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“Who will stop me?” he asks. “I’ll burn it all to ashes and rebuild a new one if that’s what it takes. I know what I want now. Nothing will keep me from you.”
I stare into his green eyes and see no sign of doubt. He isn’t teasing me or working an angle.
Kirill Zaitsev is serious.
I’ve known since the moment I met him that he was intense. That intensity was always funneled to Ilya, though. To his Bratva. Not to me.Neverto me.
So to have all of that fire and devotion, loyalty and love focused on little old Rayne Garner, it is… a lot.
The desire to lean into him and accept everything he’s telling me is strong. Almost overwhelming, actually.
But Kirill doesn’t know what he’s signing on for. He doesn’t know about Yuliana. When he finds out, he’ll change his mind. He won’t accept that I lied to him. He might not accept Yuliana.
I wouldn’t survive that kind of rejection. So it’s better to not open myself up to it in the first place.
“You don’t understand everything, Kirill.” I lay my hand over his chest. I can feel his heart beating fast and steady against my palm. “Someone like Viktoria would be a better choice for you. She’s tougher than I am.”
He barks out a laugh. “Viktoria is a flower grown in a greenhouse. She’s safe as long as she stays put where she belongs, but she isn’t tough in the ways that matter. You’re the opposite, Rayne. You’re a flower bursting through concrete, surviving to spite everyone else. You are the person I want by my side.”
Tears burn my eyes and throat. It’s like he’s taking a page from the deepest, darkest corners of my heart. He’s reading lines from the play I’ve dreamed a thousand times.
“Kirill, I—” My throat clogs with emotion. I can’t say what I need to say.
We can’t be together.
Find someone else.
Let me go.
Because what I actually want to say is bubbling to the surface.
I want to be by your side, too.
He grabs my chin and tips my face to his. Ambient light streams through the windows, casting him in soft relief. Glowing skin, all of his sharp edges made soft and inviting. Everything about this moment feels like a dream. I’m starting to lose track of reality altogether.
“I know you feel the same, Rayne. Don’t fight it.”
When Kirill leans close to me, his long lashes fluttering closed, I don’t fight it.
I close my eyes and fall into him.
27
RAYNE
Kissing him feels like finally reaching the surface of the ocean after a lifetime of kicking. My body hums to life, the exhaustion in me fading as raw desire takes hold.
I curl my fingers into his dark hair and hold him to my mouth. He nips at my bottom lip and swirls his tongue into my mouth. With every brush of skin on skin, I feel my chest easing open. The doors around my heart are unlocking, cracking open. The vulnerability I’ve tried so hard to hide is poking its head out.
I want him.
God, how I want him.
“Kirill,” I breathe, saying his name just so I know he’s real.
His name on my lips hits him like a bolt of electricity. He goes rigid for a single second before a growl rumbles through his chest.
Then, suddenly, he hooks his hands around my thighs and hoists me into his arms.
