‘You were frightened?’ Alexei had seemed so in control, so competent, it hadn’t entered her mind he was frightened.
‘I was frantic. You could have been badly hurt.’
His eyes locked on hers and Mina felt as if she were being pulled under by a jade-green sea, sucked into an undertow where, no matter how she struggled, she couldn’t break free.
Or had she forgotten to struggle? She tried to rouse herself from this strange torpor but couldn’t.
‘I’m tougher than I look.’
Alexei inclined his head. ‘So I’m learning. It took guts to do what you did.’ His words astounded her.
‘And stupidity.’ She couldn’t let it go.
Something shifted in his expression. ‘You thought it important. That made it courageous.’
His words sowed a kernel of heat deep inside. Heat that glowed and spread as he stared down at her.
‘Does that mean you don’t despise me quite as much as before?’ Better to remind them both that they were on opposing sides than be lulled into surrendering her guard any further.
‘I don’t despise you.’ Alexei’s voice was gruff as he lifted his hand to wipe the tear tracks from her cheeks. His touch ignited a terrible yearning. Mina had to fight to not lean closer.
‘I find that hard to believe.’ Mina moved back, breaking contact, injecting hauteur into her expression.
Alexei followed, hemming her in and planting a palm on the wall beside her head. ‘You infuriate me. Intrigue me.’ His voice dropped to a low note that resonated through her. ‘Attract me.’
Mina’s pulse thundered as she read the stark determination in his eyes. She struggled to hang on to anger but it slipped like precious water from her hands.
‘That’s impossible.’ It had to be. Because she feared she didn’t have the strength to remember they were enemies.
‘Then perhaps you’ll believe this.’ Alexei leaned in and every emotion, every sensation Mina had tried not to feel, exploded into life.