Page 49 of Ghost

Heat climbed to her cheeks.The idea of being naked in front of him teased the edges of her mind.

“I forgot to ask,” he continued.“Does your head hurt?”

She brushed her fingertips over the bandage.“Only when I touch it.”

“Good.”He grasped her foot, pulling it onto his lap.He squeezed the ball of it in his large palm.“How about here?Still have feeling left?”His thumb pressed beneath her toes and she melted.

“No, I can’t feel that,” she lied.“Must have gotten frostbite after all.”

He kneaded some more, and she let her head lean against the couch.“Oh my god,” she wheezed.“I think I’ve gone to heaven.”

He chuckled.“I take it you can feel that just fine?”

She flashed him a sly smile.“You might have to keep going just to be sure.”

“I’ll keep going if you answer one of my questions.”He moved his other hand to her foot as well.His thumbs met at the sole and she caved.

“Okay, shoot,” she said begrudgingly.

“When did you move to the US?”

That was an easy one.“Irinia sent me here when I was seventeen.I lived with her relatives for three years before I moved out.”

“Why’d she send you here?”

Mila sighed, remembering that time in her life.Alexei had died shortly after she’d arrived.She met Ghost’s gaze.

“She weaponized me,” Mila answered flatly.“By the time I was seventeen, I’d killed ten mobsters in Russia.Alexei was worried my face would be recognized.”

“So she sent you to the US?”

She nodded.“I traveled across the country, taking whatever jobs Irinia’s brother, Boris, and sister-in-law sent me on.I think that had been the plan from the beginning.Part of my schooling involved learning English.”

Ghost’s fingers massaged the top of her foot.His expression was both hard and pensive.“Do you think one of the reasons Irinia sent you away was that she worried you’d seek out your family?”

Sadness welled up in her chest, and the pressure rose to her sinuses.She curled her foot away from his touch and shook her head.Tears swam in her eyes.“No, that wasn’t it.”Her voice was haggard.

She kept her eyes down, not daring to see the sympathy that would make her cry.

“Mila.”His hand gently circled her wrist.“What else is there?”

The pressure in her sinuses became unbearable.Slowly, she brought her gaze to him, but she saw no pity.Only understanding.Which didn’t make sense.How could he possibly?

“They’re dead,” she whispered, through the emotion strangling her.“My mother, my father, and my brother all died in a car accident when I was sixteen.”Tears fell down her cheeks.

She didn’t dash them away.

Ghost tugged her wrist, pulling her across the short distance between them.She brought her head to the nook between his neck and shoulder, and his arms wrapped around her.

“I’m sorry.”His hand moved down her spine then back up.“I wish none of this had happened to you.”

She curled her fingers into his shirt.“I was so scared of Irinia.I should’ve run away again.I might’ve made it.”The memory of the older couple who’d tried to help her replayed in her mind.

“Irinia said she’d kill my family if I tried to escape again.”A sob racked her shoulders, but she needed to explain—needed to make sure he didn’t judge her for not trying harder.“If I’d known they’d have died anyway, I’d have taken the risk.”

His thumb smoothed over the back of her neck and slid beneath her hair.His hands were so strong.So large and lethal.They were hands that could kill her—but they moved with a gentleness she’d have thought he was incapable of.

“You can’t look back, Mila.I know it’s fucking hard but if you don’t keep your eyes forward, you’ll drown.”