Page 13 of Rebellion

He knew he hadn’t grabbed her hard enough to hurt her. He was very aware of the differences in their strength. She was fragile.

But he was careful not to crush her. He never wanted to see her shatter.

Not that he didn’t want to touch her in a variety of ways and in many different places. He’d love to strip her clothes off and lick every inch of her pale body, kiss her plump lips, suckle on her nipples, and mold her small breasts with his hands.

Calm. Breathe in. Out. Ignore your raging hard-on.

“What right do you have to tell me how to care for my cousin?” Anisimov asked in a low voice.

Fuck. It really wasn’t a good idea to threaten the head of the Bratva. If Anisimov didn’t end him, then Rogan would likely kill him. But this was Sofia, and Colm didn’t think clearly when it came to the tiny, sweet woman.

Why had she flinched when he touched her?

Why did Anisimov have to show up just when Colm had been about to get her to show him her wrist.

Was it bruised? How?

Had someone hurt her?

He clenched his hands into fists at the idea that someone might have harmed Sofia.

He’d kill the bastard.

An image of Oleg floated through his mind. He didn’t trust that bastard. There was something about him that rubbed Colm wrong.

However, he’d never seen him harm Sofia. And she’d never said a word against him.

Surely, if he was harming her, then she would’ve told Anisimov. There was no way that Aleksandr wouldn’t kill anyone who harmed his cousin.

So Colm didn’t get it.

The thought that someone might be hurting her... it made him murderous.

Should he tell Anisimov what he suspected?

But what if he already knew? What if he was the one hurting her?

That didn’t make much sense, though. From everything he’d seen, Anisimov was incredibly protective of her.

And what if she wasn’t being abused? She could have just hurt her wrist.

Why wouldn’t she have told him that if she did, though?

Unless she’d injured it while doing something she wasn’t supposed to do. What had Anisimov been saying about her lifting things? Did Sofia have an injury he knew nothing about?

He didn’t like that either.

For the moment, though, he thought it better to stay quiet about her wrist until he found out what was going on...

Maybe he was wrong; perhaps no one was harming her. After all, who would be stupid enough to harm Aleksandr Anisimov’s cousin?

“She was trying to lift that crate by herself. With her back...” Colm added that part like he actually knew what he was talking about.

He hoped it might prompt Anisimov to talk more about her back, but he should have known better. You didn’t get to be in aposition of power like Aleksandr without learning how to guard your secrets.

So, for now, her sore back remained a mystery. Something else to add to the list of things Colm didn’t know about Sofia. He was alarmed to find it was a rather extensive list, considering he’d been coming to her restaurant to eat almost every week for close to a year. And it wasn’t because of the food.

He just came to see her.

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