AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Good lord, Daph. Talk about macabre.
But I can’t help the relief I feel knowing she’ll never show up in my life ever again. It’s so much easier to breathe through the aches and bruises when I don’t have to worry about the next ambush.
“Sleep well?”
Pasha wraps his arms around me from behind, careful to not squeeze too hard as he presses a kiss to my hair.
“Better than yesterday.” I lean into his embrace with a contented sigh. “My hips have finally stopped throbbing.”
“When’s your next chiropractor visit?”
“Thursday.”
He nods and pours himself a mug of coffee. “I confirmed your massage therapy for next week. Eileen will be stepping in with the hot stones.”
“I am able to go to the spa, you know.”
“I don’t think we’re there quite yet.”
“Trusting me to go out without getting my ass kicked?” I take a sip. “Or trusting me, period?”
Pasha doctors up his coffee while he thinks about it. “You know I want to be pissed about you going to the gym behind my back.”
“But…?”
We haven’t fully talked about what happened. We’ve discussed Brittany, sure, and what she “shared” with Pasha in terms of information regarding my parents.
But about me sneaking around and keeping my training a secret?
Not so much.
“But,” he concedes with a sigh, “I have a hard time being mad about it. Especially since I have to wonder what would’ve happened to you if you weren’t training.”
“I wouldn’t have been at the gym.”
“True. But we both know that woman had it in for you. She’d find you somewhere else. So no, I’m not okay with you keeping secrets from me. But I’m pretty damn okay with that secret saving your life.” He kisses the top of my head again. “I have to get to the office. Do you need anything?”
I turn in my seat at the breakfast bar so I can pull him into a longer, more heartfelt kiss. “Just that,” I say when I release him. “I love you.”
Pasha gives me the smallest of smiles, but I know he means it. “I love you, too.”
It’s been two weeks since the attack, and I haven’t left our penthouse since I was discharged from the hospital.
We’re going to need to take a vacation or something, and soon. I’m starting to get stir-crazy.
There’s a knock at the front door. Again, my mind flashes to the possibility of it being the cops coming by to ask one of us about our connection to the missing Cleary heir.
To my relief, it’s Arlo.
Better yet: he has ice cream.
“I promised Asya I’d stop by and check on you,” he explains as I welcome him in. “But if I’m being honest, I’m just here to cuddle the baby.”
I roll my eyes with a giggle. “At least you’re honest. She’s napping right now, but you’re welcome to relax and chat. Or just relax.”
“I’ll take you up on that offer.” He plops himself into one of the overstuffed chairs in the living room and hands me the ice cream. “Asya says you’re a… what’s the word?”
“Choco-holic.” I glance at the label and immediately want to hug this man. “And she would be correct in that assessment.”
