Page 63 of Captured By the Bratva

She seemed flustered, licking her lips and lowering her head. “You, uh, you didn’t use a condom with me.”

“I didn’t.”

She glanced up at my statement. “On… purpose?”

“No. It just happened. But I would’ve given you a contraceptive pill afterward if I’d wanted to.”

“You mean to tell me that a man who supervises sex clubs, someone with a much more varied sex life than the norm, who surely sleeps around a lot, has never knocked anyone up?”

I shook my head. “I use protection. And if I don’t, I demand the morning-after contraception. No exceptions.”

Her hands didn’t move, still over the spiraling bowl. “Other than me?”

“Other than you.” Part of my decision had been an impulse of figuring nothing would happen. When I fucked her for the purpose of getting her to talk, I figured it’d be the only time I’d have her or even want her.

How wrong I was.

Since that night, I’d yearned for another time with her. And another. And more.

When I did consider forcing her to take a contraceptive pill the morning after, I dismissed the thought. Too many things were happening. I learned that she was already a mother, and the process of her getting under my skin was already too far underway for me to not want a future with her.

“Seeing you with Emily has changed me,” I admitted.

“How so?” Her question came quickly, but softly.

“She’s innocent, so trusting, and I feel like a fucking king when I calm her down or see her smile.”

“It is marvelous, isn’t it? Not only the satisfaction of knowing you helped her and the reward of stopping her from fussing, but it also feels so good to be the one to provide and fix things.”

I nodded. That was it. I knew just what she meant.

“I hate the thought of your having to do it all alone.” I grunted a laugh. “Obviously. That’s why I called Margie and asked her to come to the house to help.”

“She’s an angel.”

But am I your hero?

“I can’t imagine being a single parent.”

“Because of what you have to do for your family? For your job?”

“Not only that. But because I’d want to share the experience. With a partner.”

I watched her slender neck tense as she swallowed. Once more, she broke eye contact, and it felt like a crime to hide away from me.

I’d started on this path, and I refused to stop.

“I’ve been thinking about how I don’t want to see her go. That I want to be able to watch her grow up and develop into a young girl, then a headstrong woman.”

She sighed, furrowing her brow as she focused on the bowl.

“How I want to see you open up to me. To trust me to show how good it can be past the pain.”

“Ivan…”

I stood, unable to sit here with this tense attraction hanging between us. We’d both resisted this for too damn long. This suspense of not being together was too damn much to bear anymore.

“I keep wondering what you might think if you ignored how different we are.” I walked closer, heady with the tease of being within her reach.

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