“There we go,” I murmured. “That’s my good girl.”
The tension leached out of Eva’s shoulders, and I made a note to praise her more often. She deserved it, but more importantly, it made her more secure, and I wanted that desperately.
She yawned, and it was so fucking cute, the way she blushed. Eva, when she was fierce, made me want to slay demons for her, but this version of her—soft and sweet and vulnerable? I’d do anything to protect her.
“I was going to watch a movie,” I said, releasing her chin and tucking her back into my arms.
She laughed. “It’s midnight. No you weren’t.”
“No, I wasn’t. But?—”
“I get it,” she said, taking a step back. She swallowed. “Thank you.”
“You don’t get it,” I snapped. “Eva, I am trying so fucking hard to take things slow with you because you deserve aman who doesn’t take advantage of your vulnerability. You deserve to be cherished.”
Her eyes widened. “Alek?—”
I stepped away from her and ran my fingers through my hair, swearing quietly in Russian. I was fucking this up. Of course I was fucking this up. Women didn’t want what I wanted, and Eva was no exception.
I yanked her against me in a hug, holding her tightly. “Did you call me because you wanted to forget? Is that what you need, baby girl?”
She shook her head against my chest. “I just—I didn’t want to be alone,” she said softly. And Christ, she’d thought of me.
I held her for long moments, relishing the softness of her body pressed against mine, the way her breathing slowed, the way she relaxed into my arms, as if she were safe.
Shewassafe.
“You’re not,” I promised her. “I’ve got you.”
She nodded, pressing her nose into my chest as she moved, and then took a shuddering breath. “Let’s watch that movie then.”
I tugged her over to my couch, wincing when I realized I didn’t have a throw pillow for her to kneel on. “Wait,” I said, the sound coming out like a growl.
I fetched one from my room, then another. When I returned, she was looking around the apartment with curiosity.
How to get her out of her head? I turned on my heel and grabbed a tie in Marauder green. She’d like that, and it’d match her eyes.
By the time I’d come back with my pillows and tie, she was getting antsy. I’d cure her of that habit eventually, butright now wasn’t the time to introduce that into our dynamic.
I dropped the pillows to the floor, and she looked up at me with a smile in her eyes. She wanted this too.
“Give me your wrists,” I rasped and wove the tie between and around them in a figure-eight. “Color?” I asked her.
Eva was silent for a long moment. “Green?”
“Try again.”
“Yellow?” she whispered, shrinking in a little bit on herself, as if she were afraid of my reaction.
“Yellow, Sir,” I corrected absently as I arranged the pillows beside the couch.
“Yellow, Sir,” she whispered.
“Good girl,” I praised her. “What’s wrong?”
She furrowed her brow and raised her hands, as if to show off my handiwork. “Why?”
“It’ll help get you out of your head. You’ll be thinking about obedience and submission instead of what’s bothering you.”