Page 55 of Solemn Vow

I lift her chin with a single finger, my mouth hovers over hers.

“I don’t care.” I crush her mouth with mine until her hands are on my chest, moving up to my neck. Only when I feel the vibrations of a soft moan against my mouth do I release her.

I jump into the pool and walk to the edge where she’s standing. We’re at the shallow end so the water comes up to my waist.

“Come in.” I hold out my hand.

“Don’t you have meetings or something?” She uses the ladder. Her sweet ass wiggles as she climbs down into the warm pool.

“Canceled them.” I walk backward toward the deeper part of the pool as she follows me. Once the water is up to her chest, I stop and swim around her.

“You canceled your meetings? For me?” She floats on her back, lazily swimming beside me.

“You’re working this afternoon, so I pushed everything back. I can meet with criminals after I drop you off just as easily.” I grin as she swims up to me, her dark hair swirling in the water around her head like a devil’s halo.

“You really need to stop doing things like that, Viktor.” She rolls to her stomach and swims ahead of me.

“Never,” I vow.

She turns over again. The sun hits her arm as she lifts it over her head, and I see it.

It’s small, but it’s damn clear what it is.

I swim to her.

“Marlena.” I gently wrap my hand around her arm. She puts her feet to the floor of the pool to steady herself. The water is almost at her chin in this depth.

“What is this?” I pull her arm closer and inspect the injury. It’s old; the scar is white and puckered. As I inspect her body more closely in the sunlight, I see more scars on her arms, and several behind her shoulder.

How the fuck had I missed these?

“What happened?” I demand.

She pulls away from me.

“It was a long time ago.” She tries to swim away, but I grab hold of her and pull her back. I wipe her dripping wet hair from her face.

“What happened?” I ask again, firmer this time. If she’s not willing to tell me, then my imagination is going to create a scenario much worse than the truth might be.

She lets out a little breath.

“My father lost his temper sometimes.” As though that tells me everything.

“And?” I press when she doesn’t continue. “What happened this particular time?”

“We’re having fun, Viktor, don’t ruin it.”

“I won’t. Tell me what happened.”

Droplets of water run down her face, dripping from her chin back into the pool.

“Fine. Then we’ll drop it, yes?”

“I’ll consider it.”

She rolls her eyes, and I let her get away with it because I’m planning on being an insistent ass about this.

She’s marked up like she’s been cut a dozen times, and until I know how the fuck that happened, we won’t be having any fun.

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