Page 99 of Inked in Devotion

I positioned myself with my back against Daniel.

“Ready?” he asked.

I huffed. “Don’t warn me just…”

A muscular forearm wrapped around my neck, blocking blood and air.

You have six seconds to react before you lose consciousness.

I fought against doubt and hesitation, and just as he dragged me back, creating the space for my fingers to slip beneath his arm, I broke free.

Now, I was aware he was taking it easy on me and the element of surprise would be different under genuine circumstances, but muscle memory could be practiced.

“Look at Mommy go!” Dora yelled from the sidelines.

The exhilaration was something else, though. So, I laughed and leapt into Daniel’s arms.

He chuckled and patted my back, complimenting me on a job well done. But exuberance dissipated into an unsettling sensation when I caught blazing blue eyes glaring at me and Daniel. It was the kind of sensation that submerged my ears underwater and made my already racing heart beat faster.

I sprang away from Daniel.

Kolya, Dom, and Trevor were standing behind the bench. Unlike the menacing expression on Kolya’s face, the other two men were smirking.

They set him up. What the hell?

“What are you doing here?” My voice was raspy, if not breathless. And I shouldn’t be feeling guilty. Kolya and I were not in a relationship. We were co-parenting. I shouldn’t feel guilty about embracing Daniel, but why did it feel like I was cheating?

No, this was simply projection tacked on to the seething expression on Kolya’s face. His clenched fists at his sides were a giveaway, too, that I had done something wrong.

Which I hadn’t.

“I thought we could have lunch.” His eyes bounced between Daniel and me as if assessing a situation that had blindsided him.

“Oh, I came with Dora,” I said.

Then, as if knocked out of a trance, he hooded his gaze and walked around the bench to greet Sebastian.

“Dada!” Sebastian cried gayfully.

My heart squeezed each time my son’s eyes lit up when he saw his father. Sebby did the same with me, but I was still baba.

“Hey, sport.” Kolya lifted our son in his arms and rocked him while addressing Dora. “Can you spare Chloe for the afternoon?”

“She’s the boss.” Dora rolled her lips. I could tell she wanted to say yes. She’d slept in my room for three days since Kolya moved back into the cottage. I could have stayed with Sebastian in the nursery, but that would defeat the whole purpose of Dora moving in, evaluating my fitness to be a mother. I didn’t want Dora to be Sebastian’s evening caregiver. That was between me and Kolya.

Dora assured me I was fine, and she was getting ready to move out of the Zahkarov property to look for an apartment closer to the shelter.

“I could do lunch.” I didn’t want to commit to more.

Kolya nodded and ignored me, still focused on Sebastian.

I breathed a sigh of relief. I think Sebastian calmed him down, which I needed Kolya to be, because damn him if I wasn’t going to thank Daniel for helping me out.

I was mindful as I approached Daniel, who was now talking to Dom and Trevor. I stopped a foot away from him. It was like, even when Kolya had his back to us, he was throwing an invisible force field that kept me from the other guys. Even without a word of hostility, he’d already peed a circle around me.

I didn’t know if it was annoyance or resignation I was feeling. Since the basement conversation and revelations, Kolya and I had been civil, and our priority had been Sebastian. And though I was appalled that his parents had been murdered, it only reiterated how risky it was to be with him and stoked my reservations. Surprisingly, it wasn’t fear. My fear was the unknown, and apparently I trusted Kolya’s skill to protect us.

But until he explained circumstances further, there was no “wanting more” from him.