His fingers worked the buttons expertly. The tips brushed against the swell of my breasts, and my nipples tightened even more. This time, it had nothing to do with how cold I was and everything to do with his skin on mine. My body was a traitor.
I slapped his hand away. “Don’t touch me, Viktor.” Shrugging off the top, I slipped his shirt over my head before I rigged the bottoms down and left them at my feet. And not once did I let him see more of my body than was absolutely necessary.
Viktor sighed again. “Am I allowed to touch your feet?”
“Sure,” I shrugged. “If it gets me clean and I can sleep, then go ahead.”
A bowl of steaming water was dragged toward us as he settled my feet in his lap. “This might hurt, Leah.” He warned me before plunging my feet into the water.
Gritting my teeth, I hissed through the pain. “It’s fine.” I ground out. “Today has been full of pain. This is nothing.”
The cloth in Viktor’s hands froze, dripping water everywhere. His eyes searched my face. “What did my father do to you?”
“Nothing, why?” I sucked in a breath. That’s why he was looking at me like he was. He thought his father had attacked me. “He didn’t touch me, he just wanted to talk.”
“Talk?” Viktor washed my feet gently, but he didn’t sound like he believed me. “Talk to you about what?”
“Wait, how did you know I had been with your dad?”
He motioned to the blanket that had fallen and was not bunched around my waist.
“That’s the picnic blanket he keeps in his car. I recognized it straight away.” Viktor’s face tightened in anger. “Although he doesn’t usually use it for picnics.”
“Well, nothing like that happened.” I spat. How dare he look at me like I had done something wrong? I wasn’t the one who had broken our vows. He was.
“Then why did he want to see you? And how was he just there at the opportune time?”
“I have no idea how he was there. He said he was coming to see us, which I don’t believe for a second. As for what he wanted to talk about.” I met his eyes. “Isn’t it obvious? He wanted to talk about you.”
Viktor’s eyes narrowed. “What exactly about me?”
“Well, first he wanted to tell me that Manda was a better fit for you.”
He stiffened.
“And I think we can all agree that she is.”
“Leah.” The hands on my feet tightened for a second before sliding up to my ankle and staying there.
“And then he offered me money to spy on you.”
Viktor froze. His chest rose and fell as he digested the news. Reaching for a clean white towel, he began to dry my feet off, his whole attention on making sure my feet were ok.
“And what did you tell him?” He said it almost casually, but there was nothing casual about it. Not really.
“I told him I didn’t need his money. That our marriage was rock solid.”
The corners of Viktor’s lips tugged up. “Is it rock solid?”
“No, I lied,” I said with a sneer, and his smile dropped. “But you should know that he knows this isn’t really a marriage. I don’t know how he knows, but he does.”
“Why isn’t this a real marriage, Leah? We said vows in front of God, and you are carrying my child in your belly.” Surging forward, he pressed his hand against my stomach, flattening the material of his shirt to it.
“It’s a real marriage to me, Leah.”
I couldn’t help it, I spluttered out a laugh. “Come on, Viktor, pull the other one. This isn’t a marriage, it’s a sham. You don’t leave your wife on the sofa so you can go and have sex with your mistress upstairs. It was one of the things Boris wanted to discuss—how stupid I am for thinking you would be faithful.”
“I have been faithful to you, Leah.”