“Bigfoot totally exists,” Niko said, deadpan. “I saw him once in Oregon while I was on a backpacking trip.”
He loved the sound of her laughter. There’d been other women in his life. Of course there had. But very few had ever laughed with him the way Alicia did, and when you found someone who laughed with you that way, wasn’t that worth holding on to?
“I want to see you,” he said, before she could reply.
Alicia didn’t answer him for a second or so. “Of course you do.”
He stretched in the bed, pushing the blankets down to his ankles. He liked her answer. Confident. Sexy. She was different as a woman than she’d been as a girl, and Niko couldn’t get enough.
“I mean I want to see you now,” he said.
Again, she was quiet for a few seconds before answering. “You could come over here, you know. I live alone. But you’d have to be careful not to let Dina from next door see you. She’s always got an eye out.”
“Oh?” Her invitation had set his heart beating just a little faster, but he was going to pretend it hadn’t. “What about her?”
“She’s a stereotype. Unhappy housewife. Kids, dog, house, husband who travels.” Alicia paused. “I’m not sure, but I think she has a thing for Ilya.”
Niko grimaced. “Yikes.”
“Yeah. He’s never confirmed it with me. But . . . yeah.”
“So, I shouldn’t come over?” he asked.
She laughed again. “Nikolai, seriously. It’s almost one in the morning.”
“Dina won’t be watching,” he said, waiting to see if she’d invite him. Hoping.
“And I guess Galina and Ilya are sleeping?”
He thought for a moment. “I assume so. It’s quiet. He went to bed a few hours ago. She was out earlier. With friends, she said.”
“Is that hard to believe?”
“No. Maybe one of them can help her get a job,” he said.
Alicia chuckled. “That might help. Is money an issue again?”
“Not yet, and that’s the thing. I don’t know where she’s getting it,” Niko said, “but she seems to have enough, at least for now.”
A few beats of silence hung between them before she spoke again.
“What are you doing to me?” Alicia breathed. “What, Nikolai?”
“Whatever you want me to do to you,” he whispered in response. “What do you want?”
The sound of her breathing filled the phone. He waited, tense, already hard, for her to answer him. He wasn’t sure what he hoped she’d say.
“I want you to touch me.”
Six small words that made him shudder. He drew in a breath, his hand moving over his bare belly, feeling the ridges of muscle that would start disappearing soon if he didn’t start working out again. Lower, to the rising thickness of his erection. He gripped himself through his briefs.
“Where?” he asked.
“Everywhere.”
Niko arched a little into his own touch. “That’s a good start.”
Alicia laughed again, softly. “It’s late. I have to be up early in the morning. The bus to the airport leaves at five.”
“Ilya should handle all that. It’s his trip.”
“He gets to go on the trip. I get to handle all the last-minute details. That’s how it works. And it does work,” she put in, but if she was trying to convince him or herself, Niko couldn’t tell.
“So you’re saying good night?”
She groaned. “Ugh. Yes. No. Yes, I am. If I’m going to be tired in the morning, it’s going to be for real, full-on sex. Not phone sex.”
“I see,” Nikolai said. “So you’re telling me you want to have sex with me.”
This time, her laugh included a snort he found so endearing it made him put a hand to his chest to press against the suddenly swifter beating of his heart. She didn’t answer right away. It wasn’t a question that needed a real answer.
“Go to sleep,” she told him finally. “We’ll talk about this later.”
She disconnected before he could say anything else. He stretched in the darkness, the light on his phone going out, but in the last few seconds before it went black, he glimpsed a shadow at the top of the attic stairs. Startled, Niko dropped his phone onto the bed and sat up, running his hands over the blankets to find it.
“Shit, Ilya?”
“Yeah, sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you. I came to see if I could borrow that solar phone charger you showed me.” Ilya moved closer.
Niko’s eyes had adjusted enough so he could see. “Yeah, it’s on top of the dresser. You getting ready to head out soon?”
“Couple of hours. I’ll sleep on the bus. Can’t usually the night before a trip. Can I turn on the light?”
“Yeah, sure.”
The soft glow of the old dog-shaped lamp illuminated the top of the dresser. Ilya found the charger right away and held it up. “Thanks.”
“No problem. Hey, I wish I was heading off to Jamaica,” Niko joked.
Ilya turned. “Sounds like you have enough going on to keep you busy here, bro.”
Niko didn’t say anything. He hadn’t used Allie’s name . . . had he? Ilya held up the charger again and turned off the lamp.
“Have fun fixing our mother’s messes,” Ilya said.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
It wasn’t what Alicia had expected. She hadn’t really known what to expect, actually, but a room in the hotel on the far edge of town that catered to business travelers had not been on her list. It was good, though, she thought as she dropped her purse on the sofa. More than good. It was perfect.
“We don’t have to worry,” Nikolai said. “Not about your nosy neighbor or Galina or anyone else seeing us. Just you and me and this big old bed.”
She’d noticed that as soon as she’d come into the room, no doubt about it. But now she feigned innocence. “That one? There? That one?”
She’d been with guys who didn’t get her sense of humor, but even though she and Nikolai had surely had their share of conflicts over the years, there was never any question that he totally understood her jokes.
“Oh, yeah. That one.” He tipped his chin toward it. “You know. If you wanted to try it out.”
She burst into laughter, covering her face with her hand before peeking through her fingers at him. “So . . . are we really going to do this?”
“God, I hope so.” He moved to take her in his arms. “I really, really hope so.”
She should’ve felt more shy. Nervous? Guilt should certainly have poked its greasy head in there somewhere, too.
He didn’t kiss her, not at first. Instead, Nikolai stroked a hand over her hair. It was a familiar gesture, one he’d done many times, but even so, Alicia shivered at the touch and turned her face so she could touch her lips against his palm. They stayed that way for a moment, in silence. When he drew her closer so her cheek pressed to his chest, she closed her eyes and breathed him in as the beating of their hearts aligned.
“It’s always a little awkward,” Nikolai said after a minute. “The first time.”