That was somewhat the truth. I remembered everything leading up to the shot, but the moment the bullet ran through me was a little fuzzy.
His jaw clenched, and without saying a word, he lifted me up in his arms and to the bathroom. Setting me on the counter, he moved toward the bathtub and turned on the water. I watched him, taking in every inch of his naked body, from the beautiful ink etched on his golden tan skin to his long blond hair and the slight scruff covering his jawline.
He wasn’t as tall as Damien or as bulky as Nikolay, but there had always been something comforting about Mikhail. I always felt like everything would be okay because he was around.
He turned suddenly, and I didn’t look away quickly enough. My eyes honed on his cock, now at half-mast.
I licked my lips without thinking about it, and he closed his eyes, groaning.
“Don’t look at me like that, kotyonok.”
I licked my lips once more, letting my eyes run unabashedly over him. I didn’t know where the courage came from.
I was still shy when it came to anything close to sex, but I was feeling brave with him now, and I just wanted more.
It had been days since I woke, and there hadn’t been enough time with him. I needed more. I rubbed my legs together, and Mikhail watched the movement, his blue eyes turning dark.
He shook his head a little and smiled at me. “You’re a little minx, you know that?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know what you mean.”
Mikhail let out a small chuckle, stalking over to me. He lifted me in his arms and carried me to the bathtub, sinking us both in warm water. I let out a satisfied sigh. My muscles were sore, as if I had done something more strenuous than letting Mikhail have his way with me.
I curled up against his chest.
“Just like a little kitten,” Mikhail said, a tinge of amusement coming out of his voice.
I peeked one eye open at him, smiling a little.
Mikhail bathed us.
I didn’t help, mostly because I loved how he took care of me and also because he seemed to need to take care of me.
His hands moved across my body in reverence as if this was the first time he had ever seen me, his gaze focused intently on the task at hand.
My eyes focused on his busted knuckled. I wondered if that was an accident or from his time with Henry. I grimaced, my fingers playing at the edge of the wound.
He gently pulled my hand away and kissed the back of it. I knew from the look in his eyes that he wasn’t going to tell where it had come from.
“Mikhail?” I asked, when his soap-filled hand moved up to my collarbone and gently took hold of my neck.
“Yes, sweetheart?”
“I love you.”
I felt him still. I didn’t even think he was breathing, and when his eyes came up and met mine, there were so many emotions in them, that I felt the air being choked out of me.
I blinked away the burn in my eyes.
“What?” he whispered. I didn’t think I had ever seen him look so shocked.
“I love you,” I repeated, more firmly than the first time. I had only confessed to Nikolay, and though he hadn’t said it back to me, his reaction was enough.
And now Mikhail.
They loved me.
Even Damien, who told me he was incapable of letting me go.