Chapter 13 Request Denied
Aurora
My dad’s already asleep when I walk into his room, so I tuck him in while Severin tries to wrangle Emett into his pajamas.
“Has the world tilted upside down recently, Daddy?” I whisper even though he won’t be answering.
“I feel like it has, because suddenly, everything feels different. I mean, this morning all I had to worry about was the bills. Now? Well…I’d rather just have to worry about the bills and the leaking roof and even damn Aaron. ”
Just not the gorgeous goalie in my bedroom. But I don’t say that part out loud.
I thought I’d feel jealous that someone else is getting time with my son when it should be me.
I don’t have that many nights in a week when I can tuck him in, and I cherish each one.
So I was confident I’d be jealous, yet as I close my father’s door and listen to Severin and Emett giggling in the room, it’s not jealousy I feel.
It’s longing.
It’s a dream I don’t dare to have coming to life for one evening. Like a teaser that will get you all excited and then you realize it’ll be at least a few years until the movie is out on the screens.
I don’t go into the room to see them. I can’t. It’ll be hard enough to deal with the fallout when Severin leaves and doesn’t come back. I can’t have that picture stuck in my head.
This whole evening was a mistake!
I throw the toys Emett played with back into the basket with a little more force than necessary.
I knew my heart wasn’t lying when it tried to keep us away from him. I knew it, yet I didn’t listen and now we’ll all get to pay the price because a man like Severin Minaev isn’t meant for us. We’re not from the same play field or even continent.
Why did he have that booster seat in his car? For Emett, nonetheless.
The question’s been boggling me ever since I first saw it and as the dinner went on, they just kept piling up.
Why do I catch him watching me like I’m a live grenade one moment and like someone he’s desperate for the next?
Why is he entertaining us with his presence?
Why, every time he’s near, do more walls around my heart crumble?
Why does he sound like he means every word when I know he can’t?
And that comment about his hand on my ass…a mere reminder of his low, growly tone as he voiced it sends a shiver down to my core. I both wanted to forget he ever said it and finish that sentence to see if he meant it. Which is the worst idea I’ve had yet.
But the one that is the loudest of them all… Why does it feel like I know him, and he knows me? And not the surface kind of knowledge but something so deep it sends my heart running for the hills.
I throw the last car into the basket a little harder than intended.
“Shall we move to the pillows? I mean, they make excellent punching bags.”
I jump from my spot on the floor at the sound of his voice behind me.
“Jesus.” I clutch my heart, letting out a heavy breath and instantly, Severin’s smile drops as his whole face grows taut.
Immediately, he falls to his knees in front of me, searching my body for pain or distress. “Are you okay? Did I scare you?” His gaze drops to my chest, just where the tip of my scar tissue is visible, like he knew exactly where to look.
I never told him about my accident or heart surgery, but I guess Electra has a very long tongue that likes to talk.
I pull my shirt up, covering it, and get up from the floor. “No, it’s all right. I just didn’t hear you coming. Emett’s asleep?”
“Yeah, went out like a light switch at the beginning of the story.”
I smile, walking back into the kitchen. “He’s had way too much excitement for one evening. Thank you for doing this for him.”
“You don’t have to thank me, Aurora. It was no hardship.” His jaw tightens and his gaze drops to my chest once more. “Is it your heart? Is it bothering you?”
I look down to find my hand still clutched over it and drop it. “It’s fine. It’s an old scar from a surgery I had a while ago. Nothing you need to worry about.”
“What kind?” Severin asks yet I have a distinct feeling he already knows.
“Didn’t Electra tell you already?”
“No.”
I tilt my head. “Heart transplant. Five years ago.” When I don’t elaborate, he simply keeps staring, and I sigh, turning to the dirty dishes in the sink and start washing them.
“I got into a car accident, in a way, and ended up needing the transplant. I was pregnant with Emett at the time. But it really doesn’t bother me. ”
“But it could. It could start bothering you one day because those things are not forever and you need to take it easy.”
“Well, I don’t have such luxury as a single mother, Severin,” I snap, throwing the washcloth into the sink. “I can’t take it easy.”
Suddenly, my body is moving without me as he pushes me away from the sink and starts washing the dishes instead.
“What are you—”
“Your brother, has he bothered you again?”
“Your change of topics is giving me whiplash.” I go to try and take the dishes away from him, but he won’t let me.
“You want to go back to talking about your heart?” Severin challenges, and I purse my lips.
“No, Aaron hasn’t shown up again.” I pick up a drying towel. “He can usually go for a few weeks with the money I give him.”
“You give him money?” he grits out.
“Yes. It’s easier that way.”
“Why? How?”
“Because Aaron thinks I owe it to him.” I sigh, feeling his probing haze on me.
“Our mother left after I was born, and for reasons unknown to me, my brother blames me for that. Always has, and we’ve never had a good relationship because of it.
And then things got worse when Dad was diagnosed with Huntington’s disease.
” I draw a deep breath. “And then it turned downright disastrous when Aaron and I both got tested… I don’t have it,” I quickly add when I see Severin’s muscles tighten. “But Aaron does.”
“And he blames you for that.”
I huff out a humorless laugh. “You guessed it. Anyway, it’s late…I’m sure you have a game or practice, or something in the morning.”
“You’ve been trying to get rid of me ever since I showed up.”
I drop the towel I was pretending to wipe the counter with. “Yes, I have.”
“Why?”
“Because I think it’s actually best if you don’t come by anymore.”
“Why?”
I take a deep breath. “Because Emett is getting attached and the last thing I want is for my son to be heartbroken.”
“That makes two of us.”
“No, it doesn’t,” I snap.
“Why?”
“Because I know men like you. You find a new shiny toy and think it’ll be fun to play with it for a bit, and then the toy loses its shine, maybe a piece or two breaks off and now it’s no longer fun. So you throw it away. And I can’t have you throw away my son’s heart.”
“And yours? What about your heart?”
“Mine doesn’t matter.”
“It does to me.” He pauses. “What if I don’t want to leave?”
“Then why does it feel like you hate me half the time?” I whisper the words I don’t dare say out loud.
Suddenly, his eyes shift, taking on one of those looks I can’t decipher and his voice hard when he asks, “What gave me away?”
He doesn’t deny it. He doesn’t deny it, and I suck in a sharp breath, gripping the counter behind me.
“You always have a storm brewing in your eyes.”
“I do.” He nods after a pensive moment.
“Do you know that I love them? The storms, I mean.” He tilts his head studying me curiously.
“They’re dangerous.” His voice is a rough whisper as he shifts closer.
“Not to me.” I turn toward the window, staring out into the windy night. “What is this, Severin?”
“Sava, you can call me Sava.” He takes another step toward me, his reflection glinting off the darkness outside and my breath hitches.
“What is this, Sava? This…you being here…all this?” I turn, my voice growing more and more flustered. My arms flying around expressively and he catches them, encircling my wrists with his fingers.
I stop, my gaze dropping to where he’s holding me.
His skin is rough against mine but it’s warm, so warm. Like a ray of morning sunshine in the dead of winter. It’s warm and light and dangerous, and it stirs a memory deep inside me. It’s right there, at the tip of my mind but I can’t catch it.
Severin drags his thumbs over the underside of my wrists, feeling every wild beat of my heart pulsing through my veins.
His eyes meet mine. “Friends? We can be friends, can’t we?” Our bodies draw closer.
“Friends?” I ask, slowly chewing out the word.
“Yeah. I can be a very good friend.” His gaze drops to my lips.
“I don’t believe you.” Mine mirrors his.
“Yeah, me neither…”
Severin’s lips are on mine before I can process what’s happening.
He’s kissing me and this kiss consumes me from the first breath.
His lips are soft, his stubble rough. His hands gently cup my face while his lips devour mine like he intends to steal my soul and there’s not a damn thing I can do about it.
He kisses like he hates me. He holds me like I’m his.
Everything about the man is a conundrum. From the first moment I laid my eyes on him.
I can feel the heat of his hard, honed body pressed tight into mine, enveloping me as his lips demand my attention.
I’ve never been kissed like this. I’ve never felt someone’s desire and need overwhelm me in the best of ways.
I should step away, I should…I should…
My lips part, letting him in, forgetting all about how dangerous he is, how easily he can crush my borrowed heart as my hands fist over his shirt, bringing him even closer.
His arms band around me, and the next thing I know, he lifts me up onto the counter, parts my legs stepping in between them until I can feel his hard cock pressing into my core through the jeans.
“Lychik…” he whispers hoarsely into my mouth, and I want to ask what that means. Why does he call me that? But Severin doesn’t allow me another breath, let alone a word.
It’s just him. Him everywhere. In every thought and space, kissing me like a crazed animal but with cautious restraint.
His tongue dances along with mine as his strong hand lowers over my ass and he squeezes, hard, making me gasp into his mouth as I seek him out more. I want to feel more. I need more. I’m growing drunk and possessed by him and…
A loud, booming thunder cracks through the window. A warning…it’s so powerful, it startles us apart, leaving us both just inches away from each other, our breaths mingling as they heave out from our lungs. Hard and labored.
Another crack splits the skies open, and I jump off the counter, away from him.
Oh God…Oh God…what have I done? Oh God!
I bring the back of my shaky hand over my puffy lips, covering them as I try to catch my breath without looking his way.
“Aurora…” he starts.
“I think you should leave,” I cut him off, still not able to turn around.
“Aurora.”
“Please.” My voice breaks, interrupting once more. “Please, you scare me. Everything about us, scares me…please, just…go.” I draw my arms around me, holding what’s left of my soul.
I can feel the crack of his jaws. The tightening of his fists. The wild beat of his heart. And then it’s all gone, leaving me alone with the sound of the raging storm outside, watching over me like my most trusted shadow.
SEVERIN
An idiot…a fucking dumbass. That’s what I am.
I slam my hand against the steering wheel. I knew I should’ve stayed away when I still had the chance, when I didn’t feel the warmth of her skin and the taste of her lips.
I fucking knew it.
Now?
Now, I don’t have a single clue as to what to do next because my whole body and mind was thrusted into a storm of emotions with her wrapped in each one. Every bone and vessel now belongs to her.
That one kiss. One moment of weakness, of letting go of the past, and I’m done for.
Fear. Dark, crippling fear shot up through every inch of my body as soon as my lips touched hers.
Fear that it’s a mistake. Fear that I shouldn’t be here. Fear that no one else has ever felt this right.
Fear that I might lose it. Fear that the light in her will be poisoned.
But most of all, fear that I won’t survive without her light.
And she doesn’t want to see me ever again…
I thought I learned my lesson. Yet here I am.
I sigh, leaning against the seat and swiping the last remnants of her taste from my lips before sucking them off my thumb.
“Sorry to break it to you, Aurora Johnson, but your request has been denied.”