Page 35 of Savage Assassin

“Won’t they think that’s strange?” Elena asks, her teeth worrying at her lower lip. “I don’t know how anyone would find out, but if they do–you sleeping in the other room–”

It sounds very much like she wants me to stay in bed with her, and for a moment, I’m tempted to give her what I think she’s asking for. I think she wants the comfort of not being alone, not sex.

But I’m not altogether sure that I can sleep in bed with her, and not be tempted beyond my self-control.

“I don’t know that they’d find me not sleeping next to a girl I bought all that strange. Maybe that I gave you the bed and took the couch. But no one is going to find out anyway, so it doesn’t matter.” I step back, rallying my control. “I’ll be in just the other room, Elena. If you need me, call out, or come wake me up. But wake me up from a distance,” I add, thinking of how I’m likely to react if she jerks me out of a deep sleep close to me. “My training makes me–jumpy, if someone wakes me while I’m asleep.”

Her eyes widen again, and I know she must have questions after that comment. But she doesn’t ask them. She just nods, burrowing deeper into the bed. “Goodnight,” she says finally, after a long moment.

Fuck,I want to stay with her. It’s been a long time since I’ve passed a night with someone else in my bed for the whole night, since I’ve woken up with another body curled close to mine. The thought of it sends a sweeping ache through me that I’m usually able to keep at bay, one I haven’t felt in so long that I’d almost forgotten it.

Which is precisely why I can’t sleep next to her.

“Goodnight,” I tell her, reaching out to switch off the light next to the bed.

I catch just a glimpse of the disappointment on her face before I turn away.

Elena

Despite everything, I actually feel as if I got a full night’s sleep–the first since I’d been kidnapped. It’s a sleep free of dreams, too, which is a relief after so many nights full of nightmares in the cells. I’d been afraid of more of them, but I slept deep and dreamless, and when I wake to the sun streaming through the window, I see a tray of covered food sitting at the end of the bed. Through the arched doorway that leads to the other room, I can see Levin sitting up on the couch, his back to me, bent over what’s probably his own breakfast.

“How long do we have before we leave?” I ask as I sit up, and he turns sharply, looking at me from over the back of the sofa. There’s stubble on his face, and it only serves to make him more handsome, throwing into focus the sharp line of his jaw. I feel a shiver run through me as I remember last night, and I have to tamp down the sudden wash of arousal that threatens to make a flush creep up my neck.

“We should leave soon,” Levin says, standing up and crossing to the doorway. He’s changed clothes, into dark blue chinos cuffed at the ankle above his boots and a charcoal button-up rolled up to his elbows. He looks fucking gorgeous, and I feel my stomach tighten at the thought of all the things he could do to me in this bed, right now, if we weren’t in a hurry.

If he hadn’t made it very clear that he doesn’t plan to do those things at all, beyond what’s necessary to keep up our ruse.

“Do I have time to shower? Are there even other clothes in here?” I look around the room, and Levin smirks.

“I was told that typically the buyers bring a change of clothes for the girls they buy, to leave with them the next day. So I brought something for you from home.” He crosses to the leather duffel bag sitting by the dresser, crouching down to unzip it. I see the muscled flex of his thighs and ass as he does, and my mouth goes slightly dry.

Get a grip, Elena. He’s not going to fuck you.

He stands up, handing me what he’d brought–a pair of dark blue jeans and a silky black sleeveless shirt. “These are yours, right?”

I nod. “They are. Thank you. Do I have time to shower?” I desperately want to clean off all of yesterday. I can still smell all the flowery oil they put in my hair, and it reminds me of the whole horrifying ordeal.

“If you’re quick. Eat something, too,” Levin says, nodding at the tray. “I don’t think you ate much at all yesterday.”

I hadn’t; he’s right about that. I still can’t summon much of an appetite, my stomach twisted in knots at the thought of how close we are to getting out of here, but I know I need to eat. It won’t do anyone any good if I pass out again as we’re trying to leave.

“I’ll be in the other room,” Levin says finally, backing away from the bed a little awkwardly. “If you need me.”

His eyes flick over me once, briefly, and then he pivots sharply and walks off.

He heard you last night. He must have.A shiver that’s half embarrassment, half arousal runs down my spine as I take the lid off of the tray, picking up a piece of toast with jam. I won’t be able to eat much, but I can probably manage this.

One piece of toast and a few bites of eggs later, I get out of bed. I can’t get the dress off fast enough, and I glance towards the other room as I pull it over my head, half-hoping that Levin might glance back and get a glimpse of me naked–purely by accident, of course. But he stays with his back steadfastly to me–almost certainly because he knows that I’m getting undressed.

Does he want me, or not? And if he does, why is he being so difficult about it?

Last night, downstairs, I’d understood. He hadn’t wanted me to feel coerced. And I’d been a little bit afraid when I’d thought that he’d meant, once upstairs, that he wouldhaveto take my virginity for us to succeed at our plan. But once I’d known that wasn’t what he meant–

I’d been a little disappointed. I hadn’t wanted to be forced into it out of circumstance–but once it was no longer anyone else’s choice but mine and his, I’d found myself wishing it might happen. And then when he’d kissed me–

How could someone kiss like that and not want to keep going?

Except he had, if he’d been pleasuring himself in the bathroom, the way I suspect he had. He’d wanted me, and he’d walked away.

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