The car door shut and Fox walked over to Konstantin. Maybe it was more swagger than walk, but he wore it well. The two of them clasped hands. Fox grinned, as though he was genuinely happy to see him, but Konstantin’s smile, when it came, was more reluctant.
“We miss you, you know.” Fox let go of Konstantin and slapped the other man’s shoulder with casual familiarity. “There’s no reason for you to be a stranger.”
“It’s been busy. How are the others?”
“Good.”
“And business?”
“Excellent.” The man’s wild expression made Kon shake his head.
Konstantin grunted. “My offer still stands.”
“As does ours.”
Fox seemed to be waiting for Konstantin to say something, but he remained silent. The man’s lips pressed together, and he looked away. Without another word, he nodded politely to Varushka and disappeared into the night.
Konstantin sighed heavily. He helped Varushka into the car, then put their bags on the back seat before getting behind the wheel.
“Who was that?” she asked, unable to contain her curiosity.
“The past wearing the shape of a man.” He started the car and pulled away from the curb. “We were friends a long time ago. We chose different paths.”
“Why was he in your car?”
“A mistake,” Konstantin replied, his eyes cold. She could tell his irritation wasn’t about her. “It won’t happen again.”
Chapter Six
His new shop in Los Angeles was big and bright, and what he’d thought was only a veneer of efficiency had turned out to be the real thing. The crew that his scout, Marco, had hired might have been rough when he’d picked them up,
but they knew their shit and had strong work ethics. The shop uniforms covered some of their rough manners, but if anything, the dynamic gave a more authentic feel to the customers’ overhaul experience. People tended to trust their cars more with workers who didn’t sound like they’d been raised at country clubs.
Lord knew he hadn’t been.
It was weird handing so much of the work over to other people, but the business had grown so much in the past few years there was no way he could take care of everything by himself anymore¸ no matter how little he slept. If he could clone himself it would be helpful.
The shop foreman, John, had given him a good vibe though. He was both confident and competent, a combination that seemed to keep the place running smoothly. It was a good day when the main issue at a shop was that they had too much business. He was already having to consider opening a second shop farther south, just to handle the overflow.
If only he could get his personal life so well-organized.
Things with Varushka confused the hell out of him. With past relationships, his private life had been on autopilot. He never had to think about the person or people he was seeing unless he wanted something. If they got underfoot, he’d just give them money and send them shopping. The girls before Anna and Sindee, Crystal and Lula, had been similar, except the two had fought with each other incessantly toward the end, which was why he’d cut them loose. He didn’t have time for drama.
Varushka was so much more complicated. She wanted more from him, and gave him more to worry about. Things had been looking promising, but after she’d gone to confession, she’d been more reserved about physical contact. They were a mismatch, so he shouldn’t have been surprised. It was almost as though she was an emissary from his grandmother, and her disapproval of him and unspoken rejection stung.
Then when he’d taken her to the city she’d been adorable and flirty and made him crazy. The one-eighty kept him off balance. Not knowing where he stood with her was uncomfortable.
But it was more than that.
He was becoming . . . fond of the little thing. That wasn’t a problem if she was interested in marrying him, but if she was going to change her mind, he needed to put the brakes on his own feelings. Liking a girl more than she liked him hadn’t happened to him since the days when he’d been poor. If there was anything Konstantin detested, it was not being in control.
And yet he’d spent all four days of this trip thinking about her, missing her, and trying to figure out what the hell was happening at his house. He’d sent Kate and Everly to check on Varushka several times, and had called the girl himself. All three of them kept saying everything was fine, but he had a serious suspicion that something was going on that no one was telling him about. He was half surprised when he pulled up in front of the house and the place was still standing.
The sun was getting low in the sky when he walked in, but the house was completely silent. Varushka wasn’t in the great room or his office. The only hint that she’d been in the kitchen recently was a cooling pot of borscht on the stove. There wasn’t so much as a spoon in the sink. The bedrooms were tidy but no one was in them.
If it hadn’t been for the borscht, he might have guessed she’d run back to her family. After they’d gotten home from church he’d wondered if the threat of eternal damnation was enough to make her abandon the idea of marrying him. His religious upbringing nagged at him sometimes, but he couldn’t go back to being a good boy. Not when the road to hell was paved with pretty girls to defile.
Right now there was only one girl he wanted to defile, no matter how many women at the LA office had tried to catch his interest. He was getting obsessed with his little bird. He hadn’t strayed from her since they’d been matched, all those months ago, and now that he had her, she was like a drug.