7
Elena was more than nervous when she and Dimitri drove back to Royce’s house. It didn’t help that she was wide awake now. Sleeping at odd times throughout the day had left her feeling that sleep for now was impossible.
“I think I am going for a walk on the beach,” she said as they entered the home. Dimitri set his keys down in a glass bowl by the door and looked at her, an unreadable expression in his eyes that she didn’t really like.
“Stay within sight of the patio,” he said, and it was clear that was an order.
“I’m not challenging you, but why? If Vadym is dead, I shouldn’t be in danger, right?”
For a long moment, he didn’t speak. “Vadym is dead, but I don’t trust anyone or anything when it comes to your safety.”
“That’s being a little paranoid.”
He stared at her, his lips thin. “If you had grown up the way I did, seen the things I have seen, you would know that danger can be anywhere.”
“I do know,” Elena reminded him. “And nothing is worse than what Vadym put me through, not even death.” She walked past him and out onto the patio, where she removed her shoes and descended the stone stairs to the beach below. The light from the house cascaded down onto the beach, casting everything in monochrome.
The briny sea breeze cleared her head and let her think. She was going to sleep with Dimitri tonight. Just sleep. Would it build trust the way she hoped? It had to. She had already drifted off to sleep in his presence a few times. Something about him calmed her enough to trust him, but now she would be trying to do it on purpose. That changed things.
She cast her gaze out across the water and gasped when she saw a fin breach the surface. A moment later a second one followed. Dolphins! She stepped into the shallows, watching the dolphins fifty yards away as they played in the moonlit water. Something about them filled her with peace. They were pure creatures, full of heart and driven to protect those they loved, even the occasional human. It reminded her that there was good in the world. Not everything was darkness and suffering. Elena remained on the beach for another fifteen minutes before making the climb back up to the house.
Dimitri was in the office that Elena assumed was Royce’s, given that the bookshelves along one wall had a collection of fossilized leaves. Dimitri didn’t react as she put her head just inside the door. He was focused on his computer, reading something.
“I’m going up to bed. If you still want to . . . do what we talked about, you can join me whenever you wish.” She said this so confidently, but inside her soul was quaking with the thought. This was insane. Part of her knew that this whole idea that a complete stranger could heal her was madness. It was even more insane that she should trust him enough to sleep with him. But at this point she was desperate to feel something, anything but fear, and Dimitri summoned a dozen emotions within her whenever he walked into a room. Not one of them was fear.
He lifted his gaze to hers, their eyes locking.
“Sweet dreams, kiska. I will come to you soon.”
If that didn’t just make her melt, something so sweet that the old Elena would have laughed at it, but right now she loved that someone wanted to wish her sweet dreams. Not to mention the promise he’d left hanging that he would come to her. Just to sleep, she had to remind herself, but still, her imagination, the part of her that wanted love and passion, was waking up from its long slumber.
She stopped just inside her bedroom and stood for a long moment, uncertain. Vadym had forced her to sleep naked on the floor, and she had been conditioned to obey that rule, but that wasn’t something she had to deal with anymore. Yet part of her still needed a set of rules to follow. Rules were almost always safe. When she obeyed, nothing too bad happened to her, at least not immediately. Elena didn’t want to feel that way, but the need for rules was still there, like an anxious hum at the back of her mind.
Shaking off the flutter of thoughts in her head, she changed into a pair of jersey cotton shorts and an overlarge T-shirt. It wasn’t sexy—she didn’t want sexy. Comfort was what mattered. Then she pulled back the covers and climbed in. The bed was still way too soft, but she remembered Dimitri saying she couldn’t sleep on the floor. A rule. It made it easier. She wriggled a bit, trying to get comfortable, but it wasn’t easy when she wasn’t dead on her feet.
She was nearly asleep by the time Dimitri opened her bedroom door and stepped quietly into the room. The bright moonlight illuminated him as he stopped beside her bed. He unbuttoned his shirt, and her eyes fixed on the movement, fascinated.
“You aren’t asleep,” he said softly.
She shook her head. “I’m still not used to the bed.” She rolled on her back to stare at the ceiling. She wasn’t sure how much clothing he was going to remove, and she felt bad for wanting to watch him when nothing would come of it. The covers shifted on the bed, and he eased down beside her on the mattress. There was plenty of space for them both, even when she stretched out in the middle of the bed.
“Do you want a certain side, or—?”
A chuckle rumbled through him and made the bed quiver ever so slightly. Then he rolled on his side to face her. “Kiska,
