The one and only thing I wasn’t totally surprised by was the fact that I was 99.9 percent sure Lacey, the white Frenchie, didn’t like me. She watched me every time we made eye contact with each other and just glared the whole time. I liked her. She was smart to not be sure what to think of me.
By the time he got back home, I had already looked through his entire house. Opening up drawers and cabinets I had no business looking in, but not even feeling a little bit bad about it. He knew me well enough. He had to expect it. And if he didn’t, then it was his fault for being so trusting.
My fever had kicked back in again at some point while I’d been snooping, and I headed back to the guest room to nap while he took the dogs—and the pig—out. It wasn’t until almost six o’clock that something wet nudged at my face and woke me up. It was the pink pig sitting on my chest, with Ivan standing off to the side of the bed, watching me, while he held his huge bunny in one arm.
“What?” I croaked, reaching to stroke the piglet like I’d pet one a thousand times before and this was nothing new.
Those gray-blue eyes remained on my face as he said, “You almost look sweet when you’re sleeping.”
I blinked.
“I said almost.”
Still petting the pig and not sure if I was doing it correctly, I gave Ivan a wary look as his own hand brushed through his bunny’s coat. “Why are you standing there watching me, creep?”
Ivan’s gaze had moved to the piggy when he replied, “I came to wake you up. We’re going to dinner at my parents’ house. Get dressed.”
“I don’t feel very good.”
“All we’re doing is eating. You can sit there for an hour. My mom has been worried about you.”
Shit.
“I don’t want to get them sick.” Which was true. I didn’t. The Lukov’s had always been nothing but wonderful to me. Genuinely. They were rich—wealthy, if you wanted to be exact—and came from a bloodline that had probably married Russian royalty at some point, according to Karina, but they were some of the kindest and most well-mannered people I had ever met.
That and they gave me a huge discount on my LC fees. As in 90 percent off. All I’d had to pay for almost the last ten years was pretty much just my coaching and choreography fees. They’d insisted.
“They’ll be fine,” he said, still standing there, holding his rabbit like it was second nature. “And it’s Father’s Day. I want to see my dad.”
It was Father’s Day?
“What? You didn’t know?” Ivan asked, reading my mind.
I’d been so busy over the last month and hadn’t gotten a chance to watch any live television…. “No. I didn’t.”
His eyebrows bunched together. “You want to call your dad first?”
I didn’t hesitate to shake my head, even though it still felt weak and wobbly. Heavy.
“You’re sure?”
“I’m sure.” It wasn’t like he’d care if I contacted him or not. He probably wouldn’t even notice.
But…
Be better.
Maybe that was the point. I could at least send him a text. Be better.
Remind him I was his, regardless of whether that disappointed him or not.
“I’ll send him a text on the way,” I told Ivan with a shrug. He was probably off with his step-kids doing something fun. This funny fucking feeling swam around in my stomach for a second, but I shoved it away. Far away. “I’ll send my brother and Aaron one too.”
“You’ll come then?”
For Mr. Lukov, I would. Even though I still felt like a giant butthole. He’d said an hour. I could make it an hour at their house.
His nod took a moment, but it finally came at the same time his gaze shifted to me and the piggy that had walked up to cuddle against my neck, then he smiled. “She’ll take a shower with you if you let her.”
The little creature gave two soft snorts into my skin, and I felt my heart give this tiny tingle. “She will?”
He might have nodded, but all I heard was, “Uh-huh.”
“Do you care?”
I glanced up that time to find his gaze hadn’t moved anywhere. “No.”
And just like that, despite feeling like I’d gotten half my energy sucked out of me and the headache that hadn’t gone away, I sat up, kicked the sheet off my legs, set Charlotte back on the bed before I swung my legs to the side and got up.
“If your head still hurts, I left painkillers on the table beside your bed,” Ivan let me know.
I managed a nod, then grabbed the pills, dropping them in my mouth and swallowing them with what was left of the water in the glass beside the bed. And it wasn’t until I was swallowing them, that I realized he’d brought them to me.
I glanced at Ivan, who hadn’t moved from his spot standing beside the bed with his rabbit, less than two feet away from me, and said, the words coming out easier than they ever had before, “Thank you.”
He didn’t look surprised… but he did just… look. As he held that freaking giant bunny.
One shower minus Charlotte, the most unenthusiastic three minutes of my life getting dressed, another glass of water, and a short drive later, we were pulling up to his parents’ house. And I was ready to take another nap.
The house was in a gated community in south Houston set up on a couple of acres that separated each mansion from one another. The Lukov’s lived in a six-thousand-square-foot stucco and tile-roofed monstrosity with an infinity pool that Karina and I had spent a lot of time in during our teenage years. Well, not a lot of time, but more than I spent just about anywhere else that wasn’t school, the LC, or home.
Ivan pulled his car into the winding driveway leading to the back of the house and parked it just outside the oversized four-car garage. I let out a tired breath as we got out and headed toward the back door that I’d always gone through in the past. Ivan opened it using a key, and I finally took the time to take in the button-down shirt he had on tucked into fitted gray pants that I had a feeling were custom-made, because there was no way his bubble butt could fit into anything that didn’t stretch, and black leather shoes that almost looked like boots. Then I looked down at the fitted T-shirt and leggings I’d put on, and shrugged inside. The Lukovs had seen me in worse. They knew I wasn’t feeling well. It wasn’t like I was meeting my new boyfriend’s parents.
Not that that had ever happened. I’d dated a little before I switched to pairs, but every guy I went out with turned out to be a dick by the second date. There had only been one guy I’d seen for a few months, but I couldn’t remember what he looked like anymore.
“Hello?” Ivan called out the second he was inside the kitchen that the door led into.
I closed the door behind us, leaning against it for a moment when exhaustion hit me hard once more. The kitchen was the same as the last time I’d seen it, almost… a year ago. The last time I’d come over was for Karina’s last birthday, and that had been right after Paul’s bitch ass bailed on me. Then she had left for another year of medical school, and now we were here.
“Living room!” Mrs. Lukov’s voice called out.
Ivan glanced at me over his shoulder and frowned. “You all right?”
I nodded, and even that seemed like it took too much energy.
He must have read it on my face because he frowned. “We should have stayed home.”
“I’ll be fine,” I said, pushing away from the door.
He didn’t look like he believed me, but he didn’t say anything either as I walked toward him.
Instead, Ivan held out his hand, and I didn’t think much of it as I slipped my hand into his and leaned into his side without thinking about it. I was used to it, I could tell myself. I was used to being right up against him. It felt more natural than it should have.
“You’re feeling that bad again?” he asked gently, taking my weight without a complaint.
I shook my head against his shoulder. “Just tired.”
His hand squeezed mine. “Want some more water?”
“I’m okay.”
He “hmmed” before asking, “What hurts?”
I swallowed and closed my eyes for a moment. “Everything.”
There was no hesitation as Ivan asked, “Want a hug? You liked that before.”