I filled my lungs with air, then expelled it with as much force as I could muster. What the hell had I expected from him? I’d brought him here. To a place that didn’t offeranything but a fuck on a mattress on a floor. No warmth. No comfort. No reason for someone like Leo to stay longer than he absolutely had to.
I should have made the place more presentable for him.
“Yeah,” I muttered under my breath, scrubbing a hand over the back of my neck. “Real inviting.”
My phone rang, the sound cutting through the quiet, and the device vibrated in my hand. For a split second, hope surged in my chest, but it wasn’t Leo. Maxim’s name flashed across the screen, and I deflated.
I answered anyway. “Yes?”
“You didn’t think to tell me what happened last night?”
He went straight to the point without preamble, and there was no room to pretend I didn’t know exactly what he was talking about.
I dragged my hand down my face slowly. “It was late. I was being considerate.”
“And you couldn’t have called first thing this morning?”
“I’m just getting out of bed,” I mumbled.
“What’s that?”
“I said I’m just getting out of bed,” I repeated louder.
“You’re always up by six. Did something happen? Are you hurt?”
His question should have been comforting that someone actually cared about me, but I already knew that about Maxim. When I’d been reckless in the past, he would always say that he saved my life, and if I wanted to thank him, I’d better stay alive. That was all he asked. And so for a while—years—I breathed only because Maxim expected me to.
For the first time, I longed to breathe for someone else.
“It was a long night,” I said with a sigh. “We should talk in person.”
There was a brief pause on the other end, and I could practically feel his irritation through the silence. “What’sgoing on with you, Sergei? I feel like you’ve been distracted lately.”
Because I am.
But that wasn’t something you admitted to your boss.
“I’ll send you the location of where to meet,” I said. It was a decoy address that actually meant the emergency facility we had. Only a few people in our organization knew about it, and only those directly involved in Maxim’s personal security.
“Fine. I don’t know what the hell is going on with you, Sergei, but you need to get your head in the game. This isn’t the time to be distracted.”
The call ended, and I lowered the phone, my grip lingering on it a second longer than necessary as the quiet settled back in around me. If Maxim noticed I was distracted, then this thing with Leo must be affecting me more than I’d thought.
The sound of the front door opening crept into the kitchen, and I held my breath. Unhurried footsteps shuffled in the emptiness. No one else but Jess knew about this place yet, which meant…
Leo.
He walked into the kitchen like nothing had happened, like he hadn’t left me alone in a bed that still smelled like him. He was wearing a pair of my joggers and one of my T-shirts. Paper bags hung from his hands, and he was already talking as he crossed the threshold.
“You don’t have anything worth eating in the fridge, and your pantry’s literally empty,” he said, emphasizing the word “literally” as he set the bags down on the counter with a soft rustle. “I checked. And please tell me you’re not the one drinking all that beer in the fridge? Because it’s not good?—”
I closed the distance between us before he could finish. My arms went around him, pulling him in tight, themovement instinctive and a little too forceful, but I couldn’t let go. He hadn’t run out on me again.
Leo froze, but not in a stiff, resistant kind of way. He seemed more surprised at the unexpected hug.
“Sergei, what’s going on?” he asked. “You’re squeezing the stuffing out of me.”
I laughed, the sound echoing in the empty kitchen. “I thought you left me again.”
