Page 69 of Rapunzel Is Losing It

“Seems fitting. First kiss. First blow job. First man fuck your brains out. And first man to father your child. We can discuss logistics later.” He leaned down to kiss me with a little too much eagerness. His chest collided with mine, and I shrank back with a pained hiss. “Sorry. Right.”

“You want to fuck my brains out?”

“Hmm.” His voice rumbled from deep in his chest. “You won’t be able to walk the next day.”

“You’re overly confident in your skills.”

“Zhizn’ moya, that wasn’t confidence. It was a warning.”

I rolled my eyes at him even as the muscles low in my stomach clenched at the idea. But that brought back the memory of him sitting in my bathroom with blood on his face. “Part of me is still mad at you for lying to me.”

“I know. You have every right to be.”

“You should have told me.”

“You already have so much on your plate.”

“Don’t do that. Don’t decide for me how much I can or cannot handle.”

“Fine.” He adjusted his position again to sit right in front of me, my legs slung over his lap. “How much do you want to know?”

“All of it.”

Victor didn’t hold back. We spent the entire morning in bed, sharing the croissant and tea from my breakfast tray, and Victor told me about his family. What it was like to grow up on a family estate with his cousins. How his uncle had his parents killed when he’d just been a teenager. All the years he’d gotten in the ring because it seemed like the only option. The fight in Paris his uncle wanted him to win.

“At least it makes sense now,” I said and reached for his hand.

“What does?”

“You said you wanted to dothisright but you needed time to get your situation sorted out.” I drew his inked knuckles to my lips. “You don’t think you have that time anymore, do you? You think you’re running out. You think Silver will get in that one punch your doctors warned you about.”

“Look-”

“You don’t get to sacrifice your own safety for mine, Victor. We’ll figure this out, alright?”

He hesitated for a moment, then pulled our linked hands up to his mouth, mirroring my kiss to his knuckles. “Alright.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Victor only gota day off to rest and recover before his uncle expected him back. At least now I knew that he only spent his days training or preparing for fights in one way or another. Which was much safer than the endless possibilities I’d been considering.

And knowing everything, my scheduled phone call that Wednesday just got so much easier.

“I understand, but I just can’t have you over all the time right now. I have some things to figure out,” I said, twirling a pen around on my desk. Didn’t even have to tell him how uncomfortable all those cameras made me. I really did have other things to prioritize.

“Did you watch the video I sent you?” Silas asked.

“No, not yet.” I glanced up at my screen and the red dot next to the email folder dedicated to him.

“Before you reject my idea, at least give it a chance.”

“You are extremely persistent, has anyone ever told you that?”

“You’re not going anywhere. I’m not going anywhere. Hell, you can call me three years from now. Just take a look at it.”

I shook my head, then when I realized he couldn’t see me, I verbalized my reply a bit more eloquently: “Thank you for the campaign videos.”

“My pleasure,” he said and actually sounded sincere, “I’ll talk to you soon.”