Page 80 of Inked Athena

“I’m sorry,” I whisper into her hair.

She sniffles. “For what?”

“I was a beast yesterday. Myles didn’t deserve to be treated like that. Neither did you.” She bites down on her bottom lip, trying to maintain her severity even as she melts against me. She’s failing miserably. “It just drives me mad to think of you exposed to the Andropovs. Anything that puts you in danger makes me?—”

“Crazy? Reckless? Completely unreasonable?”

“Reasonably unreasonable,” I counter. “This is your life we’re talking about here, Nova. Yours. Our baby’s.” I spread my handacross her stomach, stroking the swell with my thumb. “Nothing matters more to me. I’ll do whatever it takes to keep you safe.”

She sighs. “I know you were just being protective, but I don’t want to spend the rest of our lives worrying about how you’ll respond every time I’m in danger. I can’t live like that, Samuil. Our child can’t grow up like that.”

Then never be in danger.

It seems like an easy enough solution to me. I keep her locked away here, safe and sound in this castle, and we all live happily ever after.

“I’ll work on it,” I relent. “I can’t promise to change overnight, but I’ll do my best. For you. For us.”

Her fingers twist into the hair at the back of my neck. “I suppose that’s enough for now.”

My hands slide down her back until they reach her ass. I give her a good squeeze, pulling her flush against my erection. But she holds herself back from me.

She sits back, and in the gathering darkness, I can see tears gleaming in her eyes. “You really scared me last night, Samuil.” Her voice cracks on my name.

“I know.”

She shakes her head. “No, you don’t. I—I saw you disappear underneath that water and… I couldn’t breathe. I thought my heart had actually stopped beating.”

“I know the feeling.” I place my hand over her chest. “Before you, I wasn’t even sure I had a heart. Now, you’re the reason it beats at all.”

She presses her forehead to mine. “I love you, Samuil.”

Emotion clogs my throat, making it impossible to say the words back. But she has to know how I feel about her. This fierce, stubborn woman who walked into my life with an unruly Great Dane and proceeded to turn my whole world upside down. There’s no other person in heaven or earth who could’ve coaxed an apology out of me, who could make me want to be better, softer, more worthy of the family we’re building.

“I have something for you,krasavitsa.”

She tilts her head to the side. “What is it?”

I hand her the intel report. “Information on Katerina. A lead on her location… all thanks to you.”

Her eyes widen as she scans the page. “You’re kidding. It actually worked?”

“It worked.”

She claps her hands against my chest, her body gyrating against mine as she celebrates. “I can’t believe it. I didn’t really think she would— This is great! I have to tell—” She breaks off, realizing suddenly that telling Hope would put her in danger again and bring us back to square one.

I breeze over the tense moment. There will be time for that later. “You’re quite something, Nova Pierce, you know that?”

“See?” She puffs out her chest. “You shouldn’t underestimate me.”

I press a kiss to the side of her neck. “Never again. I’ve learned my lesson.”

29

NOVA

“What fresh hell is this?”

I eye the pink monstrosity Samuil’s packing like it’s about to sprout fangs and bite me. If anyone is going to put their mouth on me, though, I’d rather it be him. I’m not sure if it’s the pregnancy hormones or if he just looks extra good today, but Sam’s eyes are burning like a winter storm as he looks up from his task to drink me in.

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