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“Girls always go to the bathroom together,” she replied matter of factly, as if this was a well-known ritual that I should be fully aware of.
Had I ever paid attention to any woman’s habits before? Who she went to the bathroom with? No, never.
I didn’t like it, but I was hard pressed to tell her she couldn’t go to the bathroom. My head started to ache from how hard I was scowling. I grabbed her chin. “Okay, but you be quick and do not get separated from Laney. Understand?”
She nodded her head. “Yes, I understand,” she said in such an obedient tone it made my dick jerk. Maybe I should escort them to the bathroom.
“I should go—” I started only to have Emmy put her hand over my mouth, all compliance fleeing from her expression.
“You should absolutely not come with us to the bathroom. That’s totally crazy.”
I shot a look at Laney who looked half shocked, half euphoric. “I think it’s sweet, if a little over the top, that he wants to be with you, Emmy.”
That was a slap in the face. Laney saw what I was doing as a romantic gesture. Is that how Emmy viewed it? Of course she did, I’d tried to kiss her twice. I stepped back, trying to reign in these controlling instincts that were rapidly getting out of control.
“Okay, go ahead. But be back in fifteen minutes. If it’s taking too long, text me.”
So much for reigning it in. Fortunately, I could chalk my behavior up to being watchful of Orlov instead of where I knew it was really coming from.
Emmy and Laney looked at each other and Laney started cackling. “Oh my god, Ivan, your overprotectiveness is kind of hot.”
Emmy wasn’t laughing. She was looking at me with intense curiosity. I didn’t even want to glance in Will’s direction.
But I couldn’t stop. “Remember—you do everything I say,” I reminded her.
Now she definitely understood why I was being this way. Her expression morphed from curious to provocative in the blink of an eye. She remembered how close we’d come to kissing when I’d first uttered those words to her.
She slowly walked up to me, pressing her hands on my chest. “I understand, Ivan,” she whispered seductively, then reached up and gave me a soft kiss on the mouth before walking away with Laney. Jesus Christ, what had I unleashed?
“What the fuck, Petrov?” Will blurted out after the girls had made their way toward the bathroom.
I scrubbed my hand down my face, considering how to respond to Will. He knew the job was acting like Emmy’s boyfriend, but it didn’t take a lot of fucking intelligence to see I was going far beyond what was required. Not that I would ever admit that.
“Acting,” I said.
He threw his head back and laughed in my face.
Chapter 15
Emmy
I loved Laney, but at the moment, I kind of wanted to kill her. Alcohol had loosened me up and made me less self-conscious about flirting with Ivan, less fearful of his rejection. I was shocked that my drunken seduction had actually been paying off. He’d been about to kiss me, until Laney dragged me to the bathroom.
“Ivan is so cute, Emmy. You’re so lucky,” she said in her usual upbeat way, but there was an unmistakable tinge of wistfulness reminding me of Drew’s shitty behavior.
“Hey, are you doing okay? I mean, considering everything with Drew.” I asked as we got into the bathroom line. We were fourth in line, which wasn’t great, but was better than I expected. They must have multiple bathrooms in this place.
She shrugged. “I’m okay, I guess. The alcohol is definitely helping. I just don’t know about him, Em. He’s so sweet and nice, but then this makes me doubt everything.”
“I’m so sorry, Lane,” I said.
“I’ve never had a guy act that way. Be mostly nice, then throw me these curve balls. Usually, it’s all curve balls,” she said jokingly. “He seems so close to perfect, but with this, I don’t know.”
I nodded. “I understand.”
She snorted. “How could you when you have Ivan? I can’t even get my boyfriend to show up at a frat party and yours doesn’t want to let you out of his sight to even go to the bathroom. Thank god I like you so much or I’d want to kill you out of jealousy.”
I laughed and shook my head. Delaney had no idea how wrong she was. “Believe me, we have our moments, too. And you seemed to be having a good time with Will.”
