Page 27 of Dangerous Liaisons

“Do you miss Baba?”

Blinking back tears, she met his eyes with a gentle smile. She leaned forward to brush her lips against his forehead. “I miss your father every day, but I know he watches over you. Sweet dreams. I love you.”

“I love you, Mamushka.”

She exited his room, and as soon as the door clicked shut, she slid to the floor. She muffled her cries into her hands, and when the tears would no longer flow, she forced herself back onto her feet.

The vodka in her glass was watered down, condensation clinging to the edges. With a sigh, she dumped it into the sink. Her hand twitched to reach for the bottle again, but she ignored the urge, instead rinsing out the glass before placing it into the drying rack. A hard knock on the front door had her looking toward the surveillance monitor. She sighed at seeing Xavier standing there with a guard. She had no choice but to make her way to the door, repeated knocks echoingthrough the hallway.

She jerked it open. “I told you-”

“I don’t care what you told me over a text message.” Xavier glared at the guard, who was staring a hole through him in warning, before he focused back on her. “We need to-” he paused. “What’s wrong?”

Not wanting to argue in front of an audience, she motioned him inside and shut the door. “You shouldn’t be here.”

“You’ve been crying.”

“Xavier, I told you it wasn’t a good idea for you to come tonight.”

“And I told you, I don’t care. Come here.” He pulled her into a tight hug and, unable to stop herself, she trembled, tears streaming down her face. He said nothing as he cradled her to him, a hand stroking her back while his other rested gently against her hair. “It’s okay, Baby.”

“You cannot be here.” Sniffling, she was too tired to argue about the term of endearment. “Ava knows about us.”

“I can’t say I’m surprised, but she hasn’t told Hunter. Trust me, I’d know.”

“She said she wouldn’t, but that could change.”

“I’ll speak to her.”

Extracting herself from him, she wiped her face and put distance between them. “She could find out. Others will, too. It’s only a matter of time.”

“I don’t care about them finding out.”

“Don’t say things like that.”

“If you’re worried about our deal…”

“Of course I am! It is important to me, but to your club as well. You don’t have a clue what I’ve had to do to get to this point, the things I’ve had people do. I feel things for you I shouldn’t. I will not sacrifice what I am building because we are good between the sheets.”

“You think that’s all this is to me?”

“You’re not listening. It doesn’t matter!”

He reached out to grab her by the shoulders. “I will not ask you to give up your life, just like you wouldn’t ask me to give up mine, but fuck if I haven’t felt things I thought were long dead.”

“He will ask you to pick a side,” she whispered.

“And you know what I would tell him, Isa. Our deal is going to get the club and their families on the right track to a normal life. I won’t ruin that for my brothers. I won’t risk it for you either.”

She closed her eyes as his arms pulled her close to him again. “I don’t know what to do.”

“Let me worry about that. You need to get some rest.”

“Please don’t do something foolish. Ava will keep her word.” She tilted her head to gaze at him, her hands grabbing onto the leather of his kutte. “Can we not talk about this anymore?”

He pressed his lips against hers, shifting to brush his lips across her forehead. “I won’t, but don’task me to ignore what this is between us. I can’t walk away from you, not now.”

She nodded, and as hard as it was, she took a step away from him. “Did you plan to stay? I didn’t see a bag.”