Page 91 of Scarlet Secrets

A marriage demand.

That last lot was a week and a half ago—from him letting me out and seeing firsthand how good he is with Sasha to the sex. I’m still in my room, at my insistence, and he’s okay with it. For now.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Kara demands on the other end of the phone. “I’m worried. The thing with Max…”

Her voice drops and my heart hurts, but I just say, “Sasha has his father now, and they’re bonding. I owe it?—”

“You owe nothing,” she says.

“To Sasha. Besides, his sister needs me, too.”

She breathes out. “How crazy is it she’s the one who was marrying Max? I’ll come by?—”

“Soon,” I say, feeling like the worst friend. But while I’m feeling more at home here in the mansion, I’m not sure Demyan will be comfortable with me inviting people over. And what the hell is Kara going to say when she sees all the security?

We chat some more and when I hang up, I can hear Demyan. I drift off to see him as Sasha’s down for his nap, but there’s something in his tone that makes my step falter, and in the end, I turn and go the other direction.

I’m not about to listen at closed doors, even if I’m desperate to know more about him and what he really does. But the guard who eyes me helps make up my mind.

The tone is low, flat, and deadly. I head up to my room to read. Really, I’m going to need something to do soon. I’m not made to be a homebody, though it has its perks of spending as much time as I can with Sasha. I just need things to do and with all the staff, there’s nothing but Sasha.

And Demyan.

Almost like I summoned him, he appears. Those cool, icy eyes, which heat only for me, drift over my body as though he’s memorizing every line. “I have a thing tonight. Will you come?”

He phrases it as a question, but it’s an order, soft and wrapped up in gauze, but an order.

“Like a date?”

I’m not sure most would notice the hesitation, but in the short while I’ve been here continuously micro-adjusting our relationship, my standing, my reading of him, I do. To me, it’s wide like the Grand Canyon and just as deep. “If you like.”

I nod. “And if I say no?”

“It’s in the city, a swank place.” His hand clenches. “I’d like you to come.”

My heart dips and soars. For Demyan, this is open. This is raw. He’s so far out of his comfort zone that so am I. “Sasha?—”

“I’ve got a penthouse. He can stay there.” His jaw muscle works. “Not alone. Obviously.”

“Obviously.” And suddenly, an idea comes to me. “My friend Kara could babysit.”

“I was thinking Olga or Alina.”

Frowning, I shake my head. “If you want this to work, then we do this together, as in you listen to my input. Sasha loves Kara. He should see her. Or am I really just a fancy prisoner, still? As for your sister? She might not want to. She’s still grieving.”

“She needs to get her life on track. I can’t bring him back or I would.”

“Please?”

He breathes out. “Fine. I’ll send you a dress.”

“I shouldn’t be here,”I say to Ilya as Demyan rubs shoulders with the rich.

At his breathtaking penthouse, which has been baby-proofed including a room of Sasha’s own, his sister, Olga, and Kara are all sharing the duties, though why it takes three people to watch a two-year-old is beyond me.

Demyan seems to think it’s a compromise when it’s really him getting his way and indulging me. Or rather, his son.

Olga… there’s a part of me that wonders if she’s there to make sure Kara doesn’t steal him in the night.

---