Page 137 of Fractured Ties

That’s not what had happened for her at all. She hadn’t drifted into memories or remembered all the good times in her life. Instead, she had been so sharply present that she hadn’t thought of anything else at all. She didn’t even have to wonder why that was, either.

Her life had just been before Kolya. A thing she was doing, and not something she particularly wanted to be doing, she supposed. She went through the motions because she was alive and breathing, and wasn’t that what you were supposed to do?

And then there he was—angry, and confusing, and beautiful. A soul so unlike hers, but one that fit hers, nonetheless.

Why would she want to remember the rest of her life when she hadn’t even been living it before him?

“You’re too quiet,” Kolya murmured, tipping his head sideways a bit to survey her. “I don’t like it. Come here.”

Maya didn’t need to be told again. She quickly rounded the bottom of the bed and found the arms that were already outstretched and waiting for her. She briefly thought to ask Kolya if he was in pain or to tell him to be careful, for the sake of his head and bandaged arm, but he didn’t give her a chance.

He grabbed hold of her, wrapped her in his bar-like embrace, and that was it. Her feet left the floor as he tucked her into his lap, her head found his shoulder, and her face tucked close into the side of his neck. Silence coated the room and if anything, his arms locked around her even tighter.

Maya kissed the side of his neck. “You are crazy.”

Kolya’s chuckles rocked them both. “Am I?”

“Completely insane.”

“That’s not news, no?”

She almost rolled her eyes but managed to just shake her head instead. “We hid under a tub, Kolya.”

“But did it work?”

“Fair,” she returned.

Kolya sighed. “It scared you.”

“Didn’t it scare you?”

She knew better than to ask that question. She figured nothing in life scared Kolya. It was as though he perpetually walked around, expecting death to eventually catch up to him, and he simply waited with open arms to welcome it like the familiar friend it was to him. Maya didn’t know whether or not to be terrified of that fact or resigned to it.

“The only thing that scares me is not having you,” Kolya murmured against the top of her head. “And when I feel like that, nothing else matters. Just this very strong need to make whatever is threatening you go away. A switch goes off in my head—I do what needs to be done, then.”

Was that what it was?

Huh.

“Dushka,” Kolya said quietly.

Maya pulled back just enough to look up at him. His lips had curved into the smallest, softest of smiles. One she hadn’t seen on him before, and it made her heart speed up a bit. Just enough to thunder in her chest and make the blood race in her veins.

No big deal or anything.

“Yeah?”

Kolya tipped his head down, and his mouth brushed against hers. A gentle kiss, at first. Soft and sweet. Like he was reminding himself in those moments that she was still very much there and alive with him. If anything, she felt him relax in her hold the longer he kissed her. Her heart thundered impossibly faster, too.

Maya stroked his cheek with her fingertips, and then let them drift through his short-cropped hair, too. It was only when his arm tightened around her waist, and his tongue teased at the seam of her lips that the softness was gone, and something far more sinful took its place.

Oh, she loved the familiarity of their kiss. The way that even like this, he had to control and own her entirely.

All too soon for her liking, he was pulling away. Maya still smiled.

“What was that for?” she dared to ask.

Kolya laughed low. “A lot of things. Do I need a specific reason?”