When I come down, Sasha is already in the smaller dining room, but even there, it feels awkward to sit at a ten-person dinner table with just the two of us. “I offered for Giana and her husband to eat with us,” she says with a small frown as I walk in. “But she said it wasn’t ‘proper.’ So it’s just the two of us, it looks like.”
“Giana would never,” I tell her with a laugh, running my hand through my still sleep-tousled hair, which refuses to fall back into place despite my best efforts before coming down. “She’s very steeped in the old ways of doing things. There’s no chance she’d eat at the table with us.”
“I eat meals with Viktor and Caterina, and so do you,” Sasha protests. “It’s ridiculous.”
“I agree. But they do things differently–and I’m sure you know we’re more than just staff to them. You can’t pretend you don’t.”
“I guess so.” She purses her lips, leaning back in her chair. “It’s weird, eating in here like this.”
“I also agree with that.” I pause, tapping my fingers against the edge of the other side of the table. “Should we take dinner elsewhere?”
Sasha’s eyes brighten a little. “Where?”
“We could go to the theater room. That would be really scandalous,” I add with a smirk, and I see Sasha’s cheeks flush the tiniest bit, which in turn makes my heart thud in my chest. I hadn’t meant to create an innuendo of any kind–but lately, ever since we spent the night together, it feels like everything I say holds some weight or double meaning that I hadn’t meant for it to.
“Let’s do it,” she says decisively, standing and picking up the plate. I hadn’t even looked to see what Gianna had opted to serve tonight, but now I see sliced filet and a scoop of soft, creamy potatoes with some sort of rich, shallot-filled sauce poured over it and a medley of roasted vegetables next to it, along with several scallops in a small pool of butter. My stomach grumbles and Sasha laughs.
“I’m hungry, too,” she says, smirking at me. “Lead the way; I don’t know where we’re going.”
It feels almost like being a kid again, sneaking through the big house with our plates, watching out for any sign of Giana and her certain disapproval. I lead Sasha down a hall to one of the rooms, pushing the door open and letting her walk in first.
“This is the smaller theater room,” I explain to her. “Kind of like a den. The actual theater room is more like a movie theater–stadium seating, a huge screen, tables, and reclining seats. This one is a little cozier.”
As I flip on the lights, Sasha looks around the room, shaking her head as she takes it in. There’s a huge sectional couch with extra pieces that can be pushed into the center to turn it into more of a sofabed, a massive screen on one wall with various consoles stacked around it, shelves full of games and movies, and a retro-styled bar along one wall. “It’s the most modern room in the house, designed for my younger brother and me when we were kids. The consoles are probably pretty outdated, but there should be plenty of movies to pick from.”
She’s shaking her head, her other hand over her mouth as if she’s trying to stifle laughter, and I glare playfully at her. “What?”
“You do realize this is absolutely ridiculous, right?” Sasha presses her lips together, her eyes sparkling with humor. “Your entire house and everything around it is absolutely as obnoxious as it is gorgeous.”
“I do,” I assure her. “My parents were experts on how to both be extravagant and elegant at the same time. They would never have shown anyone this room, though. It was very embarrassing–and caused quite a fight between them, since my father thought it was frivolous. It really drove home for me, at least, that my mother did love us. She tried to give us some normalcy where she could.”
“Put like that, it’s sweet.” Sasha sets down her plate on the coffee table, walking to the shelf filled with movies. “What do you want to watch?”
I shrug. “Pick anything. I’ve probably seen most of them.”
She bends down, and I have to look away to avoid staring at her ass. She’s wearing a pair of yoga pants that cling to her in a way that I know is completely normal, but makes me feel obscene just looking at her. My mouth feels dry as I struggle to push the memory of how her perfect ass felt in my hands out of my head, and it takes everything in me not to go to her, to touch her again just like that.
The hardest thing is that I know if I did, she’d want it. She’d encourage it.
The only one stopping us is me.
“What about this one?” Sasha turns around, holding up a copy ofA Knight’s Tale.“I’ve never seen this.”
“We shoulddefinitelywatch that, then.” I sink down onto the couch, pulling the wide, heavy wooden coffee table closer. “And when we’re done with dinner, I’ll go get some of those bottles of wine I was telling you about.”
Sasha picks up her glass, sniffing it delicately. “Is this not from the estate?”
“Honestly? I don’t know what Giana picked to pair with dinner. It probably is. But you’ll want my curated selection, I’m sure.” I wink at her before I have a chance to think about what I’m doing and stop myself, and her cheeks flush a soft, rosy pink.
“That sounds perfect.” Sasha perches on the edge of the couch. “This is almost like a–”
She stops short, but I already know what she was close to saying.A date. And it is. It feels like the most natural segue into a second date for two people who knew each other prior–from a date at a ramen shop to a fancy dinner in front of an at-home movie screen. If I’d actuallybeenplanning a date with Sasha, I couldn’t have done better.
But of course, both of us know that this isn’t that. This is just us trying to get through our hiding out here the best we can, without banishing ourselves to lonely, opposite ends of the house.
For me, personally, it’s about trying to continue to protect Sasha, to be her friend and her confidant. It’s about being there for her, even if it’s not exactly in the way that either of us wants.
Sasha bites her lower lip, leaning forward to take a bite of her food as I get up to put the movie in and start it. For the next half-hour or so, we work our way through our meal in companionable silence, enjoying the movie.