Page 71 of Toxic Temptation
It’s only been five minutes and I’m already leaning toward him, drawn to his warmth, staring at the way his shirt stretches across his chest. You’d think getting a medical degree would cure you of stupid romantic fantasies. You’d think becoming the youngest attending surgeon in hospital history would make you immune to a pretty face and broad shoulders.
Apparently not. Not when it comes to Kovan Krayev, at least.
“Vesper!” Luka calls from the bathroom, sticking his head out through a crack in the door. “Where’s your bathtub?”
I force myself to look away from Kovan. “My bathtub?”
“Yeah. There’s only a shower. What do you do when you want a bubble bath?”
I can’t help smiling at him. “It’s gonna be showers only while you’re here, kiddo.”
He smiles happily. “I like your apartment,” Luka declares. “It’s really fun.”
“Take a good look. This is how the other half lives.”
His nose wrinkles up in confusion. “The other half of what?”
Kovan snaps his fingers. “Bedtime. You have school tomorrow.”
“Can I sleep on the sofa bed? Please? Pretty please?” Luka clasps his hands together like he’s praying.
I look between them, the big one and the little one, and realize this decision has already been made. I’m not about to kick a sleepy eight-year-old out of my apartment at 9:30 at night.
“Fine,” I mutter. “Let me get fresh sheets.”
I escape to my bedroom under the pretense of getting linens, but really, I’m shoving embarrassing things into drawers. Underwear draped over my reading chair. The stuffed bear I’ve had since childhood. A photo of three-year-old me running naked through my parents’ sprinklers. All of it goes out of sight.
By the time I return with sheets, the sofa bed is already pulled out and Luka is sprawled across it.
“I haven’t vacuumed that thing recently,” I warn. “Let me get the sheets on first.”
Luka helps me make the bed, then immediately flops back down. “G’night, Vesper.”
“If you need anything, let me know.” I pat his head, surprised by how natural the gesture feels.
I back toward my bedroom as Kovan bends down and kisses the top of Luka’s head. There it is again—that gentle side that doesn’t match the stubborn, dangerous man I know him to be. The contradictory tenderness that makes my chest ache in ways I don’t want to examine.
“I’ll be right in the next room,” he tells Luka.
Wait.Which roomwill he be in?
He answers by walking straight toward my bedroom.
I step into his path. “Absolutely not,” I whisper. “Absolutely the fuck not.”
His smile is pure devil as he wraps his arms around me and lifts me off the ground like I weigh nothing. He carries me backward into my room and kicks the door shut behind us before I can even formulate a single word of protest.
“Absolutely,” he says in a hungry snarl. “You and I have a lot of fun things to discuss.”
25
VESPER
“‘Fun’?” I croak, hoarse and flustered. “What ‘fun’? There will be no fun here. Let me make this clear.” I jab my finger between us, then sweep it to encompass the rest of the room. “This is strictly a no-fun zone.”
He tilts his head, studying me. “Why are you blushing?”
“I’m not blushing; I’m pissed off.” I pivot away from him, but my voice betrays me with its breathiness. “Is it not enough that you abducted me? You have to hold me hostage in my own apartment, too?”
