Page 27 of Shielded Secrets

She frowned again. “Thank you, if I haven’t made that clear. Thank you for intervening when you did.”

I kissed her again, savoring how she caressed my cheek and made the kiss last longer.

“What was that all about?” I asked. “Is that the first time that those guys stalked you?”

She shrugged. “Yes and no. There’s a guy I used to know from the foster system who has shown up on campus. He deals drugs.”

“For whom?” I asked.

“I don’t know. Since I’ve spotted him on campus, I’ve tried to avoid running into him.”

“But was he one of the guys who followed you?” I asked.

She shook her head. “The first one was one of his friends. But the second man… I don’t know who that man was that you killed.”

I watched her for a long moment, curious about how she worded that. She wasn’t appalled. She wasn’t freaking out that Ihadkilled someone. Sure, she knew I was a member of the Baranov Mafia. She had to have a general understanding that I was a lethal person and that my job expectations could fall under the category of being a killer.

And it didn’t seem to faze her.

Was she so indifferent to the concept of how I’d killed that man because it was done in her defense? Or because she expected that kind of darkness from me? Or because it wasn’t her first time witnessing someone being killed?

Too many questions filled my mind, but I had to pace myself. I was determined to keep her with me. Now that I’d had her, I refused to let her go. I couldn’t imagine going through my life without her again. But I couldn’t bombard her with too many questions at once. She was already aloof and quiet to begin with, so I had to be careful.

“I’m sorry that you felt worried about me to rush back to find me. And that it made you not be at that meeting where your boss expected you to be.”

“It’s not your fault. I had two objectives to deal with at once and I chose my actions the best I could according to the information I had at the moment.”

“But this man was killed and…”

I shrugged. “I wouldn’t have protected him. I wouldn’t have done a single damn thing but see who’d killed him and bring that intel back to the Boss. We’d use that intel to stay one step ahead of our enemies. Nothing more.”

She opened her mouth but closed it without speaking. “But?—”

I kissed her quiet. “I know it has to be hard to trust me, but can you consider taking a chance on me to keep you safe? Not only me, but all the Baranovs with me?”

She had evidence of how much I could prove it last night. I wasn’t just talking the talk. I’d shown her how deadly I was last night. Words wouldn’t make a difference to her, but my actions should.

“I know. But it’s a lot to adjust to.”

At the sound of my phone buzzing with a text, I sat and rolled to the edge of the bed to get up. Aches and pains spread through me at the overuse from last night, both from fighting those men and having sex with Kelly. Strenuous exercise wasn’t smart right now, but I didn’t regret a moment of it.

“What is it?” Kelly asked, yawning as she sat up and held the sheets to her chest.

“Oleg. The Boss. He wants to talk to us.”

She sighed heavily, slumping back on the bed and covering her face with her hands. I tugged them off and used them to gently pull her back upright. She laughed, slumping back down as soon as I released her, and we went like this back and forth for a while until I moved too quickly and a twinge of pain streaked down my arm. “Ow.”

She sobered quickly, getting up and fussing over me. We showered together, another first for her, and I smiled at the thought that I could be her first and last of many things.

Watch it, man. Don’t get too far ahead of yourself.

I worried I already was too far ahead of myself, thinking in terms of forever with this woman who’d only just caved to me for now. We would need to discuss what we were doing later. Speaking with Oleg was the priority.

We headed down to this meeting he’d called. I let Kelly walk ahead of me, to be with Irina and Eva as they went.

“I can’t remember the last time I actually slept that solidly. Or for so long,” Kelly admitted when Eva asked how she’d slept.

“Oh?” Irina smiled at me. “That’s interesting. Eva was telling me that Rurik had the hots for you and?—”

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