if this was Jozef or any of his security staff. Yet, the conversations she’d shared with Radik so far had taught her that he valued her thoughts and opinions.

“Do you think so?” His voice gruff as he dropped onto the bed. He rubbed a hand over his face and head, his shoulders bowing.

Sakia sat gingerly beside him, keeping about a foot of space between them. “I know it does. It helps me to talk things out with someone I trust when I’m feeling frustrated, angry, or sad. When the nightmares take over.” She picked at the sheet. “Without Leeza, I don’t think I would’ve survived the deaths of our parents. I understood why it had to happen the way it did, but understanding isn’t the same as feeling.”

She blinked away the moisture gathering in her eyes, lifting her shoulder to catch a stray tear.

Radik covered her hand with his. “I’m sorry you had to endure such turmoil. You were an innocent who didn’t deserve the storm you were caught up in.”

“No one deserves to feel that way,” Saskia said. “Frightened, alone, hunted. It was awful. The memories… they can be haunting. I understand what it is to have nightmares.”

He moved his hand away. “Perhaps some of us deserve to have nightmares, to feel the weight of our past.”

“I don’t believe that.” Okay, yes, she did believe some people deserved to be haunted for life. Leeza’s serial killer ex-husband had deserved it, but they weren’t talking about Adam. They were talking about Radik.

“Even if the crimes committed are terrible and occasionally against innocents?”

Oh boy, they were entering dangerous territory. Saskia felt things for Radik, even love, though she wasn’t willing to entertain it until they’d spent more time together.

She mulled over what he’d said and not said. “What I see is a man searching for redemption. I see it in this compound and through your respect toward the people here, through your love for your sister.” And his regard for herself, but she didn’t say it out loud. “I don’t see a man of war willing to sacrifice innocents.”

“Yet, that is who I am at my core.”

Saskia glanced sideways at him. She knew it was true, because everything else he’d said to her was the truth.

“Are you willing to risk your heart on such a man?” He turned to face her, forcing her to see him as he was.

What she saw was a man who was a monster to some, a saviour to others. Complicated.

“I can’t answer that question yet,” Saskia said honestly. “I have a big heart with room for lots of people, but I’ve learned to guard it.” She thought of her ex-boyfriend Nikolai and for the first time she felt nothing. No pain, humiliation, or self-blame. He was gone, deservedly killed by a man he’d tried to murder. Nikolai had been her first and only lover. She hadn’t given him her heart, but she’d wanted to. His betrayal had hurt.

Radik picked up her hand and pressed it to his chest. “I am a patient man.”

She smiled, thinking of his years of stalking before making his move.

“I will wait for you to gift me with your trust, along with a small piece of your big heart.” He lifted her hand to his lips and kissed her knuckles.

Her breath caught and tingles shot straight through her, a rush of excitement scrambling her thoughts. She wanted him, badly, desperately, her body reaching for him in every sense except the physical. She gently pulled her hand from his grip and stood, backing away from the bed, the cool breeze from the French doors shocking her senses enough that her brain restarted.

“I should go back to bed.” Her feet refused to move.

He gave her a predatory smile, stood and strode to her, taking her elbow in a light grip. “Allow me to escort you to your room.”

It was the… safest option. “Thank you.”