Chapter 26
My feet are never going to recover from this shopping excursion.
Elana links her arm through mine. “You should have gotten those boots.”
“For what?” I laugh as we make our way out of the last store.
We’ve spent the last three hours making our way through six gorgeous boutiques. At four of them, a saleswoman was already waiting for us. More specifically, they were waiting for me with a rack of clothes, shoes, bags, and accessories.
“To go with that dress you put back. You should have gotten that, too,” Elana laughs.
“Lev isn’t going to like you going home with only two new outfits.” Megan joins in with a mock stern look.
“He’ll live.” I climb into the back of the SUV waiting for us along with our armed security.
I’d been worried that people would look at us weird having the escort with us, but the women at the boutiques didn’t so much as glance at the men.
“He’s going to drag you back down here tomorrow and make you buy everything you put back,” Megan says, strapping herself in with the seatbelt. “I saw the sales ladies putting things on a rack that they rolled into the back room.”
“He’s not that crazy, is he?” We pull away from the last boutique and into traffic, inching our way through the afternoon mob of cars trying to get through the city’s shopping district.
Megan snorts. “If he’s anything like Alexander, he is.”
“He’s every bit as crazy as Alexander. It’s why they’re so close,” Elana says, scrolling through her messages.
“You’ve been on that phone all afternoon. What’s going on?” Megan leans forward from the back row to read over Elana’s shoulder.
Elana quickly twists to the side to hide screen, but it’s too late.
“Oh, god, Elana.” Megan whispers, sinking back into her seat.
“Don’t.” Elana warns her, twisting in her seat to face her. “Please. Don’t say anything.”
“What are you thinking?” Megan hisses, her eyes swinging to Alexander’s men. One is busy driving, and the other is scrolling through his own phone in the passenger seat.
Dimitri is driving in the car behind us.
“What’s going on?” I ask. “Megan? What’s wrong?”
“Don’t,” Elana whispers again.
“Your brother—”
“Isn’t going to find out.”
“What are you going to do? How will he never find out?” Megan demands, trying to keep her voice to a whisper.
“I’m trying to figure it all out. Just give me time,” Elana pleads.
I’m obviously on the outside of the conversation, so I slink back. But Megan grabs hold of my shoulder and squeezes.
“That man you saw her with at your store, was he Italian?” Megan asks.
Elana’s eyes are pleading with me, but I’m not sure what she wants me to hide.
“I…uh…”
“He was.” Megan gives a strong nod. “So, you were looking at wedding magazines with someone you don’t ever intend to tell your brothers about?”
“It was a fantasy, Megan.” Tears spring to Elana’s eyes. “Please, just give me some time.”
“I’m not sure there’s much time left. Not with the pressure from Alexander’s mother on top of everything else.” Megan’s shoulders drop. “What are you going to do?”
“I don’t know, but I have to do something, right?”
“Is there anything I can do to help?” I offer.
Elana shakes her head a little. “Don’t tell anyone, all right? Let me fix this.”
I glance at Megan. “The guy at the store…he’s the younger brother, am I right?”
She nods, then confirms in a soft voice to keep from being overheard, “Yeah. Tony DeAngelo.”
“Oh, Elana.”
She slinks lower in her seat, pressing her phone to her chest. “I know.”
The car comes to a stop, and we realize that we’ve made it across town and are parked in front of Lev’s building.
“Don’t say anything, all right?” Elana grabs my wrist.
“Of course I won’t,” I vow. I’ve kept bigger secrets before to keep my brothers safe. This isn’t any worse than that.
Elana reaches over and hugs me. “Thank you.”
My door opens and she releases me. Dmitri is already waiting for me, holding the front door open.
“Dmitri, can I ask you something?” I ask once the elevator door has shut.
“Sure.” He glances over his shoulder at me.
“Did the salespeople at those stores put things aside for Lev to purchase later?” I’m not sure he would really know that or not, but I’d rather be prepared when I face off with Lev about it.
“No.” He turns back around, a grin already forming on his lips. “They’re sending it all over tonight. Lev doesn’t have to go pick it up.”
“How can he do that? What if those things didn’t fit, or I didn’t like them?” I ask, the embers of a fire already ready to erupt inside me.
I’ve been too complacent. Let him have his way too often, the man is going to turn into a bulldozer if I let this keep up.
Dmitri lifts a shoulder. “You’ll have to ask him.”
“I’m going to,” I assure him as the elevator dings our arrival.
But then the doors slide open, and Lev stands there waiting for me. His hair is damp, like he’s just gotten out of the shower, and he’s wearing a dark gray T-shirt and a pair of jeans that hang loose around his waist. He’s not even wearing a belt, which is slightly—and weirdly— disappointing.
I need to find a thick patch of grass so I can touch it. Reality isn’t what it used to be.
“She wants to talk to you about something,” Dmitri says as he walks past Lev.
Lev arches his brow, taking me in with that steady gaze of his.
Good god, the man’s not even wearing socks. He’s standing there barefoot looking all degrees of sexy, and then there’s the lazy grin.
“What did you want to talk about?” He questions.
“Uh.” There was something very important I wanted to bring to his attention. Wasn’t there?
“How about you come out of the elevator. It helps to have a conversation when you’re inside the house.” He offers his hand to me, and I stare at it.
“Shopping!” I finally announce as I step out of the elevator.
“You wanted to talk about shopping?” He grins. “You have only bag?”
“Don’t act like you don’t know what you did.”
“What did I do?” He takes the single shopping bag from my hand and slides his fingers into mine.
“You bought things I didn’t ask for,” I start to argue.
He puts the bag down on the round table in the foyer and reaches for my coat. “I did. Yes.”
“You shouldn’t have.” I let him take my coat off and put it in the closet.
“Did you eat?” He questions, grabbing the bag from the table and picking up my hand again as he leads us toward the stairs.
“We had a late lunch. I’m not hungry, if that’s what you’re asking.” I let him pull me up the stairs to his set of rooms.
If I’d been told a month ago that I’d be coming home from a day of shopping at elite boutiques to a man like him, I would have laughed until I passed out. But here I am, being taken into this man’s suite of rooms.
By the look he gives me over his shoulder as he opens the door, I have no question as to what he has in mind for the evening.
“What did you buy?” he asks, dropping the shopping bag on the small couch and picking up the clothing inside to inspect.
Marion mewls when she notices me and runs from the special pillow Lev had brought in.
She has her own personal space here in the sitting room and another in the bedroom.
Though each night, she climbs into bed with us and curls up on the pillows between us.
More than once, I’ve woken up to find her snuggled into his side, with his hand resting on her.
I’m still not sure how he managed to win her over. But it’s obvious he performed the same magic act on me, as well.
“A pair of jeans and a black sweater.” I pick up Marion and settle into an armchair, rubbing her behind her ears.
“That’s it?” He quirks a brow and drops the clothing back into the bag. “That explains why there were so many deliveries.”
He turns his back on me and pads from the room to the bedroom. Bringing Marion with me, I follow him.
A tower of boxes stands as tall as me near the closet. Beside it is a full rack of clothes hanging, still wrapped in the garment bags.
“No.” I shake my head. “Absolutely not. I don’t need all this.” I thumb through the rack, recognizing the names of the shops.
“You do,” he says. “I’d like to take you out to dinner, and you’ll need something a bit more formal than what you own. Next week there’s a charity event I need to attend, and you’ll need a dress for that, as well.”
I stand shocked, staring at the amount of clothing in front of me. There are way too many pieces. “Lev, I don’t think I even tried all these things on today.”
“Some of it you didn’t.” He leans against the bed post, crossing his arms over his chest. The muscles in his forearms are visible, as well as the thick muscles in his neck when he tilts his head to the side.
I press my thighs together, refusing to let the extreme sexiness of this man derail me from this conversation.
“What is that?” I point to a black box on the dresser.
“Open it.” He gestures with his chin.
“I’m afraid to,” I admit. “It’s probably a diamond tiara, and I’m going to have to smash it over your stubborn head and ruin it.”
He laughs. “It’s not a tiara. And even if it was, you wouldn’t smash anything. I’d have you pinned down before you could try. And you’d be begging for mercy.”
Heat flashes in his eyes, and I know exactly what he’d do to make me beg. Or at least I have an idea. He could probably simply look at me this way for another moment and snap his fingers, and my body would respond.
I should be ashamed. Only weeks ago, I was ready to yank this man’s head off, taking almost everything he said as an insult. Now, I’m waiting for his command to strip out of my clothes.
“Open it, Max.” He pushes away from the bedpost and scoops Marion from my arms.
Immediately, she nuzzles into the underside of his chin. He squeezes his eyes shut and turns away from me, barely suppressing a sneeze.
“Bless you,” I laugh. “Is the big bad Lev Yakovlev getting a cold?”
He sniffs. “No. Now open it.” He points to the box.
Lifting the lid, I find five pairs of glasses inside neatly seated inside velvet casing.