My stomach bottoms out, falling to my feet. “War with the Russian mob. Are you crazy?”
“Crazy barely touches the surface.” He huffs. “I will kill them all for wanting to hurt you, and I will kill the damn cop for even looking at you.”
“You can’t act like this, Gideon.”
“This is me, firefly. I won’t ever change. You’re mine, and nobody touches what belongs to me. No one tries to take you from me or hurt you. I will kill anyone who does.”
I groan, frustration winning out. “I don’t belong to anyone.”
“Wrong.” He kisses me savagely.
I love the feeling.
A part of me wonders if I can deal with this part of him. His blood lust. His possession. But then I realize I love this part of him. I love every part of him, even the crazy. Nothing he could ever do would make me turn my back on him.
“I love you too, Gideon.”
He seals his mouth over mine, kissing me with enough passion and love to light me on fire and make me forget everything else.
No more Russians.
No more Roman.
Just Gideon and me.
I like the sound of that.
44
GIDEON
My work has become tedious.Normally, I wouldn’t care.
But with Sasha in the house, I can’t help but be distracted.
Case in point: she’s lying in her bed, on her stomach, feet kicked up behind her, and she’s talking to me.
Yep. She’s having a full conversation with me. Despite the fact I’m not even there.
Obviously, she’s smart enough to realize there’s a camera in the room. But she’s taken herself to name the camera Smoke and talk to it/me like I’ll answer.
The volume is on low, but I can hear her. She’s rambling about God knows what.
“How many records do you think I unknowingly hold?” she asks. I eye the camera, waiting for her to answer. “They’re not official records, mind you, but when I was growing up, my parents, Roman, and I had competitions. I am the proud winner of many medals. One, I’m able to spin a pillow on my finger for fifteen minutes. Yep. That’s right. Also, I once won the family record of the fastest time to eat five entrees. Not four, five. I can hold my breath for only thirty seconds, though. Roman won that one, but I won the spelling contest. I’m a nerd.”
I can’t stop the smile that spreads across my face.
At least she’s entertaining herself.
“Boss.” Julian’s voice has me pulling my attention away from the monitor in which I’m watching Sasha. When our gaze meets, his eyebrow is lifted.
“She seems to be enjoying herself.”
My hand reaches out, and I silence the footage.
Her words are for me and me alone.
Every time Sasha speaks to the smoke detector, she’s giving me little gifts about herself. Telling me things that I wouldn’t think to ask but want to know about.