Page 58 of Ivory Oath

Mikhail brushes his thumb across my lips. “It’s nothing for you to worry about. Everything is fine.”

I nip at his finger with my teeth and then snatch his hand away from my mouth.

“Except for you,” I point out. “You’re not fine. There’s something going on in that handsome head of yours, and I want to know what it is.”

He smirks. “Handsome, huh?”

“Don’t act like you don’t know it.” I roll my eyes. “Now, is this about our safety? Or Dante? What happened in the woods today?”

“Nothing happened. He’s a good kid, Viviana. You’ve done a good job with him.”

He’s distracting me with compliments, but I’m just vain enough to let him. “Thanks.”

“Once he gets a proper education, he’ll be on the right track.”

Suddenly, I’m the tense one. Five seconds ago, I was starting to sweat under my fleece blanket. Now, I’m cold as ice.

“He loves Mrs. Steinman,” I add woodenly.

“She’s fine for now,” Mikhail agrees, refusing to meet my eyes. “But there are good schools he could attend. Good programs where he’ll learn to be independent and?—”

“Never mind,” I blurt.

Mikhail looks at me, that pesky line pinched between his brows again. “Hm?”

“I’ve changed my mind. I don’t want to talk about this.” My heart is racing like I just ran a marathon and all I want to do is stop. All of this. Now.

Bringing up the boarding school conversation has been at the top of my to-do list for the past week, but I’ve been pushing it for more important tasks. Tasks like… doing literally anything else in the world aside from having that conversation.

“Why not?”

“It’s like throwing a turd in a swimming pool.”

A startled laugh bursts out of him, and yes, I want to scream, let’s go down this path instead. The one that ends with Mikhail smiling at me.

“I just mean, we’re having a good time here, aren’t we?”

Mikhail nods. “We are.”

“So let’s not ruin it with shitty conversations and fighting.”

He tucks a lock of hair behind my ear. “You think it will end in a fight?”

“A big one,” I confirm. “Atomic. There will be casualties.”

“I’d never hurt you, Viviana.”

I trail my hand up his thigh. “Cute for you to think you’d be the one doing the hurting.”

He snorts, but I’ll do anything to keep this little family of mine together. I won’t let him send Dante away.

I shove the dark thought away and focus on the way his body feels under my hand. “Things will get ugly, so I think we should skip the fight and go straight to making up.”

Mikhail watches my hand slide higher and higher up his leg. As I trail my fingers over the seam of his pants, he spreads his thighs slightly.

“I’ll take that as your agreement?”

Mikhail grabs my waist and lifts me onto his lap. “Stop talking or we’ll be in a very different kind of hand-to-hand combat.”

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