Page 72 of The Enemy's Defector
“Does Nik know that you were the one who gave me the tip that saved their lives?”
I shook my head. “No. I never had a good time to tell him and I hated to remind him of the experience afterward.”
He grunted. “And I’ll assume from my recent conversations with Maxim that you haven’t told him, either. That you haven’t told anyone other than me that you had that tip to share.”
Again, I nodded.
He rolled his eyes, surprising me. “Then it’s not going to be very hard to shut them up about not trusting you, is it?”
I almost smiled. “If you think so. I imagined that saving Nik and protecting him from being shot might’ve also proved my loyalty, but I guess that wasn’t good enough.”
He patted my knee. “Don’t you worry. They’ll question whether or not I’ll know what I’m talking about, but I’ll make sure to set them straight. If you haven’t been officially welcomed into this family, then I will have the honor of doing that now.”He lifted my hand and kissed the back of it, like a gentleman. “And now that we’ve been able to have this conversation, I want to thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for saving Maxim and Damon back then. For saving Nik back then and again now.”
I waited for him to fully stand before reaching out to hug him. With his blessing, with him able to remember my loyalty to the Ivanovs before Anton ever came into power, I finally had hope I could count on, that maybe I really could belong with these people who were supposed to be my horrible enemies.
30
NIKOLAI
Icame home to find Katerina just getting out of the shower. She’d just dressed, if the dampness of the silky nightgown that clung to her skin was any indication.
As soon as I entered the room, she paused in brushing her hair and faced me directly.
For the first time in a few days, we were alone and both of us were awake.
Together again.
“I was beginning to wonder if you’d moved and hadn’t bothered to tell me.”
I sighed, taking her sassy quip as a joke rather than a serious comment. Groaning lightly as I approached her, I said, “No. I was stuck in yet another meeting.”
“You’ve got a lot to catch up with, being gone for over a month.”
I reached her, instantly pulling her against me. When her arms wrapped around me automatically, I felt right again. “And now I’ve got more to catch up with you.”
She rolled her eyes and started to look away, but I gripped her chin and tipped her face up toward mine so I could kiss her.
Again.
And again.
With every brush of my lips over her soft, sweet mouth, she melted against me more and more. Sagging and breathing so softly, she practically curled into me and leaned on me for support. I didn’t want to render her silent and stuck in the intense spiral of chasing an orgasm with me—not yet.
Before she could moan and take this straight to bed, where it would damn well end up, I broke the kiss and stared into her blue eyes. Dazzling bright with her intelligence, wit, and patience, her eyes captured me like they always did. Like I counted on them doing for the rest of my life. I would never tire of her. I was incapable of staying mad at her.
“I’m sorry,” I said. Blunt, to the point, and honest. That was the only delivery I had for her.
“I’m sorry too,” she said.
I raised my brows. “What do you have to be sorry for?”
“Being mad at you.” She shrugged.
I laughed once and kissed her harder. “You had every right to be mad at me for taking over like that.”
“Nik, this is me. I know how it works. You’re expected to take over.”
“That’s not howwework. We’re partners, Katerina. We’ve always been a pair. A team.”
