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Ok… so maybe Mishawasn’tlying… or he didn’t cook. Ever. Probably had a personal chef to go along with his personal shopper. And his personal driver. I wondered what other types of personal employees he had. Masseuse? Trainer? Lord only knew.
Whatwasclear from the state of the kitchen was that I’d need to pick up some groceries. At the very least some milk and cereal for the kids.
The lock on the front door turned a second later and I flinched, shoving my hands in my pockets like I was caught in the midst of doing something wrong.
Misha stepped inside and kicked the door shut behind him, carrying armfuls of paper bags and dodging a black and white dog at his feet. The Border Collie looped through the kitchen, sniffed my leg, and then barreled down the hallway toward the kids’ room.
“Good morning,” Misha murmured, walking into the kitchen. “Don’t mind Nadia. She’s harmless.”
“For some reason, I didn’t take you for a pet person.”
“There’s a lot you don’t know about me,” he replied, glancing at me as he set the bags on the counter, like he was waiting for me to ask.
I promptly changed the subject. “Groceries?”
“I figured if you’re going to be here for a while, you would need them. And the children will need lunches for school, no?”
“Stay here for a while?” I stared, watching him unload a jar of peanut butter and four different jams while waiting for him to continue. Had he seriously picked all of that out himself? Or was this Inessa’s doing? Was she a personal clothes shopperanda personal grocery shopper? “We’re not staying here for a while.”
He shot me a look, stacking the jars in a pull-out pantry next to the fridge. “I’ve seen your apartment, remember? You cannot take those children there.”
Crossing my arms over my chest, I tried not to be offended by that. I mean, he wasn’t wrong. That place was absolute shit, but beggars couldn’t be choosers. I still had to clear it with Lee, though.
“Unless you’re planning on returning to the house?” Misha straightened and looked at me, his brows raised.
“I mean, the kids have school, like you said… so, probably.” Not that the house was much better than my damn apartment. Plus there was always the risk Crystal would stumble her ass home and then what? We’d all live as one big, happy family? Yeah, fuck that.
“Of course. As long as the water is restored by then.”
“What? What are you talking about?”
“The water? It was shut off last night.”
Turning away from him, I swore under my breath and gripped the countertop, doing my damnedest not to lose my cool. Again. That explained why Bri would waste a bottle of water on Axel instead of dumping the nasty city water on him.
“You can stay here as long as you want,” Misha said, his voice right behind me.
I whirled and took an instinctive step back, hating the fact that I was still jumpy around him. “As soon as I get the water turned back on, we’ll be out of your hair.” I didn’t even want to think about how muchthatwas going to cost.
He cocked his head at me, blond brows furrowed. “I mean it. You can stay as long as you want. These days I’m usually at my penthouse.”
“Your penthouse?” Yeah, totally. Who wouldn’t want to crash in their luxury penthouse when they had a cozy little place like this to come home to?
He went back to putting groceries away as nonchalantly as ever. “You’re welcome to stay there, if you prefer. I merely thought the children would be more comfortable here. It feels more like a home than temporary lodging.”
“Stay in your penthouse? Yeah.Right.” I scoffed and rolled my eyes. He clearly had no experience with kids. Even the neat ones were messy. Kinda like dogs, which I was still surprised he had.
“I’m serious. I’m not attached to it.”
“If you don’t like your penthouse, why do you have one?”
“It’s an unfortunate necessity in my line of work.”
“Managing a bar?” I made a face at him, folding my arms over my chest. After everything Nolan had told me and everything I’d seen, there was no way that’s all he did but I wasn’t stupid enough to ask him outright how he made his money. It was right up there with asking about which team he played for, sexually speaking. Getting blown by Hayden didn’t necessarily mean anything. Plenty of my clients were “straight” too.
Misha shot another look at me before setting some deli meat and cheese inside the fridge. “Something like that.”
“I figured this is where you stashed your boy toys.”Why the fuck did I say that? Oh, right.Because I’m a complete asshole, particularly before noon with no coffee or cigarettes.Not to mention, my default mode was to be a dick, especially when people were trying to be nice. It was the easiest way to cut through the bullshit and find out what theyreallywanted from me.
