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He was insatiable.
And I wasn’t exactly complaining.
We were free and no longer hiding.
I guessed we could say this was the honeymoon stage of our relationship. Over the last few weeks, I started working at the Café with Maddie while Ayla was on maternity leave. Viktor started “courting” me. He dropped me off to my job, picked me up. Brought me flowers. Came over to have lunch with me during my breaks. Sent me flirty texts that had me blushing every second. He even took me out on dates, just the two of us. A normal couple. He was not an Ivanshov. I was not Solonik’s wife.
He was just Viktor and I was just Valerie.
I rubbed my palms over his back and his muscles clenched under my touch. “We need to get up. It’s Ayla’s birthday today, and I promised Maddie I’d help her with the surprise.”
“Hmm.”
“Viktor—”
“Ten more minutes. I don’t want to move,” he rasped, his husky morning voice causing my body to tingle in all the right places.
I felt something wet and warm between my breasts and then I felt him grinning against my skin.
When Viktor spoke, he kept his voice low, the sound rumbling through his chest. “You taste delicious, myshka.”
Heat spread through my body like an untamed wildfire. “Did you just lick me?”
I couldn’t see his face, but I could tell he was grinning harder.
Viktor lifted his head up and our gazes met. He was beautiful in the morning light. So beautiful it hurt to look at him and sometimes I wondered if this truly was real. That he was really mine and we were really free. Together.
It could all be just a dream and I would wake up one day to find myself back in Russia, trapped inside that room, behind four walls with a collar around my neck.
This could be a dream.
And I could still be living in a nightmare.
Maybe…maybe…
I felt his touch on my cheek. The rough pad of his fingertips whispered over my skin, so softly. Viktor bend his head and his lips touched mine. “Valerie.”
My name was a whispered prayer on his lips. I wrapped my legs around his hips and he enclosed me in his arms. “This is real, sweet myshka. I promise you.”
Tears filled my eyes, but I found myself smiling still. “You can read my mind now?”
“You are my woman. I can tell what you’re thinking and when you’re distressed.”
Oh God. There goes my little heart.
“Okay, Mr. Romantic.” His grin widened, and I fought the urge to roll my eyes. “Get off me. We need to get up now.”
I pushed against his shoulders, and a deep, disappointed growl burst from him before he eventually rolled off me. I got off the bed and searched for my shirt. From the corner of my eye, I caught a lazy smile spreading across his lips. “Maybe we could take a shower together.”
“Umm, no. Don’t even think about it, Viktor. Not happening.”
He huffed but didn’t argue otherwise.
***
“Have you heard anything from Evaline?” Ayla asked from her seat across the table.
Maddie shook her head. “Not since I spoke with her a few weeks ago. Actually, that was more than a month ago, and we didn’t talk, we texted. Something is off with her. She said she’s busy with work but I can feel something is not right.”
“I felt it too when we spoke the last time.”
“When was that?” Viktor questioned.
“Maybe six or seven weeks ago?”
Evaline was Viktor’s half-sister. Same father, different mothers. Except I heard their mothers were sisters. I have heard a lot about Evaline. She was well loved by everyone, but I had yet to meet her or speak with her. The girls found it a bit weird since they assumed when Evaline found out about me, she’d take the first flight back home. But she didn’t, which had Ayla and Maddie worried.
“She never goes that long without contact, right?”
Ayla nodded at Viktor’s words. “I found that odd too.”
Viktor focused his attention on the man seated across him. “Nikolay, do you know anything about this?”
“No,” Nikolay deadpanned.
His dark, intense eyes narrowed on Viktor. He was really intimidating, with his height and big size. His scars made him look almost unapproachable. I liked to believe that if he smiled, he might look nicer, gentler.
But I had never seen Nikolay smile. I might have seen a ghost of a smile when he played with Maila or held Xander, but otherwise, he stayed expressionless. He was brooding man, and it unnerved me most of the time. Ayla told me Nikolay was a gentle beast, but I still kept my distance. I tried to talk to him once, but it was like speaking to wall. He only grunted a few times in response, said a word and then ignored me. I quickly realized Nikolay didn’t like to speak to people. Out of all the boys, he was the most quiet and reserved. He observed everything but rarely said a word.
