Page 104 of Ivory Ashes

He chuckles, a soft rumble deep in his chest. I lean in closer until I feel him in my bones. Until I’m breathing at the same pace as Mikhail, my body matching his rhythms like it’s done that forever.

I settle down quickly. Within just a few minutes, my limbs are heavy and my thoughts are fluid.

When Mikhail whispers in my ear, I’m not even sure it’s real. “If this is war,” he breathes, his lips against my forehead, “you might be winning.”

Actually, I’m positive: it’s not real.

It can’t be.

37

MIKHAIL

“She came out of that closet like she was fighting for her life.” Anatoly shakes his head. “I’ve never seen anything like it. I almost checked to make sure she wasn’t in there with someone.”

Anatoly texted me that something happened to Viviana before we sat down to dinner last night. Then she walked into the room with puffy, bloodshot eyes. She looked like hell.

“She told you she was claustrophobic?”

“Yeah, but it was more than that. She looked legitimately freaked. She didn’t even know it was me when I opened the closet door. When I looked in her eyes, she was a million miles away.”

I moved Viviana into my house. I’m taking care of her and her son. She works ten feet away from my office door every single day.

And yet… I still can’t protect her.

I fist my hand against my thigh. “I tried to ask her about it, but she dodged the question.”

“Was that before you two fell asleep cuddling or this morning when you woke up spooned together?” Anatoly’s tone is neutral, but his face is straining so hard against a smile I think it’s going to crack.

I punch in the code for the conference room harder than I need to. The poor pin pad isn’t the reason for the frustration clawing under my skin, but it gets the brunt of it.

“She’s my wife,” I remind him, as if that explains a goddamn thing.

“She sure is. And yet I don’t think anyone would accuse you and Viviana of having a normal relationship.”

It’s definitely not normal for me. Any other time I’ve been in bed with a woman, it has been to fuck before I make a hasty exit. But I’ve slept next to Viviana twice now, no fucking involved.

It’s bizarre.

And the reason why my showers have veered into icy territory the last few mornings.

Anatoly drops down into a chair and crosses his feet on the table. “In all seriousness, between all of the snuggling?—”

“I thought you were being serious,” I growl.

Anatoly smiles and continues. “—maybe you could figure out who fucked up your girl so bad. She was terrified. I’ve seen PTSD up close enough to know what it looks like. She was having a flashback.”

It was bad enough listening to Trofim push Viviana around the night before their wedding. But the idea that someone actually terrorized her to the point of lasting trauma… It makes me murderous.

“I could look into it.”

Anatoly and I look up at the same time to find Raoul in the doorway.

“Sneaky bastard,” Anatoly murmurs.

“No, that’s you.” Raoul flicks him in the back of the head before turning his attention back to me. “I can look into Viviana’s history—her father’s, too. There’s a lot we don’t know about them.”

“It’s not a bad idea.”

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