“Perfect! I gotta go grab flowers or else my Ma will wring my neck from the corner store. I’ll take the tiny one to help and give you time to dress up.” Jessie settled Isabella onto his shoulders comfortably before nodding toward the house for Katarina.
“Dress up?” she blanched, glancing down at her clothes suddenly self-consciously.
He snorted, “Don’t look at me like that, little momma, we both know you were thinking about changing clothes and how fast you could reapply lipstick. You got an hour. Ready, Bella?”
“Ready!” Her child cheered as she grabbed onto his horns by the base and proceeded to make loud motorcycle sounds. Katarina stood, frozen and befuddled, watching the pair trot off together toward the little grocery store a few blocks over. Her cheeks burned like she’d been pinched.How did he know?She smiled to herself giddily, like she’d been kissed on the cheek and given the princess treatment. Katarina rushed up the driveway to the house and threw herself inside.
Thankfully it was hair wash day that morning, so it was still bouncy and silky. She clipped it up and away from her face. Sera packed most of Katarina’s makeup, so she was able to apply concealer to her under eyes, fresh blush, a new layer of mascara and a neutral looking smokey look as well as her crimson lip stain. The stain meant she could eat all she wanted and her lips would stay ruby and precious. A busy mom’s best hack. No toddler hair in her lip gloss.
After a little deliberation, she pulled on her best jeans but a soft, loose sweater that fell over her shoulders to keep it mostly casual. Katarina toed into her plain ballet flats when she heard the front door open and close. Katarina escaped the bedroom, having decided to forgo jewelry, and ran smack into Nik’s chest.
He rumbled playfully at the contact. “Careful.”
“Woo, where’d you come from?” She gasped, taking a step back to put her feet back firmly on the ground.
“Outside?” he blurted out, jabbing a thumb over his shoulder.
Katarina blinked, “Right! Of course—you didn’t happen to see Jessie yet?”
“Nah, why?” Nik raised a brow.
“He’s kind of got my kid?” She confessed with a wheeze. Nik spun around, inspecting the house like it was suddenly quieter than he expected it to be. Katarina cleared her throat, bringing him back to look at her.We should probably talk about it? Right?“He invited me to family dinner.”
“Oh! Cool,” Nik nodded thoughtfully, slipping past her. “Tell Momma Bonesaw I said hi. Say no to the limoncello, trust me.”
“You’re cool with it?” she blurted out, whirling toward him with furrowed brows.
“It’s good dinner?” Nik shrugged in the doorway to his room.
“I meant…me going? Are you going?” She flapped her hands about as if she were suddenly panicking. Nik’s lips curled up behind his tusks. Her stomach twisted up into sheepish knots at the sight. He draped an arm against his doorframe, leaning into it like he was a born schmoozer. His charcoal colored fluff spread across the basic beige paint. Gray skin that crinkled around the eyes as he smirked at her.
“No, I’ve got something tonight.” He quickly glanced over his shoulder into the room, as if inspecting the time from his bedside alarm clock, before returning that smug attention back to her. “You have fun though.”
Katarina rocked back onto her heels, standing off balance and vulnerable. Somehow he’d ripped all that armor she’d worked so hard to build up with Gill…and all he did was smirk at her. The grumpy ‘I basically only use one word at a time’ mechanic just stripped her like a wax strip across her legs.
“You two are really okay with the sharing thing?” she blurted out.
“Yup!” Nik waggled his eyesbrow at her suggetively as he pushed off the doorframe.
“And you’re not jealous?” She stormed forward, grabbing him by the arm before he could duck into the room and disguise his disgust with her. Only…as Nik peered down at her, she found worry in his gaze. Not about family dinner or sharing or anything…he was worried with how hard her fingers curled around his arms. Concerned with how pained her voice was.
“Katarina,” his voice vibrated up through his chest. Nik put a hand over hers and plucked her panicked fingers from his forearm. He brought them to his lips before whispering hoarsely. “Everybody loves Jessie. I’d be a fool to be jealous.”
Katarina stared up at him, realizing he’d waxed himself too. While there she was, trauma induced panic, needing to see he wasn’t jealous, she didn’t even realize it wasn’t her he’d ever be jealous over. Her heart sank into her feet as she whispered, “How long?”
Nik scoffed, glancing away. She put a hand to his chin and redirected his gaze to her. His face softened immediately as the words came out raw and rough, “Since we were kids.”
“And all this time, you’ve just been—”
The front door cracked open and Jessie’s jovial voice bounced up the walls. “Oi! Little Momma! Time’s up.”
Katarina’s gaze darted between the stairs and Nik who snorted. He grabbed her by the hips and redirected her. With a quick pat to both ass cheeks, he pushed her out to the hall. “Go have fun. You’ve earned it,wicked thing.”
When she peeked over her shoulder, the bedroom door closed behind her and forced her to rush down the steps.Nik is in love with Jessie… Oh, poor thing.She couldn’t imagine pining for someone for forever and never telling them. Then again, it wasn’t her business. Whatever was going on between the boys, was between the boys. She wasn’t even supposed to be in the middle of their bed! But a girl’s gotta eat, and maybe Nik needed someone like her. Sometimes a stoic man needs a succubus to suck the soul out of him…and sometimes maybe he needs her to help him tell the boneheaded shop owner he’s been in love with him since they were kids.***
“MA…manicotti? Really!” Jessie huffed the second the three stepped through the back door to the two-story home. Behind the shop, through the graveyard, and along an endless wooden fence was a cozy home with blue shutters and cream paint on the outside. There were flower boxes on the windows and a row of well-trimmed hedges down the side of the house. Katarina wiped her flats off on the doormat seconds before the lovely but loud man in front of her announced his displeasure to his mother who so graciously invited the random lady she didn’t know (and said stranger’s kid) to dinner. A dinner that Katarina didn’t have to cook or help with in any way. She froze, watching Isabella wipe off her little shoes alongside her mothers with wide eyes.
“Jessie,” Katarina hissed finally, stepping into the doorway. Jessie stepped aside to let her in and motion at the table. The most picture perfect dining room table with a blue checkered cloth and several wooden chairs toting matching cushions lined it. A massive glass pan full of steaming, gooey manicotti sat at the center along with a basket of garlic bread, a bowl of salad all mixed up, and a bottle of wine to go in all the wine glasses along the tabletop. Her heart dropped into her feet as Katarina snatched Jessie by his foolish, floppy ears. He yowled lightly, cut off as she huffed under her breath into his ear. “Apologize, right now.”
