Chapter 20
The past week had flown by. Despite Mikhail’s somewhat erratic work schedule as well as her own, they’d managed to spend a lot of time together. Some of it at her place, some at his. The nights had been incredible. The daylight hours had been pretty great, too, maybe because their relationship had started off slowly, letting their friendship grow strong before adding sex into the mix. The bottom line was that they enjoyed each other’s company, in bed and out of it.
One side benefit of spending so much time together was that they had both made good progress on landscaping their yards. He’d finally finished cutting out the rest of the sod she wanted removed along the property line and in front of the front foundation of the house itself. While he had sweated in the sun (yum), she’d finished designing the layout in his yard.
The day before yesterday, they’d gone shopping for the bushes and other plants they needed. The local nursery was scheduled to deliver everything they’d ordered later in the morning, and she couldn’t wait to see how it all looked once they got everything planted. In fact, she was going to start digging the holes as soon as she finished answering one more email.
Well, not right after she finished the email. She needed to make a quick trip to the post office to mail a small package for her niece’s birthday. After hitting theSENDbutton, she took a quick peek out her office window to make sure it was still sunny outside. Great, she could take the motorcycle. Although her confidence on the bike had grown, so far she’d avoided taking it out when it was raining.
A snuffle at her feet reminded her that she wasn’t alone. She leaned down to give her constant companion a thorough scratching, laughing when he rolled over to offer up his belly for a good rub.
“Okay, Panda, I’m done in here.”
As she started down the hall, he followed right behind, looking disappointed when she picked up her keys and the small backpack she used when she rode the motorcycle. She offered him a small piece of doggy salmon jerky to cheer him up. As he gobbled it down, she reassured him, “Don’t worry. I’ll be back soon, and then you can hang out in the front yard with me. I’m sure Misha is still sleeping, but he and Sarge will be out to help after he gets up.”
At the mention of his buddy’s name, the little bulldog went into full wiggle mode. She knew just how he felt since she experienced the same shiver of pleasure every time Misha headed her way.
The sooner she ran her errand, the sooner she’d be back home and able to start working in the yard with Panda and hopefully his buddy Sarge. Of course, the two bulldogs would be snuffling around, underfoot and in the way the whole time. That was okay. She loved their undemanding company.
Even better, she’d have Misha there to do the heavy work, once again sweating in the sun and flexing those amazing muscles as he worked. The thought already had her salivating, especially with the knowledge that as soon as they finished for the day, they could share a shower and then a whole lot more. When had she ever had so much to look forward to in her life? So many reasons to smile?
The answer was simple: never.
After years of struggling to survive with a congenital heart valve defect, a new surgical technique had changed everything for her. It had taken time to build up her strength after the surgery, but now she could do all the stuff that everyone else took for granted, like taking long walks or carrying in her own groceries. Little things that made all the difference in her life.
The hard part was getting used to no longer having to exist on the sharp edge of a major health crisis all the time. It had taken months for her to relax, to trust her body. To know that a simple sneeze wasn’t a precursor of yet another hospital stay. Unfortunately, her family had never quite managed to make that transition and fought against her efforts to live a normal life for the first time. She’d needed time and space to come into her own, to learn what this new person was capable of, but their constant hovering had continued to smother her efforts.
Her decision to move away had come as a major shock to her parents and brothers, and she’d hated to hurt them that way. When her father had put down his foot and forbade her to do any such thing, it had been the last straw. Their relationship continued to be strained, but she hoped it would get better over time.
Until that happened, she would enjoy her motorcycle, her dog, her house, and most of all, her lover. There was no telling how things would play out for her and Mikhail, but she liked him, perhaps even loved him. Neither of them had said the L-word, but that didn’t make what she felt for him any less real. That there was even a possibility of such a relationship at all was a miracle that she would forever be grateful for—no matter how it turned out.
Even so, a woman deserved to savor a few dreams of a big family wedding and dancing with her very own handsome groom, didn’t she? Heck, yeah!
Her good spirits restored, she revved the bike’s engine and roared off down the street.
—
While she had been at the post office, the nursery truck had come and gone, leaving her driveway full of plants, bushes, and even a couple of small trees in plastic containers. They’d also stacked bags of fertilizer, mulch, and topsoil in front of her garage where both she and Mikhail could access them easily. The downside was that she couldn’t put her motorcycle away until she moved things around. She’d dumped her pack inside the house but left the keys in the bike’s ignition.
So far, she hadn’t heard a peep from the man himself, but how late he slept was determined by what kind of night he’d had at the fire station. If he’d been out on calls all night, it could be mid-afternoon before he poked his head out. Meanwhile, she would get started without him. Several of the bushes intended for her yard were a bit too heavy for her to handle by herself, so she’d need Mikhail’s help with those. At least she could transplant some of the perennials and smaller bushes.
After spreading out her hand-drawn plans on the front porch, she began distributing the plants she could carry, putting them in their designated spots in both yards. When she’d done that much, she walked out to the edge of the street to see how her designs were shaping up. She might eventually need a few more color spots scattered around the place, but the overall effect so far was promising.
With that much done, she started digging holes and adding in a few handfuls of fertilizer to give the plants a boost. She lugged another bag of the compost over to where she was working and set it down. A vehicle pulled up in front of her house as she bent down to slice the bag open.
At the sound of doors opening, she straightened up to see who had stopped by, thinking it might be one of Mikhail’s brothers, Ricky, or even Jay. But no, she couldn’t be that lucky. Instead, it was two of her own brothers, the oldest and the youngest. Her first instinct was to smile, because it had been so long since she’d seen either one of them. On the other hand, why had they come without calling first? What if she’d been gone? And why the grim expressions?
Before she could decide what to say about their unexpected arrival, her oldest brother set the tone for the visit. “Amy, what the fuck are you doing?”
The conversation went downhill from there.
—
Sarge snorted and woofed a few times, dragging Mikhail up out of a deep slumber. He cursed the dog for waking him up and stayed right where he was. The bulldog wasn’t having it and hit the side of the mattress hard, his fifty pounds of muscle and stubborn determination jarring the bed enough to make it clear how upset he was. Why? What the hell was going on?
Then Mikhail heard what had made Sarge so unhappy. There was a shouting match going on outside, in front of the house. From the tone in his voice, some guy was pissed as hell. When a familiar voice hollered something in response, Mikhail’s own temper exploded. No one talked to Amy in that tone. He jumped to his feet, yanked on his jeans, and grabbed a T-shirt out of the drawer on his way out of the room.
What the hell was going on out there? If the bastard kept talking to Amy like that, there would be hell to pay, consequences be damned. He shoved his feet in the shoes he wore when working in the yard and headed outside without bothering to tie them. Sarge was hot on his heels, barking like crazy.
