Chapter 7
Chapter
Seven
GORAN
Kaylani sat in the back of the SUV, my jacket around her shoulders, knees drawn to her chest, eyes unfocused as the city slipped past the tinted glass.
She hadn’t spoken since the beach, and that scared me more than her tears.
Her breathing was steadier now, but the panic hadn’t subsided. Through the rearview mirror, I watched her clutch the fabric and flinch every time we stopped too abruptly.
I thought she’d recovered from the shooting that almost took Nathaniel’s wife.
I was wrong.
The haunted look in Kaylani’s eyes told me the truth. She masked it well, but the trauma was still there.
My gaze shifted to her other hand. She was tracing the faint scars along her neck, left by shattered glass when the bullet meant for Savannah tore through the store window just inches from her head.
That day had dissolved into chaos.
Ivan grabbed Kaylani and forced her to the floor while blood streamed down her neck.
He pressed a hand to the wound and told her she’d be okay.
But Savannah’s injuries were severe, and my focus had to remain on Nathaniel’s wife as I worked to keep her alive.
By the time I saw Kaylani again, she had a bandage on her neck and a smile on her face like nothing had happened.
Like she hadn’t almost died.
I hadn’t realized how deep the damage went until Cutter’s birthday party. We were outside in the backyard when a balloon popped. Kaylani flinched and her face drained of color before she disappeared into the house.
I followed and found her in the bathroom, shaking, braced against the counter, tears spilling freely.
That was when she finally told me about the panic attacks, the nightmares, the way her body reacted before her mind caught up.
She’d survived. But a part of her was still trapped in that moment.
I didn’t ask where she wanted to go.
I already knew.
The farther we got from the beach, the more she relaxed. When the stable’s gates came into view, she finally exhaled.
The SUV rolled to a stop, and before I could open my door, Kaylani was gone.
Bare feet hit gravel, then concrete. Nothing slowed her down. The jacket slipped from her shoulders as she ran into the barn in her bikini, hair wild, salt and tears streaking her skin.
She didn’t look back.
Getting out, I scanned the area. It was quiet and would remain so until evening feed. My blazer lay crumpled on the ground at the entrance and I picked it up, laying it over my arm.
Habits drilled too deep to ignore, I checked every space as I moved through the facility. No one was in the viewing area that overlooked the arena or the tack room. Kaylani’s wooden locker door stood open, but otherwise it was empty. Just as it should be. I let out a slow breath, finally relaxing.
On my way to the stalls, I heard her.
Not sobbing. Not hysterical. Just…broken. It was the only word that came to mind. Part of her was fracturing, and it was unbearable to hear her in pain. I wanted to kill anything and anyone who dared to hurt her, but this time, there was no one to target. I hated feeling powerless.
I followed the sound to Atlas’s stall and stopped short.
Kaylani had both arms wrapped around the massive gray stallion, her forehead pressed to his neck, her shoulders shaking. Atlas stood perfectly still, calm, his head lowered just enough to rest against her, as if he understood exactly what she needed.
He didn’t fuss. Didn’t stamp or shift. He held her. I hadn’t understood Kaylani’s connection to horses until she started bringing me to the stable. Now…I got it. There was something almost magical between them, a language that only they understood.
If she hadn’t been crying and breaking in front of me, I would’ve thought it was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen.
Rubber boots. Bare legs streaked with sand. Hair tangled and untamed. Strength stripped down to the woman under the name. This was who she was when no one was watching.
This was who I loved.
I stayed back, giving her the moment, letting the horse do what he’d always done for her, better than anyone else ever could. Even better than me. There was no point in being jealous. I knew I couldn’t compete with the seventeen-hand Dutch Warmblood.
Somewhere along the line, I’d learned everything about Atlas.
His moods, habits, the way he liked his feed mixed, and how he leaned into a brush when scratched just right behind his shoulder.
He looked at Kaylani like he was her protector and had tried to step on my feet when I first came around, as if he were a jealous boyfriend.
But most of all, I noticed that unlike so many other competitors, Atlas never refused a jump. Together, he and Kaylani moved like one.
I’d never cared about horses before her. Now this place felt as familiar as my own skin.
Kaylani finally pulled back, wiping her cheeks with the palm of her hand. She took a deep breath and put herself back together piece by piece.
Then she looked up. Her eyes were no longer haunted. They were clear, filled with determination, and yet soft in a way that gutted me. Kaylani stepped out of the stall, closed the door, and placed her hand on my chest.
My heart beat harder.
“Tell me what you need, Lani.” My voice dropped lower. “Not what’s right. Tell me what you need.”
“I need you,” she whispered. “I need my husband. Right now.”
And just like that, every line I’d drawn inside myself was stripped away.
I nodded once, then took her hand and pulled her into the tack room, shutting the door behind us. Kaylani reached back to lock it as she stepped out of the clunky pink boots she always put on before entering the stalls.
She rose on her toes and brushed her lips across mine. I cupped her face and kissed her fiercely, swallowing the last traces of her fear. Her kiss was desperate and certain, no hesitation, only need.
Her fingers went to my belt, undoing it with practiced urgency. I groaned as she dragged the zipper down and slid her hand inside.
“Fuck,” I growled against her mouth as she stroked me. I’d been holding myself together all day, and she had unraveled me in seconds.
“You’re already hard,” she murmured.
“What do you think you do to me, dancing around in a bikini?” I bit out, nipping her neck.
“You were like this all day?”
“Yes.” The word came out strained.
She squeezed me, testing my control.
“You’d never know. You’re always so composed.”
“You don’t make it easy. I want you every second that we’re together,” I admitted, the words dangerous, but true. “Say it. Say you choose me.”
“I chose you. I’ll keep choosing you—no matter what it costs,” she whispered, tugging at the bikini bottom string and letting the material fall to the floor.
Her leg wrapped around my waist. I slid my hand down her thigh and held her there, our eyes locked. Whatever control I had left shattered. I kissed Kaylani hard as I drove into her, claiming her in one decisive thrust.
Any lingering thoughts about annulling the marriage vanished. There was only her. The taste of her. The way she gripped my cock, pulling me deeper. I did not deserve her, but I wanted her, and there was no letting go.
My movements turned frantic, reckless. Our breaths came out in pants. I nipped the side of her neck, breathing her scent in like it was the only air left in the room.
“Deeper. Harder,” she gasped.
I lifted her and carried her across the room to a table, laying her down before hooking her legs over my shoulders. Her hair fanned out beneath her, blue eyes locked on mine. She gripped the edge as I lost myself completely.
“Yes, oh God, yes,” she moaned as I pumped into her. Her body tightened, and she arched, freezing in the most stunning tableau as she came.
I didn’t slow my pace. I wanted to watch her come undone again. I wanted to burn away any trace of the fear still clinging to her and replace it with this—with us.
“Fuck, you’re so beautiful. Come for me, Lani.” I thrust with everything I had, and she shuddered. “Yes, that’s it. Fuck,” I growled.
“Yes…Goran…” she moaned as her walls clenched around my cock and I followed after.
Loving her would cost me everything.
I didn’t care.
A minute. An hour. A lifetime.
Kaylani Mikhailov was worth it.
The world came rushing back. The quiet hum of the room. The sound of the horses in the stalls. Then my phone vibrated in my pocket.
Time.
I wanted more fucking time with her.
Kaylani stilled beneath me, the weight of what we had done settling between us.
I stepped back and took a deep breath before tucking my cock back into my pants and straightening my shirt. I was a soldier. The perfect soldier.
All the walls I had constructed to keep that image had been torn down. No matter how many times I rebuilt them, Kaylani reduced them to rubble at her feet.
I crossed the room and gathered our discarded clothing so she could redress.
Her eyes were soft and glassy as she pulled my jacket around her shoulders once more.
“I hate that we need to leave this room,” she said quietly, tying the bottoms back in place. “That you can’t just come home with me.”
Her mask slid back into place just as mine had. She was the princess again.
“Me too.”
We didn’t need to say anything else.
Beyond these walls waited cameras, expectations, guards whose loyalty was not to us, and a world that did not care what we wanted.
Lifting the chain around her neck, I stared into her eyes as my lips touched the gold ring. She smiled, the most beautiful sight this world had to offer. Holding out my hand, she took it without hesitation.
Together, we stepped back into a reality where loving each other remained the most dangerous thing we could do.