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He grabbed me exuberantly by both shoulders, shaking me hard for dramatic effect, and looked me in the eyes, “Dear God, YES.”
He let go and I happened to glance in Adrik’s direction. He and Ivan were both standing, like they were headed my way. I shook my head and smiled at them. Adrik nodded and sat down, but Ivan glared at Max while cracking his knuckles, which made me laugh even more.
“Max, you realize I have five trained killers over there watching your every move, right?”
He dropped the glass in his hand on the bar. Luckily, it was empty. “Um, no. I did not realize that.” He reached over and started to pet my head while looking at the guys and smiling awkwardly.
I swatted his hand away. “Keep that up and no wingman for you, which is a shame, really, because that brunette at the end of the bar in the blue shirt will give you her number if you smile at her one more time.”
“I’ll be right back,” he said, quickly turning in the brunette’s direction.
As he walked away, Adrik walked up to the bar and sat down, without me seeing him. One of Max’s fan club members noticed him and immediately moved next to him. When she got up to move, I looked up, seeing him at the bar. She sat next to him, her hand on his shoulder, and asked him if she could buy him a drink. He hadn’t taken his eyes off me. I got a glass and filled it with water, taking it to him. I set it down in front of him, looking at her. “He’s not much of a drinker.”
She gave me a funny look. He took the water, drank half of it, then set it back down. I picked it up and finished the rest of it. He never took his eyes off me. She looked at him, then to me, then back to him. She scoffed loudly and moved farther away from him, looking toward Max instead.
He winked at me and motioned for me to come around the bar to him. I happily obliged. He turned in his chair and opened his arms as I walked around the bar. I stepped in between his legs as his arms went around me.
“Are you having a good time, solnishko?” I nodded. He kissed my lips. “Good. But I missed you. It’s been too long since I kissed you. I needed to rectify that.”
I smiled, leaning in to kiss his lips again. His hands roamed over my back and my ass. “I won’t be much longer,” I said, peeking toward Max who was still talking to the brunette at the end of the bar. “Max is closing on tonight’s conquest as we speak. I’ll be forgotten soon,” I said, rolling my eyes.
“I’m happy you got to see your friend, but he is not a smart man, solnishko. Not if he chooses her over you,” he said, kissing me again. I smiled against his lips.
“I think we should leave. I’ll tell Max goodbye,” I said. I suddenly wanted nothing more than to be alone with Adrik, away from prying eyes.
“You’re sure? You can stay as long as you wish,” he said, raising an eyebrow.
“I’m positive. Give me a few minutes to say bye to him and we can go?”
“Your wish is my command, solnishko.”
I said my goodbyes to Max, promising to hang out with him outside of work soon. I walked toward the door, where all six men were waiting for me. Nothing awkward about this at all. I caught sight of Kim, still trying to get Adrik’s attention somehow. I decided to have some fun. I walked right up to him, kissing him passionately. He bent down and lifted me off the floor and walked out the door behind Viktor and Andrei, with the other three following us, his lips still on mine. When we got outside, he set me down, smiling down at me. “You’re a savage.”
“I mean, she had it coming. I saw her throwing herself at you all night,” I said, grabbing his hand as we walked through the parking lot. “But I also saw that you never looked at her.” I leaned into him, resting my head on his shoulder.
“Because you are my sun, Persephone.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Misha
Three Months Later
“Are we taking the usual route, Boss?” I asked Sephie as we both stretched for our morning run. Since I’d been running with her regularly now, I was able to keep up with her better. She was still faster than I was. I did make the mistake of testing that out a few weeks ago and I still regret it. I’m not sure my ego will ever recover.
“I think so. I like being able to see Mr. Turner at work on the way back here.”
“You got it. You’re sure you don’t want to eat something before we go?” I asked. She had been doing fasted cardio in the morning, trying to lose a few pounds. I didn’t see where those pounds were that she needed to lose, but I knew better than to argue with a woman over these matters.
“I’m sure. It’s not as bad as it sounds. And there’s that damn gala, ball, extravaganza thing coming up in a few weeks. I have to like wear a dress for that and I hate wearing dresses and being in public. Everyone stares. I’ll be damned if they can say I’m fat while they’re all staring at me.”
I laughed, shaking my head. I always found it funny that men were constantly trying to be bigger while women were constantly trying to be smaller.
“You will look great, gazelle. And just think about all the sandwiches from Vinny’s that you’ll be able to eat after it’s over.”
“Someone should warn that poor man. He’s going to go bankrupt feeding me after that event,” she said, a very serious look on her face. She could definitely pack the food away, especially for a girl. It was one of the things we all loved about her. She was always down for a food run whenever we got to stay with her. She always worked out with us too. She was practically one of us.
We finished stretching and set out on our usual route. Over the past couple of months, we’d all settled into somewhat of a routine. It was so much easier with her at the penthouse. We didn’t have to fight over who got to stay with her. We would take turns throughout the day and we each had found unique things that we did with her. I would run with her, Andrei was basically her trainer now, Ivan was teaching her how to drive defensively, Viktor was teaching her how to defend herself, and Stephen was teaching her how to shoot. She took an interest in each of us as an individual and at this point, she likely knew more about each of us than Adrik did, even though we’d been with him much longer. We all had demons from the past and in her own way, she was helping us deal with that. She was always there to make everything more fun.
