“Adrik,” I said. His eyes flashed down to me. I held my hand up to him. “H-Help me up.” His hand slid into mine, and he pulled me to my feet while Nicholai assisted Annika. I rested my side into Adrik’s front and reached out for Annika’s hand. “I’ll freshen up, but please stay for dinner?”
I could feel Adrik’s gaze on me, but I kept my attention on his parents. Both smiled. Nicholai even seemed proud. He stood straighter and his smile grew.
“We would love that,” Annika replied.
“I’ll just need a moment,” I told them, and with Adrik’s hand in mine, I made my way to the bathroom. Only once we were in the abandoned living room, Adrik pulled me to a stop. Facing him, I looked up into his eyes.
“West, I never knew they were coming or what they would say.”
My heart leaped to my throat, but I pushed on my nerves and rested a hand to his chest. “I know. I… I didn’t expect that type of reaction.” I licked my suddenly dry lips and glanced to the side in thought before meeting Adrik’s intense gaze as he studied my face. “I believe it was good for me, though.”
His lips thinned. “Still, it should not have happened. Not from them.” His jaw clenched. Reaching up, I traced a thumb over his jaw.
“Don’t be angry with them.”
“They upset you. I will be angry with them.”
I smiled. “Not too angry then. I’d still like to have dinner and get to know them.” And by the end of the night, maybe my emotions would settle enough to actually get to know them. “Besides.” I shrugged. “It’ll be my first chance to have dinner with the Russian mafia.”
He laughed unexpectedly even as his eyes widened with shock before he quickly clamped his lips shut. But he chuckled once more. Leaning in, he kissed my jaw. “You are something else, moya lyubov’.”
Moya lyubov’. My stomach did a summersault and then tried the high beam. The other day I had Google translate those words and found out exactly what they meant.
My love.
All this time he had been calling me his love.
I dropped my head to his chest and damn swooned. “I’m a good something else, right?”
“Always.”
“Okay.”
Moya lyubov’.
I would never get bored of hearing those words slip from his lips. Not when he said it as though I was someone he wanted to worship.
Yeah, I couldn’t explain why he thought I was it for him, but I was starting to allow him to believe it because I wouldn’t want a day to go by without seeing Adrik in it.
Chapter Seventeen
West
Later that night, I lay in bed beside Adrik and watched him read from a new series we’d started. “Adrik,” I interrupted.
“Da?” He pressed a finger to the spot he was up to and looked down at me lying on my stomach. I hadn’t yet managed to rest on my back; it was still too tender.
“Your parents are amazing.”
He snorted, glancing to the door. “They are okay.” He was still frustrated they’d upset me. Even throughout dinner he was curt with them, which they ignored.
“You’re lucky to have them.”
His jaw clenched. “Most days.”
Reaching out, I rested my fingers against his hip. “Don’t be too mad, Adrik. Does it seem like I regret the choice they made? How they spoke to me?”
“Not yet.”
“What about I promise nothing they said or did will cause me any… damage?” Because I honestly didn’t think their actions would come back and bite me on the butt. They were tough, but in that moment, it was what I needed, and I didn’t even know that.
“You cannot promise such a thing.”
“I can and I will.”
His lips thinned. “We will see.”
All I could show him was how it didn’t negatively affect me like he thought. It would take time for him to believe it, but he would see. For now, a change of subject was needed. “Has there been any further development from the church?”
His nostrils flared. Shit, it probably wasn’t the best choice of topics.
“Nyet,” he clipped.
I blinked. My mind went to one point only. “So, it was only my… only them who did this to their child.”
Adrik moved. He put the book on the bedside table and slid down the bed to lie on his side facing me. “West,” he whispered.
I closed my eyes for a beat and shrugged, which twinged my back a little. Opening my eyes, I gave Adrik a sad smile. “I guess it’s good news.”
His fingers grazed my chin, neck and then rested against my jaw. My stomach somersaulted.
“Tell me about this job with Death.” It looked like it was his turn to change the subject.
I lifted my hand to wrap around his wrist. “In his security firm. In the surveillance rooms.”
He tapped his fingers against my jaw. “And this is something you want?”
“It’s a good job for now and pays well.”
“Are you done with Polished?”
I glanced away from his intense gaze, needing a moment to catch my breath. “I doubt the way I am would be good for clients.”
He gently pinched my chin, bringing my eyes back to his. “As long as you are speaking of what you have been through and not the scars you hold.”
“Adrik….”
“West, did I not tell you about when I first saw you? That I had to walk from you in that moment because you had made my lonely heart beat in a way it had never before.”
“Adrik,” I whispered, closing my eyes.
“You are beautiful. Even with your scars, moya lyubov’. One day you will believe me.”
My love.
Those words shot an extra pulse to my chest.
“You undo me, Adrik.”
“In a good way?”
Heat hit my face; Adrik chuckled and ran a finger over the globe of my cheek. I closed my eyes. “Yes.”
“I am glad, West, because you do the same to me. Ever since the first day.”
Meeting his gaze, I asked, “Would you eat ten chocolate muffins if I asked?”
Humor hit his face. He laughed and leaned in to kiss my chin. “For you, yes. I would risk my perfect physique for you.”
I groaned and tightened my hold on his wrist. “You remember that?”
“I do. I liked hearing you say it.”
“Your confidence is big enough. I shouldn’t have said anything.”
“But the way you blushed and bumbled around after was charming.”
“Stop,” I moaned, flushing.
“West?”
I glanced back at him. “Yeah?”
“In the next week, would you go to dinner with me?”
It sounded a lot like a date.
Did he mean a date?
He probably did since we already slept in the same bed for the past few weeks. It would be normal for two people to go on a date after that.
After he gave another gentle pinch to my chin, I slammed my eyes back onto his. “Do you mean… as in… we go on a date?”
His smile was wicked. “Da, moya lyubov’. A date.”
“Oh….” My body warmed at the thought of walking into a place with Adrik at my side so people knew he was with me. He was mine. And boy, did I want him to be mine in every way.