I grabbed it, then grabbed his arm, pulling him after me. “Come with me. I have an idea.”
“I don’t like your ideas when you’re armed. Misha was right. You’re feisty.”
I stopped and glared at him for a moment, then smiled, “that’s fair. Totally fair.”
We walked to the garden. I waved my hand toward the flowers and said, “pick one. Don’t think too hard about it. Pick the one that catches your eye first.”
He immediately walked to a rose bush. The roses were a mix of yellow, orange, and pink. It was beautiful and unique.
“These are my favorite. Don’t tell anyone.”
I smiled at him, “you’re a secret romantic. I love it.” I used his knife to cut one of the biggest flowers off the bush and handed it to him. “Now, you’re ready.”
He took the rose from me. He did not look ready. He still looked terrified. I felt bad for laughing at him, but it was such a funny picture. This huge man that has likely killed people and not thought twice about it was having a full-blown panic attack about talking to a woman. A woman who was clearly into him as much as he was into her. This shouldn’t be an issue, but alas. Here we were.
“Andrei, look at me.” He glanced up at me, fear still evident in his eyes. “Talk to her like you talk to me. I’m no different. Think of her like you think of me. Instead of jumping straight into her pants, think about being friends with her first. I know you like her, and she likes you, but you guys don’t really know each other yet. Start with that. That’s the easy part. Don’t overcomplicate things or you’ll end up making yoursel crazy. You know, like you’re clearly doing right now.”
He exhaled loudly. “You’re like my relationship coach now.”
I chuckled and jumped on his back. “Your relationship coach spider monkey that needs a ride to the house.”
“Well, since I’m your favorite now, I guess I can oblige.”
As he walked us to the house, I said, “I must take advantage of this while I can. If you actually start dating Tori, I won’t be able to do this anymore.” I hugged his neck a little tighter.
“You can do this no matter what, sestrichka,” he said patting my leg.
I sighed, “we’ll see, Bubba. We’ll see.”
Once we got back to the house, we went to the kitchen and I started to rummage through the refrigerator to look for ideas to cook for dinner. As I was looking through the extra-large refrigerator, Andrei was laying down the ground rules for the evening.
“You must stay within my sight. You’re my responsibility, so you must stay in the kitchen where I can see you.”
“I promise I will follow the rules while giving you two as much distance as I can. Don’t worry about me,” I said while opening a drawer full of knives. I waved my hand over the top of the drawer, “I’ve got weapons and I know how to use them.”
He chuckled. “That’s my girl,” he said, holding his palm up for a high five. I smacked his palm and went back to looking through the kitchen.
Tori walked into the kitchen shortly after. They exchanged pleasantries and walked into the next room, Andrei positioning himself on one of the couches so he could still see me while Tori timidly sat down next to him.
I busied myself working on dinner, trying not to watch them the whole time. I would glance into the room every now and then. Every time I did, Andrei was smiling. His gaze would switch between Tori and me frequently. I did feel bad for Tori. This wasn’t exactly fair to her that he had to pay attention to me while he should be paying attention to her. At least it seemed like it was going well. He’s managed to speak to her, so that’s progress.
Sephie
I was in my own little world, working on dinner, humming to myself, sometimes dancing to a tune in my head, but mostly really trying to listen to what was being said in the next room while not being obvious about it. She hadn’t slapped him and stormed out of the room yet, so I was taking that as a good sign. I turned around to wash a knife in the sink, glancing in the direction of the front of the house, Adrik was leaning against the doorway to the kitchen, still out of sight of Andrei. I immediately grinned at him. I quickly glanced at Andrei, who was now fully paying attention to something Tori was saying. I motioned for Adrik to be quiet, but to look toward the back room. Just then, the rest of the boys walked in behind Adrik. I motioned for all of them to be quiet and to look toward Andrei and Tori. They each quietly peeked around the corner to spy on Andrei. There was discussion amongst them, but it was quiet enough that I couldn’t hear it.
Adrik, smirking, pointed to me and then pointed in front of him, signaling me to come to him. With one quick glance toward Andrei, who still wasn’t paying attention to me, I ran quickly to Adrik’s open arms. As soon as I was with him, they all dispersed and hid in various places. Adrik pulled me with him, his finger over his mouth to keep me quiet. He took me to a spot under the giant staircase in the entryway. He pressed me to the wall, his body pressed against mine. He whispered, “I’ve been waiting to do this,” as he pressed his lips to mine. “But first we must scare Andrei.”
“Don’t be mad at him,” I whispered back. “It was all my idea. Technically I put him up to this, because Lord knows he never would’ve made a move without me.” He smiled at me. “I’m not mad, solnishko. The opposite, really. But he doesn’t need to know that right now.”
My smile grew wide. I loved seeing this impish side of him. I couldn’t help but think back to what Tori had said about him earlier. This was clearly not a man who had anger issues. I was happy I got to see this side of him.
We heard Andrei in the kitchen, calling for me. He cursed and yelled my name again. When he walked toward the front of the house, the other guys came out from their hiding places as he walked past them. We could hear them all jump on him, poor Andrei yelling and cursing each one of them.
Adrik stayed pressed up against me, his eyes never leaving my face. I looked in his eyes, still expecting to see a change. He raised his eyebrow and asked, “why do you look confused, solnishko?”
I looked down, not realizing I had given myself away. I felt my cheeks blush. “It’s nothing.”
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.