One heartbeat, and she jolted in his arms, the power of her response nearly breaking them apart. She tried again to move away. To turn and face him.

But Kir held his arms tight around her. Kissed and crooned soft words she had no prayer of understanding until she settled, shaking, against him. “It will be all right. Shhh.” Another kiss to her temple. To her cheek. “You have nothing to fear, Cassie. I have never once lain with a woman without protection, and I know for certain I have nothing I could transmit to you.”

A fresh round of tremors rattled through her behind the husky admission. “Oh my God, I can’t believe we did that.”

“You are not on birth control?”

“No!”

No.

One single word, but it unveiled a whole new realm of possibilities he hadn’t dared to consider. A life that both terrified and thrilled him.

She tried to wriggle free once more.

Rather than fight it, he used her momentum to flip her to her back and blanketed her body with his. When she tried to push him away, he captured her wrists and loosely pinned them to the bed. “You are right.”

The admission stilled her struggles almost instantly, and her eyes widened with shock.

“It was impulsive,” he said. “But I will not lie to you and say that I regret it. Not with you.” He risked releasing one wrist and cupped the side of her face. “I want nothing between us. If you want tests to prove you have nothing to fear, we will get them.” His voice caught trying to finish the rest. “If there is a child from tonight, it will be protected and cared for. By both of us. Always.” The quaver in his thumb as he traced her lower lip should have embarrassed him, but he was too humbled by the thought to find any shame in it. “But I want nothing to block my connection to you.”

“I can’t have a kid yet, Kir. It’s too much. Way too much, way too fast.”

“Then we will get you protection.” He stroked her hair away from her face. Skimmed his knuckles along her cheekbone and teased the shell of her ear.

All the while, she studied him, her gaze roaming his face as though she sought clues to guide her. “You know this is insanely fast, right? The kind of fast that should make a smart woman keep you at arm’s length. Or flat out avoid you.”

“That is what your logic says. What your American customs say. But what about you, Cassie? What do you want? What do you feel when you’re with me? When you were with my family?”

She didn’t answer, but her response was there, nonetheless. The longing in her eyes. The mysterious and inexplicable connection they’d had from the very beginning brighter than ever.

He clasped her hand resting on his shoulder and guided it to his lips. “I will not rush you.” He pressed a tender kiss to one knuckle. “I will not force more than you are comfortable with.” Then another. And another. “But I will ask for you to try.” He squeezed her hand and held it tight. “Give me that, malyshka. Give me that, and I will give you everything.”