Page 138 of Fractured Ties

“Maybe I like hearing them.”

“Ah. Well, because here you are.”

Maya grinned, and whispered, “Here I am.”

“And because I love you, yes?”

Her gaze found his, then, and she found life staring back. More life than she’d ever found in his gaze before. It was all for her, too.

“That word—love—seems strange to me,” Kolya said, reaching up to stroke her cheek with a large palm. “It doesn’t seem like the best fit. I feel much more than something as simple as love when it comes to you. I have since the moment you looked at me across the bar. It took me this long to figure it out because I am … not good at this thing. Whatever we are, I am not very good at it, Maya. I’m sorry.”

Maya sucked in a sharp breath. “You are perfect for me.”

And wasn’t that the only thing that mattered at the end of the day? She thought so.

“And I want you just as you are, Kolya,” she added.

He gave her a nod before pulling her in for another one of those burning kisses that set her mind on fire. Yeah, the rest would never matter, as long as this remained the same at the end of every day.

It was the clearing of a throat that caused the two to break apart. Kolya shifted Maya from his lap to the bed beside him with one arm like she didn’t weigh a thing. There was no missing the darkness in his eyes at having been interrupted when he turned to find who was waiting for them in the doorway.

He only relaxed slightly when he saw it was his brother.

“Konstantin,” Kolya said.

Konstantin smirked. “He lives.”

Kolya chuckled dryly. “You knew that.”

“I know, but it’s still fun to say it.”

Maya pressed her lips together to keep from smiling. These two brothers—who always seemed to be balancing on a very sharp line where each other were concerned—were not simple or easy to figure out. Their relationship seemed tainted by the life they lived, and the father hovering over their shoulders. Competitive and problematic on their best days, sure.

And then there were moments like now, and for the last two days, when all of that disappeared and all that was left was a raw bareness of love. Maybe the only kind of love they really knew how to show one another, but it was there, nonetheless.

“Try not to do that again, yeah?” Konstantin muttered.

Kolya nodded. “That’s the plan.”

“I think it’s worse when I’m not there to rein you in.”

“Well, who’s fault was that, no?”

Konstantin’s jaw flexed. “Speaking of Vadim …”

Maya didn’t miss the way Kolya tensed, but all it took was her hand stroking the side of his bare arm for him to calm again.

“What about the bastard?”

Konstantin sighed, and glanced at the clock on the wall. “He knew what was going to happen. In the warehouse, yeah? He knew and sent you in.”

Maya didn’t even bother to simply touch Kolya that time. Before he could react, her hand was curving around the back of his neck. Soft fingers lying flat to his skin and holding tight. She could feel the way his blood pulsed at this pressure point, and the way his skin jumped.

“Is that so?” Kolya uttered.

“Sorry, brat.”

Kolya didn’t respond.