“Morning,” he says, looking me over, brushing hair back from my face. He leans toward me and kisses my cheek. That brushing of his lips and the tickle of the scruff against my face send a tremor through me, and I remember what happened yesterday, what we did on my bedroom floor.
As if he, too, is remembering, he slides his hand down to cup my ass and squeezes.
I wince, remembering that too, and shove his arm away.
He grins, eyes gleaming. I can almost see the dirty thoughts going through his head as he grabs my ass again. “Still hurt?” he asks. Then he leans in and says more quietly, “I’ll have a look in a minute. Rub the tender spots.”
I push him away again and give him a glare. I walk to my son and put my hands on his shoulders. “Why didn’t you wake me up this morning?” Josh usually wakes me up at the crack of dawn on the weekends. I swear that kid can sleep in every weekday when he has to get up for school, but come the weekend, he’s up before the sun.
He shrugs a shoulder. “Lev said you were tired.”
“Did he?” I glance up at Lev to find his expression serious as he types something into his phone.
“We’re going on a plane, Mommy!” Josh cries out before shoving another spoonful of what is essentially sugar into his mouth.
“What are you talking about, silly?”
Lev’s dark eyes flash toward me, but a ding from his phone snares his attention again.
“Lev’s taking us on a trip.”
Lev puts his phone to his ear and walks into the other room. Again, he’s trying to keep his voice down, but I can’t understand what he’s saying anyway. He’s speaking in Russian.
“Done!” Josh announces and bounds off the chair as the opening song of one of his favorite cartoons comes on.
Leaving my coffee where it is, I follow Lev’s voice, which is coming from my bedroom. When I get there, I find him standing over my open purse, holding what I think is my driver’s license. My wallet lies on the bed beside the purse.
I see the flash of the camera, and a moment later, he tucks his phone into his back pocket.
“What are you doing?” I ask, taking my license from his hand and putting it back into my wallet.
“I needed your photo.”
“For what?”
“A new ID.” He checks the time on the clock beside the bed. “We should get going. Pack some things, just essentials.”
“What are you talking about? I’m not going anywhere, and neither is Josh, and you can’t tell him you’re taking him on a plane.”
He tilts his head to the side to study me, and I decide I hate that look. It’s the one that says you’ll do as you’re told without using any words at all.
Lev walks around me, closes and locks the door, then returns to take my arms. He gives the tiniest squeeze. I don’t miss its meaning.
“I’m going to say that again, Katerina. I need you to pack some things, just essentials. I already gathered Josh’s birth certificate and all your papers. When you’re finished with your things, pack what Josh needs. We can buy anything you forget later, but we leave within the hour.”
I shove his arms off. “I’m going to say this again, Lev,” I try for the same tone he just used with me. “I’m not going anywhere, and neither is Josh. You, however, are free to leave whenever you want.”
He grins like he’s humoring me. There’s that tilt of the head again. I want to tell him to go fuck himself, but I remember how that turned out the last time.
Lev steps closer, and I’d back up, but the bed is behind me, so I end up dropping into a seat. His grin widens, and he leans down, hands on either side of me on the bed so I have to lean uncomfortably backward.
His eyes roam my face, then down to where the nightie lies open against my chest, down over my belly to my bare thighs.
I look down too, see how high it’s ridden and swallow hard when his eyes, now darker, shift back to mine.
My heart races because I recognize that look, and it’s the one that makes my belly flutter.
Lev leans closer, makes a point of inhaling.
“I smell you,” he says in a whisper, the fingers of one hand brushing my inner thigh.
I make a sound as he leans closer, forcing me backward as his fingers rise higher and higher.
“And I bet you’re wet.”
He does that thing again where he brushes that scruff along my cheek, and I swallow, my legs opening of their own accord as his fingers come just inches from my core.
With his other hand, he pushes me to lie all the way back and straightens. I follow his gaze as he lifts my nightie up to my belly, his eyes on my exposed sex.