Fractured Ties by Bethany-Kris Page 0,24
of her seemed to know it, too.
He did look … calm.
Serene, even.
Maybe that was why she stood there staring at him for so long. He’d not done anything to hurt her directly—yet, anyway. He’d also not offered her any explanation of what she should expect, or what was going to happen to her now.
Maya didn’t know what to make of it.
It was only a flash of black hair lifting from Kolya’s arm resting in his lap that took Maya’s attention away from the sleeping man’s face. Sumerki’s head popped up, and his yellow eyes blinked from his position tucked safely in Kolya’s arm.
Well, the dog had stopped whimpering and whining.
She supposed now she knew why.
Sumerki’s pink-and-black, speckled tongue lolled out of his mouth in a yawn as he found Maya standing in the doorway. She gave the pup a small smile and decided the bathroom on the main floor would do her just fine.
No need to wake Kolya up.
She suspected he probably hadn’t intended for her to find him like that, anyway.
Backing away from the doorway and Kolya, she kept her gaze on him and the pup until she finally turned around. It was amusing because Sumerki didn’t take his yellow eyes off her, either, as though he might jump out of Kolya’s lap and try to take a bite out of her lest she dare to wake up his master.
Apparently, the dog had found his home.
In a towering, massive bull of a Russian man.
Somehow, Maya just knew …
Someday, Sumerki was going to match the look and disposition of his master just fine. He wouldn’t be a little ball of black fur covering skin and bones for long.
Downstairs, Maya made quick work of freshening up in the bathroom, and was digging through the cupboards when she heard the commotion start upstairs.
Or rather, the yelling.
Mostly in Russian.
“I told you one fucking day, no?”
Kolya’s voice boomed—loud and angry enough to pierce through the walls. She hadn’t even heard him wake up and start to move around, even as she had found all the ingredients to make pancakes, but apparently, he had done just that.
His tone and words were enough to tell Maya he was pissed. She didn’t need to actually see him to confirm it, too.
“What the fuck do you want me to do, brat?” Kolya’s question was followed by his hard scoff before he added, “Avoid him for you? We agreed, Konstantin.”
A beat of silence passed.
Then, Kolya let out a string of curses harsh enough to scare the fucking devil. Yet, Maya found herself unbothered by his rage, even as she started to mix together the dry ingredients to make pancakes. This constant, swinging pendulum of moods seemed to be a regular thing for Kolya.
She’d seen him soft, too.
Almost sweet, even.
He’d spoken a single line that made her breath catch, and suggested with a couple of more, he could probably get her wet between her thighs, too.
She’d seen him be tender—with his pup, mostly.
Still, he could be.
She’d seen all of that in less than twenty-four hours. She had the distinct feeling other people didn’t get to see it at all. Maybe she had seen it because she actually looked for it.
That’s just who Maya was.
“Tell the fucking ranger to get the goddamn thing gone by tomorrow morning at the latest,” Kolya snarled from somewhere in the hallway upstairs, “or someone else will remove it.”
The silence only lasted long enough for Kolya to bark out, “That isn’t my problem!”
That was it.
Maya glanced up as she listened for more, but heard nothing. She even hesitated on continuing to make the food as she waited for footsteps or some kind of sign Kolya was coming closer to the kitchen. She heard nothing.
So, she went back to cooking.
What else could she do?
Maya was just beginning to pour batter onto a simmering griddle when she felt him behind her—close enough that goosebumps bloomed over the back of her neck. Still, when he spoke, it was enough to make her suck in a sharp breath in surprise.
“Why didn’t you run?” he asked quietly.
Maya closed her eyes and swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat. She didn’t bother to give Kolya the satisfaction of seeing how much he unsettled her in a multitude of ways, so she continued facing the stove even as she replied with, “I don’t know what you mean.”
“This morning, no? You could have run, Maya. You had the chance. So, why not?”
She didn’t even have to think about it.
Not really.
“Wouldn’t you have