Page 46 of Sergei
I didn’t answer. I just waited and watched as she ripped it open. Her breath caught when she pulled out her new driver’s license and social security card. She studied them for a moment, and tears shimmered in her eyes when she looked up at me and whispered, “They look so real.”
“They are as real as they get.” I leaned forward. “The life you choose from here is yours and yours alone.”
She looked down at it again, then back up at me, and something changed in her expression. The worry lingered, but there was a flash of something else that was followed by a playful smirk. “Catalina Rhodes.”
“Do you like it?”
“I do actually.”
“Good. I liked it, too.” I gave her a smile. “Means I can still call you Lina.”
“I hadn’t thought about that.”
“It’s why I chose it.”
“You think of everything, don’t you?”
“I do what I can.”
“I’d say you do pretty well. The journals and sketchpads, the clothes, and even the name. You’ve been right about it all.”
“I guess it’s good I didn’t go with the name Loretta.”
She laughed, a real, genuine laugh, and hearing it made something settle deep inside me. Catalina wasn’t just a name. It was a new beginning. And I couldn’t help but wonder if this new beginning of hers might include me. I certainly hoped it did.
The ride back to the apartment was quicker than I’d expected. Lina and I talked the entire way. We shared stories and talked about memories from our childhood, and by the time we pulled into the garage, I felt like I knew her even better than before.
I grabbed her bags from the back, and she followed me upstairs. I unlocked the door, and we both made our way to her bedroom. I placed the bags carefully on the floor as I told her, “Thank you for going with me.”
“No.” She whispered, stepping closer. “Thank you.”
Before I could respond, she eased up on her toes and pressed her lips to my cheek. The touch was light, tentative, but it lit a fire under my skin. When she pulled back, her eyes met mine, and for a long moment, we just looked at each other, caught in a spell that felt inevitable.
I moved without thinking. One step forward and my hand was behind her neck, pulling her toward me as I crashed my mouth against hers. It wasn’t soft. It wasn’t gentle. It was nothing of the sort.
Instead, it was hard, full of hunger and need, and she gasped against my touch. I swallowed the sound, pouring weeks of restraint into that single kiss. Her hands glided up my chest as I deepened the kiss and pulled her even closer. Heat and need rolled through me, consuming me, and it was all I could do to keep my footing. Her touch was undoing me in a way that nothing else ever had.
It was too much. Too soon.
Angered by my lack of control, I stepped back and broke the embrace. Disappointment flashed through her eyes as I took a step back and said, “I’m sorry, Lina. I shouldn’t have…”
Before she had a chance to react, I turned and forced myself out of the room. I started down the hall and silently cursed myself as I made my way into the bathroom. I turned on the shower and started peeling off my clothes, tossing them furiously to the floor.
“You’re a fucking jackass, Sergei Volkov.” I shook my head as I stepped under the hot water and continued to berate myself. “It was too soon. You knew that. She trusted you, and you fucked it up. I shouldn’t be surprised. You could never have a woman like her.”
I was still giving myself hell when I thought I heard Lina say, “You’re wrong. You’ve had me all along.”
But when I whipped around, there was no one there.
Just me and my wasted, hopeful thoughts.
Damn.
16
ALINA
It has been hours,
