He smirks and bends to kiss my lips. “I dare you to move in with me, Lexi.” He rubs his nose against mine.
I roll my eyes, trying to fake that I’m annoyed. “Okay.” I finally smile big. “I’ll move in with you.”
thirty-six
Kirby
“What time did you say your parents are going to be here?” I ask her as I take down the frames on top of her bed. It’s been two weeks since her meeting with Trent. He called by the time we touched down in LA, four hours after the meeting, to accept her terms. Forty minutes ago, she signed the documents and she is officially divorced. Something we celebrated by me dragging her to bed, before she stripped the sheets and threw them in the wash.
“They should be here any second.” She comes into the room wearing a pair of cutoff shorts and a white tank top. “Hey, I have to ask you something.”
“Yeah,” I say, taking down the second frame and placing it in the box.
“Every year my family has this big family vacation,” she explains, leaning against the doorjamb. “It’s usually in the summer when everyone is off.” I nod, going to the third frame. “This year they are going to Turks.”
“Oh fun.” I stop taking the frame off and look at her. “What’s going on?”
“I want to go,” she says and I laugh.
“Okay,” I say, not understanding.
“I didn’t go for ten years,” she starts to explain and I can feel her nervousness in the house.
“Baby.” She looks up at me finally. “Do you want to go without me? Either way, it’s fine.”
“No,” she refutes quickly, stepping into the bedroom. “That’s the thing, I want to go and I want you to come.”
“So we’ll go,” I state and then I laugh. “Is that what you’re nervous about? Me going on your family vacation?”
“Well, I didn’t know if you wanted to go or not, and I didn’t want to go by myself.”
“Lexi,” I say, going for the third frame, “if there are get-togethers and I can go too, great. But if there are things I can’t go to and you can still go to them, I want you to go to them.” I look over at her. “If I can’t go because of a game, I wouldn’t want you to be stopped from going.”
“Really?” she asks and then the doorbell rings.
“Really.” I put the frame down and she turns to walk out of the room and toward the front door.
I step out into the living room at the same time her father lets her go and we share a nod before he comes into the living room. I take a step to him and extend my hand. “Good to see you, Mr. Petrov,” I say and he looks at me, not saying a word and then looks around the room.
Zoe steps in. “Kirby,” she says my name with a smile on her face and comes to give me a hug.
“What is going on here?” Viktor snaps, looking at the packing boxes.
“Well,” Lexi starts, coming to stand next to me, “that is why we asked you to come over here. Can I get you anything to drink?” She tries to keep it casual, looking at her mother, who is waiting for Viktor to say something.
“No,” Viktor snaps. “What is all this?”
“I’m moving out,” she tells them as she puts her hand in mine. “I signed the divorce papers today, so I’m officially Lexi Petrov.”
“You were always Lexi Petrov.” Viktor glares at her.
“I was, but then I had a mental judgment lapse and then I was that other name.” She laughs. “But now I’m officially a Petrov again. Legally.” She looks up at me. “And Kirby asked me to move in with him.”
“And you said yes,” Viktor surmises and I inhale, trying to keep my cool, since he is her father. “Is that”—he looks at his wife—“wise?”
Lexi wraps her arm around my waist. “Well, I love him and he loves me, so it was either that or get married.”
“What?” I yelp out. “No.” I look at her father. “That was not how it went.”
