She licks her swollen lips. “No. Couldn’t see. Water?”
“Of course.”
I hurry to the kitchen and fill a glass with crushed ice, and then bring it back to her.
“Here, suck on this.”
“Mm.” She sucks greedily on a chunk. “Nice.”
“I’ll be right here, Nadia. I’m not going anywhere. You sleep now and get healed up so you can kick some ass.”
“Yeah.” She sighs but reaches for my hand. “Stay.”
“I told you, I’m here. I promise, I won’t go.”
“’Kay.”
She slips into sleep, and I pull my hand down my face.
What the fuck? An hour ago, I wanted to spank her ass. Now, I want to protect her, fight for her. Keep her safe.
Because the truth is, she has gotten under my skin. That doesn’t mean I trust her, but she didn’t deserve this.
“King me.”
Nadia scowls down at the checkerboard. “You’re cheating.”
“Negative.” I stand and walk into the kitchen to get more chips.
We’ve been in the penthouse for five days. She slept the first three away, allowing her body to heal.
And now she’s up and showered, her arm in a sling, scowling at me over a checkerboard.
“Is there any queso left?”
“No, you ate it all last night. At least your appetite is back.”
“Yeah, well, I like food. You know that.”
I grin, thinking back on all of the fun meals we’d had together. “I do. Watching you eat isn’t a hardship. Where have you been staying? I’ll have someone go and gather your things. Bring them here.”
“I can go get my stuff soon enough.”
“Why won’t you tell me?”
“You probably already know.”
I do. But she doesn’t need to know that.
“Nadia, I think we’re in the truce zone here. Think of this like a wedding or a funeral.”
“Yeah, well, it almost was my funeral. And I don’t know that it wasn’t you who ordered this to be done to me,” she blurts and stands to walk to the window. “You got here awfully fast after it happened.”
I have to shove my hands into my pockets. Just six months ago, I would have said that nothing this woman could say or do could hurt me.
But things have changed.
And it seems she can hurt me.
That’s unsettling and something to think about later.
She turns at my silence. The bruises on her face are beginning to fade from black to a sickly purple.
“You won’t deny it?” she demands.
“I don’t know how your family does things,” I begin slowly, “but in my family, I’ve been taught to never hurt women. Physical punishment is not tolerated when it comes to women. Ever, under any circumstances.”
I remember the day my cousin Elena first showed me the scars on her body she’d sustained at the hands of her father, my uncle. More anger seethes through me.
“Maybe not everyone in your family feels that way.”
“They do.” Agitated, I pace the floor. “I can say, without a shadow of a doubt, that my family is not responsible for this.”
“Maybe one of your brothers—”
“IT WASN’T US!” I shout at her and then swear under my breath. “For fuck’s sake, Nadia, no. I may not know what to feel when I’m around you, but I know that I wouldn’t hurt you. No one in my family would hurt you. You haven’t done anything to my family or me.”
“Except make you think I’d fallen in love with you. Fucked your brains out. Moved in with you.”
“Good sex isn’t worth maiming over.”
She shakes her head.
“I’m not convinced that your family isn’t responsible for my aunt’s and uncle’s murders. And if they are, they will pay. I guarantee you that.”
“If my father gave that order, he would cop to it,” she says with a sigh. “I admit, I don’t know every single order he’s given, but he’s not one to kill and then deny or deflect. He takes ownership of his decisions without regret. If he was behind those murders, he’d say so.”
I can tell she believes what she’s telling me.
“But, at the end of the day, we don’t trust each other,” she continues.
“Do you remember what happened when I found you here?”
“You were so pissed at me,” she says.
“No.” I cross to her, needing to touch her. “I told you then, and I meant it. I wasn’t angry with you. I was livid that someone—anyone—had put their hands on you this way. The fury was, and still is, a breathing thing inside me. I would have been upset to see any woman hurt like this, but the fact that it was you made it so much worse. So, no, we may not fully trust each other, but damn it, I care about what happens to you. I don’t want to see anything happen to you. And we’ve been given orders to work together. To figure this mess out and get it resolved. I don’t know what’s happening now, with the murder at the wedding and your attack. I don’t know if it has anything to do with my aunt and uncle, but I need to find out. I have connections that you don’t and vice versa. We’re stronger in this together. So, until we resolve this, you’re stuck with me.”
Her blue eyes slide to mine. “What do you mean?”
“You’ll be staying with me. I can’t protect you the way we’ve been doing things, obviously.”
“I don’t need—”
“Just stop talking.” In exasperation, I march away from her. “Yes, you’re strong and badass, and you can take care of yourself. But right now, people want to hurt you, and I’m partly responsible for that. There’s a team of people here to help keep us safe. And goddamn it, that’s what you’re going to let me do.”
“So, I’m being held hostage?”
I grunt but can’t help but start laughing. “Yes. Clearly, this luxury penthouse is a horrible situation. I feel for you, Nadia. But keep a stiff upper lip. Suck it up and deal with it.”
She snorts. “No sex. I mean it.”
“I’m not in the habit of forcing unwilling women to fuck me.”
Her face sobers at the steel in my voice. “I didn’t mean to insinuate that you’d rape me.”
“I need some fresh air.”
She nods and glances at her phone when it rings.
“Not gonna answer?”
“I have no intention of speaking to my father. At least for a few more days.”
I narrow my eyes. “Why haven’t you told him about this?”
“Because. And the reasons are none of your business.”
“If you confide in him, you could live wherever the fuck you want. He’d send protection, and he’d start his own hunt for the bastards who touched you. Nadia—”
“You have the luxury of trusting your family,” she interrupts. “It’s not something we share.”
I step back, surprised. “You don’t trust your family? When it comes to the business we’re in, trusting them is of the utmost importance.”
“My father, yes. I know he loves me and would do anything to protect me.” She swallows hard. “But I don’t trust my brother at all.”