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“Okay.”
He gave me a long look. “Don’t go anywhere. Not even with Nikolai and Hannah. You stay here. Understood?”
“Yes, I understand. Believe me, I have no desire to leave this building. Even if I didn’t have to worry about the ridiculous amount of people chasing me, I’m exhausted.”
“I know, malyshka. After all this shit is dealt with, we’re going out of town on a vacation to the most isolated place I can think of. I’ll make sure we don’t see anyone for at least a month.”
“You want to go on a trip together?” I asked stupidly, as if this was a big step in our relationship even though we were living together.
His green eyes glowed with amusement, though he only gave me a half-smile. “Yes, ideally a place where you can wear as little clothes as possible. Preferably none,” he replied in a low voice.
My cheeks heated and I glanced around quickly, relieved to see Hannah had drifted into the kitchen.
A rough chuckle left Ivan’s mouth as one big thumb swiped my burning cheek. “Such a zastenchivaya devushka. Adorable.”
“What does that mean?”
He shot me a mischievous grin. “If you're a good girl, I’ll tell you when I get back.”
Curiosity was burning me alive. “Ugh, I hate waiting. I want to ask Nikolai, but I don’t think I can even remember what you said and I’m afraid it’s…inappropriate.”
Ivan threw back his head and laughed out loud. “Then I guess you’ll have to wait.”
I sulked and crossed my arms. “Fine.”
He stared at me for a moment, his gaze flowing over my features like the soft edge of a paintbrush. Without warning, he grabbed me by the back of my head, his fingers threading through my hair and pulled me tightly into his embrace. His other arm banded around my waist as his mouth consumed mine. I threw my arms around him, enthusiastically returning his hot, fervent kisses.
Too soon, he was pulling back. “I’ve got to go.” His passion-roughened voice sent chills down my spine, and I wanted nothing more than to wrap around him like a clinging vine and keep him beside me.
I knew he was always thinking about protecting me, but I realized now how much I wanted to protect him, as ineffectual as those attempts may be given my utter lack of fighting skills and general dislike of violence.
As if aware of my reluctance to release him, he pulled me close. “I love you, Emmy. Be a good girl,” he murmured quietly in my ear.
Tears suddenly sprang to my eyes, as if I was sending him off to war, instead of a work meeting. Though, in all fairness, his line of work was more war-like than most.
“I love you, too. Be safe.”
He pulled back and looked me in the eye. “Always.”
With one last look, he turned and walked back to the elevator and left.
“Jesus, you two are dramatic,” Hannah said as she walked back into the living room.
I threw a pillow at her. “It’s been a dramatic couple of weeks.”
“Fair enough.”
I took a deep breath, unsure I wanted the answer to my next question. “How did it go with Mom?”
Hannah shot me a deadpan look. “How do you think it went? She clammed up. Every time I tried to ask her about Armstrong, she looked like she was going to stroke out, so I stopped asking. When I dropped her off, I just told her to reach out if she needed anything.”
I rubbed my hands over my face. “Jesus, I feel awful. I just…exploded. Should I reach out to her?”
“I’d give her the night to recover. She hid this secret for nearly twenty years. I think giving her twenty-four hours to come to grips with it being revealed is only fair.”
“You’re right. I know you’re right, but I just feel so uncomfortable with us having this tension between us. We’ve never really fought before.”
“I get it, but I also know she loves us a ton and we’ll get past this soon. She needs time to adjust.”
