Page 26 of Pack Baby for the Bratva

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I had spent months telling myself leaving had been smart.

That didn’t mean it hadn’t hurt.

The baby kicked again.

I counted in my head the way the midwife had told me to.

One. Two. Three. Four.

It helped not at all.

By two in the morning, I gave up. I pushed myself upright with a quiet curse and eased out of bed. My back complained immediately. Fergus lifted his head from the blankets and blinked at me, then turned a suspicious stare toward Artem’s shape on the floor like he was still making up his mind whether to tolerate him or show his teeth.

Fair.

I padded to the kitchenette–all two steps of it–the floor cold under my feet. Moonlight leaked through the curtains and turned the counter silver. I filled the kettle and set it on. Tea. I needed tea. Tea was structure. It was one of the few things in life that I could do correctly.

A chair scraped behind me before the kettle had fully started to sing.

I turned.

Artem was already sitting at the tiny table, elbows on his knees, looking at me as if he’d been waiting for me to crack and get out of bed. Which, to be fair, he had.

“You’re awake,” I whispered.

“So are you.”

I snorted softly. “Thank you, Artem. I’d have missed that otherwise.”

The corner of his mouth twitched, but his eyes stayed on me. Like he was afraid if he moved wrong I’d bolt again.

I turned back to the kettle and reached for the tea bags. His hand got there first.

“I’ll do it.”

I looked over to find him holding the box like it might require formal training. “You’re going to ruin that tea.”

His brow furrowed. “It’s hot water and a tea bag.”

“That sentence alone proves you cannot be trusted.” I took the box from him. “Sit there and don’t interfere.”

He obeyed, sitting while staring at me, which somehow made me more nervous.

I dropped the tea bag into the teapot and poured the water over it.

“You have to let it steep,” I said.

He watched me. “For how long?”

“Three minutes.”

“Exactly?”

“Yes.”

“That seems aggressive and very strong.”

“It’s tea. It should be strong. Weak tea is just water.”

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