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“Scared of you?” How strange, that he would ever think that I could possibly be scared of him. I know he is a powerful man, but he has never, ever, in any way, caused me harm. Yes, I am scared for my heart. But that is only because of how intensely I feel about him.
“I don’t believe you could ever do me any harm, Kiril. I’m not scared of you.”
“But you don’t know what I’m capable of. The things that I’ve done.”
I run my hands around the back of his neck and let them rest on his shoulders.
“Kiril, I know things. I’m not so naive that I don’t know the world that you live in. I know—um—I know the type of things that happen.”
I know I probably don’t know even half of what has happened in his life. I can’t even imagine it as I did not grow up in this world. But I do want him to be comfortable sharing those things with me, so that I can know him fully.
“My brothers and I have been putting a plan in motion to eliminate the people who took you,” he tells me.
“Eliminate? Do you mean destroy their business?”
“Yes, it will destroy their business. We have never agreed with what they do, but I’m not only talking about their business. I mean everything. I mean we want to remove them from the face of this Earth.”
“Kill them.”
“Yes, little rabbit.”
He is staring right into my eyes now. His eyes are narrow and focused intently on me.
“Why?”
“Because they threatened you and our baby. Because they took you and hurt you. I could never let them get away with that. They don’t deserve to be breathing anymore. The fact they still, even today, are throwing threats around—I will always do whatever it takes to protect you, little rabbit.”
It is my turn to narrow my eyes and look right into his soul.
He is doing all of this to protect me. The reason he was keeping the plan from me was also to protect me. He was trying to keep me from having to carry that knowledge in case it upset me.
“Kiril, I—” I am so nervous to tell him what I am thinking. Once I do this, there is no going back. My heart will be on the table and he will be in control of whether or not it ends in heartbreak or happiness. I am giving him control. I am not good at this. I usually keep my feelings close, because I am scared that I will lose people. I somehow learned through all my time growing up in foster care that showing emotion and letting your guard down is a weakness. But if someone as strong as Kiril can do it, how can it be a sign of weakness?
His breathing has become a little heavier. I can see how tense he is waiting for whatever it is I want to say. He has just opened up to me again, and he has no idea whether it is going to push me away or not. The last time he opened up to me I did pull away. I became guarded and withdrawn from him. What he has told me now is revealing something about himself that I doubt he has shared with very many people in his life. His family, yes, of course, but not outsiders like me. The fact that he has shared this part of himself is very meaningful to me. It helps me to make the leap as well.
I take a slow breath. Despite the anxious energy flooding my body, I tell him the truth about how I feel.
“Kiril, I am in love with you.”
He does not move. His breathing remains heavy. His eyes dart between my lips and my gaze, which is locked onto him, trying desperately to read his expression. He gives nothing away.
I want to reach out and touch him, perhaps pull him from this frozen state he is in, but I am also frozen. I can’t move my hands. My eyes widen as the fear thickens.
Finally, I am able to mutter his name, which comes out as barely a whisper. “Kiril?”
“Little rabbit, you have no idea how long I have been waiting to hear those words.”
I drag in a heavy breath of relief. He reaches up and wraps his hand around my chin, pulling my face closer to his. Our lips press together and warm, soothing, and tender passion rushes into my mouth. He kisses me slowly but deeply, forcefully.
I wrap my hands around his neck and hold him tightly.
I love him.
I love this man.
I want to cry and laugh at the same time.
He pulls back when my lips curl into a massive smile. He is smiling as well.
