"I suppose you expect me to say thank you for sending Vivian and Nikolai to rescue me from that den of iniquity."
His lips twitched at her description of the rowdy gay bar where she'd been partying. "No. I was simply worried about you. I heard all those men and I was terrified you would be taken advantage of or hurt."
"I don't think there was much chance of that. Now Ty?" She drank some of her coffee. "That's a different story."
"I didn't realize you were friends."
"My relationship with Ty is complicated."
"Like ours?" he asked the obvious question.
She stared down into her cup. "Do we have a relationship?"
"I was a complete jackass."
Her surprised gaze jumped to his face. She stirred her coffee. "Go on."
Amusement tugged at the corners of his mouth. "I should have called you personally. I should have told you that the negotiations were going badly and I needed to make an appearance at that charity gala to prove that I was serious about addressing the environmental concerns associated with the pipeline. I should have told you about Tanya."
"Yes, you should have, Yuri. You really should have told me you were going out with an old girlfriend."
"She means nothing to me, Lena. She's simply an ex-girlfriend with connections I needed to get the deal done."
"That's harsh."
"It's the truth."
"And me? Are you after me for my connections?"
"I'm only here for you, Yelena Cruz. Only you."
She ran her finger around the rim of her cup but didn't drink. "I was so humiliated. I just sat there waiting for you like some big dummy and you were off in Berlin having the time of your life with some rich, beautiful model girl." She made a disgusted sound and buried her face in her hands. "The people at the restaurant probably think I'm some psycho stalker with delusions of dating you after making them check the book and get me a table."
"Then we'll have to put in an appearance there later this week to prove that you're not a psycho stalker with delusions of dating me."
She frowned at him. "It's not funny, Yuri. You really hurt me."
The vise-like grip on his chest tightened. "I'm sorry. I never meant to hurt you. I never meant for you to feel like you weren't important to me." He reached across the table and grasped her hand. "Because you are important to me, Lena."
She stared at his hand. Eventually, she rotated her wrist and clasped his fingers. "This is your second chance, Yuri. Don't fuck it up because I won't give you a third."
"Understood."
She sipped her coffee. "Are you hungry?"
"Famished," he answered honestly. "I ran out of Berlin before sunrise and couldn't eat on the flight."
"God, now I feel so guilty."
"Why should you feel guilty? I'm the one who screwed everything up."
"Yeah, but I'm a terrible cook." She bit her plump lower lip. "You're famished and the best I can offer is, like, toast or a bowl of cereal."
"Cereal is fine."
"You're sure?"
"Positive."
She slid out of her seat. He let his hungry gaze roam the sloping plane of her belly as she reached up to grab cereal boxes from a high shelf in the small pantry. Her top rode up on her stomach and revealed more of her silky skin. He caught another tantalizing glimpse as she dragged down bowls. She carried her armload of boxes, milk and bowls to the table. When she came back with spoons, she smiled at him as he pushed aside the boring, bland bran cereal with raisins for the box with the cartoon captain emblazoned on the front.
"What?" He returned her grin.
"Vivian is always on my case about eating this sugary stuff but it's so addicting."
"When I was a kid, we dreamed about eating something other than thin oatmeal porridge." He shook the crispy, sweet cereal into his bowl. "The first time I had real money of my own, I gorged myself on so much junk food. I puked for an entire weekend."
She smiled at him with understanding. "I was raised on food stamps so junk food rarely made it into our grocery carts because the budget was so tight. It wasn't until later, after my dad got out of the pen and was working, that we had extra cash for luxuries like name-brand cereal."
Yuri splashed milk into his bowl. He didn't know if it was all right to ask about her father so he erred on the side of caution and didn't bring it up. They ate in silence for a few minutes. Finally, she said, "You can ask. I'm not embarrassed."
Yuri held her gaze. She had the most honest brown eyes he'd ever seen. "Why was he in prison?"
"Which time?"
"The first time?"
"Drug trafficking."
"And the second?"
"Gun buy gone wrong."
"And the third?"
She shook her head. "There wasn't a third time. He cleaned up his act. Well. Mostly."
"I see."
She laughed and dunked her spoon into her bowl. "Of all the guys I've dated, you're probably the only one who can even comprehend what it means to have someone you love in prison."
He thought of the gut-gnawing worry he'd experienced every time Ivan or Nikolai had gone inside for a stretch. "It's not easy."
"No, it's not."
"Do you see your father often?"
She nodded. "Once or twice a month, he takes me out for lunch or dinner. We're not as close as we were when I was in school but I guess that's just part of growing up."
"I wouldn't know." When she snorted with laughter, he clarified, "About the parent part, not the growing up part. I think I've mastered the growing up part."
Finished with her cereal, she pushed her bowl to the center of the table. "Did you ever look for your parents?" His head snapped up and her eyes widened. Instantly, she apologized. "Oh my God! I don't know why I asked that, Yuri. I'm sorry. Just forget I said something so insensitive."
"It's not insensitive. Honestly, I was simply surprised by the question. I haven't thought about my parents or who they might be in years. And, yes, I did look for them once. I didn't find any promising leads so I let it go. I didn't see how anything good could come from it."
She caressed his fingers. "I'm sorry."
He shrugged. "That's life. I can't complain. The orphanage was hell on earth but I survived and came out stronger on the other end. I wouldn't be where I am today without the experiences of my childhood."
"I suppose that's the positive outlook on your situation."
"It's the only one I'll indulge." He realized she hadn't said anything about her mother. "What about your mother? Does she live nearby?"
Lena's expression hardened. She stood and grabbed her empty bowl and his. With her back toward him, she said, "My mom walked out on us when I was nine. I tracked her down when I was seventeen but she was already dead."
The anguish in her voice cut him deeply. He was on his feet in the blink of an eye and crossing the kitchen. She still had her back to him as she rinsed the bowls in the sink. When he slid his arms around her waist, she stiffened. He dipped his head and kissed the side of her neck. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you."