Is this real life?
Sheltered or not, I’m usually capable of assessing a situation pretty fast. Reading people. Solving dilemmas. But I can’t make sense of this. Aleksei, the man I’ve been having illicit fantasies about for years, has been having them about , too?
No way. I don’t believe it. All those tis I snuck into his bedroom because I was “scared of the thunder” (I wasn’t), he refused to take any of the openings I gave him. I an, call crazy, but when a half – naked girl combs her fingers through a man’s chest hair and purrs like a kitten, that’s a sure – fire sign she’s interested in more. But he’d only lain there like a stone statue, grunting at in Russian to stop interrupting his sleep.
All this ti, has he wanted to push down into the mattress and...
I can’t even bring myself to think the word, because I’m already slick. Right where it counts. And he keeps frowning at my squeezed – together legs, as if he knows it.
“I don’t believe you. About wanting .”
His jaw muscle flexes. Hard. He’s angry now? “Don’t believe ?”
“Nope. Why now? Why would you wait to tell this until you’re...” I fling a hand toward the passing scenery, “essentially driving out of your life?”
He bares his teeth. “I’m not leaving you. We’ve spoken of this.”
Hearing that, knowing he didn’t just an it in so symbolic way, my heart lifts with relief. As much as I want my freedom, the one thing — person — I never want to be away from is Aleksei. He’s the one who brings ho a cake and candles to celebrate my birthday when my father forgets. He’s the one who fusses and threatens the doctors when I’m sick. My friend, the only man who’s ever made my lady parts clench...my uncle who isn’t really an uncle. Aleksei.
But it’s difficult to reconcile the man I’ve grown up with and this new, sexually charged Adonis...who claims to want . Bad. Even after walking in on him touching himself in the shower, our relationship didn’t change. Not on his end, anyway. I was walking into walls for two months, the hot vision of his big hand stroking up and down his shaft painted on my corneas.
“I need an explanation, Aleksei. Or I’ll...” I search the car for so threat inspiration, my gaze landing on the granola bar sticking out of my purse. “I won’t eat until I get the truth.”
If possible, his powerful fra grows even stiffer. “Your lunch ti is in seventeen minutes, Georgina. You will not be missing it.”
Propping my hand on a bent wrist, I flutter my eyelashes at him. “Then I guess you should start talking.”
He grunts, looking at with grudging approval. “You are a very challenging creature.” His fingers tap on the steering wheel. “Very well. I will appease so of this curiosity.”
My smile seems to distract him. “Thank you.”
A curt nod. “Try and maintain that grateful attitude.” His cheek flexes for long monts as he stares out at the road ahead. “Do you rember when I ca to live with you?”
“Of course.” I turn and lay the side of my face on the leather seat. “It was the week after my mother’s funeral. My father was so paranoid, he wouldn’t let leave the house, and I thought I’d be a prisoner forever, but...he trusted you to protect . Before you even unpacked, you took out for ice cream.”
“Yes.” His expression warms, before the stoicism returns and chases it away. “This trust your father had in is very important, Georgina. It didn’t co for free. Do you understand? Not for him or .” He pauses. “My mother and sister needed a ho in Chicago, and your father had the connections I didn’t, being so new to this country.”
I nod, because I knew this much already. Aleksei’s family is private and they don’t co to the house very often, unless there’s so news that must be delivered in person. But I always know when it’s soone’s birthday because he asks my opinion when ordering flowers or a gift online. “I’m glad he helped your family. It brought you.”
My face goes up in flas as soon as the words leave my mouth. Normally, I wouldn’t hesitate to let Aleksei know I appreciate him. But that was before he touched . Before he admitted to admiring my near – naked body with looks I used to believe were platonic. Now I worry saying how much I need him out loud might make sound too desperate. Aren’t I, though? God, I can barely sit still on the seat, I want to be in his lap so bad.
“Georgina.”
“Yes,” I breathe.
“You will continue as you always have. You will not stop telling your thoughts.” He rolls a shoulder. “I like them very much.”
My heart is pounding in my ears when I say, “Tell the rest.”
His eyebrows lift at being given a command, but thankfully he doesn’t pull the plug on our conversation. “I gave him five years of loyal service in exchange for his help with my family. When I ca to Chicago, I assud I would be running...a very different kind of operation for your father. But when he ntioned hiring you a different bodyguard, I protested.”
I catch a laugh in my throat, just imagining what that protest from Aleksei looked and sounded like. Sort of like the human equivalent of a volcanic eruption.
“This amuses you, angel?” The car picks up speed. “n are not to be trusted.”
“Only you.”
“That’s right. Only .” He slants a look in my direction, those cool gray eyes roaming over my legs and breasts, his humongous arms seeming to expand and flex inside his coat. “I gave him five years. During those five years, I vowed to keep you innocent. Of all n, yes. But when I made this promise to your father, it was clear that it pertained to . So long as this five – year contract was in effect, you were forbidden.”
Five years.
My mind flips like pages in a calendar, thinking back to the day Aleksei arrived. Fall. It was fall. I rember because the first ti I saw him, I was sitting on the front steps of my house, head resting in my lap, wishing I could go ride my bike at the pier with my friends. Never again, though. My father, lost in his grief, had barred from leaving. Aleksei’s black boots appeared first, crunching on the autumn leaves that had fallen from the tree. He crouched down and forced to et his eyes. Eyes that reminded of thawing ice. Angel, he’d rasped.
“And...” My mouth is dry, so I make myself swallow. “And when does the contract expire?”
His big chest lifts and shudders back down. “Tonight.”
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