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The water was starting to cool so I hurried through the rest of my shower. It took James a couple seconds to pull himself together before he joined me, cleaning up. The water was cold when we finished and I wrapped the towel around me, my teeth chattering.
James wrapped himself around me, his warmth unaffected by the cold water. I looked at us through the mirror. He was my opposite in a lot of ways. He towered over me, he had muscles literally everywhere, and he was so confident. I was none of those things but he smiled at me and my insecurities melted away. Sometimes opposites attract, right?
ChapterTwenty-Two
I honestly forgotthat Yuri was waiting for me. James had his arms around me, nudging me into the kitchen when I finally remembered. They were all at the table, their focus on trying to get Gabi to eat something but when I sat down, Yuri narrowed his eyes.
“That was a long shower.”
Gabi jabbed him in the side with her elbow, scowling at him. “Shut up.”
Jo nodded, narrowing her eyes at him. She pointed at me. “She is the pregnancy whisperer. Don’t bug her.” At my confused look, Jo elaborated, ticking off things on her fingers. “You figured out how to get me to talk to Liam, you got me excited about having babies, you told Gabi about the medicine, and you got her to stop crying. For someone who doesn’t want kids, you sure know a lot.”
I shrugged, sighing happily as James set another cup of coffee in front of me. “I told you, a lot of my friends have kids. We’ve been friends for a long time, being around them while they were pregnant was a given. One of them almost gave birth at Comic Con, that would’ve been a first for me.” I snickered. It was a common conversation with all my friends and my parents, me having kids. It just wasn’t something I was interested in. I want to go back to Japan at one point, not be saddled down with babies.
Yuri shook his head. “You can’t get pregnant anyway, you need to tell me how to fix it when I accidentally make her cry again.”
Gabi narrowed her eyes at him and I laughed. “For one thing, stop acting like she needs to be fixed. It’s just hormones. You try building a person, I bet you’d be cranky and emotional too.”
Gabi stuck her tongue out at him and he grinned at her. “Maybe I will call my mama for advice. Has Dmitriy told her yet?”
Probably not, given how wide Gabi’s eyes became. I raised an eyebrow at Jo but she just shrugged. James dropped into the seat next to me, his eyes narrowed on Yuri.
“How do you plan to teach Elizabeth when you need to watch over Gabi? You can’t do both, Gabi’s not feeling well and shouldn’t be stuck here when you two are working.”
I couldn’t tell if Gabi was beaming at James because he was being thoughtful or because he easily changed the subject off her mother-in-law. He had a point but Yuri shook his head. “My brother said the same thing so Vlad is coming by to take over for me with Gabi. She’s nicer to him anyway.”
“That’s because he doesn’t tease me. And he teaches me Russian. You complain every time I ask you to tell me what something means,” she retorted.
Yuri made a face. “That’s because the shit you want me translating is dirty and I don’t want to know what my brother says to you.”
Gabi and Jo snickered. They seemed to enjoy tormenting Yuri. I would’ve thought pissing off a Russian mafia member would be a dumb idea but he obviously had a soft spot for Gabi and no matter how much she teased him, his eyes were soft. He frowned at me when he caught me staring.
“What?”
“Nothing. I just think she could get away with anything when it comes to you.”
Gabi looked surprised and jerked her attention to Yuri. He shrugged. “She is my sister, and she carries my niece or nephew. She is also my best friend and protects me from my brother. There is very little she could ask for that I would say no to.” Gabi’s eyes welled up again and Yuri shot me a panicked look. “What did I do now?”
“You made her happy. Hug her, she’ll be okay.”
He patted her back warily as she sobbed against him. His eyes kept darting towards the door. “If you see my brother, give me a warning... I don’t think I will survive this pregnancy.”
* * *
Vlad showedup before Gabi had a chance to collect herself and he looked like he wanted to strangle Yuri. He wouldn’t listen to anyone but James, who waited just a second longer than necessary to explain Gabi’s current mood. I think he enjoyed watching Yuri freak out.
Since Jo and Gabi were headed out to their appointment, Yuri and I moved to the library so he could start teaching me. Some of the stuff he explained was stuff I already knew. It wasn’t until he got to the coding part that I became a little more confused.
“Stop, stop. You’re going too fast. Explain that again.”
He frowned, glancing back at the laptop in his lap before shaking his head. “Maybe it is better if I show you.”
I nodded. My laptop and computer were destroyed but I took notes while he showed me about backdoors and loopholes. When he hacked into Liam’s security feed, my jaw dropped.
“Should you be able to do that?”
He shrugged. “Probably not. I’ll tell him later. After he’s spent some time with Jo. It’s better to tell him shit news when he’s in a good mood.”
