sort of baking addict.”
“I know, I love it.”
“Well, why don’t you move your pretty ass, and we can go to the beach.” He then grabs a handful of that pretty ass right in front of Dasha, me, and Dasha’s mother who has just joined us. He pulls Cassie into him, by her ass, and kisses her hard, groaning as he does.
Fuck me, these two.
“Get a room,” I grouse.
They both break off kissing and laugh. I make the introductions, and then they say goodbye and head out to the beach.
We eat the omelets that Dasha made, and they’re good. Fluffy and light. I don’t know where she got the eggs, but when I open the fridge to put the milk away, I see it is fully stocked. Andrius probably got one of his killer maids to do this.
We eat in strained silence, and I try not to seethe at the presence of the bitch who caused me the most pain I’ve ever felt in my life. It’s hard though. I glance at her every now and again, sitting there like a spider, waiting, watching, wanting to trap something so she can eat it.
She disgusts me.
Dasha’s mother announces she wants to go for a walk. I tell her she will need a guard with her, and go organize that, and then, thank God, she’s gone. The minute I see her heading down the hill from the window, I feel as if I can breathe.
Dasha is by the second window in this room, looking out at the same view as she washes the plates.
“You let her come despite what she did to you,” she says.
I know what she means, and don’t have to ask for clarification.
“For you,” I say. “Not for her.”
“I know.”
“I want to make you happy,” I say.
I do too. Not as happy as Cassie, that would just be annoying, but much happier than she is.
“I don’t think anyone can make another person happy; we have to do it for ourselves.”
“What would make you happy?”
I go to her and put my arms around her. She tenses for a moment but then relaxes into the touch.
“I don’t know anymore.”
“Let me make you forget then, for a while at least.”
I kiss her neck, exposed by where her hair is pulled up.
“That girl is stunning,” she says. “So happy too.”
“Cassie is nice, but she’s a bit sickly if you ask me. I don’t know how the hell K and she got together, because they’re chalk and cheese.”
She turns around suddenly and lifts her wet hands to my skin, not drying them off.
“You’re so big, Bohdan, these days. So tan and healthy looking. You’d suit a woman like that.”
I’m so sick of her overthinking and putting herself down. It needs to stop.
I’m going to make her stop.
Chapter Twenty-two
Dasha
“Turn around and hold on to the edge of the sink,” Bohdan says. His voice is deep, authoritative, and I do what he says almost by instinct.
“You’re so fucking down on yourself; do you know that? You’re beautiful and sexy. I want you all the time. You’re my jewel, my bright, precious, fucking jewel, and you don’t get to put yourself down any longer. Do you hear me?”
I nod, finding it hard to speak because as he’s talking, his fingers are working their way into my panties to stroke me right at my core.
“I don’t want to hear you say anything about how unattractive you are, or about how gorgeous other women are. You’re gorgeous, Dasha. And you’re my lost girl but I found you again.”
I gasp as he slides one finger inside me.
“Feel that?” he asks. “You’re so wet for me. You think you get to walk away, but you’re mine, Dasha, and I’m yours. Two lost people but we’ve found paradise. Look out the window. See the view, the hills, the trees. To the other side there’s the ocean.”
I know there is; I saw it this morning. It’s truly stunning here. The sort of place where anyone could relax, unfurl, and blossom as the sun, the sea, and the sky bring them back to life.
“Here, you can be free. It is safe. It is secure. You could have a life here, with me.”
His words are so seductive. I’d like nothing more, but I can’t trust myself. I can’t trust him because I can’t trust myself. I make bad choices, don’t I? I did with Jasper.
“You think because Jasper found you when you were young and vulnerable that means you have no judgment?” Shit, he’s reading my