Page 35 of Viktor

She couldn’t look at him. She hated feeling like this. Hated it, but she couldn’t help it.

He reached out and tipped her chin up so she was forced to look at him. “I’m not Roger. I’m not going to hurt you.”

“I know.”

“Do you?” he murmured, his thumb tracing her lower lip. “I don’t think you do, but that’s okay.”

“Really?”

He smiled lazily, and some of the anger slipped away from him. “Yes, really. I am furious. It’s true.” His hand slid down and cupped her neck, his thumb sweeping back and forth across her jawline. “But, Sara…”

“Yeah?” she whispered, afraid to break whatever spell he was weaving.

“There isn’t a force on this earth that could ever make me take that anger out on you.” His eyes got this sleepy look in them, and his lips parted. She had the strongest urge to lean forward and suck his bottom lip in between hers.

Sara felt like a race car driver, one second hurtling a thousand miles an hour around a track, and then the next cruising at a slower speed until the car stopped dead in the pit.

That was what Viktor made her feel on a daily basis. She’d been terrified of him a second ago, and here she was thinking of what his lips would feel like against hers. Whiplash at a thousand miles an hour.

“Why are we in the barn?”

“Because I didn’t want Delia to see how angry I was. She’s seen more than enough of that from her father.”

She sucked in a breath, tears springing to her eyes unexpectedly. He’d put her daughter’s feelings ahead of everyone else’s?

“I had to cool down, and you needed to know what was going on. I guess I should have talked to you after I worked out all this aggression. I’m sorry for scaring you,moye sokrovishche.”

There were those words again—my treasure.

“Why do you call me that?” She searched his face, looking for something she couldn’t even put into words, but she’d know it when she saw it.

“Because you are the most precious treasure in the world, Sara. You deserve to be cherished.” He reached out and cupped her face with both hands. “Believe me when I say I will never lay a hand on you in anger. I’d hurt myself first.”

Her tongue darted out to wet her lips, and Viktor almost came apart right then and there. He wanted her, wanted her like he’d never wanted a woman in his entire life. Kissing her right now would be so easy.

He’d struggled with his feelings from the moment he met her. So many reasons he’d used to justify staying away from her, but only one mattered. She scared the shit out of him.

Gabe had been right.

There was something here, something special, and he understood it better than she did. He’d watched his parents live it, and he’d grown up wanting it. Hell, he looked for it with every woman he dated, but it always remained elusive. That feeling his dad told him about. The one where he’d sacrifice everything just to see his woman smile.

He’d fought his attraction to her, but he wasn’t going to do that anymore.

Seeing her sitting here crying, scared because she thought he might take his anger out on her, had twisted him up inside so badly it caused him physical pain. That, more than anything, pulled out the protective bastard who would fight for both of them. She needed him to fight for her.

She may not realize it, but she needed that more than she needed him to ravage her lips, but damn, it was hard to resist.

“I’m sorry.”

He smiled, tilting her head back to get a better look at her. “You don’t have anything to be sorry for,moye sokrovishche. I’m the one who should be apologizing. I know how anger affects you. I will be more aware of it in the future. Forgive me?”

“I do.”

She sounded breathy, her pink lips just begging for attention. He leaned in, but instead of face planting onto them, he kissed her forehead. “Thank you.”

The frown that marred her face made him chuckle. She wanted him to kiss her. It hadn’t slipped his attention she’d changed her clothes once they got back. She’d put on a very form-fitting red tank top and shorts that barely covered her ass.

“You need to put some pants on.”

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