Page 179 of Ripped Veil (Ripped Bratva)

He laughs. “Impatient already?”

I nod and twirl around in the water. “I never thought I’d enjoy it so much,” I admit. “Being in the water…”

I do wonder if my enjoyment has more to do with Phoenix than with the lessons themselves, but I decide not to overanalyze that part.

“Surely you had a pool where you lived?” he asks.

I know we’re entering dangerous territory, but somehow, I’m less nervous about it than I ever have been before. “We did,” I admit. “But it was mostly reserved for the boys.”

“Did people think girls have gills?”

I laugh and splash water in his face. “No, of course not. Don’t be ridiculous. Girls just have a lot to learn.”

“Like what?”

I shrug. “Like how to be a good wife.”

Phoenix freezes on the spot like I electrocuted him. “Chto za khernya,” he mutters. “What kind of fucking cult raised you?”

A strange bolt zips through me the moment he uses the word “cult.” I’m immediately defensive and horrified all at the same time.

“It was just… different.”

“No wonder you ran away.”

I twirl around in the water again, mostly to hide the guilt on my face. I feel as though if I stay still for too long, he’ll see the truth.

I didn’t choose to run. I was forced to.

A second later, I feel his hand on my face, smoothing the wet hair away from my eyes.

My heart is beating hard. His body is almost pasted up against mine. His lips are only inches away. It would take the smallest lean on my part to reach him. To kiss him again, like I’ve been dreaming of doing since the second I woke up alone in his bed.

Smelling like him.

Aching from him.

Dying for him.

“Are you trying to avoid looking at me?” he rasps.

I shake my head. “No.”

“You’ve got to get better at lying.”

I frown. “I’m a better liar than you think.”

Probably not the right thing to say to him under any circumstances. But sometimes, I worry that all people see when they look at me is a naïve little idiot who’ll believe anything she’s told.

Maybe that’s who I was once. But not anymore. Not ever again.

“Is that right?”

I turn away from him. “Well, no. I just mean—I don’t know why I said that…”

He grabs my arm and twists me back around so that I’m facing him. He hasn’t acknowledged last night at all, and I’m not brave enough to bring it up on my own.

So we’ve danced around it all morning, pretending as though this is just a swimming lesson.

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