“Exactly. Girls’ night it is.”
“What girls’ night?” I hear my dad ask before he walks in to join us. He stops to give me a big hug on the way to my mom and kisses my head. “Good to have you back,derevtse moyo.”
I grin at being calledmy little treein Russian. It’s the nickname he gave me when I was little, and I’ve always loved it. We’re surrounded by Sitka Spruces, and my parents love the forest as much as my brothers and I do, so much so that they named me after the large, beautiful trees.
Hugging him back, I say, “Thanks, Dad. It’s good to be back.”
After he lets me go, he grabs my mom and kisses her before smacking her ass and making her laugh. My parents are ridiculously in love, and even though my dad looks like the kindof guy who would make other men piss their pants, he’s never anything but sweet to his family. He raised his voice one time when I was five, and I’d immediately started crying. I think it broke his heart to see it, and he’s never been able to do it since. Lucky for him I’m an angel, or at the very least I could be a lot worse, but I choose not to be.
My mom fills him in on the future girls’ night plan while she finishes cutting potatoes and carrots. She side-eyes me when I open a bag of cookies, but doesn’t say anything. I’ve never once not been able to eat supper, so she knows I can be trusted to snack at will without it affecting anything. My dad grins and holds out his hand so I can fill it with cookies.
“You two are terrible,” my mom says, but when my dad holds one up to her lips, she opens up so he can slip it in.
“You’re so easy to corrupt,” my dad says with a laugh.
With her mouth full, she mumbles, “You know I can’t resist sugar.”
My dad mutters a quick, “Among other things,” that I pretend to not hear.
Grabbing another handful of cookies, I start to back out while I ask “Where are Misha and Yuri?”
“They should be back in a couple of hours,” my dad says, and then adds, “Work stuff.”
Knowing that’s as many details as I’m going to get, I tell them I’m going to clean up and unpack and then head down the hall. Nyx follows at my side, and once we’re in my room, I slip her a dog bone. She usually sleeps in bed with me, but I also have a large cushion for her by the window, and I’m relieved to see that’s the spot she’s chosen. I love her to pieces, but she slobbers like crazy when she’s eating and I’d rather not have that all over the bed.
While she chews, I toss my dirty clothes in the hamper, and as soon as I see my book at the bottom of the bag, I grab it andflip to the page I’d left off at. Without thinking, I sit down, and then hiss out a breath at the shock of pain that radiates along my backside.
“Goddammit, Allie,” I mutter as I flip over onto my stomach. Nyx lifts her amber eyes to mine and I say, “I may never forgive her for this. I’m not going to be able to sit down for days.”
She grunts her sympathy and then goes back to chewing. I drape myself over the mattress so I can read my book and reach out to scratch her butt. I’m dying to know how this book is going to end, and it doesn’t take long before I’m caught right back up into it. I stay in my happy place of sexy stalker men until I hear Misha’s deep voice and then Yuri’s laugh.
Nyx perks up and whines as she looks at me. She knows those voices and she knows what it means, so when I say, “Go see your brothers,” she gives a happy yelp and goes trotting out the door. Before I can haul myself off the bed, I hear three excited dogs greeting each other like it’s been weeks instead of hours.
“Hey, Sitka,” Yuri says as soon as he sees me.
I smile at my brother and then try to dodge Misha’s hand when he goes to mess up my hair. There’s no dodging my brother, though, and when he ruffles it into a tangly mess, he laughs and says, “Good to have you back, little sis. How was your trip?”
My hair is thick, and it’s a nightmare to try and keep it in line. For some reason, my brothers have always thought it’s hilarious to make it look like a rat’s nest.
“When are you gonna outgrow this?” I ask him.
The grin Misha gives me shows just a hint of the devil I know he can be. “Probably as soon as it stops bothering you.”
I sigh and very carefully start to use my fingers to untangle the dark strands that are now flying all over the place. While I do that, they grab a bag of chips and start munching. Yuri is four years older than me, and Misha is seven. I’ve been told Iwas a surprise pregnancy, but even if I was awhoopsiebaby, no one has ever made me feel like I was a mistake. Misha and Yuri might be a touch crazy, but aside from doing irritating shit like constantly messing my hair up, they’re the best brothers anyone could ever ask for.
I lean my hip against the counter while I keep working on my hair and ask, “How was work?”
“Fun,” Yuri says with a grin. My eyes are the same grey color as his, and right now his are lit up with amusement.
“Very,” Misha adds while holding his hand up. He wiggles his fingers, and I don’t need to get any closer to see the dried blood that’s still covering them.
Giving up on my hair, I toss it behind me and reach for a chip instead. “You better wash your hands. Mom will have a fit if she sees that, and Dad will be furious if you upset Mom.”
“Mom could never be mad at me,” he says with a grin, but he says it while walking over to the sink. Lathering his hands in soap, he starts to scrub while he adds, “Plus, she knows who taught me how to do this.”
“Yeah, but she doesn’t like to be reminded of how dangerous it is,” I say. “She worries.”
“She shouldn’t,” Yuri says. “We’re really good at what we do.”
