She pressed her hand to West’s arm. “Coming right up.”
“Touch him again and I will—”
“Thanks!” West shouted, startling her. When her smile dropped away at my glare, satisfaction filled me. She quickly walked away.
“Adrik—”
“She had no right to touch you.”
He smiled softly. “No, she didn’t, but I think she’s got the message now.”
I grunted and picked up my menu.
“Besides, the only person who is free to touch me is you.”
I glanced up to see West hide his face behind his own menu and knew color would be staining his cheeks.
Smiling, I said, “Good to know, moya lyubov’.”
“Anyway,” West drew out, “what looks good to you?”
“You,” I stated.
He coughed out a breath and glanced around, his blush deepening. “Adrik,” he scolded.
“I do not care who hears, West. I hid my life long enough. I will no more, not when it comes to you.”
Despite him biting his bottom lip, his smile was evident. “I… um, like that you don’t have to hide.”
“It was stupid of me to begin with since my parents are supportive. However, Russia is a very different place to here. It also helps I am no longer in the mafia.”
The waitress made an alarmed noise in the back of her throat. I had already heard her coming, another reason I mentioned the mafia. It was not something I would usually, since I had cut all ties to it, but it should not matter with one insignificant woman.
“Though I am still very connected to it,” I said and stared up at her. She gulped and placed our drinks on the table with shaky hands. West groaned and knocked the menu into his forehead a couple of times.
“A-Are you ready to order?” she asked with a curtsy.
“Nyet, give us more time.”
“Right away.” She curtsied again and quickly disappeared.
“I’m afraid you’ve scared her.”
“Good. It lets people know not to mess with us.”
He opened his mouth, then closed it.
I thinned my lips, concerned. “Do you not like the way I deal with things?”
He quickly shook his head and reached across the table to lay his hand on mine. “You be you and do whatever you want, because I’ll like you no matter.” He smiled and picked up the menu again. “I might act shocked, but in the end, it doesn’t faze me.”
My chest expanded once more over his words. No one had taken me for who I was. Until West.
It was his fault I was going to keep him.
“All right, I’m going to have the chicken and pumpkin risotto.” He nodded and placed his menu down on the table. “You?”
“Steak,” I replied, pushing my menu away from me. “Moya lyubov’?”
His smile was soft. “Yeah?” He picked up his glass.
“Where do you see yourself in five years?”
The glass paused against his lips before he regained his thoughts and took a sip. He cleared his throat and placed the glass back on the table. “Five years?”
I nodded. “Da.”
I sensed movement beside us and glanced there. The waitress was hesitant to approach. Good. “We are ready,” I told her.
She shifted closer. “Great, what would you both like?”
After we ordered, she quickly skuttled off like a scared mouse. It was never my intention to intimidate her. I would have let slide the smiles, but when she touched West, my body burned with anger.
West cleared his throat. “Are you looking at going back to work soon?”
I raised a brow. “Do not think I have forgotten you did not answer my question.”
He bit his bottom lip and shrugged. “I just need time to think about it and answer.”
“I will give you this time.”
He laughed. “Gosh, you are too kind.”
I smirked. “I know, and to answer your question, I will be back to work when you start at the security company.”
He played with his bottom lip, pinching it and driving me crazy. “Well, I guess I have held you up long enough.”
I flashed my eyes up to his and dipped my brows, confused. “But you have not. I attended to work during the day still.”
He smiled. “No, I mean, that we’ll be in different areas for work, so we won’t get to see each other as much as we do now.”
“I will have Death move his company close to my office.”
West snorted, laughed, and shook his head at me. “You’re unbelievable. You can’t do that.”
But I could. I would buy Death an office space if I had to. I rested my elbows on the table, my chin on one hand. “Do you not wish to see me in the evenings?”
His eyes flared. “No, that’s not what I meant.”
“So you like the sleeping arrangements?”
His cheeks pinked. “I do. Do you? I mean, if you think it’s too soon, I understand.”
“It is not I who is thinking of sleeping away from one another.”
“You don’t think this is all too soon then?”
“Do you?” I countered.
He shrugged, then shook his head. “I just worry that we’ll burn out.”
I sat back. “It is good then that we work apart during the day. But I would not like to sleep without you at my side, West. If this is something you do not wish to happen, please tell me.”
I doubted I would sleep if I did not have him close.
Time had been wasted when I’d fought my feelings for him to begin with, and I would regret it always. I did not want to waste any more time without West in my life.
“I… um…” His blush burned brighter. “I’d like to keep things as they are.”
“By sleeping at my side?”
“Yes,” he whispered.
“Good. We will talk about you moving in with me later.”
“Adrik, no… I can’t….” His mouth snapped shut. His brows dipped, and he stared down at his drink.
“It is something we are already doing, only at Lucas and Wreck’s house. I could do without seeing Wreck every night.”
“I was just thinking the same thing—not about Wreck, which I really don’t understand why you two can’t just get along. But I was thinking that we practically live with one another already.”
“Exactly. If you agree now, I will call Dimitri to send men to Lucas’s to collect your things.”
He chuckled, shaking his head again. “How about I stay at your place this weekend and see how things go? We can decide on Monday.”
“If you wish.” I already knew that come Monday, West would be moving in with me. But if he needed those days to get his mind around it, he had them.
“I’m going to slip to the restroom before our dinner gets here.” He stood and went to walk by, until I took hold of his wrist.
I tipped my head back and met his gaze. I held it until he grinned in understanding. He bent and briefly kissed me on the lips. It was enough.
While he was gone, I pulled out my phone to make a call.
“You do know I am not far away” was how Dimitri answered.
“Da. I need you to do something. Contact Death to see if he would move his business closer to my offices. If it is not something he wishes to do, look at selling the condo, and I will move closer to West. We will buy some clubs to run in that area.”