He opened his eyes and looked at me. “What did you think, princess?”
I opened my mouth, but nothing came out.
Nikolay laughed. “Oh, my. You naughty girl. Did you want me to fuck you, baby?”
I squirmed a little at the thought, and Nikolay laughed harder, his arms tightening around me.
I tried to push him off, but he pulled me in closer.
“I remember that one time when you told me no,” he said, his eyes glinting with something corrupt.
“Are you telling me no?” I asked.
That surprised me. It seemed like Nikolay always had sex on his mind. Or at least when it came to me. I pouted, not that it seemed to matter to him.
I decided right then, I was going to get us out of this little funk we had been in.
Everything seemed to be out of rhythm, and I didn’t like it one bit.
His amused green eyes took in my face before he said, “Hmmm,” that told me nothing about what or how he was feeling, just as he went back to closing his eyes. His hand came up and cupped the back of my head, pushing it down so I rested it on his chest. I listened to the steady strum of his heartbeat.
His hands glided down to rest on the small of my back, his fingers running aimlessly there, drawing indistinguishable shapes.
“Nikolay?”
“Just hold me, okay, princess? Just hold me like this. Everything just fucking quiets down when you’re around.”
It was the first time that I noticed how exhausted Nikolay was.
All of my men seemed so strong that I sometimes forgot that they were only human.
That they could tire from carrying so much weight.
I wrapped my arms around his waist and snuggled in closer to him.
Turning my head, I kissed his chest and felt his fingers pause in movements for a beat before picking back up again.
“Okay,” I said softly. “I’ll hold on to you for as long as you need me to.”
“Forever, then?”
I smiled into his chest and closed my eyes.
“Forever.”
* * *
The next day,I found myself sitting out on the couch in the quiet house.
Damien was off to pick up Gabriel from the airport, and Nikolay and Mikhail went to their warehouse to check onmerchandise.
I didn’t bother getting the details.
After a hectic morning with the boys, Linda and I took them out to the park. They were now napping in their room.
They didn’t usually nap during the daytime, but they were exhausted, and frankly, I was a little happy about the quiet time since Linda had gone off to the grocery store.
On top of being hired on as a nanny, she was also hired to cook our meals four times a week, which was a good thing because I didn’t cook, and I was getting a little tired of takeout food.