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“If you lie to me about the answers, about anything, the deal’s off. We’re over. Everything you say from now on has to be the truth. The same goes for me too.”
“That’s not very fair. You don’t have any dark secrets.”
“Are you in or not?”
Alek flicked his fingers impatiently. “Ask me your questions.”
Ian held Alek’s gaze. “Remember, whatever the answer, I promise to forgive you. Just be honest.” He waited until Alek nodded his agreement, then asked, “Have you slept with anyone else since we bought the Victorian?”
Alek shook his head and Ian was about to open his mouth to tell him yes or no answers weren’t good enough, when he said, “I haven't touched anyone, haven’t even looked at anyone like that since I followed you into that alley. Three years. Three years and there’s only been you. There will only ever be you.”
Ian had not expected that. At all.
Alek looked away, his bottom lip pouted outward, like he’d already resigned to the fact that Ian wouldn’t believe him. “I may have betrayed you in every other way, but my cock and my heart have always belonged to you.”
Ian reached forward and palmed his hand around the side of Alek’s neck, his fingertips spanning across Alek’s jaw, all the way to his silky black hair. It was a gesture Alek would know well. It said ‘good boy’. It said ‘you’ve made me very happy’. It was a nonverbal, all uppercase ‘MINE’.
In response, Alek pressed his neck into Ian’s grasp. Alek’s pulse drummed against Ian’s hand, like Alek was steel and Ian a magnet.Ian released Alek’s neck and gently turned Alek’s chin back to face him.
“That pleases me more than I can say with words.” Ian brought his other hand down to Alek’s hardening dick. “When we get out of here, I’ll show you exactly how happy you’ve made me.”
“You believe me?” Alek’s eyes widened slightly.
“Yes. You said you wouldn’t lie to me and I’m choosing to trust you.” Ian pumped Alek’s dick a few times in a show of good faith and then removed both of his hands. Alek huffed a whine, but Ian ignored it, instead saying, “Let’s get back to the game. Remember, you have to answer my next question, and if you don’t answer truthfully, the game’s over and I’m gone.”
Alek gave a curt nod.
“Tell me the nightmare you have when you talk in your sleep. Tell me the truth and I won’t think any less of you. I’ll still love you. I’ll forgive you, even if you can’t forgive yourself.”
“I won’t answer that question yet. Wouldn’t want to give everything away up front.”
“You want to forfeit already?” Ian teased. “Let me say itagain. Nothing you’ve ever done is more than I can forgive, so long as you tell the truth.”
Alek said nothing.
“What if I let you tell me in Bulgarian? Could you tell me then?”
“That depends. Does it have to be in great detail, or can I give you a sentence?”
“I give you an inch.” Ian held his thumb and finger apart. “I’ll take one sentence, in a language I don’t understand, this one time.”
“Blagodarya.”
Ian frowned. “That’s it?”
“That’s ‘thank you’. I was checking if I lost Bulgarian when I regained English—not that I’d mind, but it’s convenient in this case.”Without preamble, Alek closed his eyes and said, “Semei?stvoto mi e martvo zaradi men.”
Ian leaned forward and tapped a kiss to Alek’s lips before he opened his eyes.
“Thank you for telling me. Whatever it is, I forgive you.”
Alek’s eyes opened. “How can you say that? There are things beyond forgiveness. People beyond redemption. For all you know, I could be a murderer.”
“I may know nothing about your past, but I know you. You’re not beyond redemption, not to me.”
“I’m not a house, Ian, and if I was, I’d be condemned. A meth lab explosion. A nuclear wasteland where not even plants can grow.”
“I hear plants grow in Chernobyl now.” Ian plucked Alek’s ring from the box and then went down onbothknees. “If you want proof of my commitment, then you have it. You know I don’t make promises lightly and I don’t break them. Ever. As long as you keep giving me a little bit more of yourself each and every day, I will marry you and I’ll never leave. I promise thatthere’s nothing about you I won't accept. I love you and all of your dark corners and sharp edges. What do you say? Alek Katin. Whoever you are. It doesn’t matter to me. Will you marry me?”
