Page 86 of Sapphire Tears

He smirks. “Well, we can’t have you carrying clothes over your arm now like a packhorse, can we?”

“Geez,” I say, rolling my eyes. “You rich people really are something else.”

I meander over to a long rack of clothes, dragging Kolya with me. I haven’t let go of his hand since we walked in.

“You know, I don’t really need new clothes, Kolya.”

“You’ve been wearing the same three things since we’ve been here.”

“Aren’t we going back home soon anyway?” I ask.

He gives me a suggestive smile. “Now, it’s ‘home,’ huh?”

I feel the blush coming on, so I turn immediately to the glittery blue halter top that’s next on the rack. “You know what I mean. Don’t be an ass.”

“I do. Maybe this is a good time to discuss you selling your house.”

The idea excites me, but not as much as it scares me. “I-I don’t know if I can do that. It’s not even fully paid off yet.”

“Let me take care of that.”

I stop and turn to face him. “I can’t let you take care of everything, Kolya.”

He has the audacity to look perplexed. “Why not?”

“Because… well, because I don’t want to be a kept woman.” It comes out sounding harsher than I intend.

He palms my hand between both of his. “Accepting help isn’t the same as accepting defeat, June.”

“I’ll remind you of that the next time I’m trying to convince you to ask for help.”

He laughs appreciatively, which is so rare of a reaction that I do a double-take that almost sprains my neck. I wish I could bottle this good mood of his up and take a shot of it whenever he’s feeling growlier. He’s laughing, smiling, keeping my hand clutched tight. It’s doing some very strange things to the butterflies that are making themselves at home in my stomach.

“I just think…” I begin before I falter and fade off.

“Yes?” he presses, as his arm brushes against mine.

“I think we have a lot more to discuss first, before we talk about moving in together.”

He waves a hand through the air between us. “Then let’s discuss. The floor is yours.”

I had so much I wanted to say, but now that it’s time to say it, I’m cringe-inducingly awkward. The ground between my feet is suddenly the most interesting thing around, and I can feel Marcel lingering on the periphery, waiting to attend to our every need the moment one arises.

I mumble something incoherent. Then I feel Kolya’s fingertips on the underside of my chin, forcing me to look up. “I’m here with you, June,” he whispers with the kind of seductive warmth that makes me shiver from head to toe. “You don’t have to be afraid.”

I gulp past a huge knot in my throat. “Well, I’d like to know… where we stand, for one. We were engaged, but now…”

He flashes that crooked half-smile of his, one eyebrow and one corner of his mouth twitching upward in sync. “Are we not engaged anymore? That’s news to me. Why haven’t I gotten my ring back?”

My cheeks flush with color as his eyes dip down to the long silver chain around my neck. “I… um, I’ve been waiting for the right time to give it back to you…”

He reaches out and fingers the chain. “So you’ve taken to wearing it around your neck until that time arrives?”

I scowl at him. “I get it, I get it: you notice everything. You are God. You don’t have to look so damn smug about it.”

He laughs again, and again, I melt at the sound. “June,” Kolya says gently, taking a step forward to squeeze my shoulders in his massive hands, “I’m not asking for the ring back. I want you to keep it. But I want you to keep it under the condition that you respect the promise under which it was given to you.”

“That w-we… get married?” I ask stupidly.

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