She didn’t know what any of that meant. Then again, her life since Mach moseyed in had been a great big bag of questions.
What was one more?
Chapter Nine
MACH
Mach loved havinga pool in the backyard. Loved having friends and family who enjoyed stopping by for a dip.
Honestly, he even liked Babushka and her crew using it for their classes.
But.
Babushka and her crew tended to somehow—and he didn’t understand how—manipulate him into doing things he’d rather not do.
Case in point? Last week, they’d made him and Hans participate in their water aerobics class. Mach had no idea how it’d happened. One second he was saying no, the next he was moving to the oldies.
"We’re going to want to get out now," he said. Dry land was always a safer bet with these ladies. Better footing and less likelihood of them convincing him to stay and entertain.
"We?" Darla asked, lifting an eyebrow. "I didn’t say that."
Her unwillingness to give him even an inch was cute as fuck. Turned him on in ways he’d never expected. But this wasn’t a time to be cute. This was a time to run.
"You said you wanted to get out." She got on him about it the second she stepped next to the pool and tossed around her endless supply of sass.
"You have a hankering to do water aerobics?" he asked.
"No." She shook her head, more adamant than he’d expect from a woman who wasn’t rushing out of the water.
He had to push his lips together to keep from grinning.
Not one inch.
He should’ve been exasperated. That was the logical feeling. Instead, he seriously considered staying in the pool and letting Babushka and her ladies do that manipulation thing that would end up keeping Darla there.
"These women scare you?" Darla asked.
"No," he assured. The feeling wasn’t fear. More like self-preservation.
"They don’t scare me, either," she announced. "All kinds of patients come into the emergency department. The only thing that scares me is lice."
"Then you are about to meet the second thing that will bring fear into the heart of even the strongest medical professionals."
"There’s no way that’s true." Her lips pressed into a wry line.
Then she was about to find out. "I guess we’re staying for class."
Darla shook her head. "I’m getting out." She stopped, apparently rolling that around in her head so loud he could practically hear the gears turning. "BecauseI want to, not because you suggested it."
Worked for him. Didn’t matter what mental gymnastics it took her to get to that point.
"Yup." He swam right over to the stairs because he wouldn’t argue when she made the solid choice. He also wouldn’t hang out, so she had the chance to change her mind.
Before he even got to the first step, Babushka sped up to get to them. That was the second the weight of being fucked took hold.
Babushka was a fixture in his life because she was a proud Ten and she and her crew of retirement home friends came to nearly all of their concerts when they were in town. Unless there was a bridge game. Or an under-the-table, high-stakes bingo game. Or a free movie playing at Regal.
"Vhat do ve have here?" Babushka asked in her thick Russian accent. She had a lime-green muumuu covering her swimwear and lightly tapped her fingertips together like some kind of evil cartoon.
