A strange warmth spread low through his chest.If only she understood how deeply she had already become one to him.Maksim stepped forward fully then, one hand settling against her waist.
“You shouldn’t be worried about me.I can handle myself,” he assured her.
Lena rolled her eyes slightly, though concern still lingered there beneath the irritation.“Maksim, I can’t help but worry.”
He brushed his thumb slowly along her hip beneath the fabric of his shirt she still wore.His shirt.The sight of her dressed in his clothes did something deeply territorial to him.
Mine.The thought surfaced instantly again.
Lena looked up at him.“Promise you’ll come back.”
Maksim lowered his head and kissed her slowly and deliberately before answering.It wasn’t the desperate heat of the night before.This kiss felt different, intentional, like a promise neither of them fully trusted themselves to say aloud.
Lena softened against him immediately, curling her fingers lightly into the front of his jacket.Maksim deepened the kiss briefly.He savored the quiet sound she made against his mouth before pulling back just enough to rest his forehead against hers.
For one dangerous moment, his mind betrayed him.He pictured waking beside her somewhere that did not smell like gunpowder and old blood.His penthouse instead of another temporary safehouse.
Maksim pictured Lena half-asleep in his bed, dark curls spread across his pillows.Her stealing coffee from his cup at breakfast.Weekends spent locked away from the rest of the world with her entirely to himself.The image hit with startling force.
Domesticity had never tempted him before.He had always viewed it as weakness.Something soft men reached for when they grew tired of violence.
Still, the thought of her in his home, wearing his clothes, existing permanently within the private spaces of his life, awakened something deeply possessive inside him.
Maksim cut the line of thought off immediately.That future could not exist unless he convinced Dimitri first.
“I need to make my intentions clear to Dimitri,” he murmured against her lips.“Or he won’t back off.”
Lena searched his face carefully.“And if he says no?”
Maksim’s eyes darkened.“He won’t.”
The certainty in his tone sent a faint chill through her body. She probably understood what he meant.If Dimitri refused, Maksim would force the issue, violently if necessary.
Lena touched his jaw gently.
“Come back alive first,” she whispered.
Something fierce tightened inside him then.Maksim kissed her one final time before stepping away.
****
The house loomed againstthe rain-darkened street.Maksim expelled a slow breath before driving through the gates.He had chosen this meeting carefully.
Alexei was handling business in another district of the city tonight, which meant Maksim could speak to Dimitri alone before his younger brother complicated matters further.
After parking, he headed inside.Familiar guards nodded respectfully as he passed through the quiet halls.The atmosphere remained unchanged as always.
The two guards outside the office door stepped aside immediately without question.Maksim entered without knocking.
His older brother sat behind the massive oak desk, composed as ever in a charcoal suit with silver cufflinks gleaming subtly beneath the low light.A glass of whiskey rested near one hand untouched.
Dimitri gave him an assessing look the moment he walked in.Maksim shut the door behind him.
“Alexei isn’t here?”he asked anyway.
“He’s handling business elsewhere,” Dimitri answered calmly.“You already knew that.”
Maksim said nothing.A faint flicker of understanding crossed Dimitri’s face before his gaze dropped toward the healing wound near Maksim’s shoulder, still visible beneath the collar of his dark shirt.
