Deva couldn’t feel her arms anymore, nor her back and a headache was starting to make it difficult to concentrate. The night had passed and the second day vanished with such speed, it made her dizzy. And the treatment prescribed by Sasha continued into the second night.
Deva had spoken to her cousin twice in that period, when she was sure Aleksei was sleeping soundly, to give her a heads up. He was doing better. The fever died down the night before, and the last time she woke him up for his ice bath, he could stand without her help and didn’t sway once.
When Aleksei was finally tucked in bed after another round of massage, she fell like a corpse on the couch, trying to remember the last time she had slept more than an hour or eaten for that matter. Eat! Damn it.
Groaning, she pushed herself up and dragged her sorry ass to the kitchen. On Sasha’s list, the next round of medication had to be taken with protein; first a shake, and then a meal. That would be in one hour. Opening the cupboards, she finally found shake containers that she could use to make the mix. The fridge was well stocked. She was grateful beyond words as she didn’t know if she had the strength to leave the condo to get food.
She tried her best to keep the noise to a minimum while she thawed chicken and searched for a pan. A stir-fry would do to start. Aleksei hadn’t had solid food in 24 hours and needed some fuel now that the pain had ceased. In the fridge, she chose onions, mushrooms, and a bell pepper. In the pantry, she found everything she needed for seasoning, another surprise, the annoying Russian could cook.
As she finished cutting every ingredient into bite-sized pieces, she turned to get some cooking oil and backed into a solid wall. Deva gasped and reached for the knife she had laid on the counter when an arm stopped her.
“Easy Deva, it’s only me.” It took her a moment to realize that it was Aleksei and that she was way too tense. Tiredness tended to do that to her, messing with her guard, returning her to a messy and dangerous place.
“You make less noise than a cat. And you shouldn’t be out of bed. What are you doing out of bed, Voronov?”
Only when she turned to look at him that he released his hold. “I’ve slept more than I did for years. I’m not tired and was restless. I need to move a little. And I’m hungry.”
Deva nodded, putting a couple of steps between them. In her state, hormones flared at the man before her. At least he had slid a pair of loose sweatpants on, although it didn’t hide much. And as her brain started popping images of him naked, she decided to return to the business at hand.
“I’ll give you your next massage after you eat. Best start with the protein shake I’ve prepared. It’s in the fridge. I’m making you a chicken stir-fry. I didn’t know what you like, but you had all the ingredients.”
“If I have it, I like it. I’m used to doing my own cooking, so having someone preparing something for me is a treat. Thank you, Deva.”
Not knowing what to say at his unexpected gratitude, she gestured for him to sit across the island on one of the stools. “Better stay out of my way while I finish this. How do you feel? How’s the pain?”
Aleksei drowned the brownish liquid as he slid onto the stool. The way he moved was fluid but calculated, probably meaning that he wasn’t sore but was still careful about it.
“I don’t feel much pain anymore, not when I lie down, and very little when I move. But I haven’t tested my body yet.”
She pointed at him with a spatula. “No testing. Not yet. You have to be careful about that. After you eat, we’re going to do some stretching and then a massage.”
“No more ice baths?”
Deva looked up at him as he smiled, clear delight in his voice. She simply shook her head. “Any more ice baths would be for your comfort only if you ever felt comfortable feeling cold.”
Her words shifted his mood somehow. “There are discomforts in life. You just have to live with them.”
Did he speak from personal experience? “Well, I don’t think I would ever feel good lying naked in ice. For that, you have my admiration.”
As she busied herself around in the kitchen, starting to put his meal together, Deva sensed all his attention on her. She frowned when she looked up and noticed his stare. “What? Why are you looking at me like that?”
He shrugged, but his smug smile never left his face. “You are an unusual woman, that’s all.”
Deva rolled her eyes. “I’m normal. Maybe that’s what you’re not used to. Your style is probably weird women traipsing around your house, half-naked sipping martinis, giggling at your jokes as you swat their asses and screw them on your lovely coffee table...”
Aleksei finished his shake and licked his lips. “Ah, that’s the difference. Well, sorry to disappoint, but I don’t bring women here to fuck, not on the coffee table, not in my bed. This is my personal space. I fuck elsewhere.”
“Charming.” Tempted to roll her eyes again, Deva finished seasoning the stir-fry before turning to find a plate. “At least I won’t have to wonder if the counter is clean or if there are still traces of your last conquest on the marble floor. I didn’t think to bring disinfectant.”
Deva handed him a heaping plate of food, but instead of taking it, he crossed his arms. “You’re eating with me.”
“I’m not...”
“Prepare yourself a plate and eat. Here.”
There was the option of a showdown, but clearly, the compliant patient was turning into a stubborn fighter again, and she didn’t have the stamina. “Okay. I will. But that’s too much food for me. Take it, and I’ll prepare myself another one. Deal?”
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.”