Not he.
‘Nearly always.’ His mouth smothered hers and he brought her back to the world with a kiss he had so often refused as his last two words played repeated in his head. Demyan was, for the first time, factoring a known woman into his future, bringing her into his world. ‘Maybe there is something to stay for,’ he said.
‘Don’t.’ Alina shook her head. ‘Don’t say things that later you might not mean.’
‘I might mean it, though.’
‘Now,’ Alina pointed out, ‘and then you might not.’
‘What are you scared of?’
‘The truth?’ Alina asked, and he nodded. ‘I’m scared of spending the rest of my life looking out for a man and wondering if he’d even recognise me if we saw each other again.’ She was trying not to cry. ‘I still look for my dad. That first day we met, when you were having lunch, I was eating my sandwich...’
‘Hotdog,’ Demyan corrected.
‘You were watching me?’
‘I couldn’t take my eyes off you,’ he said. ‘I still can’t.’
That post-orgasm high was fading, but Demyan’s feelings were still there. He was actually relieved by the alert on the intercom because he was precariously close to telling her he loved her again, but in English this time.
‘Roman?’ Demyan called out, because only Roman could let himself in like that and he could hear him punching in the code. He pulled some clothes on as Alina scrambled out of bed and pulled on her skirt and searched desperately for her bra as quickly as she could, hearing the footsteps on the stairs and the door opening.
‘Just me, Demyan,’ Nadia said, and, completely naked, she walked into the bedroom.
CHAPTER TWELVE
IT WASN’T THAT Nadia was naked that froze Alina, instead it was the look, or rather the non-look, she briefly gave her.
Dismissive, just so, so dismissive.
Without so much as a word Nadia told Alina that she didn’t factor a jot in this.
‘Demyan, ya khochu—’ Nadia started.
‘It isn’t about what you want!’ Demyan both shouted and translated. ‘You will speak in English in front of Alina.’
It was perhaps the polite thing to do but Alina rather wished she’d never had to hear it.
‘I want us to be together again—a family,’ Nadia rasped. ‘I think I’ve made the most terrible mistake...’ She started sobbing. ‘Demyan, what I said about Roman, it was a lie. I wanted to make you jealous, hell, I wanted you to react...’
‘You come here to tell me you lied?’ His voice was clipped but his breathing ragged. ‘You show up here in my bedroom... How the hell did you get the code?’
‘Roman,’ Nadia said. ‘Roman gave it to me because he wants us to get back together too, Demyan...’ She continued, ‘I don’t want to take Roman from you. This way we can be together.’
It was too much for Alina, and with a sob she turned to run.