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“Remind me why I thought it would be a good idea to go back to school?”
He chuckled and snagged my waist as I walked by, yanking me against him. “Because you’re going to get the chance to help kids in a way that only you can.”
“It was way easier managing Delirium.” I frowned, staring off into space as I reconsidered my life choices. “I made a lot more money too. Didn’t work nearly as many hours as I’m going to have to being a counselor. Although the drunken assholes are probably on par with asshole kids, so we’ll call that a wash.”
“You’re not doing it for the money. Besides, I like having you home at night. And it’s good for the kids. Did Ezra finish his homework?”
I scoffed and rolled my eyes. “No. He still has a worksheet to do. I’m trying to get him to finish everything today so we don’t have to worry about it next week. It’s bad enough he’s already missing a couple of days, but whatever. Bri has a paper due, too, but I’m not worried about her. She’ll get it done before we leave.”
“You don’t look excited.” He touched my cheek, asking the question with that look alone.
“Oh, I’m definitely excited about a week in the Caribbean. I wish the cruise was two weeks. What I’m not excited about is sharing a cabin with those two.”
The bickering behind us reached a crescendo.
“Stop taking my pepperoni!” Bri yelled, to which Ezra laughed maniacally. “Just take it off the pizza still in the box!”
Misha smiled and slid his hands over my ass, pulling my pelvis against his. “Good thing I actually bookedtwostaterooms then.”
“Have I told you lately how much I fucking love you?” I stretched up on my toes, twining my arms around his neck and slanting my mouth against his. The second I felt his lips part, my tongue darted out to greet his, slipping against one another as soft as velvet. After all this time, he could still turn me to goo with just one kiss.
The TV host welcomed the audience back from a commercial break, signaling us to push away from each other. Misha offered me a conciliatory smile but I frowned anyway and grabbed the drinks from the counter.
Back into the living room, we distributed the drinks and heaps of napkins where appropriate. Plates, it turned out, were unnecessary. Bri was never messy and Ezra had already managed to pick off all of the pepperoni he could find but his actual slice of pizza remained untouched. Nadia, however, had her sights on it and I’m sure it would be gone as soon as she could snatch it off of Ezra’s napkin.
After we’d eaten and cleaned up, the kids bailed on the awards show, retreating to their rooms to do anything except sit and watch TV with their “parents,” which was fine by me. Sometimes we needed a break from them as much as they wanted one from us, although we tried to tone down the PDA whenever they were in the vicinity.
A little while later, the host finally got around to the part Misha was most interested in—Best Instrumental Composition.Notthe category I was expecting.
“Who is this guy again?” I asked as Misha shifted forward to the edge of the couch, his gaze glued to the TV. The camera panned to the different nominees, including the all-American golden boy whom the TV labeled as “Roan Sinclair.”
“You remember Sasha?”
I knew I made a face, so it was a good thing he wasn’t looking at me. “How could I forget?”
He shot me a look but softened it with a smile and a slight shake of his head. “That’s his lover, Roan. A brilliant musician.”
My gaze whipped back to the TV. “No shit?” I remembered Sasha was gay but I never pictured him with someone likethatguy. They looked like polar opposites. Roan was the poster child for the American ideal and Sasha was the Russian criminal prototype. But sure enough, when the camera backed up a little bit for the big announcement, there was the asshole himself in a designer suit that complemented Roan’s. I didn’t think I’d ever forgive him for shooting Misha, but Sashahadhelped him overthrow Sergei and take out Alonzo. So… I guess I could get over it. One day.
“The winner of this year’s Best Instrumental Composition is… Roan Sinclair for ‘A Siberian Sort of Love,’ performed by Roan Sinclair.”
Misha practically jumped off the couch, cheering. He forced himself to sit still again as Roan climbed the stage stairs and accepted his award before approaching the podium.
“Thank you,” Roan said with a nervous smile. “I am beyond honored to be up here tonight. Artists the world over will agree that creating something biographical is, well, terrifying.” He broke for a chuckle and the camera panned along the audience. “So thank you to my fellow musicians, my producers, and everyone else who came with me on this journey. Ya lyublyu tebya, Sasha.” He kissed his hand and extended it toward the audience again.
The camera immediately jumped to Sasha. As much as it pained me, I couldn’t help but smile at the look on his face. It was nothing short of pure love. He might have spent a lifetime hiding his sexuality but anyone who saw him at that moment would have never known. He looked like the happiest, proudest boyfriend on the planet. I mean, he wasstillan asshole, but who was I kidding? So was I. Yet somehow we found people who loved us in spite of it.
“What did he say?” I asked, even though I had a pretty good idea based on Sasha’s reaction. It was confirmed point two seconds later when I turned my gaze to Misha.
Misha blinked hard and exhaled a breath, shaking his head like he was snapping himself out of a daydream. “He said ‘I love you,’ in Russian. On national TV, to another man.”
I squeezed his hand gently, unsure what emotion he was feeling at the moment or what the appropriate response should be. He didn’t really talk about what it was like growing up in Soviet Russia but I’d done enough reading on my own to know it wasn’t a great environment for any LGBTQ person.
“I’m sure it’s hard for you to imagine, but the world Sasha and I are from? Not just Sergei and all of that…” Misha shook his head again, staring at nothing in particular. “But back home? That would haveneverhappened. Even today, even though things have improved, it wouldn’t happen. Roan has no idea what he’s done, what it means.
“When I first learned about them, I thought they were crazy,” Misha said with a bit of a laugh. “There’s no way they were supposed to work. But they do. They showed me that anything was possible, even for men like Sasha and I.
“I’ve done terrible things in my life, Marek, and I never thought I’d have even a sliver of the happiness that I do with you and the children. I didn’t think I deserved it after what I’d done and I certainly didn’t go looking for it. But then I found you.”
