Page 73 of Viktor

“Never be sorry, baby. Just know I’m here when you need me.” He caressed her face once and then shut the door.

She needed some time to get out of her own head. He started the SUV and headed back toward the hotel, his only intent to get her settled and relaxed.

The room was chilly when they got back. That would be his fault. The hotel had the room set on seventy-four when they arrived, and he’d dialed it down to sixty-five before they left. He worried it might be too cold for her, but the Texas heat was no joke. He started to sweat when he got out of the SUV and hadn’t stopped until he’d stepped into the air-conditioned lobby of the hotel.

“Is it too cold?” He hurried over to her suitcase to fish around in it until he found her pajama bottoms and a t-shirt. They weren’t her fuzzy ones, but at least they weren’t shorts.

He felt her behind him, something he’d grown used to. His entire being was so attuned to her, he knew exactly where she was in a room without looking. His father told him once when he found the woman meant for him, it would be second nature to feel her before he saw her. Viktor didn’t really understand him at the time, but, boy, did he now.

“No, it’s just a little chilly.”

He turned, her clothes in hand, and thrust them at her. “Here, go put these on. You up for some pizza and pop?”

She smiled softly. “Yeah.”

He ordered Papa John’s while he waited for her to come out of the bathroom. The sink turned on, and he took out his laptop. He figured they’d have a night of pizza andSupernatural. Sara needed to calm down, and this might do the trick.

Pizza and a Netflix binge-watching session wasn’t his usual idea of a date night, but it seemed to fit. Sara wasn’t like the usual women he dated. They wanted glitz and glam. His girl wanted comfort and someone to appreciate her. Netflix and pizza were perfect.

She came out a few minutes later, her face scrubbed of all the makeup. He preferred the natural look on her. She was beautiful with or without it. She also looked younger than her twenty-seven years, standing there in her pajamas, her eyes haunted. He didn’t hesitate. He wrapped her in a bear hug and held her for a long time.

“He scared me,” she whispered, and he heard the tears in her voice. “He’s one of my best friends, and he scared me.”

Viktor picked her up so her feet were off the ground and walked her over to the couch. After settling her in his lap, he hugged her to him. “Dimitri just is the way he is when it comes to his women. Becca doesn’t put up with half his shit. Drives him nuts, but he would hurt himself before he laid a finger on her.”

“How did I not know he was like that?”

Viktor ran his tongue over his teeth, a nervous tick he had. “Because you were never one of his women. You get the Dimitri I get, the one his family and friends see. It’s who he is. His bedroom tendencies are private, and we don’t push him on it.”

“That didn’t sound like a bedroom tendency today.”

“No, but she is his woman, and she questioned if he was sticking around for the long haul. It brought out the dominant side in him. He felt the need to protect her, even from herself. I get it, I do, but I can see where you might misinterpret it.”

She sighed, her warm breath tickling his neck where she’d burrowed her face. His dick jumped, and he silently cursed. She needed comfort right now, not to have his arousal poking her in the ass.

“Are you like that?” The hesitation in her words almost broke him.

“No, it’s not my thing, but I am vicious when it comes to protecting the people I love. I will go to bat for them and use everything in my arsenal to keep them safe and to make sure they know they’re loved every single day.”

Her fingers bunched his shirt tightly. “I’m so afraid you’ll hurt me, Viktor.”

“I won’t, baby. I swear to God and all that’s holy, I won’t hurt you.”

“I want to believe you so much.”

“It’s okay,moye sokrovishche. I’m a patient man who’s going to prove it to you.”

His phone rang, causing him to groan. “It’s got to be the pizza.” He pulled it out of his back pocket, and sure enough, it was the delivery guy. He told him to bring it on up.

“I should move.” Sara snuggled deeper into his lap.

“If you want to eat, yes.” He chuckled when she sighed heavily and wiggled out of his lap. He stood and fished his wallet out, retrieving two twenties, and handed them to her. “Can you get the pizza? I need to use the bathroom.”

“Sure.”

“Tell him to keep the change.”

Sara watched his ass as he swaggered into the bathroom. Viktor didn’t walk. He swaggered. She didn’t think he was even aware of it, but it accentuated his ass. Her eyes stayed glued to it until the door shut behind him.

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