Page 27 of Paved in Venom

I want to say yes, because I have no intention of letting her go, but I don’t. Instead I say, “We need your help. I won’t lie to you about that, but I would never keep you here against your will.”

She nods her head as her eyes drift closed. Before she falls asleep, she reaches a hand out, and when I grasp it in mine, she lets out a soft sigh.

Knowing I only have seconds left before she’s completely knocked out, I ask, “Do you play the piano?”

“Yes,” she whispers, her voice heavy with sleep.

I smile and run my fingers over hers. I want to ask her what music she likes, what she’s always playing against her skin when she’s nervous, and what tune she played on my arm earlier at the club, but she’s already in a deep sleep, and I don’t want to wake her. I keep her hand held in mine and watch her sleep.

It doesn’t take long before the nightmares come. At first it’s just soft movement, a leg that twitches, a shake of her head, her fingers jerking against mine, but then she starts to really thrash. I run my hand over her, telling her she’s safe, but her body doesn’t calm.

It’s the strangled cry that has me quickly scooping her into my arms. I hold her against me, brushing her hair aside so I can cover her face in kisses while she sobs against my chest. I taste the salt of her tears on my tongue as I whisper against her skin, first in Russian and then in English, “It’s okay, sladkaya. You’re safe. I’ve got you now.”

I repeat it over and over again until she finally relaxes against me. Her breathing is ragged, and her voice hoarse, when she says, “I’m sorry.”

“You have nothing to apologize for.” I kiss her forehead and brush my thumb over her cheek, wiping away the tears. “Do you want to talk about it?”

She’s quiet for so long that I start to think she’s fallen back asleep, but then she says, “In my dream I was back in that room with the doctor.”

My whole body stills. “What doctor?”

“The man who drugged me, when I woke up, he took me into an exam room. It was filthy and scary looking, and there was this older man. I begged him to help me, but he didn’t speak English. He wouldn’t have helped me even if he had understood me.”

She lets out another shaky breath and starts to tap out a rhythm on my chest. “The doctor examined me. They wanted to do some kind of fucked-up virginity test.”

I keep my movements soft, even as every part of me grows hard. The rage is right below the surface, but now’s not the time for it to come out, so I keep stroking her hair and kissing her soft skin.

“But then,” she starts and then stops as her fingers move faster and the tears start again.

“Did he hurt you?”

She nods her head. “He fingered me while the man who took me held me down on the table, and then he started touching himself.” She’s sobbing again by the time she says, “He came on my thigh, and I wanted to kill him, Danil. I’ve never wanted to hurt anyone, but I wanted to kill them both.”

“You won’t need to, because I’m going to do it for you. I promise, Simona, I’m going to kill that fucker for what he did to you. I’m going to kill them all for you.”

I can tell she’s still exhausted and nearly cried herself back to sleep, so I don’t say anything else. I just hold her against my chest and stroke her hair while her fingers slow down before eventually stopping whatever piece of music they were playing. Not wanting to let her go, I keep her in my lap for several more minutes before finally putting her beside me.

Even though I should be online searching for clues, I can’t bring myself to get up. I wrap my arm around her and tuck her much smaller body up against mine. Burying my face in her hair, I breathe in the scent of her, loving that it’s mixed with the smell of my shampoo and soap. For the first time in my life, I spoon a woman in my bed and fall asleep beside her, and it’s the most peaceful sleep I’ve ever had. I don’t wake up until I feel her moving against me, trying to wiggle free.

My first instinct is to tighten my grip on her. With my eyes still closed, I mumble in Russian for her to stop moving her perfect ass, but it’s too late, the damage is most definitely done. I know the second she feels my cock because her whole body freezes and I hear her suck in a quick breath.

“Danil,” she whispers.

I let out a sigh and bury my face against her neck, allowing myself one last breath of her before I kiss her skin and put some distance between us.

“I’m sorry,” I tell her. “I’m not trying to scare you or make you feel uncomfortable.” I drag a hand over my face, scratching at the stubble I need to shave. I give her an apologetic smile. “I’m afraid I have no control over it, not now anyway.”

“Why not now?”

She looks at me, and I almost moan at how damn delicious she looks with her hair messed up and her blue eyes looking at me with the perfect mix of curiosity and desire. I’m not exactly sure how honest I should be right now, so I settle on a partial truth.

“Because your perfect ass was wiggling up against me.”

She looks away, but not before I see the want in her eyes. When she raises her hand to tuck a strand of hair behind her ears, I see how red her wrist is.

“Fuck,” I say, reaching for her arm and grabbing it before she realizes what I’m doing. “I forgot to put medicine on this last night.”

Getting out of bed, she watches me as I walk to the bathroom. It’s when I come back out that her eyes widen. My cock still hasn’t gone down, and it’s done listening to anything I have to say. I resign myself to the fact that it’s just going to be like this until I can shower and get rid of it myself.

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