Page 20 of My Ex’s Dad

I’m too busy eating to speak with her, but as we get through the food, I can’t help but observe how hungry she is. A woman with an honest-to-God appetite. Unafraid of carbs. It’s so strikingly different from any of the flings I’ve had since I divorced Elena twenty years ago. And I know this can’t be unique to Liliana just because she’s young. It’s just who she is. Unapologetically herself and not seeming to care that she’s with me, a man the entire city bends over backward to impress.

Fuck.

She’s getting to me, getting under my skin. All because she made us breakfast.

No, that’s not it.

It’s because she’s not expecting anything of me.

It’s because she’s so responsive to my touch and so sweet on my tongue.

Like she’s made for me.

Viktor strolls into the room, wide-eyed with comical surprise. “What is all this?” He looks at me.

“This is her masterpiece.” I gesture at Liliana.

“Masterpiece?” She rolls her eyes. “This is nothing.”

Viktor brings his incredulous gaze back to me.

“Don’t just stand there,” I tell him.

“Yeah. It’s getting cold.” Liliana stands to get a plate prepared for him. Not as though she’s a servant or cook, but a woman with the natural need to nurture and feed someone.

He sits and watches me with a silent question in his eyes.

I smile around another bite of food, knowing he’s got to be so shocked at this domesticity that feels like instinct.

She fusses with the coffee machine, muttering about it being too complicated, and Viktor gets up to point out what she’s doing wrong. While they manage that, I get a call and hate that I need to excuse myself.

I don’t plan to let this be the end. I have questions for her, ones I’m not doing a great job of talking myself out of asking. As the hours pass and I spend the bulk of my time in the office taking calls, I can’t shake the awareness that she’s here.

In the background.

In the kitchen, by the sounds of it.

When I pace past the open double doors of the office, I notice her on the phone. She looks agitated, and I catch myself before I care. Maybe she’s arranging car repairs back in the city. Maybe she’s listening to a voicemail. Whatever it is, I can’t let it be my business.

She crossed paths with me once.

One lapse in judgment, when we gave in to the attraction that flared up between us.

It doesn’t mean that anything needs to change.

Life will go back to the way it’s supposed to be.

As soon as the roads are clear, we’ll go back to our lives. Liliana will return to hers and I’ll resume mine. Normal days of working and managing an empire of wealth and sin.

As I picture it, sitting in my office and heading home each night after the grueling work of keeping the Bratva intact and prosperous, I war with the thought that it all sounds more daunting than the alternative. The peace and bliss I found here with her.

Forget it.

Forget about her.

I’ve never struggled to get over a woman before.

And I doubt that Liliana can end up being an outlier in that regard.