Aleksei uncrossed his arm and nodded, clearly satisfied. “Deal,solnyshka.”
Deva shook her head. “You’ll have to tell me what it means. I don’t like not understanding what you are saying.”
“One day. Now, sit. Eat.”
Groaning, she filled herself a plate and went to sit beside him. They ate in companionable silence for a while, him, wolfing down food as if there was no tomorrow, her, eating a few bites and moving the remaining pieces around on her plate.
“It’s good. Why aren’t you eating? Eat!”
Being ordered around was starting to get on her nerves. It was something her father did, and the more she allowed, the more insufferable he became. “I’m not that hungry.” She looked at his empty plate. “Do you want more, I have at least two other portions for you.”
As she got to her feet, he put a hand on her arm to stop her. She was about to shrug him off when unexpected concern gleamed in his eyes. “Why aren’t you hungry? You must eat. Why do I believe you haven’t eaten since you arrived here?”
Deva sighed and patted his hand. “Don’t worry about that. When I’m tired, I don’t feel hungry. If you are done, I’ll prepare your bed for your next massage session, but first, we’ll do some stretching.”
Again, he waited a long moment before opening his fingers to release her. That man was pushy and sweet, a strange mix she thought, placing her plate in the sink.
Without another word, Deva went into the master bedroom and replaced the sheet and comforter as Aleksei walked in. “Lie down. We’re going to test how your muscles react to strain.”
Once more he complied to her command, stretching on the bed, his hands on his well-defined stomach. One by one, taking first his arms and then his legs, she put pressure on the ligaments, testing them a little, focusing on his face, trying to see if she was causing any pain.
“How do you feel? Tell me if you feel discomfort, you have too much of a poker face for me to tell, Aleksei. And I’m not that fond of the guessing game.”
“I don’t feel any pain. You’ve done a great job. And I’m not the only one with a great poker face.”
Deva blinked, and she was about to tell him to roll on his stomach, when Aleksei grabbed her weight, pulling her under his body as he rolled on the bed. Pressed hard to the mattress, her first instinct was to fight him, but the faint bruises on his bulging shoulders and arms as he supported his upper body over hers, with his knees between her legs, made her decide against it.
“What are you doing? I’m not done with you! There’s your massage, and you have your medication to take...”
“You are a strange woman.” He said again, but this time, the tone was less friendly.
“Get off me.”
Ignoring her, he continued pinning her down.
“Who are you?”
At the soft-spoken words, it took all her control and might not to flinch. “Get. Off. Me.”
He was still as stone, and his face set in ways that made her think of a dangerous predator. “I don’t like to be played, Deva. If that’s your real name.”
Her heart pounded. “I’m not playing. I’m a physical therapist if you haven’t realized by now. And you’re pissing me off right now, Voronov.”
“Is that so? I believe you are a physical therapist, and one of the best I’ve ever seen. It’s what I don’t see that makes me question you.”
“Voronov, what are you talking about?”
“Of all the questions you’ve asked me, it’s the two questions you didn’t that revealed the most about you. You never asked about my tattoos, but I know you see them as a Bratva emblem. You couldn’t disguise the knowledge in your gaze. When you saw me naked, at the gym, on your table, you never asked a single question about them as so many others would. And earlier, when you learned that I was in an illegal fight ring, you didn’t even blink. There is nobody on earth who wouldn’t have asked at least one question about it. And despite what you saw, you never demanded that I back out of my next fight.”
Damn, her knowledge of that world was smacking her right behind the head when she least expected it.
“I was being discreet. You wouldn’t have liked me prying.”
His gray eyes turned into a slit, not believing her explanation. “You’re a woman. It’s in your genes to be indiscreet. Only someone already privy to that information, already knowledgeable of that world would act the way you did. So, I’m asking you one last time,solnyshka, who are you?”
Hesitating would be her downfall, as he was only waiting for one small sign of weakness from her, a small crack he could exploit. And she couldn’t. It was impossible to let him suspect anything. Not now, not yet.
“You are imagining things, Voronov. If you don’t want me here, if you don’t trust me, don’t invent stories, just tell me to get out.”
His irises moved like molten mercury as his lips skimmed her cheeks, making a breathing trail to her ear.
“You are lying,solnyshka. And you’re gonna pay for it.”
