“Sure thing.”
I transfer ownership of the pup, smiling as Shay nuzzles his nose into his head before taking him into the dining room, where we have his bed set up.
Switching on the TV, I tuck my feet under my ass then hear the door close a few minutes later.
When the lock beeps ten minutes after that, I warn, “You better be called Maxim or you’re about to be torn apart by a team of guards.”
“Ignoring me,pchelka?”
“Hardly,” I dismiss, refusing to acknowledge the rush of pleasure his voice, hell, his presence, sends whirling through my system. “Did Conor give you the code?”
“He did.”
“I hope you had to pay through the nose for it.”
“What’s a favor among family?”
I grunt.
“I have a gift for you.”
“Is it your head on a platter?” I ask sweetly.
He clicks his tongue. “My head? So soon?”
“Better that than your dick, no?”
His chuckle has me fighting the quirking of my lips. “I admit I’ve been in a sour mood.”
“Being married to me is so hard?”
His Oxfords clip against the bare wood floor as he rounds the couch. Unlike Shay, who splatted against the cushions, Maxim takes a seat almost neatly. Then, he does that thing hot guys in suits tend to do—manspreads, one arm sliding along the back of the couch once he’s unfastened the few buttons on his sports coat.
Not that I’m looking at him.
At.
All.
“I reacted… petulantly.”
“To what?”
That’s the bitch of it! I don’t know what I did to annoy him. I wouldn’t have minded if it were intentional.
Jaw working, he scrapes a hand over his head. The signs of discomfort are so unusual to behold on a creature who perfected his mask before he reached the threshold of adulthood that I turn to face him.
When he mutters something in Latgalian, I grouse, “I’m going to learn that damn language just so you can’t say shit I don’t understand.”
“I believe you,kotik.”
“Is it so bad?” My voice drops, hurt leaching into the words.
“No.” He glances at the TV. “Yes. Not in the way you’re imagining.” Before I can prod him, he retrieves a cooler from the side of the couch. “Here.”
“Who?”
A smile dances on his lips. “Bordeau.”
