I chuckle. “Well, maybe not all the time, but it’s an expression.”
“You don’t want to go?”
“Why don’t you take them to Disneyland in California? The weather is so much nicer.”
“We.”
“We what?”
“We will take them. I am not going without you.”
“Oh.” I frown. “But there’s going to be so much to do to set up the new house. We’ll need furniture, at least a few things like a couch and whatever. The kitchen will need to be set up. And then unpacking and?—”
“Stop.” He walks over and turns me by the shoulders, so I’m facing him. “If I take them anywhere, you’re coming too.”
“I just thought…I don’t know. Don’t you want to spend quality time with your parents?”
“I do not sleep with them,” he says quietly. “I can enjoy time with them and also with you.”
I pause, staring into his handsome face. “Do you, uh, enjoy spending time with me?”
“I do.”
“I like…spending time with you too.”
Why is it so hard to say these things?
Because we’re not supposed to.
This is just business.
I have to remember that.
“I was thinking,” he says after a moment. “You have sanctuary for birds, yes?”
“Yes.”
“My father loves birds. Maybe you take him tomorrow? I will be busy with hockey and he gets bored with the women.”
“Oh.” I hadn’t even considered showing them the farm or the sanctuary. “Yes, I can do that. I love spending time there. I figured you would all think it’s boring.”
“My mother and aunt, maybe. I do not know about Olga. But my father will love this.”
“Then I’ll take them.”
“Take my SUV tomorrow, so everyone is more comfortable. I can go to the arena with West.”
“Okay.”
“I wanted to thank you,” he says after a moment. “For how good you are with my family. I know they are…much to handle.”
“It’s been okay. I think Olga is resigned to the fact that she’s not here to meet her future husband but introducing her to Alexa was huge. She wants to be besties with Serena now.”
He snorts. “Soon she will leave and we forget about her.”
I smile. “We can’t forget about your parents, though.”
“No. My parents are not bad, just too much in my business. My mother more than my father. He is okay.”
