7
Sadie
My phone lit up before I even had a chance to get back inside the house. An unknown number. “The last thing I wanted to do the first time I saw you again was fight. This is Mikhail, obviously.”
I rolled my eyes. Okay, so now he’d decided to communicate with me? “Don’t text while driving, Misha. We can talk at dinner.”
“It’s talk to text. And the Tesla’s doing the driving for me.”
I shuddered, thinking of his parents dying in the car wreck. It didn't matter if Mikhail had come off as a pompous jerk. I still cared about him — and I never wanted anything to happen to him. “Keep your hands on the wheel.”
“Is that something to add to my idiom list?”
“Literally keep your hands on the wheel, Misha. Don’t be an idiot.”
“Too late for that.”
I smiled. “I have to go. Three children, remember?”
“I’ll text you later,”he replied. “It was so goddamn good to see you, malysh.”
That word. Malysh. It made me shiver again — and not in a bad way. I slipped my phone into my pocket and tried to get on with my regularly scheduled life.
It didn’t work very well.
* * *
“You’re not smeared on the road somewhere between Smythe and Seattle, are you?”I typed later that night after everyone was asleep.
Mikhail’s reply was instant, like he had his phone in his hand and was just waiting for me to message him. “Safe and sound in my hotel.” He sent a photo, and I snorted quietly. He was wearing reading glasses that made him look, if possible, even sexier — all scholarly with that beard — and sitting at a desk.
“It’s late,”I typed back, hesitating a moment before sending a photo of myself ensconced in pillows.
“No rest for the wicked,”he sent back. “Should I be in bed too? Want to have phone sex?”
I sent an angry emoji even as I spluttered a soft laugh. “Behave yourself.”
“Sleep well.”
* * *
“Do you still need three alarms to wake up?”he texted the next morning as I was brushing my teeth. “Let this one be your final warning.”
I paused, the toothbrush clenched between my teeth, to reply. “Mom, here, remember? I don’t even need an alarm.”
“I’m impressed — and still in bed.”The photo this time was Mikhail in bed, sunlight filtering over his bare torso. My body reacted immediately, hot and clenching, at the sight. He’d done that on purpose.
Two could play that game.
I positioned my phone in the mirror, crossing my eyes as I opened my mouth to reveal a sea of foamy toothpaste. The resulting photo was so ridiculous I almost choked on laughter — and toothpaste — as I sent it.
Mikhail responded with several laughing emojis first. “You can’t distract me from those nipples. I want to kiss that tummy.”
I rinsed my mouth and studied the photo I’d sent him. Dammit. My nipples were hard enough to cut glass, and sure enough, there was a strip of bare skin visible at the bottom of my camisole. Trust Mikhail to immediately pinpoint the sexy parts of what was supposed to be just a silly picture.
“Get your mind out of the gutter,”I sent him, and tried to ignore how I felt in favor of getting ready for the day.
* * *