Chapter Twelve

TAHEY WAS FINALLY SLEEPING. She had been a nervous wreck the whole day, and of course he had only himself to blame for it. This morning, while still at her apartment, Dmitry had taken pains to explain his absence. I just made us coffee, baby. That"s all. And since she had laughed a little at this, he had thought everything was fine...until he suggested she take another day off and saw her start glaring down at her half-eaten croissant.

Since he knew this meant she was once again fighting back tears, Dmitry had swiftly amended his words. I shall be out all day attending meetings. If you are not too tired, I would be pleased to have you wait for me at my apartment.

Tahey was already nodding her head even before he had finished speaking. I"m not tired at all, Tahey had told him eagerly, and since her eyes were no longer sad, Dmitry thought he had finally succeeded in quelling her fears.

And so it seemed that way at first...until he came back to his apartment and realized how fucking badly he had hurt her. Tahey had been waiting for him in his living room, and the first thing he noticed was the way she refused to meet his gaze when he said hello.

Instead, she simply kept glaring down at the coffee table, and so at once Dmitry had crouched down on one knee and reached for Tahey"s hands, which were tightly clasped over her lap.

Tell me what"s wrong.

She had shaken her head at first, refusing to say a word, but when the billionaire forced her hands to loosen and brought them to her lips, kissing her knuckles ever so gently...

It was only then that she finally said the words—-

You make me so happy, Dmitry...that it scares me.

And only then did he realize how much power he wielded over Tahey.

With just a few words, she had given him power he had never asked for, one she would"ve been better off keeping to herself.

Just a few damn words, and he now had the power - so much damn power over her that the sheer innocence of her action almost drove Dmitry mad with bitterness and frustration.

Why are you such a fucking fool?

Can"t you fucking see I don"t deserve you?

Don"t you know that a part of me still despises you, and maybe I always will?

The sick, bitter, twisted side of Dmitry had wanted to snarl out those very words, make it fucking clear to Tahey that what they had was nothing but a train wreck waiting to happen.

And yet...

Somehow...

Despite all the years he had lived in the darkness of his rage—-

He had somehow found a way to control himself.

Seeing Tahey tremble before him and hearing her voice shake as she told him how happy he made her, his own heart had shuddered, her painful honesty forcing him to be just as honest—-

Dmitry had swept her up in his arms after that, carrying her to his bedroom and making love to her like she was his most precious thing. And he did so because she was that.

His most precious thing.

Even if a part of him still blamed her for his sister"s death.