Niki groans. “Are you ready to leave now?”
Cindy laughs. “Don’t you dare. We still have dessert.”
“Did Sasha make that too,” Niki asks.
Sasha grins at his cousin. “I did, yeah.” When Cindy gets up to start clearing away plates, he grabs her waist and pulls her onto his lap. “What do you think you’re doing,krovinka?”
“Clearing the plates and grabbing dessert,” she says.
He nips at her neck and whispers something that makes my best friend blush. This time I don’t chance a look at Niki. I’m too afraid my face will reveal too much, that it will show how badly I wish I had something like this for myself. Instead of facing the gorgeous man across the table, I stand and start gathering plates.
When Cindy tries to stop me, I take her empty plate and say, “Sasha’s right. You don’t need to be doing all this. I’m more than capable of loading a dishwasher.”
She grins up at me. “Since when?”
“Since I accidentally put a cheap plastic bowl on the bottom rack of the dishwasher at the Kappa house and nearly set the place on fire. Miss Francis was furious,” I say with a laugh.
Niki stands and starts gathering the rest of the dishes. “Who’s Miss Francis?”
“She’s our house mom,” I tell him. “There’s a small apartment for her, and she takes her job very seriously.”
“Well, that’s good to hear,” he says. “I mean, it’s important you have good security.”
I laugh and shake my head while I walk to the kitchen counter. “No, she’s terrible at security. She’s more focused on teaching us how to do domestic things, that’s why she’d been so appalled at my inability to properly load a dishwasher. She made me practice loading it every night for two weeks. Believe me, I’ve got it down now.”
Turning on the sink, Niki starts giving the dishes a quick wash. “But she’s bad at security?”
I shrug and say, “I mean, we keep the doors locked at night.”
He doesn’t seem thrilled by that, but when he hands me a plate, I stack it right where it belongs.
“Very nice,” he says, eyeing my work and making me laugh. “Let’s see if you can handle this.”
He hands me several forks and a small saucer.
I scoff and say, “Child’s play,” before quickly putting them where they belong.
“Okay, now I’m really impressed,” he says.
“Good, remember this moment when you’re combing through George.”
“I will remember your exceptional dishwasher skills when I’m sifting through George’s poor, virus-addled remains,” he promises.
I put the last of the cups in and shut the door. “He might not be that bad,” I say, knowing that he most definitely is that bad and probably a thousand times worse.
“We’ll see soon enough,” Niki says before grabbing an apple pie off the counter while I get a tub of vanilla ice cream out of the freezer.
While we eat, I keep stealing quick looks at Niki. With Sasha it’s very easy to never forget that he’s in his family’s Bratva. With Niki, though, I have to keep reminding myself that he’s a verydangerous man who does very dangerous things. I don’t forget because he doesn’t look tough. He does. His build may not be as big as his cousin’s, but even in his hoodie, I can tell he’s lean and sculpted. He’s also well over six feet tall with enough tattoos to catch anyone’s eye. He looks the part, but there’s something about him that intrigues me, something that goes beyond what he looks like on the outside. Maybe it’s his quiet intensity, or the way he can sometimes look almost shy. Whatever it is, it makes me think he’d give the best hugs and would always make me feel like I’m safe. It’s ridiculous. I barely know him, but it’s there all the same.
After we’re all stuffed, and I realize it’s close to ten, I shoot Niki a quick look. “If it’s too late, we can do this some other time.”
The corner of his mouth twitches like I’ve said something funny before he says, “I usually stay up way later than this. It’s not a problem unless it’s keeping you up.”
“No, I’m good,” I quickly say, knowing I’d happily lose sleep if it lets me spend more time with him.
“Well, all right then,” he says, grabbing his messenger bag and slinging it across his chest. “I think it’s time I meet George.”
Chapter 3
