Total pages in book: 65
Estimated words: 63786 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 319(@200wpm)___ 255(@250wpm)___ 213(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 63786 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 319(@200wpm)___ 255(@250wpm)___ 213(@300wpm)
Turning my head to the window, I stare out into the growing sunlight.
If I already thought the constant presence of security and bodyguards was exhausting, now it’s only going to get worse.
6
LEV
I hate leaving her. Because no one can protect her like I can.
But I have to take action now, so I double the security in and around the Zarkov Estate, and by the time we arrive home, there are already more men patrolling the inner walls.
Inside the mansion, Brooke makes her way through the foyer.
“I need to sleep,” she says wearily.
I follow her up the grand staircase, but when she turns right to go to her bedroom, I take her by the wrists.
“No, from now on, you sleep in my room with me.”
She looks surprised. “Isn’t that breaking the rules?”
I slide my hands inside hers. “There are no rules now. We’re at war, and I intend to protect you and the baby the best way I can. When you sleep, it is with me, in my bed.”
She looks up at me, the expression on her bruised face full of uncertainty, and it crushes me to see the fear in her big brown eyes.
I trace a finger along her eyebrow and down her cheeks, then cup her jaw in my hands. “The worst is behind us.”
I know it’s a bold statement. But she needs to know I will do everything in my power to ensure she will never have to endure any more time in the hands of my enemies.
I kiss her, and it’s shaky and broken because we’re both bruised and tattered, but as we stand there in the dim light of the hallway, our kiss is a reminder that amongst the bloodshed and the shadows of war, we still have this.
It doesn’t matter that we don’t know what this is.
For now, it is enough.
And it is perfect.
I take her to my bedroom, and she stops in the doorway and casts an astonished gaze around the room.
“It’s so beautiful,” she whispers.
My bedroom is over-the-top opulent. A bedroom fit for a king. Large, with cathedral ceilings and a bed so massive it needs custom-made sheets.
Now that I am in the sanctuary of my own room, I feel the weight of the last forty-eight hours in every cell and neuron in my body.
“Do you need to shower?” I ask.
She nods, and I lead her into the colossal marble bathroom off the bedroom. In the dim light, I slowly peel the clothes from her, my gut tightening when I see her bruises up close.
She starts to undo my shirt buttons, and I stop her.
“Let me look after you,” I say.
“This is you looking after me,” she whispers. “Join me in the shower. Hold me. Kiss me.”
Despite my bruised ribs and the ache in every muscle of my body, I harden at the sight of her nakedness. But tonight is not about sex. It’s about being here together. I want to soothe her, not fuck her. Although my cock is pretty certain we could do both.
In the shower, she hisses in a breath when the water hits the cut to her lip and the injuries on her beautiful face, so I turn her away from it and angle her head so the warm water runs down her long hair.
“Better?”
“Thank you,” she moans.
I take my time with her. Lathering her body in soap and washing the suds from her skin. I want to wash away every moment she endured at the hand of Vlad. From his abusive touch to his vile, brutal energy, I don’t want any of it lingering on her flesh. I want to soothe her and comfort her.
And when my hands slide over her flat belly, the thought of my baby sends an overwhelming need to protect them both to the most primal parts of me.
I will do anything to keep them safe.
Turning her in my arms to face me, I hold her and kiss her.
She reaches between us, her warm hands taking hold of my slippery cock.
“Zayka—"
“I almost lost you last night,” she says gently as she starts to stroke me. “I need this. You need this.”
My cock throbs with agreement in her skillful hands. And despite the pain in my body, my balls grow heavy and swell with arousal with every sensual stroke.
I take her face in my hands and kiss her slowly as the pleasure rises in me. I groan into her mouth, wanting her, needing to bury myself so deep in her that I forget everything in the outside world.
But bruised ribs are a motherfucker, and even I have to admit defeat. Fucking her against the tiles is not going to happen tonight.
But I can make her come in other ways.
As she continues to stroke me, I press her back to the wall dripping with shower water and slide my fingers between her thighs where she’s slick and ready for me. She bites down on her wet lips, droplets of water spilling from her long eyelashes as she looks up at me.