Viktoria shivered. “And what, you like that?”
“Yes and no.”
He glanced at Sumerki and held out his hand. The dog didn’t hesitate to come forward, bump his forehead against Pav’s palm, and then he licked the man’s fingertips like the two of them were friends or something.
They probably were.
Kolya often brought the dog with him when he worked, and since he spent a lot of time at the Compound, it would make sense that Sumerki would go there, too.
It was no wonder the dog didn’t alert her to the fact someone else was already outside and watching her play with him. He considered Pav a friend.
“You were invited to this too?” she asked quietly.
Pav shrugged. “Seems so.”
“That’s what the card was for, then?”
“It was.”
“What did you get them for a gift?”
Pav smiled. “Different things; whatever the girl at the store said was good for a baby boy.”
Huh.
“I could have helped you to pick out—”
“You were uncomfortable enough. I figured it was better to let you go.”
All over again, she was left confused by this man. He seemed to enjoy her fear of him in some ways, and yet, he was also hyperaware of it and made deliberate choices that would make sure her fear wasn’t made worse by anything he did.
He was a mess, too.
Just in a different way than her.
“These people …” He grunted under his breath and shot a look over his shoulder. “I don’t know what to do with them. I don’t feel like I belong here, yeah? They know me, and that’s what I feel when they look at me.”
“Reaper, you mean. Zhatka.”
His throat jumped at the name coming from her lips, but he didn’t tell her not to use it. “They know what I do—what I can do. I feel like I can hear what they’re thinking. Stay in your place, Pavel. Stay downstairs with the rest of the things that shouldn’t be seen.”
Why did that hurt her for him?
“You’re human, too,” she said softly.
“And so are the people who they’ve put in the cells for me to keep,” he returned. “Should they be allowed off their leashes, too?”
“Do you feel like that when you see their victims, day in and day out?”
Pav let out a dark laugh at that. “They’re not victims down in the cells. They’ve all earned their places, trust in that. I know they’re human, but that doesn’t change the fact that they’ve earned their punishments. Or, that’s what I have always been told.”
Then, Pav glanced over at her. Those dark eyes of his seemed even more shadowed in the dim lighting of the backyard. He leaned closer to her, until there were just a couple of inches between the two of them. She felt like a deer in headlights. Partly entranced by his scent and closeness, in the beauty of his features, and the way his lips curved sexily and dangerously. And yet, terrified at the same time because she had no idea what this man wanted with her, but she had no doubt he was capable of horrible things.
She wanted to move.
She also wanted to remain.
“Can I tell you something?” he murmured.
She nodded. “Yeah, sure.”
“That fear of yours … it’s a powerful thing, Viktoria. For yourself and for others. It can be used, manipulated, or wielded. Do you understand?”
“I only know that it holds me back.”
“Because you let it, girl.”
She almost laughed at that. “Do I look like a girl to you?”
Pav flashed his teeth in his grin. “No, you look very much like a woman I would enjoy ruining, but I have to remind myself that won’t work for you.”
Viktoria sucked in a shaky breath.
He added quieter, “The allure of fear is learning to love it … you’ll find power in being able to do that because then no one but you can use it.”
All at once, he moved away from her. He gave her space and room to breathe once more. But that didn’t matter. Her body was still hot. Her lungs still felt tight. She could still taste sin and fear on the back of her tongue like she always had.
That’s what he did to her, though.
He made her hot on the outside.
He stoked her fear on the inside.
It was quite a combination.
Viktoria couldn’t remember the last time she had actually felt attraction for another human being, let alone a man. She noticed someone was good-looking, sure, but it never stirred anything in her. She didn’t get a visceral need anymore. She never felt lust like it was a tangible thing she could reach out and grab.
Except she did.
Right now.
With Pav.
It terrified her, too.
Like him.
Wasn’t that appropriate?
Before she even understood her actions, Viktoria whispered, “Pav?”
“Yes?”
He looked her way again.
She leaned in and kissed him.
Hard.
6.
PAV FOUND people rarely did things they didn’t want to do. Even if the desire was something buried deep, and hidden from view, it didn’t matter. When a person got what they wanted, finally, they didn’t shy from it.
So, despite the fact that Pav could feel the slight tremor that worked its way through Viktoria’s body when her lips pressed against his, he knew that fear of hers was an undercurrent. It was secondary to the thing she wanted—him.
Her kiss lingered for longer than a second.
And then two … three.
Pav’s next choice was purely brought on from his own wants. She wasn’t nearly close enough to him on the steps, and he needed her far closer. Sliding an arm around her waist, he pulled Viktoria right into his lap, never once breaking their kiss.
A shudder ran over her shoulders and down her spine when
