Page 30 of Scorch

“I need clothes,” I say to him, swallowing. Now that we’re alone, I’m starting to get nervous about the whole “dealing with me” thing.

He looks down at me, at my tattered clothes, and his perpetual scowl deepens.

He looks from me to the house and back again.

“There’s Harper, Aleksandr’s wife. Aria is Mikhail’s. Then there’s Polina, my sister. We could borrow something.”

I look down at myself. “Are they tall, curvy girls like me?”

The way his gaze glides down my body makes me swallow hard. His eyes smolder, and he licks his lips. We don’t exchange a word, but the palpable thrum of erotic attraction is very evident.

Shit.

He licks his lips. “No one’s like you, Lydia.”

I ignore the way my heart thumps. “They’re smaller?”

He shrugs.

Great. I’m marrying into a house full of supermodels. I cringe.

Viktor reaches his hand to my hair. A strand has crossed in front of my face, blurring my vision. He tucks it behind my ear. “Let them wait.”

“Who?”

His gaze burns into mine. “All of them.”

I stare, unblinking. “Your brothers?”

“The hostages. My brothers. We don’t need to take all day, but we can go get what you need while they wait.” He reaches for my hand almost casually. When our hands touch, a pulse of electricity skates between us. “I’ll go with you.”

“I can’t go into a store like this.” I shake my head. My mama raised me better.

“Then I’ll take you home. Your mother’s home is thirty minutes from here.”

I look away, strangely emotional. My mother is nice enough, but she and I haven’t been close in years. My father was the one who took me under his wing, for all the good that did. I suppose he fancied me the son he never had.

“I don’t have anything of mine there anymore.” I haven’t in a long time.

He looks down at me, stroking his chin. “I could ask Polina… she’s the closest and would be quickest at picking something out. Let me try her.” He pulls out his phone and sends a text.

A minute later, he shakes his head. “That’s not gonna work. She’s out and won’t be home for another hour.”

I look down at myself. I only have to look the fool in the first place we go. After that, it should be easy enough for me to find something to pull on.

“Wear my jacket,” he says at the very same time I say, “I could wear something of yours.”

My cheeks flush, and he nods. “It’s decided, then. Here.” Shrugging out of his leather jacket with one fluid motion, he removes it and holds it out to me. He doesn’t just hand me the jacket but holds it the way a gentleman would for a woman. He lifts it up so I can slide my arms in the sleeves.

It’s warm and smells like leather, snow-capped mountains, and the smoky, woodsy scent of fire. I turn away so he doesn’t see me inhale.

It feels so wrong to allow myself to be attracted to him at all, but I’m not a robot.

And he’ll be… my husband. I haven’t allowed myself to focus on what that will mean.

I walk side by side with him to the car. Wordlessly, he opens the door for me.

So many questions are teeming in my mind I barely know how to begin. Though Viktor scares me, and I have a feeling I haven’t even seen the half of it yet, I’m starting to feel a bit more at ease with him than the others.

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