Page 20 of Possessive Vows

My mind replays all of his kind gestures, and the skeptical part of me shifts into overdrive, but I stomp on those theoretical brakes and shove the responsible guilt aside.

He doesn’t know my triggers and couldn’t have anticipated me losing my shit over his simple gesture, but there’s no way in hell I’m going to apologize when I don’t understand his motives.

Expecting to struggle with my thoughts, I jolt awake when the car stops and I nearly break my neck as I jerk upright. I blink the confusion out of my eyes and meet sky-blue orbs in the rearview mirror.

“What do you eat,so´lnyshka?”

Still discombobulated from the unexpected doze, I need an embarrassing amount of time to comprehend his question. A glance out the windshield reveals he parallel parked at the start of a street full of mom-and-pop restaurants and convenience stores.

My insides twist as I imagine joining the crowd. I shake my head.

“I’m not hungry,” I say.

“You must eat,” he replies.

“I don’t want to go out in public.”

I sound like a petulant child.

“I will keep you safe, Camilla,” Dimitri vows.

“I need a mirror. I don’t want to go out like this,” I say.

“I do not have one other than the one on the car.”

He points to the rearview mirror.

My stomach twists. The thought of leaning over the console to be close enough to do my makeup is more terrifying than stepping out into the car. I shake my head again and wrap my fingers around the door handle. My breath hitches as my shifting in the seat aggravates my hip, knee, and ankle injuries. This morning’s mad dash toward safety not only failed but also left me sore and aching.

I pull the handle. Dimitri exits faster than should be possible for someone of his size. He shuts his door and moves to the other side of mine to act as a human shield as I force myself to climb out of the car. I slip the strap of my purse onto my shoulder and grit my teeth when my joints creak with every move, but by the time I hobble around the back of the vehicle, my strides almost even out.

Massive shoulders block my path. I halt, but before I can overreact, Dimitri takes my hand, presses a neatly folded stack of bills into my palm, and closes my fist around the money before releasing me and stepping back.

The warmth of his roughened digits lingers on the back of my hand, highlighting how cold mine always are.

“You will spend it all before we return to the car,” he growls.

I glance down. There’s no way I’ll be able to spend all this on food, especially in this area. I look up and lift a sardonic brow. His expression remains unyielding. When I lower my eyes to my fist, my gaze gets stuck on his massive chest.

I do not cook. Ever.

But the thought of preparing a meal for the deadly behemoth warms my blood.

I shove the thought away, stick the cash in my purse, and head toward the nearest convenience store. When I reach for a basket, he takes it from me and prevents me from grabbing another with his tattooed fingers wrapped around the next on the stack.

He follows close enough for me to drop items into the basket and occasionally positions his body to block me away from another shopper, but he always keeps the basket between us and as much space between us as possible in the narrow aisles.

I haven’t visited a convenience store since I was a child. Nostalgia sweeps through me, but the emptiness in my abdomen and pain in my soul mutes the memories.

After filling the basket halfway, I realize I have absentmindedly been choosing things I think the mountain of a man will eat—jerky, cheese, nuts, hardy canned soups, sausage links—and fight the urge to dump everything onto the floor.

When my head spins, I regret skipping breakfast this morning and add a few sandwich wraps and protein bars despite the queasiness in my stomach.

Dimitri doesn’t complain when I add several bottles of water, juice, and seltzers to the basket, and a small part of me wishes I still wore his jacket so I could see his arm muscles bulge.

After a full circuit of the store, I snatch a few packets of gum from the shelf under the counter and toss them into the full basket.

On a whim, I grab a handful of sour candies and random lollipops and stick them into the corner of the basket before stepping aside so Dimitri can set the container on the counter.

---