Chapter 86 Ticking Clock
❦ Rosalind ❦
The steam curled around me in gentle wisps as I leaned back against the padded chair. My body had just started to relax when my phone buzzed.
One vibration. Then another. Then another.
I frowned and reached for it, half-dreading a message from Dante about some Grand Marlow crisis. Instead, Viktor’s name blazed across the screen, his texts firing in rapid succession like bullets.
“Where are you?”
“Answer me.”
“Now, Rosa.”
My heart leapt into my throat. I shot upright, my eyes darting around the spa. Was I being targeted? Another nurse with a hidden weapon waiting for me?
My gaze found two of my bodyguards in their corners, scanning like hawks.
No threat. No danger.
I exhaled and typed quickly. “I’m at the spa.”
His reply came almost instantly. “Send me the directions. I miss you. I need you here, holding me.”
I blinked at the screen, my lips parting in disbelief. Viktor, the same man who used to go hours without checking if I was still breathing in the same house, was demanding I come to him because he missed me? A laugh bubbled out before softening into warmth in my chest.
I typed back with shaky fingers. ”I’m basically done. I’ll be on my way.”
When I set the phone down, I caught my reflection in the mirror, cheeks flushed pink, my eyes shining like I’d been kissed already.
I groaned into my towel, pressing it over my face to cover the ridiculous grin. But there was no denying it, I absolutely loved this version of him.
By the time the car pulled up to the house, my pulse quickened as I stepped out, only to find him waiting on the porch, shirtless, and dressed in nothing but black pants and boots.
The sight nearly stopped my heart.
Broad shoulders, skin kissed bronze, his hair a wild, dangerous crown over his sharp face. And those eyes, storm gray, fixed only on me. My body went liquid in an instant.
“Tesoro.” His voice was low, and the sound alone was enough to undo me.
Before I could speak, his arms came around me, strong and trembling faintly. He buried me against his chest, the heat of his bare skin against mine.
“Never leave without telling me where you’re going.” He murmured.
I froze. His heart was hammering against my ear, and his eyes looked like a man in pain.
“I promise,” I whispered, pressing myself closer.
We stayed like that for a long time. Slowly, his heartbeat calmed under my palm. When I shifted, he looked down at me.
“We’re going out tonight,” he said simply.
“Out?” I blinked up at him. “Viktor, you’re injured.”
His mouth curved. “I want to take you clubbing. To have fun.” His thumb brushed my jaw. “I don’t know how we lived before… but right now, I just want to unwind. With you.”
My breath caught.
The idea of him wanting me by his side not as an obligation, but because he wanted me struck me so deep it left me dizzy.
❦ ❦ ❦ ❦ ❦ ❦ ❦ ❦ ❦
Viktor hadn’t let go of my hand once. Not in the car, not in the elevator, not even now in the plush VIP section of his club.
His palm was warm, and very so often, he gave my fingers a small squeeze, a silent reassurance that sent tiny tremors down my spine.
Sometimes he lifted my hand to his lips, brushing a kiss across my knuckles. Other times, he dragged the back of my hand against the shadow of his beard absentmindedly, as if the contact anchored him.
I had laughed when we were still at the house and he’d insisted on watching me get ready.
He chose my dress for me, a black leather piece that hugged me scandalously tight, paired with stilettos that he slid toward me with a look that dared me to argue.
When I tried to fuss with my hair, he stepped behind me, his fingers gathering the strands into a high ponytail. And then he simply…watched. Silent. Enraptured. As though the act of doing my makeup was a performance meant only for him.
My heart had felt full to the point of bursting then, and it hadn’t let up since. Sitting beside him now, Adrian and the soldatos stationed around us, I felt powerful in a way I'd never felt before.
But the thought crept in anyway… the hotel. The weight of it dropped inside me like a stone, spoiling the sweetness of the moment.
My teeth caught my lower lip as I tried not to imagine the look on Viktor’s face if he saw the listing appear online, the bidding clock ticking down in plain view of the world.
Why hadn’t he said anything about it? He should have by now.
Unless…unless Adrian hadn’t told him…