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“That was at your house. This isn’t your house.”
“It’s my building.”
“Okay, but this is also my office. We’re at work, not home, and you can’t dictate such things. You’re not my…” The words die on my tongue when his chin dips and he holds his glare on me.
“I’m not your what,malyshka?” he asks in that deceptively soft voice of his that I’ve learned is a warning.
“We’re at work,” I remind him again, not that it will really matter. A man like Roman doesn’t care where he is; when he has his mind set on something the location has no bearing on his decision to go forward.
“The rule is a rule everywhere. No breakfast. No coffee.” He takes a sip of it, and his face immediately screws up. “Fuck, Billie. Do you always use this much sugar?”
“I like it sweet.” The sugar helps almost as much as the caffeine.
“All the more reason you should eat breakfast before coffee.”
“I’m not going to stand here arguing with you about how much sugar I use or when I can drink coffee.”
“Good.” He nods. “Then you understand the rule. Breakfast, then coffee.”
“No, I just said I wasn’t going to argue it, not that I agreed to it.”
He brings the mug back to the coffee station I created and pours it into the trash can. Then he picks up the box of coffee pods.
“What are you doing?” I hurry over to him.
“I’m taking these. Since you won’t obey me on your own, I’ll just have to make sure you do.”
“Roman, you can’t.”
“You’re wrong.” He knuckles my chin until I move my gaze from my beloved coffee pods to his face. “I’m your daddy, and I can do anything that’s needed to keep you safe and healthy. Once you eat a meal, you can have more coffee. Not a second before.”
“I don’t think I like this.” I’m pouting. When Roman looks at me like that, when he talks the way he is, it’s so easy for me to slip into the safe place where I don’t have to act so grown up.
“Well, too bad.” He taps the tip of my nose.
A knock on the door interrupts me before I can argue any further with him.
“Come.” His voice ricochets off the walls.
The door opens and a large man enters.
“Roman, you’re here.” The man looks relieved to see him. When Roman steps forward to shake his hand, I get a better look at him.
My heart seizes in my chest, and I step closer to Roman, keeping myself behind him.
“Aleksei. The door is in the lobby, did you see it yet?”
“Yes. We’ll have it all fixed by the afternoon.”
“Good.” Roman glances over his shoulder at me. “Billie.”
His voice is enough to break my stare. I swallow the anxiety filling my throat and manage to move to his side.
“If you can give me the bill before you’re finished, I’d appreciate it,” I say.
Aleksei looks at me, rattles off several sentences in Russian to Roman, who answers him in the same quick speech.
“Of course,” Aleksei finally says to me.
