Page 103 of Married to My Sis’s Bratva Fiancé

It looked ridiculous—if I could've ignored the way every muscle line showed through.

"You said it would kinda fit."

"I overestimated it," I said.

"Or you underestimated me?"

His gray eyes stayed on my face, a hint of a smile trapped at the corner of his mouth.

Heat ran up my spine.

The image from a minute ago slammed back into my head—the steam, that two-headed eagle, his undone fly, his voice going low when he asked why I was getting shy.

I shouldn't have remembered it that clearly. I definitely shouldn't have pictured what was under the robe.

"Neither," I snapped, grabbing a towel. "You are just too big."

The air went dead for one second.

Kiryan's brows lifted.

My face went up in flames. "I meant your build."

"I didn't say a word."

Fuck.

This man knew how to make silence feel like a hand around your throat. He didn't even have to step closer. My heartbeat sold me out anyway.

I tossed the towel over my shoulder and turned toward the bathroom. "I'm taking a shower. Don't touch my paintings. Don't go through my stuff."

"Elena."

I gripped the doorknob and looked back.

That too-small robe didn't soften him at all. His wet hair fell over his forehead, and the faint scar along his jaw flashed in and out.

"I only stay where you let me stay."

The teasing drained from his eyes. What was left was serious.

Something pressed down on the fire in my chest.

It proved he meant it. It didn't erase what he'd done to me.

"The couch," I said. "That's it. Hungry? Kitchen."

"Understood."

I shut the door and locked it, then leaned against the wood and breathed like I'd been running. My heart kept slamming my ribs.

I couldn't forgive him just like that.

Gratitude wasn't forgiveness. Going soft wasn't forgiveness. My body betraying me when he got close sure as hell wasn't forgiveness.

I kept repeating it—then froze the second I stepped farther in.

The bathroom was fogged up. Shampoo and body wash hung in the air, and underneath sat something darker, hotter—man, skin, want. A lingering mark.