Eleven #3
She scoffed. “No. She has no income. My aunts used to send her money, but those days are over. I send what I can. My mother will find work and help out, but, with Mira sick, it’s a struggle. He always collects his debts one way or another though. I know they aren’t being honest with me.”
He shifted in his seat to face her. “What do you mean?”
“I think he’s been giving them more money lately.
I told them not to take anything from him.
” She shook her head, clearly annoyed with the situation.
“My mother shouldn’t have come to the States.
She should have stayed here and kept an eye on things, but the money is better in America.
She sent what she could, but who knows what happens here when we’re not around. ”
“That man thinks you’re going to marry him over a family debt?”
What year was this? He couldn’t stop replaying the entitled way he went at Nadia and how … undisturbed her family appeared by his actions.
“I don’t care what he thinks. My answer’s been the same since I was thirteen. People cannot buy wives.”
“How much money has he given your family?”
“I don’t know. They don’t tell me those things. They just tell me they need more and I send it.”
“You send them money too?”
“Money, clothes, whatever I can, but I haven’t been able to for some time. The yard looks like hell and my mother’s worried, I can tell.”
They entered the city limits and he let the topic rest. However, the closer they came to the metropolitan area, the more he worried about lodging so far away.
“Will this man be at the house a lot?”
“Probably. He’s like a fly you can’t get out the door, always touching shit and buzzing too close to your face.”
“But you told him I was your boyfriend.”
“Yes, sorry about that. I just wanted to make it clear he shouldn’t touch me.”
Disappointment nipped. He’d figured it was a ploy, but a small part of him wished her statement was genuine. Actually, he wondered why it wasn’t.
He’d never entertain such an absurd idea, but he also never expected to be talking to Nadia like this. Not only were they speaking, they were living together, traveling to her family home, and… He laughed. It all seemed ludicrous.
“What’s so funny?”
“This—our situation. I just never…” She wouldn’t understand his perspective. “It’s just unexpected.”
Gripping the wheel, she glanced at him. “I’m very appreciative for your kindness, Elliot. I might not say it enough or clearly, but you bringing me here is the kindest thing anyone has ever done for me. You’re a very special man. You’re very special to me.”
And then she went and said things like that. What was happening between them? How was this possible? Everything seemed to be moving in his favor and if things were as incredible as they seemed, he might as well go for broke.
“Maybe I am your boyfriend.”
Her attention pulled from the road and she glanced at him then back at the oncoming traffic. “Is that what you want?”
“I don’t know.” Yes, you do. But he also didn’t want to humiliate himself or put her in an awkward position. But dear Lord did he want her—so much it bordered on pain. “What do you want?”
She chuckled. “Well, to start, I want a boyfriend who knows what he wants.”
His mind filled with juvenile words he couldn’t outmaneuver. He tried to phrase his statement in a manly manner, but it was impossible. Even in the most direct manner, his query sounded infantile. But he had to ask, had to see if his luck had run out. “Will you be my girlfriend?”
She smiled, her cheeks flushing deep pink. “Yes. I think I will.”
He stared as if this were all a dream. A warm, satisfying heat spread through his chest as he sat back and stared out the windshield. Well, this is a first.
It should have seemed more monumental, being that he’d never had a girlfriend, but it came so natural—easier than he expected. Holy shit. Nadia was his girlfriend. Maybe he was still processing.
Thinking of all the various relationships he’d watched over the years, he figured he should make a few things clear. “This means we’re monogamous.”
“What is that word?”
“No other men or women. Just us.”
She nodded. “Yes. No one else.”
She took this news without argument as if they were merely discussing the weather. Didn’t she have concerns about dating a man like him? Why was this so simple? Something seemed off.
His body prickled and he stretched his limbs as much as the little car would allow. Beautiful women weren’t interested in men like him. It wasn’t a hunch. It was fact. So what the hell was going on?
Despite his misgivings, his ego swelled. He suddenly felt bigger and that was a dangerous assumption because he was still himself. Maybe he should test this new label.
Glancing to his side, he reached his hand to her knee and cupped her thigh. She smiled. Just smiled. She didn’t slap his hand away or reach in her bag for pepper spray. Interesting. Now what?
His hand was on her thigh—Nadia’s lush, warm thigh. Blood surged to his cock and he swallowed, throat tight. Jesus. He was dating Nadia.