Page 85 of Jump on Three

“Yes. Are you?”

“No,” he replied.

It was strange. A sudden surge of violence curled my fingers into my palms. I had never hurt a single person, but in that split second, I felt capable of mayhem.

“Have you been with many girls?” I asked.

“No. Only two. I had a girlfriend back home before I came here.”

My nose twitched. Russia was a long way away, but my father had a private plane he would let me use if I stopped by Greece for a visit on the way. All I needed was a name. My father’s people could find this girl.

“Did you love her?” I bit out.

He cocked his head, his brow crinkling, perhaps in confusion at my vicious tone.

“I don’t think I did, but she was a nice girl. We had an easy relationship,” he answered.

“So, you won’t have sex with me because of this girl?”

“Not at all.” Stretching his hand, he smoothed my brow with his thumbs. “We were done before I moved. My feelings have long faded. But I learned some things about myself from that experience.”

“What?” I snapped.

My crankiness did not seem to faze him. He continued like I hadn’t said anything.

“The first time I had sex was with someone I never saw again. It had made me feel…empty. Sex inside a relationship wasn’t like that. There was no emptiness.”

I blinked at him. Now, there were two girls I’d have to track down. It wasn’t a problem, though. My father had many, many connections.

“I want it to mean something, Evelyn.” His vehemence caught my attention, stopping my violent spiral.

“Because it would be my first time?”

“Yes. Of course.” He stroked the corners of my mouth, dropping his voice to barely a whisper. I held my breath, not wanting to miss anything he said. “But mostly because it will be our first time together.”

I exhaled, and my bitter jealousy fled. It was only by circumstance I hadn’t had sex yet, not because I was waiting for someone special to be my first.

Yet, now that I had listened to Ivan, I agreed. With him, it would mean something. I didn’t know what kind of sex I’d like, but I did know I would never be a girl who did it with strangers.

“I do not like hearing about the girls you’ve been with, Ivan.”

His low chuckle made me shiver. I loved the way his laugh felt inside my ears.

“I can tell, angel. You looked homicidal the last couple minutes.”

“That’s because I was,” I stated.

“I will be careful from now on, then. That topic is closed for good.”

He wrapped the strings from my hood around his fingers and used them like a lead, guiding me to his bed. Sitting, he pulled me onto his lap. Our mouths connected in a sweet kiss, twisting the lock on the door he’d closed between his past and our present.

Chapter Twenty-nine

Evelyn

Once I no longer tasted a speck of those two girls on Ivan’s tongue, I opened my mouth wider to him. He groaned and slowly lowered me to his pillow, which smelled like him. Pine, mint, and a tinge of chlorine. Ivan’s signature scent. When I breathed it in, a sense of being safe swept over me.

Our kiss broke, and we paused to look at each other. Ivan was stretched out beside me. Our legs were tangled, and his hand was beneath my sweatshirt, splayed over my bare stomach.