He chuckled. “Then it’s my fault for being too strenuous.”
“But I like when you’re strenuous. I need a nap now, but I love it,” I said, finally opening my eyes to look at him.
“You need a nap because of me? That’s not normal either, no matter how strenuous I get.”
“Stop worrying about me. You’re not going to break me,” I said, reaching up to kiss him.
He clicked his tongue. “I’m going to have Andrei check to make sure you’re okay. I don’t like that you’ve struggled to catch your breath twice in a row. I still can’t feel anything from your lung. I only feel your panic when you struggle to catch your breath,” he said.
“I don’t feel anything from my lung either. Except the panic when I can’t catch my breath. You’re not missing anything,” I said. “I don’t want you to worry that you’re going to break me or be scared to touch me. I love it when you’re strenuous when you f**k me,” I said, grinning at him. I stood on my toes and ran my tongue slowly over his bottom lip as I su cked it into my mouth.
He squinted his eyes at me. He pulled me close, kissing me passionately, but quickly. “What am I going to do with you…”
Adrik had meetings that afternoon. Vitaliy informed us that he also had meetings elsewhere in the city, so he wouldn’t be back until the evening. “It’s been so long since I’ve been in the city that everyone wants to see me when I’m here. It’s partly why I never come to the city,” he said. He sounded almost grumpy about having to go.
“You can tell them to f**k off, Vitally. You know that, right?” I said. I wanted to see what kind of reaction I could get out of him. “They’re not the boss of you.”
He laughed loudly. He pulled my arm through his, patting my hand. “If only everyone were as fun as you. I wouldn’t mind meetings then.”
“The world could not handle more than one of me, Vitaliy,” I said, laughing. He surprised me by kissing my forehead. He simply smiled at me, telling. us all he would return, then walked out of the penthouse with Aleksei.
Once he left, Adrik looked at Andrei. “Sephie has had trouble catching her breath twice now in the last two days. The second time was worse than the first. I’m worried there’s something wrong that she doesn’t want to tell me about.”
Andrei looked at me, almost like he was asking permission. I smiled at him. “It’s okay, Bubba. You can look. If there’s something wrong, then even I don’t know about it.”
He studied me for a few minutes. He went to speak, but stopped himself. He was quiet for another few minutes, then finally said, “her lung isn’t as bad as when she had pneumonia, but it’s not 100% either, but it’s made worse because she has anxiety about it now. She’s having small panic attacks when she has trouble catching her breath. That makes it harder to catch her breath. That’s why you talking to her and repeating phrases to her helps calm her down. She’s also still due for sleeping in, but she’s fighting it because of everything going on.”
“Have you had panic attacks before, Seph?” Stephen asked.
I shook my head no. “Not that I know of. I wouldn’t have said me not being able to catch my breath was a panic attack though, so there’s that.”
“It’s understandable. You’ve been through a lot recently. You’re still processing everything,” Viktor said.
Adrik was quietly contemplating everything, but he seemed mostly satisfied that I wasn’t hiding anything from him or he wasn’t missing anything on his own. I walked to him as he opened his arm for me. He pulled me to him, kissing my temple. “It appears it is my fault,” he said quietly, with a smirk on his face.
Sephie
“Battista arrived last night. He wants to meet tomorrow. He made reservations at his favorite spot,” Vitaliy said during a lull in the conversation at dinner.
“Please tell me his favorite spot is someplace fun, like the zoo,” I said.
Vitaliy laughed. “Net, but you might be able to talk him into it next time.”
“Da mmit. Missed opportunity,” I said, “Where’s his favorite spot? Although I can tell you right now, I’m not going to enjoy it as much as I would the
700.”
“He loves one restaurant at his hotel downtown. He always has important meetings there. But since he owns the place, he’s usually the only one in the restaurant for those meetings. It’s very convenient,” Vitaliy said.
“What hotel?”
“Same one Mr. Turner works at,” Ivan said.
“Oh, that hotel. Sh it. That means I have to wear heels. Yet another point for the zoo over this boring a ss hotel,” I said. “But my consolation prize is I’ll get to say hi to Mr. Turner.” I hadn’t been back to that hotel since the night of the ball. I couldn’t say I was looking forward to it.
While everyone was busy talking, Ivan caught me off to the side. “No one is leaving your side this time, princess. Especially not me. Especially not your go ddamn prince.” “You’re getting very good at reading my emotions, Squish. Even when they’re not out of control yet.”
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.