I knew what I was getting into.
He was doing everything I’d asked.
Still… did he not feelanything? Was this all really just for show?
And if it was, why did that pierce me right through the heart when it was exactly what I’d wanted?
I thought back to the plane ride to New York when Isabella had asked if I wanted to call it all off, and I couldn’t help but chuckle at how confidently I’d assured her everything was fine.
I could have saved myself all this pain and confusion.
But then I’d have had to miss the way it felt to be held by him, to be protected with his arms around me, to watch him threaten anyone who came too close. I would never have known what it felt like to have his lips on mine.
Even now, if I could go back… I’d do it all again.
As if I wasn’t already confused enough as it was, seeing the way he was with Otis… it stirred up all the emotions I’d managed to wrangle in the past couple of months. Becausethatwas the man I knew lived inside Aleks. He was kind, and compassionate, andgood.
He’d never felt those things about himself, but I saw it. I always had.
Even now, when I wanted to hate him, he did shit like that and reminded me I never could.
Aleks was in the kitchen when I emerged, his back to me as he tended to something on the stovetop. The television showedthe local news reporting on the hurricane but it was muted, a jazz playlist crooning softly through the condo, instead.
“I made somerööschti,” he said, grabbing a couple pasta bowls from the cabinet to his left. “It’s nothing special, just some bacon and potato magic, but it’s one of my favorite comfort foods when I’m sick or it’s storming, raining, snowing.” He chuckled. “Not that we get any snow in Tampa.”
He plated up the first bowl, but when he turned to set it on the kitchen island, he froze at the sight of me.
Dark brown eyes dragged over me slowly, hungrily, with a simmering intensity that lodged my next breath firmly in my chest. He swallowed thickly, the bowl gripped tightly in his hand, his pupils blown out by the time they made their way back to meet my gaze.
“Christ, Mia.”
“What?” I asked, a bit breathlessly, I realized, before I tilted my chin up and folded my arms over my chest.
“You’re wearing my jersey.”
“Yeah, well, it was either this or the lingerie I packed when I thought I’d be sleeping alone,” I shot back, sliding onto one of the barstools at the island.
Aleks stayed frozen for a beat, his dark eyes locked on mine with a heat that made my skin prickle. Was he angry? People slept in jerseys, didn’t they? It was at least fine to wear casually around his condo… wasn’t it? Or was it an insult of some kind that I wasn’t aware of? Was I only supposed to wear it to a game?
I was still trying to figure it out when Aleks blinked, like the simple act of me sitting down snapped him back to this universe. In an instant, his usual cool demeanor slid back into place, the moment gone before I could untangle what that raw, unguarded possession in his gaze might have meant.
“Does that mean I’ll have company in my bed tonight?” he asked on a cocky smirk, setting the steaming bowl ofrööschtidown on the granite in front of me. It smelled like bacon potato heaven, and my stomach growled again.
“Ha, ha.”
“Oh, come on. You can serve up better banter than that.”
“I don’t have the energy or the desire right now,” I said, making a face at him before I picked up the fork and took my first bite. I didn’t even care that it was steaming hot and nearly burned my tongue off — it was delicious.
I noticed how Aleks paused then, his eyes locked on my hand. I was wondering if I was somehow offending him with the way I ate now when I realized he was looking at the ring.
The ring he’d given me.
The fake one that didn’t mean shit.
I covered it self-consciously, twisting it on my knuckle. “Obviously had to wear it for all the pictures today,” I murmured. “Forgot to take it off.”
It was only half a lie. I did wear it any time I knew I’d be photographed, but I also had taken it off when I showered.
