Chapter 223
Chapter Two Hundred Twenty-Three
Adrik wasying across the bed, lost in thought as he waited for me to finish drying my hair. 1 hader’s
nned on washingt after Misha and I got back from our run this morning, but since Adrik couldn’t keep
his hands off me in the dyr,
my
hair was washed and now needed to be dried. It was getting colder outside and he knows how much I
ha te to be cold, so he Insisted.
I walked to the bed, climbing on top of him. His hands immediately went to my neck and my hair as 1
fald down on top of him. He clicked his tongue. “Your hair is still wet, solnishko. I don’t want you to
catch a crid “
Iughed. “I’d be in there for like another hour if you want me to dry my hairpletely. It’s dry enough.
I won’t catch cold” 1 snuggled into him. He wrapped his arms around me, holding me close. “Especially
not if I have you to keep me warm.”
“I’ll make you wear a hatter,” he said. It sounded like a threat, so I picked my head up to look at him.
Heughed at my expression. “I’m leaving my phone with Viktor this afternoon and you and I are going
to theke. For as long as you’d like to stay,” he said, fighting his usual battle with the curls around my
face. He looked more amused than usual with my hair. He smiled, adding, “your curls are even more
out of control when you use the hair dryer. I didn’t think that was possible”
Iughed. “It’s why I don’t usually use the hair dryer. My hair revolts, which is a situation hobody
wants.” I loved watching the wonderment on his face as he tried to get my hair to obey his wishes.
“You’re really going to ditch work this afternoon?” !
asked.
He nodded his head, taking a deep breath. “I could use a break, too, and I can’t think of a better way to
spend the afternoon than with you, away from everyone.”
I couldn’t stop the smile that spread across my face. I couldn’t think of a better way to spend an
afternoon than with him, either. He pulled me down to him, pressing his lips against mine.
We were sitting in silence by theke. It was one of the many things I loved about Adrik. His ability to
befortable in the silence was unmatched. I had a feeling he loved it about me too. We had talked
on the way to theke. He kept his fingersced through mine the entire way. He would steal nces
at me as we were walking and talking, like he enjoyed watching me more than the scenery around us.
We were sitting on the ground, leaned up against an old tree that had fallen years ago. He finally broke
the silence, saying, “this has always been my favorite spot toe to when I needed a break from
everything. It’s why I bought this house.”
I leaned my head over on his shoulder. “It was a good purchase. There’s something magical about this
ce. Even Misha knows it, without knowing it. It’s why he ordered you to bring me here,” I said,
giggling.
Heughed too. “That kid has never given an order in his life.” Heughed harder thinking about it.
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“I made him promise to do it more if he gets the response he did abouting here. It’s a powerful
reaction that he gets now and I made him pinky swear he would always tell us,” I said. Adrik reached
over and put his arm across my legs, pulling them toward him. I held onto his arm as we talked.
“Is it the same reaction he’s always had or it’s a new one now?” he asked.
“New. He used to only get a reaction when something was going to go wrong. He said since he’s been
using it more, now he can get a reaction when something is going to go right. It’s a different reaction to
each, so he can tell the difference. When he thought abouting here, he wasn’t just thinking about
the house, and he got goosebumps. My m om used to tell me goosebumps were how you know
universal truths. Like when someone tells you something and you get goosebumps on your
body? It’s a universal truth and your body recognizes it,” I said.
Adrik was quiet for a moment, then chuckled. “You’ve given me goosebumps when you’ve told me
things before, solnishko.” He leaned down and kissed the top of my head. “What was Misha thinking
about when he thought abouting here?”
“He said he was looking at me when we were talking about na, thinking about how I looked like I did
after we got attacked, just without the concussion, and how I looked after the ball, just without the ho le
in my hip. He knows thating to theke recharges me, if you will. He said he got goosebumps
when he thought about it, so he waited until Armando left and that’s when he basically ordered you to
come here,” I said, stillughing at his delivery.
He moved to look at me, surprise on his face. “Misha saw that too?”
“Saw what?”
“That your light had dimmed again.”
I shrugged my shoulders. “He didn’t say it exactly like that, but he noticed.”
“Maybe I underestimated the rest of them,” he said. I looked at him, expecting him to finish his thought,
but he stayed quiet. The wind had picked up slightly as we were sitting by theke. We both heard a
loud p of thunder that sounded like it was almost above us. I sat up and looked behind us to see that
a storm had blown in quickly while we were at theke. Adrik saw it too. He stood up, pulling me up
with him. “We should head back. That doesn’t look like it’s going to bl ow over,” he said, watching the
sky. Just as he said that, a streak of lightning stretched across the sky, followed quickly by another loud
p of thunder. I felt the first few raindrops start to fall.
I looked at him, trying not tough. “What gives you that impression?” He grinned at me, grabbing my
hand as we started to walk quickly back to the house. The trees in the forest kept us from getting
rained on, but once we got to the other side of the forest by the backwn of the house, it had started
pouring. There was no way to avoid getting wet. The temperature was dropping with the storm, as well,
making the rain cold and biting. Despite running back to the house, we werepletely soaked and I
was shivering when we made it to the back door. The guys were all on the couches when we got back,
mostly amused that we’d gotten soaked. Ivan and Misha were especially excited. Apparently, they’d all
seen the storming, so they made a bet to see whether we would make it back before the storm hit.
Ivan and Misha said we wouldn’t, so they were the
winners.
“You’re wee!” I yelled as we ran upstairs to change into dry clothes. Adrik turned the hot water in
the shower on, puling me inside before I even had a chance to take any clothes off. I couldn’t help but
laugh. “And you were worried about my hair earlier,” I said, grinning at him. He peeled his shirt off
before doing the same to mine. He pulled me under the water as he worked on getting my pants off. I
was still shivering, despite the hot water. 1ughed at our pile of wet clothes in the corner of the
shower. Adrik seemed concerned about getting me warm, but he was also amused at how our
afternoon turned out.
He bent down and picked me up, wrapping my legs around his waist as he made sure I was under the
water, trying to get me warm. He flinched when I wrapped my legs around him. “Your legs are so cold,
solnishko,” he said, running one hand up and down my leg rapidly to try and warm me up. He looked
up at me, stillughing about our situation.
“It might not have ended the way I wanted, but I’m so happy I got to spend time with you this afternoon.
Hopefully your phone didn’t drive Viktor crazy while we were gone,” I said.
“You look even lighter, solnishko. Who knew getting caught in the rain was so healthy?” he said, still
laughing.
I unwrapped my legs from his waist and stood in front of him, but stayed under the water as I was still
cold. “I owe Misha one for ordering you to bring me here,” I said, grinning at him. “I needed this break, I
think.”
“Let’s maybe not let him know that he can order me around so easily,” he said, smiling at me. He
leaned down and kissed me. “I
needed a break, too. I was happy he ordered me toe here. But let’s keep that between us for now.”