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He smiles guiltily. “It’s true what they say: smart women are sexy.”
I place my hand on his. “I appreciate the effort, but we can’t kick Konstantin out of his home every time we want a date night.”
“Please,” Misha scoffs, rolling his eyes. “Look at this place. It’s not a home.”
I have to agree with him there. As tasteful and beautiful as this penthouse is, it’s definitely not homey. It looks like a model apartment..
“I can’t imagine living here,” I muse out loud.
“Well, then I’m glad I moved out when I did.”
My mouth falls open. “Youlived here?”
“Not here, exactly. Across the hall. I put it on the market when I moved into the mansion. I lived here for a few years before that.”
I look around the space with new eyes. “Did it look like this?”
“Pretty much. It was just a place to sleep. I wasn’t interested in making it feel like mine.”
“What about when you… entertained?”
“I took business partners to clubs or restaurants. But if you mean women—”
“Obviously, I did, yes. That’s what we in the business call a ‘leading question.’” I circle a hand in the air to direct him to spit out the truth. “Now, out with it.”
He laughs. “I was a monk. Never even looked at a woman until I met you.” He gives me a lopsided smile that makes my heart melt and my center throb. Honestly, I feel sorry for all the women that have come before me.
None of them stood a chance.
“Fine. Keep your secrets.” I lift a bite of food to my mouth, then stop and put it back down. “Can I ask you kind of a weird question?”
He sets down his chopsticks. “Oh, boy. Let’s hear it.”
“Do you think you’ll miss it?”
“Miss what?”
“You know, like… going out on the town? Dirty dancing with hot strangers, flirting and drinking, sleeping with a different girl every night…”
“First of all,” he says, holding up a finger, “I never ‘dirty danced’ with anyone.”
“Misha, I’m serious.”
He takes my right hand and brings it to his lips. “No, my love, I don’t miss it. Nor will I ever.”
“How can you be so sure?” I know that my insecurities are on full display, but sometimes, that’s just how life goes. These days, I have too many feelings to keep them all to myself.
“Because even when I was out ‘on the town,’ as you put it, it was all empty.”
“You’re making it all sound so terrible, and yet I’m still burning up with jealousy.”
“I’m the one who should be jealous,” he says, squeezing my thigh beneath the counter. “I wasted my life on meaningless sex. You married your ex. Which tells me that, at least at one point in your life, you were in love with him.”
“Yes, I thought I loved him,” I agree. “But meeting you has forced me to question that.”
He arches a brow, disbelief in the quirk of his mouth. “Oh?”
“I’m not trying to spare your feelings; I’m being honest. What I feel for you is so much…bigger. It feels so much more intense, more all-consuming. I can’t stop thinking about you. I can’t stop fantasizing about you. Whenever we fight, it feels like I’m carrying around this giant weight. I can’t wait to make up. It never felt that way with Anthony.”
