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The rest of the day was tense; our coming departure was on everyone’s mind, but Nataliya remained steadfast. She never stopped smiling at her son, never let him see her nerves. Elias asked for me at bedtime, and she sat on the opposite side of the bed as I told him more “hero stories.” When the boy finally closed his eyes, Nataliya and I slipped out of the room.
“Do you want to watch some TV?” I asked, nodding toward the living room. “Sam and Owen will take a while putting Myles down.”
Nataliya considered it, but ultimately, she shook her head. “I want—” She swallowed hard, like the words were caught in her throat. “I need to not think about tomorrow, or I’m going to talk myself out of going, and I don’t think television is going to be that distracting.”
My mouth was suddenly dry. “Can I…help?”
She studied me. “How?”
I held out my hand to her. “Come with me.” Cautiously, Nataliya slid her hand into mine, and I led her down the hall to the guest room I was staying in. “Nothing has to happen,” I said. “We could just talk.”
“But?” she asked, already a step ahead of me.
“But I could distract you,” I offered. “If you want.”
Nataliya’s eyes flicked between me and the bed. “How?”
“Let me hold you,” I suggested. “I get the feeling you haven’t been held in a really long time.”
She let out a shuddery breath. “You’re right. I haven’t. Could you?—?”
“Of course.” I closed the distance between us, wound my arms around her, and pulled her against me. For a second, she was stiff, arms held down by her sides, but when I didn’t let go, her body melted into mine. She brought her arms up and twined them around my neck, burrowing her nose into my collar and inhaling hard. I rubbed at her back, trying to soothe her. “It’s going to be all right. I’ll bring you straight back to him,” I promised. “Owen would never let anything happen to him. Elias will stay and start his treatment, and it is going to be fine.”
She inhaled and exhaled slowly, over and over, and I knew she was trying to stop herself from crying. “I’m scared.”
“I know,” I said. “I’ll never be able to tell you how grateful I am that you pushed past that fear and agreed to help. Truly.”
She shrugged, not moving her face from where it was pressed against me. “It’s not like I’m being altruistic. I don’t want to live my life on the run anymore. I want to stop the man who killed my brother. And I want to help you and the rest of your teammates who are putting so much on the line to protect me.”
I snorted. “After putting you and Elias in danger by bringing Ian Hayes right to you.”
She tipped her head up. “If they’d found us without you there, it would have been a lot worse.”
She wasn’t wrong, but I didn’t want to imagine that possibility. Once Hayes got what he wanted, whatever that was, from her, I had no doubt she would disappear, permanently. I wouldn’t wish that on anyone…but especially not Nataliya or Elias. In a shockingly short amount of time, they’d become more important to me than anyone other than my teammates had been in a long, long time.
It’s the mission, I told myself. It was the possibility of finally getting justice for Cuddy and Roger and solving this mystery that’s been building for over a year.
“Adrian.”
“Yeah?”
“Kiss me? Please?”
The whispered request sent a jolt through me…but wasn’t that why I brought her in here to begin with? Don’t play coy now. I leaned down and pressed my mouth to hers, soft and sweet, like the kiss we’d shared the night before. She allowed it for a moment, but then her mouth opened against mine, and the wet softness of her tongue brushed against my lower lip.
With a groan, I deepened the kiss, tasting her. Sunshine. It didn’t seem possible, but that was exactly how she tasted. I cupped her face, brushed the apple of her cheek with the pad of my thumb.
When breathing became an issue, I pulled back a fraction. Her hazel eyes were hazy with want. I didn’t think she could look any more gorgeous, but here she was. “You’re an incredible woman, Nataliya Koza,” I murmured. “Incredible and beautiful.”
She replied by kissing me again. Her fingers tracked into my hair, holding me against her. As if I wanted to be anywhere else. My mind drifted to the bed three steps away—I could lay her down on it, make her feel good, but I held myself back. She wanted comfort, no matter what distraction she was asking for, and I wasn’t going to press the advantage.
Instead, we stood there, trading kisses, for a long time. Somehow, it was the most naked I’d ever felt. I liked it a lot more than I would have thought.
TWELVE
NATALIYA
I’d managed not to cry until the second before we had to get in the car. Elias had wrapped his thin arms around my neck, buried his sweet face against my neck, and the tears just poured down my cheeks despite everything I did to try to hold them back.
