“As excited as I am to start doling out those orgasms, you do need to eat something. Feel well enough to go downstairs, or do you want me to bring something up?”
“No, I can go down. I don’t know how I’m going to chew with this damn lip, though.”
She reaches out and touches her lip, and then quickly jerks her hand away when it stings.
“How about a smoothie?”
“That sounds perfect.”
I kiss her forehead before cradling her in my arms bridal style and carrying her downstairs.
“Are you planning on carrying me everywhere?”
“Yes, I am.” I take the steps slowly, not wanting to jostle her too much, and when I carry her into the kitchen, Valentina gives a soft gasp and comes rushing over.
“Is she okay?” she asks me in Russian.
“She’s going to be fine,” I reassure her, setting Charlie down on one of the bar stools.
“I hope you got that bastard, Mr. Fedorov,” she says, surprising me. Valentina is not one to cuss.
I don’t answer because she knows I’m not going to talk business, and she also knows there’s no way in hell I didn’t kill that bastard, so there’s really no reason for me to answer anyway. She turns all her attention on Charlie, gently squeezing her arm and giving her a smile.
“Brave girl,” she says in a thick accent, making Charlie smile.
“Do you think you could put together a smoothie for her?”
Valentina smiles and claps her hands, more than happy to be given a job to do. She turns her back, bustling around as she gathers the ingredients. When Yuri walks in a few minutes later, he sees Charlie and can barely meet my eyes when he sees how bad she looks.
Walking over, he surprises me by giving her a very gentle hug and kissing the top of her head.
When he meets my eyes, I arch a brow at him, but all he says is, “I’m so sorry I failed at my job.”
“You didn’t fail,” Charlie quickly says, not even giving me a chance to speak. “I ran off without you. This fuck-up is all on me.” Her words are slow, and I know it hurts her to speak around that split lip, but she keeps going, wanting to take the guilt from Yuri’s shoulders.
“You still would’ve been able to save me if there hadn’t been so damn many of them.” She pats his hand and gives him as big of a smile as her injuries allow, which means one side of her mouth quirks up a tiny bit. “I think we managed to do okay, and it ended well, so there’s that. How’s your head doing?”
He waves off her concern. “I’m fine. I’ve survived way worse.”
“I’m glad it wasn’t too bad.”
“I heard you were pretty damn kick-ass. Artyom can’t stop raving about your courage and loyalty.”
She gives a soft laugh. “All I did was take a beating, and it’s not like I had much of a choice.”
“Hey,” I say, stepping in and swiveling her chair so she’s facing me. “I better not ever hear you say something like that again. You didn’t just take a beating, sweetheart. You withstood an immense amount of pain and refused to say a fucking word about the Bratva. Do you know how many men wouldn’t have been able to do the same?”
Her one eye widens a bit at my tone, but there’s no way in hell I’m going to just sit back while she diminishes what all she just went through. I kiss her forehead and then push Yuri’s hand off her arm because it pisses me off that he’s still touching her.
He just laughs and says, “Shewasmy fiancée for a night,” as if that explains everything.
“Fakefiancée,” I say, making Charlie give a small smile at my possessiveness. I’m glad she likes it because I’ve certainly got a ton of it.
“Still counts,” Yuri says, giving Charlie a wink that makes me want to slap the shit out of him.
“Oh it most certainly does not,” I growl.
“You’re going to make him have a heart attack, Yuri. Stop teasing him,” Charlie says, but I can hear the laughter in her voice, and it’s the only thing keeping me from punching Yuri’s smug face.