“Ivan’s is the color scheme. Those three colors are very important to him and I’m the only one that knows why. I almost had
Viktor and Stephen’s switched. The violets that Viktor sent are a sign of faithfulness. Of course, my security master would want me to know that. Stephen’s orchid is him. He’s the loner of the group, but orchids are also a symbol of good luck, which is also him, since he’s the one that saves the day from his sniper nest. And finally, the black and red roses are Adrik. He’s worried I will change my mind if he fully shows his dark side, but I told him I love him more because of it last night,” I said, as I sat on the couch next to Andrei.
Both Andrei and Misha were still surprised, but smiling at me. “You’re wicked smart, spider monkey,” Andrei said, pulling me into a hug.
“The other guys are going to be slightly disappointed it didn’t take you longer to figure it out,” Misha said, laughing.
“We can tell them they stumped me for at least five minutes. I mean, I don’t want to shatter anyone’s confidence here.” I smiled to myself, loving the thought that they put into such a sweet gesture for me. “And thank you, for making the place smell uh-mazing. It’s one of the things I miss about the house when we’re not there.”
“Once these flowers are gone, we’ll go back to the house so you can enjoy the gardens there,” Misha said, winking at me. I couldn’t help but smile at him and how much they catered to everything I loved and wanted.
“What’s Adrik’s schedule today? Is he super busy?” I asked.
Not super busy. He should be finishing up the last meeting of the morning by now, but you know you can always Interrupt his meetings if you want to, spider monkey,” Andrel said,
“Maybe I will. I am the go ddamn princess, after all,” I said, as I stood up. I grabbed Andrel’s hand on the way up, pulling him up with me. “Come, my adorable Russian guardians. Let us be gone from this place.” I flipped my hair over my shoulder as I walked as aristocratically as I could toward the door. I stopped at the door, waiting for one of them to open the door for me, my nose obnoxiously high in the air. They both laughed. Misha grabbed the doorknob and opened the door, with a flamboyant bow.
I couldn’t help but laugh. I grabbed both of their arms as we walked toward the elevator. “You guys spoil me by playing along with my absurdity,” I said, as we stepped onto the elevator.
“We love it,” Misha said. “You make even the most ho rrific situations hilarious. I don’t know how you do it, but please never stop, gazelle.” I smiled widely at him..
As the doors of the elevator opened, both guys moved at the same time. “We’ll be around if you need anything, spider monkey,” Andrei said as he started to walk off the elevator.
I grabbed his arm, pulling him back for another hug. “Thank you. For always being so thoughtful and being so fu cking awesome,” I said, squeezing him tightly. He picked me up, squeezing me, then set me back down.
I walked to Misha, wrapping my arms around his neck. “And thank you for annoying me as much as possible. I love it and I hope you never stop either,” I said. He laughed as he squeezed me tighter. I walked quickly toward Adrik’s open office door. It felt like I couldn’t stop smiling, even if I wanted to. I was so anxious to see him that I had to stop myself from running to his office. Be cool, S?phie. I took a deep breath, as I walked into his office.
His eyes met mine almost immediately, like he had been waiting on me to walk in at that exact moment. He pushed his chair back from his desk, expecting me to climb into his lap. Instead, I stacked the few papers that were in front of him and moved them out of the way, sitting in their place. I pulled his chair back toward the desk, leaned down and kissed him. Thoughts of last night were still running through my head. I was struggling to keep control of myself as I held his face in my hands, my lips. on his. I felt his hands slide up my legs and that was all it took. I deepened the kiss. I used my feet to pull his chair as close to the desk as it would go. He grabbed my a ss, pulling me toward him as he sat up straighter, matching my passion in his kiss.
I stopped the kiss, even though I didn’t want to. I looked at him, kriowing he was also replaying the previous night in his head. I kissed him once more. “Hi,” I said, trying to catch my breath. 1 stared into his deep blue eyes. The fear that was there last night was completely gone, replaced by lust from my kiss.
“I’m very glad you’re awake now, solnishko,” he said, his wide smile spreading slowly across his face.
After they told me about the conversation with Trino, I had to admit to being shocked at myself. I had come up with the lighting Massimo on fire and throwing him off a cliff out of nowhere. At least, that’s what I thought at the time. I’d never been so spot on with someone I didn’t really know. This was new.
“We got a giant wh ite board, too. It’ll be here later today,” Ivan added, grinning at me.
“You guys are kind of the best,” I said, thinking about how much I loved each of them in their own ways
Sephie
We spent more time in Adrik’s office that afternoon. They made plans for taking me to talk to Chen that evening. I wasn’t sure he was still in the same apartment, but I knew he used to be there late afternoon to start dividing up his latest shipment to sell over the weekend. He had streamlined his process and he had very regular customers. He was always sold out by Sunday, and we generally wouldn’t see him again until the following Friday. Every now and then, he would stick around for a day or two, but it was rare. You could just about set a clock to Chen’s movements on the weekend. Ivan and Viktor got into an argument over whether Ivan should stay at the building or go with us. Viktor said he should stay, Ivan said there was no way he wasn’t going. They both had valid arguments, but neither was going to budge. Andrei was somewhat nervously watching the argument, as Viktor could also make him stay behind as he wasn’t technically completely healed yet either, although he was much closer than Ivan.I caught Andrei’s worried eye, winking at him. “Viktor?” I said as sweetly as I possibly could, to help diffuse their growing anger with each other. Both he and Ivan turned to look at me. “Why don’t you let Ivan and Andrei drive. They can do that much, at least, right?”
Viktor thought for a moment, then relented. “Fine. They drive, but nothing more. I won’t risk it.”
I looked to Misha, who was also watching this entire exchange with an amused look on his face, for confirmation that it would be fine. He nodded his head. I walked to Viktor, reaching up and hugging his neck. I said quietly, so only he could hear me, “thank you, Papa Bear, for always worrying about me.” He kissed the top of my head, holding me closer for a moment.
The plan was Stephen would leave first, with two other guys and set up across the street from my old apartment building. They could cover all the possible ways to the apartment building from above. It seemed a little overk ill for a conversation with my old neighbor, but after Massimo’s attempt to grab me, I was happy to be over-prepared. Andrei and Ivan would drive. Misha and Viktor would stay with me at all times. There were also three other guys that normally stayed at the building, but that Viktor trusted, who were going with us, just in case. They reasoned it would be harder to separate us with three vehicles, rather than just two.
I did try to argue that someone should stay behind with Adrik, but I got sh ut down very quickly. Apparently, Team America was running backup for his security since Armando was also at the building. Adrik and Armando were planning to meet while we were gone anyway, so Team America would be with him.
Adrik pulled me close. I could see the worry in his eyes. “I’ll find out everything I can. As quickly as I can, so I don’t give you a heart attack,” I said, smiling up at him. He was in his usual battle with the curls around my face.
“Stay with Viktor and Misha, please. If anything feels off, you leave right away,” he said. I nodded my head. He leaned down and pressed his lips to mine. He surprised me by wrapping one arm tighter around my waist, the other hand ran through my hair to the back of my neck as he deepened the kiss. My knees went weak, but he had such a tight hold on me that I didn’t move. Just as 1 felt myself starting to lose control, he stopped, kissing my forehead. He pressed his forehead to mine for a moment, as he caught his breath. “I love you, solnishko.”
I looked up at him, kissing him once more. “I love you the most. Plus infinity. Plus one,” I said, grinning at him. He laughed as he loosened his grip on me.
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.