Chapter Twenty-Four
Kaja
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IWOKE WITH MY CHEEKpressed to Leo’s bare chest. My first thought was worry that I might have drooled all over him in my sleep. My second was that my hip and shoulder were stiff from us lying on the floor. The fur rug had offered us some cushioning, but nothing like a bed would have.
From the light flooding through the large window that gave the view over London, I assumed we had slept late. It was hardly surprising, considering what we’d been through over the past few days.
Leo must have pulled a throw from the sofa at some point during the night as it covered both our bodies, keeping us warm. He confused me like nothing else I’d experienced in my life. One moment, it was as though he hated me, and the next he was making sure I didn’t catch a chill.
I lifted my hand and checked the finger he’d stabbed. There was a mark where the point of the knife had cut my skin, and the surrounding area was bruised, but that was all I showed for my injuries. I thought of what he’d done with the knife afterwards and pressed my thighs together, a pulse of shameful pleasure going through me. I shouldn’t have let him do that to me, but I’d wanted it, hadn’t I? I’d wantedhim. This man who could change like the wind. One minute he was caring, and the next he treated me as though I was the enemy.
God, his story, though, it had broken my heart. No wonder he’d done what he had. The way he spoke of his dead fiancée held such pain. He’d clearly been proud of her, and had loved her, and then my father had murdered her. Would he ever be able to look at me without seeing him? Was that even what I wanted?
I didn’t want to admit it to myself, but I was starting to fall, and fall hard. The things he’d done to my body, no man had ever done before. Was that why I was feeling the way I did? Was it just a physical thing that my inexperience was turning into more? Without the sex, would I hate him?
Or was it the way Leo Cornell clearly had it in him to love so hard that he would risk his own life to seek revenge on the person who’d hurt his fiancée? His confidence, the way he knew his own mind, even when his older brother tried to sway his decisions, was admirable, but should I really admire a man who thought nothing of kidnapping an innocent woman?
My stomach churned with nerves. My father had seen the first video Leo had sent. Had he worked out who had taken me? Would he be on his way? I was terrified about what my future held. Despite what Leo had done to me, I didn’t want my father to hurt him, but I had the feeling this was going to be a kill-or-be-killed situation. If my father killed Leo, he would take me back to Estonia with him, and I’d return to my old life, my old prison. If Leo killed my father, I’d be left with no family, with no one in my life who gave a shit about me. Leo had only brought me here because he had a use for me, but what would happen when that use was over? Would he kill me, or have me killed? I hoped, considering what we’d been doing the past couple of days, that he’d find it within himself to let me live, but what would happen to me if he did? I was a stranger in a strange country, with no money or friends or even a place to sleep.
Will you let me stay?
I sent the thought out to him, hoping he’d hear it in his dreams.
With a sigh, I slipped out of his arms. I was sore between my thighs, and I needed to use the facilities.
Moving silently, not wanting to wake him, I found the main bathroom. There was a free-standing, claw-foot tub, and a separate shower cubicle. I used the toilet quickly and focused my attention on the shower, figuring out how to turn it on and get the right temperature. Within seconds, water drummed down into the cubicle, and I stepped in, the heat feeling good on my skin. I tipped my head back and let the water run through my hair.
There were still bottles of feminine sweet-scented body washes, scrubs and hair conditioners in the holder on the shower wall. Had Leo got rid of any of his dead fiancée’s belongings or were they all in exactly the same place they’d been left the day she’d died? My heart hurt at the thought. He’d left it all here as though he’d been expecting her home, but that was never going to happen.
The bathroom door suddenly opened, and Leo appeared in the doorway, still naked.
“What are you doing?” he growled.
My stomach lurched. Did he not want me to use the products ’cause they’d belonged to Jodie? I was conscious of my naked body, though the condensation on the glass shower surround helped to hide me. It was stupid, considering what we’d done last night, but I couldn’t help it. Leo Cornell put me completely on edge, and I didn’t know how to act around him.
“I’m sorry. I just needed a shower.”
“So I see.” He stepped fully into the room, and his erection led the way. “What I meant is, why are you showering without me?”
“Oh.” I hitched a breath at his words.
He pulled open the shower door and joined me. His intentions were obvious.
“I’m-I’m still sore...from last night.”
“Are you? That’s okay.”
For a moment, I thought he was going to tell me he was going to be gentle, but then he added, “You have other holes I can fuck.”
“What do you—”
But he didn’t give me time to finish my sentence and instead turned me around and pushed me up against the shower wall, my breasts crushing to the hard surface. The tiles felt ice-cold compared to the heat of the shower, and my sensitive nipples instantly crinkled into tight buds. The cold was almost painful, but my body didn’t react as though it was pain. Instead, the sensation caused arousal to flood between my legs.