“Lunch. Drinks. Shark darts.”
Sean paused in pulling out the makings for a salad and looked at where Alexei lounged against the kitchen island, very obviously eyeing his ass. “Shark darts?”
Alexei waved his hand, the smirk on his face giving him a rakish air. “Shark darts. Is when pretend can’t hit target and have assholes think they better than you. Then kill at game.”
Sean laughed at the absurd idea of anyone being a better shot than Kyle, drinks or no drinks. Alexei was a close second, but if Kyle was in the mix, everyone else was taking second place. “Did you guys get kicked out of the bar? Start any fights?”
“No,” Alexei said smugly. “Win money though.”
“I bet you did,” Sean drawled. He straightened up with the food in his arms and moved to set it on the kitchen counter. “I’m making steaks for dinner. You hungry now or want to wait?”
Warm hands fit over his hips, pulling him back against Alexei’s body. Hot lips touched the side of his neck, sucking lightly on the skin there. He drew in a sharp breath, hands curling into fists against the counter.
“Eat whenever,” Alexei told him, nibbling at his throat.
Sean rolled his eyes. “That’s not helpful.”
“Make food, I eat it.”
“How about you help? Go set the table while I get things started.”
Alexei grumbled in Russian before reluctantly letting go of him. “Fine, fine. Will set table. Could just eat from pan.”
“You do, and I’ll tell your mother.”
Alexei raised his hands in mock surrender. “No, is good. You cook. We eat at table.”
Sean fought not to smile, but it was impossible when Alexei was like this—handsy and happy. Sean turned his attention back to the food spread out on the counter, realized he was missing the potatoes and other root vegetables, and started digging through the pantry for them.
Sean got to work chopping carrots, potatoes, shallots, squash, and brussels sprouts. The steaks wouldn’t take long on the grill pan he’d pulled out earlier, but he still needed to take them out of their packaging. He seasoned the vegetables in the pan before grabbing the bottle of cooking oil and drizzling it over the entire dish. Mixing it all together, he set the pan aside and went to preheat the oven.
Need to get the ring,he thought.
Barring a national emergency—which was a distinct possibility, considering their jobs—nothing was getting in the way of Sean proposing tonight. It’s why he’d opted to prepare dinner rather than make a reservation at their favorite steakhouse. He wasn’t risking dinner and his proposal getting ruined how breakfast had last week.
“Can you open a bottle of wine?” Sean asked on his way out of the kitchen. “I need to grab something.”
Alexei didn’t look up from where he was meticulously setting the rectangular table near the floor-to-ceiling plas-glass window wall. It offered up a nice view of more than just an adjacent building, but also some of the city skyline. No one could see in thanks to the integrated building security, but anyone in the apartment could see out.
“Da. Will open red one,” Alexei said.
Sean walked down the hallway to their bedroom, making sure to leave the door open since they rarely shut it while home. He entered their walk-in closet and zeroed in on the section holding his suit jackets. Their casual clothing was intermixed in the dresser in the bedroom, which meant he hadn’t been able to hide the ring box out there. Alexei left his side of the closet alone though, and the ring box was exactly where Sean had left it, tucked away inside the pocket of a plain black suit jacket.
He pulled it out and held it in his hand, feeling his heart beat a little quicker. It felt heavier than it should have, but the possibilities he held, wrapped up inside a thin band of gold and diamonds, were extraordinary. Sean never thought he’d get this—that he deserved a future like this—after living a lie for so many years. Deep cover was impossible to form and keep a relationship in, and Sean had honestly thought he’d be alone until he retired.
Then Belfast had happened, and his undercover work shifted into the MDF’s purview. Falling into Alexei’s orbit still felt like winning the lottery some days, a luck of the draw that Sean honestly thought he’d already won when he didn’t die from the Splice bomb in Belfast.
All that was left for him to do was ask a single question.
Sean tucked the ring box into his front pocket and headed back to the kitchen, where he put the vegetables into the oven and set the timer. Alexei had chosen a bottle of wine and poured out two glasses. He offered one to Sean on his way by, and he took it, taking a deep swallow.
“Good choice?” Alexei asked.
“Yes.”
The wine selection had been curated by Jamie when Sean had asked for suggestions. There wasn’t a bad bottle in the entire temperature-controlled case.
He set his glass on the kitchen island to free up his hands. He peeled open the plastic-wrapped steaks, setting them near the stove. The vegetables would take about twenty minutes while the steaks would take a couple minutes each, if that. Alexei liked his steak rare, and his was always the last to be cooked.
