Ghost (Boston Underworld #3) - A. Zavarelli Page 0,44
to marry you?”
Inwardly, I flinch.
I know it isn’t a reference to my defect when it comes from Lachlan, but a part of me still believes that is what he is implying.
“I have fulfilled more than what I promised,” I inform him as I stand. “I have retrieved the girl, and I have kept her safe. I have secured a future for her away from Arman. A simple thank you would do.”
Lachlan sighs, and then nods. “Ye’re right. You have my apologies, Alexei. I realize that this is something I can’t ever repay ye for.”
I move to leave, but he stops me.
“But I do have another favor to ask.”
I glance at him and wait.
“Mack needs to know she’s okay,” he says. “She needs to hear it from Talia.”
24
Talia
It snowed this morning.
And I convinced Magda to let me outside to see it. Her answer came only after she received permission from Alexei.
I know he’s watching me from the window above. I saw his face when I laid down on the ground.
“Miss Talia,” Magda chides me, but I ignore her.
I stare up at the sky and let the flakes fall onto my skin, even catching a few on my tongue. My arms and legs move to the sides, making a perfect snow angel. And then I get up and repeat the process four more times. When I am on my fifth, I open my eyes to meet ice cold blue.
Alexei.
“You made one too many,” he remarks, as if he knows anything about my mind.
“No, it’s exactly right.”
His face hardens and he does not try to hide his disdain for my attitude. He has barely spoken to me since he fucked me two nights ago. Since he told me the worst thing he could have said to someone like me.
No, not even someone like me. Just me.
I’m as insane as my own mother was. I cannot be a mother. I will destroy everything I love. Just like she did.
I am poison.
I told Alexei as much in my panicked state. He disregarded it entirely. Instead, he kissed me and dressed me and brought me back down to the party, filled with his come and looking more like the girl who first arrived than the one who was supposed to be his wife.
The sight did nothing to sway Katya’s determination. In fact, it only seemed to strengthen it. She is not willing to give him up, married or not.
Again, I wonder why he is not with her. He clearly loved her. She wanted to be his wife. Probably would have bore his children. And she is not nearly half as insane as I am.
When I look up at him now, hovering above me I almost tell him so. That he should rethink what he has done. But I can’t bring myself to say the words.
It’s just as well, because he stoops down to gather my chilled body into his arms, carrying me like a child back inside the house. I cling to him, letting his warmth surround me as he carries me up the stairs. He takes me straight into my bathroom and sets me on the counter, undressing me.
He walks to the shower and turns it on, testing the water on his palm while I watch. His head reaches above the glass doors, and I wonder what his own shower looks like.
“How tall are you?” I ask when he comes back to retrieve me.
He lifts me back into his arms and watches me while he speaks.
“Six feet six,” he replies.
I nod, because it was close to what I had guessed. I only stand at five foot three, so there is always a large gap between us when I look up at him.
He takes me to the shower and sets me inside, and I stand beneath the hot spray, letting it soak into my muscles. After a few moments, the door opens again, and Alexei is behind me. Naked. Pulling my body into his while he kisses my neck.
Without further delay, one of his hands comes around my front and slides down my stomach, dipping between my thighs.
“I’m going to fuck you,” he tells me.
“Okay.”
“But first I want to play with you. Bend over and grab your ankles.”
It isn’t easy, but I do as he asks. And it feels vulnerable, in this position. Having his eyes on the most intimate part of me. His touch is soft at first. Feeling the wetness already between my legs from being in his proximity.