I might not even let Nikolay come into the room to see her.
“Don’t look at me like that,” I said roughly, my voice coming out in a low growl.
“Like what?” she asked innocently. The little imp might be innocent, all right, but she knew what she was doing when she practically ate me up with her gaze.
“Like you want me to take you right here, right now.”
She crossed her arms over her chest, a disgruntled look coming over her face. Fuck, but she was adorable.
“You won’t do it,” she said sullenly. “You think I’m too weak to handle you right now.”
I laughed, making my way over to her when I had my shirt and pants off. I was in nothing but my boxer briefs now, my hard-on obvious.
“Are you egging me on, pet?”
She scoffed. “No.”
I laughed again. I didn’t think I had ever laughed as much as I did when I was with her. I pulled her into my lap, and she came willingly, curling herself in my arms, like a little kitten.
“How was your day?”
She shrugged. “It was okay.”
“I’m sorry we neglected you all day.”
“It’s okay. I know you guys have a lot of important things to do.”
“Nothing more important than you,” I said, meaning it.
She took me in with those dark eyes, and I knew what she was thinking. Nikolay and I had important things to do today. But Mikhail was just ignoring her.
If only she knew he’d followed her to the strip mall today. Or hell, that he had visited her almost every night since the moment she woke up.
Before that, he had refused to leave her side. Nikolay and I had to threaten to lock him up in one of the rooms down in the basement for him to leave her room for a while.
She wouldn’t look so sad if she knew all this, but it wasn’t for me to tell her. Mikhail would just need to pull his head out of his ass soon—or he was going to push Nikolay to kick his ass.
I ran my fingers down the side of her face, reveling in her softness. Everything about her was soft.
Every. Fucking. Thing.
She was soft and delicate and pure and …
She was the only good fucking thing in my life right now—her and my brothers.
I brought my hands down to her waist and held them there, taking her in.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” she whispered.
“Like what?” I asked, mimicking her tone of voice.
She offered a dainty little half-shrug. “Like you’re seeing me for the first time.”
I didn’t say anything as I continued to look at her. Perhaps she was right. That I had seen her before, but this was the first time I really looked at her.
I moved toward the center of the bed with her in my arms without saying anything. She wrapped herself around me as if she thought I would let her fall.
What a ridiculous thought. As if that was possible. But I liked the way she clung to me, like a baby monkey to its mom, so I didn’t say anything.