“It doesn’t hurt,” I assured him softly.
“You deserve better,” he murmured, pressing kisses on my palms.
I tugged my hands free from his grip and wrapped them around him. My palms pressed against his back, the skin rough there. I gripped him tight against me, scared of losing him.
“There is no better than you,” I told him, holding his gaze. “Not for me.”
He took my one hand and interlocked our fingers. It started with my hand in his, and it will end with his hand in mine.
“Then I’m yours,” he vowed.
ChapterForty-Two
ALEXEI
Iblinked against the sunlight streaming through the windows.
It had been years since my mind had been so quiet and my dreams absent. It was all thanks to the woman in my arms. I felt rested and in an exceedingly good mood after six hours of sleep.
My hands tightened around Aurora, scared she’d slip away. It was irrational. Just the thought of losing her sent knives rippling through my chest.
When I saw her brother introducing her to Kristoff Baldwin, something jack-knifed in my chest. I could kill him, but that wouldn’t eliminate all the other men like him in this world. Men that didn’t have scars and ink marking their body.
So I left.
Or risked killing that bastard father of hers, her brothers, and then killing any male prospects they had in mind for Aurora.
But this was so much better. My woman came to me; she wantedme.
I leaned down, breathing in her scent and my cock instantly thickened against her backside. It was my first time waking up with a woman in my own bed. The whole ordeal with fucking Igor aside. It felt right having her in my home. I wanted to wake up beside her until the day I died.
I was surprised to hear she found out about Kingston. But then I got a text from Cassio in the early hours of the morning. Right after Aurora begged for some rest; otherwise, she threatened she’d doze off while I fucked her. It would seem Vasili called Cassio, and like the two old women they were, decided to play matchmakers. And Cassio had the ammunition since he was there with me that night I went back for Kingston.
I should be pissed off, but I was too goddamn happy.
Aurora stirred in my arms and her eyes fluttered open. God, she was so beautiful. So soft. And all mine.
“Good morning, kroshka.”
She smiled, her sleepy eyes on me. When she looked at me, all the past, present and future disappeared. All I saw and felt was her.
“Good morning,” she murmured sleepily, pushing her body closer to mine and her face nuzzling into my chest. I stiffened, worried she’d find the scars disgusting in the daylight. But all she did was press her mouth on my chest, then lifted her head to search my face. “Want some personal space?”
God, this woman thought I wanted space from her. I never wanted her out of my sight. I wanted her flesh against mine. But old ghosts were hard to extinguish.
I tightened my hold of her. “Nyet. I’ll never want space between us.”
Her face lit up with a happy smile. “Just tell me when something is too much. Okay?”
A rough sound rumbled in my chest and I took her face between my hands.
“Kroshka, I fear you’ll find me to be too much.” I held her face and kissed her lips. Now that I tasted her lips, I couldn’t get enough of her mouth. She was the only one that would get all of me. My obsession, my possession and my love.
“Nah,” she murmured softly. Her nose brushed against mine. “I have to tell you something.” I sensed a slight tension in her body and I stilled. “No matter what, I love you and what I’m about to tell you puts no expectations on you. Okay?”
“Da, kroshka. Tell me,” I demanded.
She took her bottom lip between her teeth, chewing it nervously.