Chapter 27
27
S ofia raced down the stairs as she heard the doorbell ringing.
Sacha appeared out of nowhere as she reached the bottom of the stairs, grasping her around the waist.
“Whoa. Slow down before you break a leg.”
“I’m fine. I’m good.” Her heart was pounding, though.
This was going to be their first real date. On their own. Leaving the house.
Colm had come to visit her here a lot. He’d bring breakfast, or dinner, depending on his schedule.
But tonight, he was taking her out.
This was also her first time off the estate since being kidnapped ten days ago. She was nervous and she thought Sacha might be too.
She’d promoted Bea, one of her bartenders, to manager at the restaurant. Bea had worked for her since she’d first opened Solynshko and she had always been amazing.
Everything seemed to be working out perfectly, even though Bea and Sacha did seem to butt heads for some reason.
“You could’ve tripped and fallen. And what about your back? You shouldn’t be running around with your sore back.”
“It’s all right at the moment.”
It was true. Her back was feeling pretty good today. Although she was certain that a fall down the stairs wouldn’t do her any favors.
“Are you sure you’re ready for this?” Sacha asked worriedly. “If you’re not, then you should tell Colm you want to stay here.”
Yeah, she wasn’t the only one nervous about her leaving the estate. But she wasn’t entirely safe anywhere; that much had been made clear.
“I want to do this, Sacha. Honestly, I need to. I’m going a bit stir-crazy here.”
He gave a short nod. “Fine.” Turning, he strode to the door just as Colm started knocking again.
Her heart gave a small surge seeing him standing there. God, he was so gorgeous. And he was hers.
Sometimes, she woke up in the night after a nightmare and was terrified that she’d dreamed it all.
That Oleg wasn’t dead.
He is.
And Colm wasn’t hers.
He most definitely is.
“Not very patient, are you?” Sacha asked with a smirk at Colm.
Colm raised an eyebrow. “I thought no one was going to answer. You haven’t changed your mind, have you, lass?”
“What? No! Of course not. I ran down the stairs to get the door, but Aleksandr stopped me.” She gave her cousin a disgruntled look.
“You were running down the stairs?” Colm grumbled. “Why would you do that? What if you tripped and fell? What if you hurt your back?”
She sighed. “You two are more alike than you know.”
They glanced at each other with a frown.
“No, we’re not,” they said together.
She started giggling as their frowns grew fiercer.
“Come on, Mo leannan . We’ll discuss this further in the car.”
Uh-oh.
She didn’t like the sound of that.
“Wait. Where is your jacket?” Colm asked as she stepped around Sacha.
Another sigh escaped her. “It’s not cold.”
“It will get cold later,” Sacha said, grabbing a jacket from the coat closet. “Here you are.”
“But this doesn’t go with my outfit,” she protested. The jacket was really heavy and black. She was wearing a cute sundress with tan boots. Her denim jacket would look way better.
“Doesn’t matter,” Colm said. “It’s warm. That’s what’s important.” He put it around her shoulders, even though she really didn’t need it, and wrapped his arm around her waist.
Oh, that was nice.
“I want her back by ten,” Sacha said. “She needs her sleep.”
Ten? Was he nuts?
“I’m twenty-three. I don’t have a curfew.”
“You’re my baby cousin, so yes, you have a curfew. Ten. Or I’ll chop off your balls,” Aleksandr grouched, glaring at Colm before shutting the door.
“Urgh! The nerve of that man! I’m gonna go tell him that he’s lost it.”
“Leave it, baby,” Colm said. “Although he does seem extra grouchy at the moment.”
He led her toward his black car. She had no idea of the make. It was a plain-looking car, designed not to draw attention. But she bet it had all the same modifications as her vehicle.
Colm would always make sure she was safe.
When they grew closer, he opened the door and pulled off her jacket before he held out his hand. She smiled as she took his hand and let him help her in. The inside was a lot nicer than the outside. Cream leather seats with maroon stitching.
Colm bent down and grabbed the seatbelt, drawing it over her and buckling her in.
His arm brushed against her breasts and she sucked in a sharp breath as pleasure swam through her.
“All right, baby?” he asked, his lips close to hers.
“Y-yes.”
“Hmm, I don’t think I said a proper hello to you, did I?” he asked.
“No,” she said breathlessly. “I don’t believe you did.”
“Well, we’ll have to change that.” He pressed his lips to hers and she let out a low moan.
Pleasure shot through her in waves and she reached up to wrap her arms around his neck. His tongue slid into her mouth.
God.
So good.
When he drew back, she didn’t want him to stop. She could kiss him for hours.
“Easy, baby,” he murmured as she let out a protesting cry. “We don’t want your cousin to come storming out here and demand that he supervise our date.”
That sounded like something that Sacha might do. She nodded and he shut the door. Opening the door behind her, he put her jacket down on the backseat before he got in and started the car.
“Now, about this running down the stairs,” he said as they drove towards the gates. “You could have been seriously hurt and I don’t want you doing it again, understand?”
She sighed, but nodded. “I was just eager to see you.”
“I’m always happy to see you, lass. But I want you in one piece.”
When passed through the gates, a sense of dread filled her and she started to feel so strange. As if she was having an out-of-body experience. She tried to breathe, to move, but she couldn’t.
Panic made everything worse. Her heart was racing.
She was going to pass out!
“Sofia! Sofia, look at me.”
Colm’s voice barely penetrated her fear. She couldn’t.
“Sofia, you need to stop it right now. Stop panicking.”
The fierce determination and pure dominance in his voice actually got through this time. Some of the panic dissipated, but she still felt ill and weird. And her breathing was far too fast.
“Look at me, lass. Uh-uh. No. Look. At. Me. I’m in control right now. No thinking. No disobeying. Look. At. Me.”
Finally, she managed to turn her head. His blue eyes were staring intently at her.
When did he pull the car over?
Then he grabbed her hands.
He was squeezing them tight, almost to the point of pain. But that seemed to clear more of the panic.
“Keep those eyes on me. All you need to do is obey me right now. Understand? I’m going to keep you safe, but you need to listen. I want you to squeeze my hands.”
She shook her head.
“You can do it, baby. Squeeze my hands and focus on your breathing. Deep breath in. One. Two. Then hold. One. Two. Out. One. Two.”
Sofia let his voice guide her. It took a while, but her breathing gradually slowed. As the panic dissipated, embarrassment and sadness took its place.
Tears filled her eyes and drifted down her face. “I’m sorry. So sorry.”
“Hey, lass. Why are you sorry? You have nothing to be sorry about.”
He undid both of their belts before pushing his chair back and lifting her over and onto his lap. As he firmly wrapped his arms around her, she realized that was exactly what she needed.
Because she was nothing but safe in his arms.
She buried her face into his firm chest and breathed him in. He rubbed his hand up and down her back.
“You’re safe, baby. I have you. I’m not going to let anything bad happen to you.”
Nodding, she held onto his shirt tight. She couldn’t say anything yet, nor could she move away even though she knew she should.
“All right, lass. I’ll just wait until you’re ready to talk.” He started singing to her quietly. It wasn’t a song she recognized, and she was shocked to find that he had a lovely singing voice.
She leaned back and stared up at him.
“Wait a second.” He reached over and opened the glove box, pulling out a packet of tissues.
Wow. That was being prepared.
He drew a tissue out and reached up to wipe her face. She tried to grab the tissue from him to do it herself, but he pulled it back, shaking his head.
“Nope. You’re not in charge right now. I am. You’re not doing the thinking. I am.”
Did he really think she could just turn off her thoughts? Still, she acquiesced without an argument, because Colm, in dominant mode, was a force to be reckoned with. He dried her tears and held the tissue to her nose. “Blow.”
No way.
He gave her a stern look. “No thinking. Blow.”
She blew her nose into the tissue, her cheeks growing red. “I can’t believe you made me do that.”
“Why?”
“B-because it’s gross!”
“It’s just some snot and tears.”
“Great. Just what every girl wants on her first real date with a guy. To be snotty.”
“Well, technically, you’re not snotty anymore.” He grinned at her.
She huffed out a breath but found herself smiling back at him. “I’ve never heard you sing before. What was that?”
“Ah, it was an old song my Ma used to sing to me when I was upset.”
“You have a beautiful singing voice.”
“That will come in handy later,” he said mysteriously. “Unless you want to go back to the estate? What happened, baby?”
“I started to feel all weird. Like I was having an out-of-body experience, and then I couldn’t breathe properly and my heart was racing . . .”
“Panic attack,” he said.
Yeah.
“But why? Was it because we left the estate?”
“I . . . I don’t know. Maybe? That’s so silly, though. I know I’m safe with you. Just like I know nothing is gonna happen. I was dying to get off the estate.”
Colm cupped the side of her face. “It’s all right if it’s too early. It’s okay to take things slow.”
“I just . . . I feel terrible. I’ve ruined the date.”
“That’s why you said you were sorry? Because you thought you’d ruined the date?”
She nodded, staring down at her hands. “Yeah. I guess. I was embarrassed.”
“Sofia,” he said sternly. “Look at me.”
She raised her gaze to his firm one.
“You could never ruin anything. All I want is to spend time with you, so long as that’s what you want too, it doesn’t matter where we go or what we do, understand?”
Relief filled her. “Yes.”
“You want to go back to the estate?”
Sofia bit her lip. “I don’t know. I want to go on our date, but I’m worried that I’ll panic again.” She didn’t want to do that in public.
“I have an idea. Let me make a couple of phone calls?”
She nodded, and he placed her back in her seat before climbing out and making some calls.
Sofia kept her gaze on him the whole time as he paced back and forth in front of the car. Finally, he hopped back in and then reached over to grab her seatbelt.
“You’re not upset with me?” she whispered after he buckled her in.
He grasped hold of her chin, turning her to face him. “Baby, never.”
Half an hour later, there was a knock at the door and Colm lifted her off his lap, placing her on the sofa before walking to the front door.
To her surprise, Sacha hadn’t demanded to know what happened when they returned. He’d just studied her for a minute, then said he was going out.
So who was at the door?
She waited in the smaller sitting room that she preferred to use.
When he walked back in, he was carrying a picnic basket, a plaid blanket, and—was that a karaoke machine?
“Are we singing karaoke?” she asked, grinning as he set everything down.
“Yep, after our picnic, we’ll sing some karaoke.”
That was so unexpected. Colm didn’t seem like the karaoke type. But then, she was always surprising her.
And a karaoke night might be exactly what she needed.
Sofia held her hand over her stomach. It was aching from how much she’d laughed.
Colm was currently trying to twerk, which was the funniest thing she’d ever seen. He finally gave up and sat down next to her, huffing for breath. They’d eaten a delicious picnic dinner earlier and then taken turns choosing songs for the other person to sing.
“Why are you laughing? I think my dancing moves are amazing.” He mock-glared at her.
“Oh, they are,” she agreed. “Amazingly bad.”
He reached over and tickled her lightly, pulling back quickly. Probably worried about hurting her back.
“Brat,” he grumbled. “Remind me to spank you later.”
She rolled her eyes at him and he pointed a finger at her. “That’s a spanking offense too.”
“Sorry, so sorry.”
“Hmm, somehow, I don’t think you mean that.” He brushed the hair back off her face. “Are you happy, Mo Chridhe ?”
“I don’t think I’ve ever been happier. This is the best night I’ve ever had.”
“Me too, baby. Me too.”