Page 93 of Vitaly

He nods once.

My neck lengthens as I tilt my head back, my chest rising with a breath. I didn’t plan on seeing him until Saturday, so I never planned on telling anyone this, but now that he’s here…

“And I know you think I’m some damsel in distress who needs to sit back and wait for you to do it, but I would like to remind you that I was a soldier before you got here. I know how to fight.”

He nods. “I remember.”

“Then I hope you’re not expecting to stick me on a mantle to collect dust. If you think I’m going to let you treat me like a delicate piece of?—”

“I have no intention.”

I swallow and stand as straight as I can. “I don’t care what you and Roman think. I’m coming to the dinner on Saturday. I’ll wait until after it starts, but I’m not going to hang back when my people need me.”

I expect his nostrils to flare at the challenge. For his lips to tighten. I prepare for a fightnow, one I intend to come out the victor of one way or another, but Vitaly doesn’t blink.

He reaches behind him and pulls something from his back pocket that makes my heart stutter. It may as well be a wedding ring with the way my shoulders, squared in defense, slouch with a released breath.

A throwing knife.

“Don’t ever assume my mind works the same asRoman’sor any other man’s,” he says, dangling the knife in his fingertips. “I wouldn’t have fallen in love with you if you were the type to hide behind me.”

He spins the knife in the air with a gentle toss to me. I catch it with a firm grip, my throat thickening. I stare at it for a long time while I try to wrap my mind around so many things. Like how he had the foresight to bring this here,invitingme to the war, treating me like the warrior he claimed I was.

“What did you say?” I choke on the words, my throat too thick to speak. I’ll never understand how he can do this to me.

Well, actually… Maybe I do.

“I said I love you, Mila.”

I don’t look at him. Instead, I stare at the knife while my heart pounds in my ears. Two loud thuds, over and over, reminding me of the heart Vitaly is so capable of squeezing. He always has been.

Somehow, I think it was supposed to be this way. I think I was supposed to hate him with a fire that burned so hot it thawed my defenses and allowed him to break through.

I think I was supposed to see him as a man before a Pakhan, something only possible in this scenario. An obstacle before a target. I needed to see him, truly see him in the most stripped-down sense, before I could ever love him and before he could ever love me.

The deserter and the whore.

Enemies.

Bratva scum.

I close my eyes, trying to decide if I love him back, but the answer is so achingly obvious that it hurts. It hurts to love when you’ve never felt it before. It makes you grieve not having it sooner.

I drop the knife, letting it stick straight into the floor before I walk to Vitaly and reach up on my toes. My hands cradle his face as our lips touch, sending a warmth along my spine that pushes me closer to him.

He rips off his shirt, breaking our kiss for a couple of seconds before he bends to scoop me up by the backs of my thighs. His touch is rough and needy,impatient, like he won’t be staying long, and I’m reminded of everything happening. I wrap my legs around his waist as he carries me to the one bedroom with the musty bed where he lays me down before jerking my sweatpants down my legs.

A breath hisses past my teeth at the intense look on his face when he meets my eyes, one hand on my panties. He pulls until they’re to my bent knees, then he points to my chest. “Take your shirt off.”

I laugh lightly, writhing beneath those eyes. They’re the eyes that saw me for the first time all those years ago. Judging, only this time I think I meet his rigorous standards. “And what are you going to do if I don’t?”

His lips lift into a wicked grin. “It’s what Iwon’tdo that you should be concerned with.”

My smile falls as my pussy throbs, and this only makes Vitaly’s lips spread wider. He takes my panties off the rest of the way then splays my legs apart. Cold air kisses my sensitized flesh, and I find myself clenching again while Vitaly watches.

“Take your shirt off.” He doesn’t look at my face when he says it.

It isn’t a big deal. In fact, I want him to see me, all of me. But even more, I want to see what happens when I don’t do what he says.

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