Chapter Thirty-five
Inna Grace
I lay in bed scrolling through the new phone I got.
The phone was supposed to distract me from overthinking what happened this morning, but it was doing a terrible job.
Every few scrolls, another kissing video appeared, dragging me right back into it.
My entire feed suddenly looked romantic.
At some point, I lowered the phone to stare at the ceiling, wondering why my Instagram algorithm was acting like it was ovulating.
A message popped up, and I opened it immediately.
I texted Caitlin earlier to ask if we could meet tomorrow, and she confirmed.
I needed to talk to someone before the pressure inside my head developed into an actual medical condition.
Because explain to me why, after Dmitri handed me his black card, I went back into the pharmacy and bought birth control pills.
Some reckless part of me was already preparing for another moment with him.
What happened this morning was what quietly rearranged your self-control.
And somehow, my brain seemed to rearrange itself, too.
Why did I leave after the sex? I groaned and pressed my face into my hands, heat crawling up my neck all over again.
Who even does that? Normal people stay to talk.
That was how emotionally stable adults did, but no, I went straight to the bathroom and locked myself inside.
I stayed there hoping Dmitri wouldn’t knock on the door, and he didn’t.
He didn’t follow me at all, which I told myself was exactly what I wanted.
But the next three hours proved otherwise.
The silence after he left stretched into something unbearable, and I filled it with every interpretation until my own thoughts turned against me.
The one thing that stayed with me all day, especially after realizing he had left the mansion, was that whatever had happened between us meant nothing to him.
It was a mistake. At some point during the day, I actually cried over it before deciding I needed emergency pills.
When I saw him in that pharmacy looking worked up, checking me over like me being hurt was his worst nightmare, my chest loosened. Then he kissed me, but it was the forehead kiss afterward that made every thought in my head go quiet at once.
I turned over in bed and pushed the blanket off me, suddenly too warm beneath it, and it was entirely his fault.
It was ten o’clock in the evening, and Dmitri still wasn’t home.
I continued to scroll through Instagram with little attention, lazily moving from one reel to another until I landed on a fashion video.
The dress was deep green, elegant in that effortless way Caitlin liked, and the moment I saw it, it reminded me of her.
I copied the link, sent it to her, and added a quick text beneath it.
Me
Check this dress. It would look good on you.
Caitlin hadn’t replied when I heard the front door open. I turned my phone screen off immediately and placed it on the bedside table before pulling the blanket up to my chin. I closed my eyes, pretending to be asleep.
A few seconds later, the bedroom door opened.
I stayed still, focusing on keeping my breathing even and natural, though it became harder the moment I sensed movement near the bed.
Dmitri’s cologne reached me first. I instantly knew it was him.
His hand settled against my hair, the touch so unexpected and gentle that I almost flinched beneath it.
He stayed there for a moment before moving away.
Another door opened shortly after, and then the sound of the shower came.
I exhaled slowly. Why was I pretending anyway?
The shower ran on the other side of the wall while I lay there fanning my face, my body heating all over again against my will.
The memory of our unplanned sex dropped into my head without warning, vivid enough to make my stomach tighten.
I remembered his voice against my ear, rough in a way that still did unreasonable things to my nervous system.
He fucked me like he was trying to prove a point, and maybe he was.
Shit. He ruined me.
Now I had to share a bed with this man, and I wasn’t sure I possessed the emotional resources necessary to survive that experience with my dignity intact.
I pulled the blanket back up the moment the shower stopped. I registered every sound he made as he moved around the bedroom. And before I knew it, the mattress dipped beside me. I held my breath instinctively.
Dmitri moved closer, his body pressing against my back. I hadn’t finished processing the fact that he was there when his arm slid under me. He pulled me in until I was tucked against his chest like it was the most natural thing in the world.
His warmth moved through my back, and I forced myself to breathe normally. This man, this specific, and unreasonable man who fucked me and made me think it was a mistake, was now holding me intimately. I couldn’t decide if I was grateful or in trouble, but fuck, I loved this.
The silence settled between us, his breath in a steady rhythm against the back of my neck. I stayed there, burning quietly, letting the moment stretch longer and telling myself I would fall asleep soon. That would not happen.
His mouth found my ear. Every nerve responded. A shiver ran down my shoulder, visible enough that there was no pretending it didn’t happen. He kissed the curve of my ear slowly, and I surrendered. My body was clearly not going to cooperate with any plan that involved remaining still and unaffected.
He moved his lips down to my neck, and his hand slid under the hem of my pajama top. His fingers traced around my navel with no rush. He kissed me in places that made my body softer.
I paid attention to the movement of his hand sliding lower inside the waistband of my shorts and moved between my legs.
My hips rolled back against him, and my ass hit his bulge.
He made a low sound against my neck that I felt more than heard.
His fingers began circling me, the feeling dissolving my thoughts one by one until I could think of nothing but his hand.
I gripped his wrist and pressed, telling him without words what I needed, and he gave it to me.
He didn’t slide a finger inside. He just rubbed my clit, the pace building until my whole body tightened.
I shook and let out a quiet, broken moan.
He slowed his fingers, drawing circles through the last until I stopped trembling. When he pulled his hand free, he shifted behind me, pulling me closer into him. The position was so comfortable that my bones felt heavy.
He pressed his lips to my forehead, and he didn’t say a single word about this morning. We stayed like that, suspended in a silence that didn’t feel empty, until sleep found me anyway. It was the quietest and most satisfying sleep I had in a long time.
When I woke up, he was gone. That man operated on a schedule that began before the sun had any reasonable business being up. I stopped expecting to wake up beside him in the morning.
Since my meeting with Caitlin was later in the day, I was going to spend the day with Grandma. She was the only one to tell me about Dmitri and his brothers. I was getting to know them more, especially now that I knew Roman was Dmitri’s brother. This world was so small.
I pushed the covers off and moved toward the bathroom for my morning routine. The moment I stepped inside, I stopped.
Three candles were lit around the bathtub, throwing soft light across the tiles. The room carried a deep cedarwood scent. The tub was already full, the surface covered in thick foam that caught the candlelight and scattered it in shifting reflections across the walls.
I moved closer and dipped my fingers in. Warm.
I straightened and looked at it for a moment. A faint smile pulled at my mouth. Did Dmitri prepare this before he left? He couldn’t have. That wasn’t the kind of thing he did. If Anita did it, it would only be because someone told her to.
Whatever the answer was, I didn’t care enough to solve it.
It looked too good to question. I undressed and stepped in, lowering myself into the water until the heat wrapped around me.
I sank back against the tub, eyes closing as the warmth loosened everything that had been tight since yesterday.
This was what I needed. Or exactly what someone knew I needed.