Page 64 of Fierce Pursuit

Her jaw ticked like she wanted to argue, but then her shoulders dropped, and she nodded. She reached for the upper bunk to pull it down.

Maybe I would’ve let her sleep up there if we hadn’t just had some of the best sex of my life.

Even if I couldn’t keep her long-term. Even if I had to go against every instinct and let her go when this was over, I wasn’t wasting the opportunity while I still had her.

I stepped behind her, resting my hand on the bunk, stopping her from pulling it down. Then I reached past her, re-hooking the latch.

“You’re sleeping with me.”

“The hell I am.” She dropped her arms and took a step back, only to hit the wall behind her.

I arched a brow. “You just fucked me, and you’re drawing the line at cuddling?”

She bristled. “It’s not the same thing,” she snapped.

I smirked.Oh, Marina.

She could fight it all she wanted.

But we both knew exactly where she’d end up tonight.

Right back in my arms.

“Good thing I’m not giving you a choice, then, huh?” I gestured for her to get onto the bed.

Marina huffed but didn’t argue. She climbed onto themattress, pressing herself against the wall as if she could somehow put distance between us.

I might have been insulted if the bed wasn’t so damn small and I wasn’t a large man. She’d end up against me anyway. I slid in behind her and didn’t hesitate to wrap my arm around her waist and pull her against me. Her body tensed under my hold.

“You can’t?—”

“Shh,moy zaichonok,” I whispered in her ear, my breath hot against her skin. “Sleep now. Argue in the morning.”

She stilled.

It took nearly half an hour before the tension bled from her muscles and she finally succumbed to sleep.

But I didn’t.

I lay there, staring at her sleeping form in my arms. My mind a battlefield of every mistake, every miscalculation, every goddamn line I had just crossed.

I didn’t deserve the peace of sleep.

How the fuck could I have done this? How could I have touched her—taken her—like I had every right to? I’d fucked up. Badly. It was my fault the Solovyovs were after her. I hadn’t protected her sister when I was supposed to, hadn’t been the husband I should’ve been.

What the fuck made me think I could protect Marina when she was my—what?

What the hell was she to me?

The girl I was fucking? No, too crude. Too dismissive. Marina was more than that.

My girlfriend? My mistress?

None of it mattered.

Because Solovyov wouldn’t see this for what it was. Hewouldn’t believe this was just lust or weakness. He’d see it as an act of war. He’d assume I knew what Veronika had taken from him. That I had ordered her to send it to Marina so we could run. He’d assume I had whatever the fuck it was that he wanted back so desperately. And I knew for certain it wasn’t ten fucking thousand dollars’ worth of money. There was something more. Something hidden in that bag. Something he’d kill to keep secret.

And because I couldn’t control myself, because I let my discipline slip, Marina was in more danger than ever.

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