Page 37 of Viktor

“Did Dimitri ever tell you how our parents met?”

She shook her head, her eyes wide and dilated.

“My father met my mother a week before he was scheduled to leave Russia. He told himself she would be better off without him, better with someone who would always be there for her and not constantly moving from place to place.” He pulled their linked hands up to rest on her knees. “Only the thought of her with anyone was too much for him, and he married her the day before he shipped out.”

“He married her a week after he met her?” Her eyebrows raced towards her hairline. “That was…”

“Romantic?”

“Crazy.”

He threw his head back and laughed. “Yeah, it’s crazy, but the Kincaid men know what we want when we want it. Nikoli dated Lily barely two months before he asked her to marry him. And Dimitri? A few days in Becca’s company and he knew she was it for him. Though, to be fair, we knew she owned him back in high school. He was too much of an idiot to realize it. Kade is the only one of us who actually dated his girl for more than a few months. They knew each other a good year before they got married.”

“He did forget he was married,” she reminded him.

“Da, but I understand why he did it. We give him shit for it, but if we had been in his place, shoving those painful memories aside might have been the only way we survived losing so much too.”

“I don’t know the whole story there.”

“I’ll tell you about it sometime. It’s painful to think about, and it didn’t even happen to me.”

“But it happened to your brother, so it hurts you.”

“It hurts all of us. Family is everything to the Kincaids. We’re protective, possessive assholes, but we love deep and true.”

She cocked her head, as if trying to figure out why he was telling her all this. He leaned his forehead against hers.

“My brothers never set out to find love. They were all self-proclaimed manwhores, one-night stands and booty calls. I’m the only one who’s ever looked for it. They found it without trying, and I think maybe so have I.”

She sucked in a breath, and he grinned. “I don’t want you to look at me and see the rebound guy. I want you to look at me and see your forever guy.”

Her eyes got wild, and he could see the red flags going up all over the place inside that pretty little head of hers.

“Don’t worry,moye sokrovishche, I’m not saying I love you. I’m saying I think I couldfallin love with you so easily it would almost be effortless, and if that happens, then it happens. That’s why I’m not going to kiss you. I want to get to know you, to explore this insane desire that’s taken root every time I think about you.”

“I don’t know what to say,” she whispered.

“You don’t have to say anything. I’m just telling you what my intentions are so as not to scare you.” He gave her another kiss on the forehead and scooted back so he could stand. He reached his hand down to her. “What do you say, Sara? Are you willing to go on a crazy adventure with me?”

She stared at his outstretched hand for the longest time. He was scared she’d run for the hills, especially after the disastrous marriage she was coming out of. He was pushing hard and fast, and he guessed that was what Roger did, from her hesitation. He said a silent prayer. If God wanted to go to bat for him, now was the time.

After several long moments, she finally reached out and took his hand, letting him pull her up and against his chest. His arms came around her, and he hugged her tight, the bands around his lungs loosening enough for him to breathe.

Let the crazy adventure begin.

Viktor sent her back into the house. He needed a few minutes to gather his thoughts and come to terms with what he’d just set in motion. He’d done a complete three-sixty today, but damn, seeing her there huddled on the floor broke him. It forced him to admit a few things, and like everything else, once he was in, he was all in.

Finding and building love was no exception.

To take his mind off things, he pulled out his phone and decided to return Kade’s numerous calls. He’d dodged him long enough.

“Where the fuck have you been, you bloody bastard?” Kade spat over the line.

“Well, hello to you too,brat. I’ve been fucking working and dealing with a woman who I think I am going to fucking murder before this case is finished.”

Or she was going to be the death of him. That woman, as much as he was starting to fall for her, was going to put him in an early grave the way she ignored her own personal safety.

“We’ve been calling and texting you since yesterday. When do you not pick up a damn phone, Vik?”

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