Page 51 of Sovereign

“Did you…help me get ready for bed?”

With a shrug of his massive shoulder, he reaches for the last pirozhki and eats half of it in one enormous bite. “Of course. I told you I take good care of what’s mine.”

“True,” I say, changing the subject because this is dangerous territory for me.

Another casual shrug. He knows I didn’t miss his point.

I stifle a yawn. “I’m exhausted.”

And…naked. I can’t forget I’m absolutely buck naked. And I’m sitting next to a man twice my size who’s claimed me as his. My…husband.

He’s myhusband.

It’s still so hard for me to swallow all this.

“We will go to bed. Tomorrow we have some work to do to prepare you to live here with me.”

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Mikhail

Aria adapts more easilyto life here with me than I’d expect her to. I don’t blame her, when I think about it. She was on the run long enough, not even knowing where her next meal would come from, it only makes sense that she appreciates having a roof over her head.

She won’t like living with me, I can guarantee that. But I don’t need her to like it. I need her to stay.

It’s strange that when I look at her phone over the next few days, I notice no unusual behavior. She’s a hacker, after all. I half suspected she’d be downloading software, communicating with her friends, or at the very least researching and learning about my family and what she’s gotten into. She doesn’t so much as open up an app.

Does she have no friends?

I have a large volume of work to catch up on over the next few days, so I stay home and work from my at-home office while she gets accustomed to life here.

On the third day, she comes to my office wearing a pout.

“Alright, I’m bored out of myskull.” She crosses her arms on her chest and glares at me.

Ah. This is what I was waiting for. She can only behave for so long before her true personality will shine.

“Oh?” I ask. “Maybe download a game on that damn phone you hardly touch.”

“I don’t want to crush candy, Mikhail.”

I continue perusing the spreadsheet Lev gave me and don’t turn toward her.

“Do I detect a recalcitrant tone, little hacker? Have I taken such poor care of you?” My voice is deceptively low.

She heaves a huge sigh. “You call me little hacker and yet you don’t give me a chance to actually, like,hack.Or do anything other than sit around and look pretty and then eat food in between…well, you know, sex. And while looking pretty and eating good food are nice things, I don’t want that to be all I do every day.”

I turn and give her a curious look. “Did I tell you that’s what I want you to do?”

“No, but you haven’t given me any options, either.”

I lean back in my chair. “Haven’t I?”

She narrows her eyes at me. “Wait. The letter said I had a credit card and that I could leave, I just have to have your permission. Right?”

“Yes. And the answer is no, you may not leave. Not now. It isn’t safe right now.”

Her face falls, but only for a second. “But I can buy a computer with the credit card?”

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