Page 102 of Night's Fall
“AndI’llshare mine about how a child feels when their mother snaps her wrist.”
His eyes grew dark as night, his jaw bulged, veins in his arms, neck, and rising up his flat stomach from his groin came out in stark relief.
Okay then.
As insanely sexy as all that was, perhapsIshould have tempered whatI’dsaid.
“That was dirty, darling,” he warned low.
“We’ll find a compromise,Aleksei,”Ipromised.
He sauntered back to me, his powerful hips swaying almost hypnotically, andI’dbe hypnotized if the vibe he was giving off wasn’t so concerning.
He dropped to his fists in the bed on either side of my hips so his face was in mine.
“I want to know.Ineed to know.Ialso knowI’mgoing to hate knowing.ButwhatIalready know, you had it far worse thanIdid,Laura.Thatsaid, shitty parents can come in all forms.Abuse.Neglect.Andjust being pompous, enabling morons.”
I blinked, because for some reason, his words felt like a punch in the throat, not delivered by him, oneIexperiencedwithhim.
Sadly, he continued speaking.
“And how a pompous, enabling moron can create two far worse, those who are even more spoiled than he is, and as such, they become unrelenting fuckwits.Notas bad as what befell you,Iknow it without knowing it all.Butit’s still bloody fucked up.”
On that, beforeIcould utter that first word, he pushed up and strode out.
I was sensingIunderstood there were more reasons than the obvious why he wanted to delay attending our families, seeing as what he just said was about his father and brothers.
And nowIwished with my whole heartI’dlet him.
“Well…dang,”Isaid to the empty room.
Chapter17
Circus
On my ever-lengthening mentalDiscusswithAlekseiasWeGettoKnowOneAnotherlist,Iadded sharing howIfelt about him changing me from my satin gown into one of hisT-shirts whileIwas dead out of it.
Of course, it was far more comfortable than sleeping in a halter-neck gown.
But still.
I really wanted to take a bath in his tub, or a shower.Ihadn’t had either sinceIstayed in that old hotel during the filming ofSheets, and they were both way better than any bath pod.
But a bath pod could have you clean and dry in five minutes, top to toe.
And we had exalted company.
SoIneeded to get my rear in gear.
AfterIlay for those five minutes, letting the light diodes cleanse my skin and hair,Ipulled myself out of the pod.
I slapped the cosme-mask on for a natural day look that took two minutes.Themane-mateIprogramed for casual at home, and that took another three.AndIhad to block out huge portions of the “female closet” (door four off his bedroom) asIprogrammed in the outfitIwanted to wear, because the closet was just that awesome, and ifIpaid too much attention to it,Icould be lost in it for hours.
I might not be sure about howIfelt about the fact that, for all intents and purposes,I’dbeen moved intoAleksei’spenthouse without a word exchanged between us before this happened.
ButIwas sureI’dmove into that closet.
All said and done,Ihad soft, wide-leg, silvery-cream, drawstring pants on the bottom, a horizontal stripe semi-oversized shirt up top (stripes in silver and cream).Myhair was half up and half down, the down part having bouncy waves.Anda pair of silver, flat mules were on my feet.Theyhad notched-side uppers featuring intricate embroidery in greens, pinks, silvers and blues.
