Page 63 of Captive Vows
“No, no,” she protested mildly when I started to soap her up and wash her. “I can manage. Let me take care of you.”
I wouldn’t turn that offer down. Standing close so I could catch her if she slipped or fell, I rested my brow against hers. Mesmerized by her dark, inviting gaze, so full of strength and concern, I sighed and let her have her way with me like this. Over and over, she scrubbed my skin, but as she went about it, it seemed like she was also taking an inventory of my wounds. All the scrapes and gashes, the bruises and swollen contusions.
“Don’t ask,” I warned gently but seriously.
She shook her head. “I won’t. I know better.”
She truly did. In these few months she’d been with me, she had definitely passed a crash course in learning to look the other way. She excelled at minding her own business, clearly aware that many things I did were illegal and dangerous.
And she still wants me.
She still covets me.
After we showered, I carried her to bed and held her until she passed out. It should’ve put me to sleep. Feeling her warm, naked body flush against mine was the ultimate calming variableI could count on. Hearing her soft breaths so steady like a familiar rhythm should have been the soundtrack to lull me into resting.
But I was too awake.
I couldn’t tell if I was wired from the violence I’d endured earlier. Fighting those Cartel fuckers hadn’t been part of my plans for the night, but that was where the evening took us. Even hearing a mention of the Vipers assisting the Rivera Family was enough to make my blood boil.
More than that, though, it was this belated realization that I could be falling too quickly for Gabriella.
I dismissed the worry that I had to prolong everything and go slow with her to better savor her newness. The adventure hadn’t stopped yet, and I had a hunch that I would never tire of the pleasure of calling her mine. Of knowing she would be here, waiting for me alone.
I can’t be…
I sighed, easing away from spooning her. As if putting physical distance between us would help me fight back the nagging suspicion in my head.
I couldn’t be falling in love with her.
Love wasn’t part of this equation. It wasn’t supposed to be a possibility. After I’d loved and lost my wife, flings and affairs were all my heart could handle.
Or is that not true any longer?
I stood, wrapping a robe around myself as I stared down at her sleeping so innocently and peacefully in my bed. Her face was smooth without a single worry. Merely witnessing her lowering her guard and being so serene because of all that I gave her was the highest reward.
But is it only about giving her what she wants?
Not taking whatIwant?
I shook my head, annoyed with how awake I was after fighting and then fucking her like that.
Turning to let her be, I left my room and headed down to the study.
Finding my son and nephews there didn’t surprise me. They’d likely stayed to talk about all that had gone down tonight. A meeting in the study wasn’t out of the norm for them. Most times, I was there as well, double-checking reports and following up on loose threads.
Tonight, I’d needed Gabriella’s light. I’d been too addicted to the possibility of venting out my anger in her that I hadn’t stayed to talk to Emil or the others at all.
“That was fast,” Emil taunted as I entered the study. He tipped a glass of vodka back then sighed.
“Fast?” I asked with a scoff.
“Never mind,” Ivan said, lifting his hand as if he’d be the mediator here. “Never mind that.”
“No.” Emil shook his head as he cleared his throat and sat up more. “I’m not talking about how fast he hurried upstairs to fuck her.” He huffed a wry laugh. “I’m talking about how fast she became so important that she’d be your…” He rolled his hand in the air abstractly, as if manually summoning a word to hit him.
“Thing?” Ivan asked.
“No, his woman,” Alexsei said.
