Page 40 of Frozen Heart
Radimir marched back to me, his face furious. I avoided his eyes. He ducked and?—
“Stop!” I yelped as he scooped me up. “You don’t need to—Jesus, you can’t justpick me upwhenever you?—”
“Icanand Iwill.”He straightened his legs, boosting me into the air and cradling me against his broad chest, and I went a little heady.Just head rush,I told myself angrily. He stalked intothe penthouse and laid me gently on the couch. “Youwill stay there. I will be your moving company.”
“But—”
“Nobuts.”He glared at me and?—
It was the first time I’d met his eyes. I could see something flickering, behind all that frozen gray. A deep, protective need.
Hewasmad. But not at me, at himself. He thought he’d caused me pain, by making me move in with him. I swallowed and went quiet.
Radimir marched out into the hallway, and I finally listened to my body and let myself just flop on the couch. I was pretty sure that if someone poured cold water over my knees and ankles, steam would billow off them.
He carried the boxes in two at a time, arranging them in precisely straight rows. By the time he was done, I was capable of helping again, even if I wasn’t capable of standing. I crawled over to the boxes, opened one and started figuring out where things were going to go.
Radimir paced around as if he didn’t want to interfere but wasn’t going to leave me alone to over-exert myself, either. “What’s this?” he asked, touching a four foot longsomethingwrapped in towels that was leaning up against the wall.
“Nothing!” I grabbed the bundle and put it protectively behind me. I’d hide it somewhere later.
“What’s in this one?” he asked, nudging a box with his toe.
“Books.”
“And this one?”
“Also, books.”
He nodded politely but he looked bemused. As if reading, relaxing, doing anything fun was alien to him.Does he do anything aside from work?
I dug through the box and pulled out a blanket. It was hand-knitted, a mix of pink, pale green and yellow.
“What’sthat?”He sounded annoyed but curious. Maybe annoyedbecausehe was curious.
“Baba—that’s my grandmother—knitted it for me. It’s been on my bed ever since I was a kid.” Just running my fingers over the soft wool made me feel better. Then I looked around at the penthouse, sighed and stuffed it back in the box.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
I gave him a look. “It doesn’t fit in here.” I waved at all the stainless steel and granite, at the designer light fittings that probably cost more than my rent. “This place is too...cool.”
He pulled the blanket from the box and stalked into the bedroom. Through the open door, I saw him spread the blanket out on the bed. I felt myself bite my lip, and a warm ache started to spread through my chest.Don’t,I warned myself.
He walked back to me, scowly and gorgeous. “This…” he blurted, gesturing at the penthouse. “Not having personal things...it’s not...cool.”
And suddenly, everything flipped around in my head. When I’d first seen the bare, soulless penthouse, I’d assumed he’d ruthlessly shed all his personal belongings because he saw them as a weakness. But what if...what if he never had any? What if he losteverything,every photo of a loved one, every heirloom, every beloved childhood toy.
I saw the ice in his eyes fracture and melt and he quickly looked away. I was right.
“Tell me where you want things,” he told me. “So, you don’t have to move.”
I nodded quickly and started unpacking. But inside, my mind was whirling.What the hell happened to his family?
27
BRONWYN
That evening,Radimir came with me to see Baba. I tried to tell him that he didn’t have to come but…