Her nostrils flared. “No. Not if my life depended on it.”
I whispered harshly—in Russian, “Fuck you.”
She blinked.
And I smiled and stated clearly in English, “Your loss.”
Sitting back in my chair, I pushed my glasses up and took another bite of my cereal. Daniil leaned over, wiping a bit of milk off my chin, his gaze hooded as he placed his lips to my ear, whispering in a purr, “I’m going to do something very special to you for learning my language. It sounds like sex rolling off your tongue. You have a natural talent for it.”
I grinned around a mouthful of Fruity Pebbles and kissed his cheek, smearing milk on him.
He leaned back, chuckling and wiping his cheek off. “Thank you, my sweet.”
“You’re welcome, my dear,” I mumbled, still grinning at him.
“Ugh,” Eva muttered. “Isn’t it enough that you two came in like that,” she waved her hand up and down at us, “but now you’re doing the whole mushy crap on top of it.”
I quickly wiped my mouth off and asked her honestly, when Daniil’s expression went stony, “Would you prefer us arguing? Your dad unhappy?”
Her lips thinned, and she glanced at her dad, but back to me, and slowly shook her head.
I shrugged. “Then let him be happy.” That was pretty simple logic to me.
Her lips stayed thinned, but this time she slowly nodded. “You’re right. I’m sorry.”
“No biggie,” I mumbled, holding my box of cereal out to her since I had seen her glancing at it. “Want some?”
She stared at me, and a slow, genuine smile lifted her lips. Not one placed there because her dad said to or because she found out I was pregnant. It was there because she wanted it there. “Yeah. Thanks.” She took the box from me and filled her bowl, stating, “For a pregnant crazy, you’re not bad.”
I chuckled around my food. “Thanks. I think.”
“What…Shit…Wait!” Grigori practically shouted across the table, snatching our attention. He was grabbing at something Ember had. “I gave you that yesterday! I thought you would open it in private!”
Ember held it at length. It was an envelope. She was giving him a stunned expression. And I could see why.
Grigori was frantic as he fumbled for the envelope.
She moved her arm, barely missing Grigori’s swipe. “I didn’t have time to open it yesterday.”
And then she turned her back on him, ripping the envelope and opening what looked like a blank, red card. And suddenly the lyrics toEverythingby Lifehouse blared over the silent table. Grigori stilled and closed his eyes. A quick blush stained his cheeks that Ember didn’t see because she was staring down at the card with her back still turned to him.
Oh. Oh, my. Grigori had been trying to—again—make up for his blunder with Brent and Cole. And this one was pretty damn mushy. I had heard Artur and Roman talking about his previous attempts. From food to jewelry to flowers. But…this one…
I glanced at Daniil, who was sitting back, trying to keep from smiling. His gaze caught mine, and his eyes were twinkling at me before he got better control and took his coffee, sipping at it and watching Ember stare at the card—stiff—and Grigori in his chair—blushing and stiff. I, on the other hand, leaned over the table and peeked where she held the card, seeing what she saw.
Nikki, who sitting next to her, asked, “When did you have black hair, Mommy?”
I was wondering the same thing because there was a picture taped to the inside of the card. It had her and Grigori, sitting on what appeared to be a white couch, their heads tilted in together and both smiling like idiots for the camera. But Ember’s hair was black and curly. Also, there was writing on the card that she appeared to be reading over and over again, but she glanced up, clearing her throat, saying to Nikki, “When you two were much smaller, I had black hair.” She ruffled Nikki’s hair. “You wouldn’t remember, though.”
Then, she turned slowly, staring at Grigori’s flushed face—at least he had opened his eyes by now. They stared at one another, Grigori not looking away even though he was clearly embarrassed. Ember whispered, “Back at you.” And then, she practically threw herself into his arms. He grunted but wrapped her up quickly enough in a tight embrace as Ember mumbled against his neck, “Where did you find that picture?”
Grigori tilted his face toward hers, puffing out a huge breath of air that had her straight, red hair shifting. It was like he inhaled her with his next breath in through his nose before he lowered his forehead to her hair, closing his eyes, his own hair falling down over his face, mumbling deeply, “I had everything brought to New York from Vegas a long time ago. I searched through some boxes and found it.” He paused and then whispered so quietly I was pretty sure no one down at the other end of the table could hear him even though they were silent, “I’m sorry, honey. I won’t do something that stupid again.”
Ember nodded and stayed where she was, and I could have sworn I heard her sniffing him.
Nikki asked, “Can I play the song again?”
“Yeah! It’s pretty!” Beth chimed in, sporting syrup and pink frosting around her mouth.
