I hand the phone to him, and he pockets it.
“I just thought someone would comment on my video, and they didn’t. I guess they’re busy, and it’s only a song.” I’m proud of how stable my voice is.
“I’m sure he doesn’t feel that way.” My husband looks out at the horizon.
I raise my eyebrows. “How do you know they’re a man?”
He’s silent. Huh. Typical. He just assumed. Default male.
“You don’t,” I finish.
“Come on.” He stands and offers his hands to help me up. “Time for lunch.”
“We have to climb all those steps?” I didn’t really consider that when I skipped down to the beach.
“Yep.”
“Ugh. Well, I’ll need all the boost I can get.” I accept his hand, and he pulls me to my feet, but not into his arms, just holding my fingertips. I don’t know how I feel about that.
“An escalator would spoil the ambience, don’t you think?”
My lips twitch. He’s kind of funny.
“Turn.”
He releases me and I obey, trying not to notice how easy that is. To do what he says. To be his obedient wife. He gently brushes the sand off the back of my dress, and I refuse to notice how my bottom feels beneath his palm.
This is an impersonal brush.
What if he spanked me? I don’t want to like that idea, but my body doesn’t care. It responds to him, lighting up.
The effort taken to thank him and walk away rather than grabbing him and pulling him down on top of me is painful.
But not as painful as the steps. Man.
Behind me, Nik is barely breathing heavily, and halfway up the cliff I’m a red sweaty mess.
My throat is dying. On fire. Despite the humiliation, I have to stop.
“Want a push or shall I carry you?” he asks.
I snort. “Carry. You can’t carry me up there.”
In answer, he tips me into my arms. I catch sight of his smug grin as I yelp and cling to his neck.
“Are you nuts? Put me down before we both fall off the cliff!” My heart is hammering even harder now, blood racing through my veins. He’s close. And holding me so easily.
“What? Because you’re so heavy, ptichka?” He resumes climbing the steps.
That name. If Russian weren’t an impossible language and a baffling alphabet, I’d have looked it up already. What does it mean?
It doesn’t matter. It can’t.
“Yes.”
Oh god. His hands on my body are making me heat anew. This time with desire that bounces low in my belly. I hide my face in his neck. “And you’ll see that I’m red in the face and sweaty.”
“Just the way I like you.” Nik grips me more tightly and I melt.
