Page 185 of Dance of Devils
“I amnotworth throwing your dream away for, babygirl,” he says with a wry smile. “Trust me.”
I gaze at him steadfastly. “Yes, you are.”
He sighs deeply, his arms tightening around me and his hands sliding up and down the bare skin of my back and tangling in my hair in the way that I love.
“It’s easy to say that at your age?—”
“Don’t do that,” I snap. “Don’t make me out to be a naive little girl.”
He shakes his head. “I’mnot, but there are complexities of life you don’t encounter until you’re older?—”
“Then I’ll figure them outwith you,” I hiss. “I don’t want to be away from you,” I whisper, leaning my forehead to his. “I don’t want to go to Moscow if you can’t come with me.”
“This is your future?—”
“No,youare my future,” I choke, my heart racing. “Because?—”
“I love you.”
I jolt when the words fall from his lips. My eyes lock with his, light blue rioting with devil dark, as my jaw drops.
“I love you, Brooklyn,” he murmurs again.
“Youasshole!” I choke through a cracking smile, tears beading in my eyes. “I was going to say it first and then you totally stole?—”
“Yeah,” he growls, cupping my chin and pulling me close. “I guess I did.”
“I love you, too,” I murmur quietly as his lips find mine, devouring my protests and swallowing my moans as we tangle together under the moonlight.
47
KIR
I love her.
Which is why I have to do this.
I lower my face to her sleeping one, softly kissing her cheek and tucking the duvet around her shoulders.
Then it’s time.
Dimitri stands from the table in the back of his restaurant when I walk in. I shake his hand firmly before we sit.
“I appreciate you meeting me so early, Dimitri.”
He chuckles. “Eh, I’ve always been an early bird. It’s easier to see what I’d like to conquer next in the morning light.”
I smile, dipping my chin.
“So.” He clears his throat and pours tea from a samovar into a cup for me, then one for him. “What was it you wanted to discuss?”
I take a slow, deep breath. “Dimitri, I say this with theutmost respectfor you, but I’m afraid our deal is no longer on the table.”
His brow furrows deeply. “You’re joking.”
“I’m not.”
He blinks in confusion, staring at me. “But…why, Kir? This arrangement is extremely beneficial to both of us,da? We both get what we want. Why thefuck, if you’ll pardon my language, would you call it off?”
