Page 34 of Forced plus-size Bride of the Bratva
I’m still breathing like I just got out of a fight ring—ragged, heavy, bone-deep.
What the hell just happened?
I glance at her again, the way her hair’s fallen across her cheek, the way her skin is flushed and glowing. She looks peaceful.
She looks like something I should never touch.
And yet I already have.
She’s not speaking to me, and for a moment, I let the silence hang until I clear my throat.
“Do you want me to run you a bath?” I ask, voice low, softer than I mean for it to be.
No response.
I look over, and that’s when I see she’s asleep. Completely out. Breathing soft and steady like I didn’t just drag her through hell and high pleasure.
My chest tightens.
I stare at her for a moment too long—memorizing the curve of her jaw, the lashes casting shadows on her cheeks, the faint pink mark at her throat where I kissed her like a man starved.
I shouldn’t be here.
I tear my eyes away.
She shifts in her sleep and latches on to me, her bare back pressing against my chest, and before I can stop myself, I wrap an arm around her waist.
She doesn’t flinch.
She doesn’t pull away.
She exhales—deep, content—and settles there, like I’m not the monster who ruined her life less than twenty-four hours ago.
Her body melts into mine, soft and warm, and I can feel the steady beat of her heart against my palm.
I hold her.
God help me, I hold her like I deserve to.
Her breaths are slow and even, her eyelashes fluttering once, then stilling. The rhythm of her breathing anchors something deep in me. Something feral and half-dead that hasn’t known peace in years.
But I don’t sleep.
I never do.
Sleep doesn’t come easy to men like me. Not when my hands have done the things they’ve done. Not when my nights are full of blood and old ghosts.
But tonight…tonight is different.
Because I’m holding her.
And for the first time in years, I want to close my eyes.
I bury my nose in her hair, breathing her in. She smells like my soap now. Like heat and honey and something I never thought I’d deserve.
My eyes burn.
I blink the feeling away.
