Chapter 31
SERGEI
The furniture store was the last place I wanted to spend my Saturday afternoon, much less enjoy it.
I was there out of necessity because Leo deserved to sleep on a proper bed, and as long as we were there, why not pick out a few other pieces of furniture too?
On my own, it would have taken an hour, tops, to get everything I needed.
Yet somehow, three hours later, I was still trailing behind Leo through another massive showroom while he studied couches with the concentration of a surgeon preparing for a complicated operation.
We’d already picked out an eight-piece dining room set, rugs, lamps, a bed frame, and enough knick-knacks that I was beginning to understand why people hired interior designers instead of doing this themselves.
Apparently, furnishing a home required far more emotional investment than I had considered giving to the experience.
Especially when Leo got involved. He was precise about every pick as if he had already envisioned what my house would look like furnished, and nothing else was good enough.
I secretly liked how invested he was, though I was of little help.
He cared too much for a man who was thinking about backstabbing me with that SD card.
Maybe I was wrong, and he really hadn’t taken it.
Or if he truly had, he didn’t seem inclined to use the information, given he was still hanging around.
I could forgive him for taking it, especially since he was unlikely to crack the code, but if he did use it, we could never come back from that.
“What about this one?” I asked, pointing at a random beige sectional. If we didn’t choose something soon, we would miss our other appointment, which he still knew nothing about.
It was probably strange to buy a new car for a man who might very well be planning to betray me, but I hoped my sincerity would convince him to do the right thing. I loved him so damn much that I’d do whatever it took to keep him, even if everyone else thought I was a fool for it.
Leo wrinkled his nose as if I’d just offered him a fart. “I don’t think that fits the room at all.”
I barely refrained from reminding him that the room right now was empty. Anything would fit.
“It’s beige,” I pointed out. “Last time you said it needed to be beige.”
“Yes, but this is the wrong beige.”
I folded my arms across my chest and studied it harder as if that would somehow reveal its hidden flaws. “You said that about the last one, too.”
“Because that one was greige.”
I looked at him flatly, hiding how much I loved bickering with him like an old married couple. “That’s not a real word.”
“It absolutely is.”
“You made it up five minutes ago.”
Leo rolled his eyes and kept walking before I could continue arguing, though I caught the faint twitch near his mouth that signaled he was trying not to laugh. The sight of it warmed something stupidly soft in my chest.
The entire afternoon had felt strangely easy between us.
There was no tension hanging over our heads for once.
No discussions about Maxim, his dead husband, or all the ugly things constantly circling our lives.
Here, beneath warm lighting and surrounded by staged living rooms, we looked normal.
Just two men shopping for furniture together on a Saturday afternoon.
Nobody here knew I was carrying a gun under my jacket.
Nobody here knew Leo had once hated me.
And for a few hours, it almost felt like none of it existed.
I watched him move through another display setup, exhaustion lingering around the edges of his face after his long shift at the hospital.
He still looked tired, but lighter somehow.
Less guarded. Every now and then, he would absentmindedly brush against me while walking or point at another piece of furniture and ask my opinion before immediately ignoring whatever answer I gave him.
I didn’t mind. Actually, I liked following him around like this more than I should have.
Damn. Was this what it felt like to be…domesticated? And why didn’t it bother me?
“You know,” I said when he rejected another couch, “if this were up to me, we would’ve bought the first sofa we saw and been home two hours ago so you could rest.”
“I think after you showed me that horrendous brown leather couch that looked suspiciously like poop, we concluded you have no taste at all.” Leo glanced at me over his shoulder, his smile softening his words. “And that’s why I’m making the decisions.”
“I can make decisions too. We’re spending my money, aren’t we?”
He snorted, raised an eyebrow, then leaned in to whisper so the store clerk helping us out wouldn’t hear. “And? Let’s not forget you’ve had me fucking you on a mattress on the floor for the past couple of weeks. I’ll pick out whatever I want, and you’ll let me. Won’t you, dollface?”
My throat went dry, and I could only manage a nod as he walked off, looking quite smug.
I’d never cared much where I slept as long as it was secure, but Leo cared.
Not in a shallow way. He cared because comfort mattered to him.
Warmth mattered. Little details I’d spent most of my life overlooking entirely were important to him, and because they were, I wanted to take an interest in these things too.
“This is it.”
Leo slowed near another staged display and gestured toward a softer beige-colored sectional tucked next to a floor lamp.
The couch was large without being bulky, and upholstered in a soft, textured fabric.
The chaise was in an unusual shape, resembling a half-moon, and the deep cushions looked like they would swallow you whole if you sat down.
It appeared delicate, not at all like something I would have picked out for my home. But I loved it.
Leo walked toward it slowly before sitting down. “It’s a statement piece for sure. What do you think?”
I looked at him sitting there, the light spilling across his face softening his features that were usually tense in thought and worry. His sleeves were rolled halfway up his forearms, and he was way too damn attractive like that.
“It’s perfect,” I said.
A faint smile tugged at his mouth. “You didn’t even look at it.”
“I’m looking at what’s sitting on it. Doesn’t that count?”
That earned me a huff of irritation, and he rolled his eyes, though the slight flush creeping into his cheeks betrayed him. Nearby, the saleswoman suddenly became very interested in rearranging decorative candles.
“Be good,” Leo muttered, and patted the empty spot beside him. “Sit and test it properly. I know I said I would choose, but I want you to like it too.”
Fuck, I never want to let go of this side of him.
I moved toward him obediently enough, but instead of taking the empty cushion beside him, I lowered myself directly onto his lap and straddled him.
The couch dipped beneath our combined weight. Leo made a startled noise, his hands instinctively landing on my ass to support my weight before he realized what he was doing.
“Sergei,” he said in a warning tone.
I leaned into him and tucked my face into his neck as if we were in the privacy of our home and not in plain view of other shoppers.
But fuck, he’d been sweet to me all day.
At his worst, I was already hopelessly into him, and when he was like this?
All happy and shit? I was apparently whipped because no way in hell should I, the former head of the Morozov Bratva security and current brigadier, be sitting on another man’s lap in public, acting like a fucking kitten in heat.
“I’m doing exactly what you said,” I purred into his neck. “Testing the sofa.”
“Are you forgetting who you are?” he asked softly.
“When it comes to you, the only thing that matters is that I’m your man.”
He groaned, stammering out an apology to the salesperson, then squeezing my ass, as if that didn’t make matters worse.
“We’re in public!”
“So?” I lifted my head to find the blush in his cheeks had deepened. “The only thing I care about is whether this thing is sturdy enough to survive us having sex on it.”
Leo nearly shoved me off him. “Oh my God,” he hissed under his breath. “Get up!”
“But I’m evaluating durability. You’re the one who’ll be benefiting from fucking me through the couch, so technically I’m doing you a favor.”
“Sergei, for the love of all things unholy, be a good boy.” The warning in his tone only made this more entertaining. “Or I swear I’ll spank you so hard you won’t be able to appreciate the couch for days!”
Interesting.
My cock twitched at the promise of a spanking.
It didn’t help that, despite Leo’s words, I could feel the swell of his erection nudging my ass.
I was tempted to see how far I could push him, but we were beginning to draw attention from more than just the sales clerk.
The last thing I needed was a video of me sitting on Leo’s lap to circulate in public and get back to my enemies. Or even my subordinates.
I climbed off him with reluctance, inwardly annoyed because the couch actually was perfect. Leo rubbed a hand over his face like he regretted every decision that had led him here. The cool, stoic look I hated was back on his face.
But then he leaned in and kissed my cheek—a quick peck—which erased my annoyance. Leo turned to the saleswoman, leaving me too ridiculously happy to pretend otherwise.
“We’ll take it,” he said calmly as if we hadn’t damn near given a preview of what our nights were like to the entire store.
The woman smiled professionally, though amusement flickered across her face. “Excellent choice. Is there anything else, or is that it?”
“I believe that’s it. Can you guarantee us twenty-four-hour shipping and assembly?”
As Leo discussed delivery windows with the saleswoman, I found myself watching him more than listening.
For most of my life, I’d been the one handling problems, making arrangements, and ensuring everyone else was taken care of.
It had never occurred to me that someone might step in and do the same for me.
Even if it was only furniture and delivery dates, Leo approached it with the same quiet determination he brought to everything else.
It was a stupid thing to get emotional over, but that was the reason only Leo could be the one.
I was so deep in thought I didn’t realize what was happening until we were at the cashier’s desk and Leo pulled out his wallet.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
“Isn’t it obvious? Paying for the couch.” He took out his credit card, but I grabbed his elbow before he could hand it over to the cashier.
“It’s my house.”
“I know.”
“I can afford my own furniture.”
He sighed like I was being tedious. “I know that too.”
“Then why are you paying for it?”
Leo finally looked up at me fully, calm and completely unbothered by the argument already forming in my head. His quiet authority was one of the most attractive things about him. I found it irresistible.
“Because I want to,” he said. “Because of me, you bought a whole lot more things than you planned to, and I know you can afford it, but I want to do something for you too.”
“Leo—”
“Dollface.”
That voice hit me immediately. Soft enough not to draw attention from anyone nearby, but firm in a way that made my stomach tighten pleasantly. He knew well enough what that tone and that endearment did to me.
“You’re getting the couch,” he continued. “And I’m buying it. Stop arguing and be good.”
Be good.
Damn it. I never wanted to be so good for anyone else in my life.
I wanted to argue but, given our next stop, that could turn out badly if I didn’t allow him to do this. I dropped my hand and watched him pay for my luxury couch as if it didn’t cost an arm and a leg. He made a lot of money as a surgeon, but it was nowhere close to the kind of money I had.
“Thank you,” I said quietly.
“You’re welcome.”
Then he kissed me hard on the lips before accepting his receipt and his card from the cashier.