And Jesus wept.
My eyes landed on the Cupid’s bow of his full mouth. It was sweet torture just looking at him. As the tip of his tongue came out to wet his bottom lip, my fork fell from my hand and onto my plate with a clatter. Then everyone was staring at me.
“What do you think about that, Nastasia?” Vik asked, blinking slowly, knowing full well I hadn’t been listening.
Uh….
“What?” was my very smart, very croaky response.
“About what Sasha said,” he prompted, his fingertips playing with the condensation on his glass.
My eyes narrowed slightly. “I think it’s great.”
“You could at least pretend to listen.” Vik’s smile did not reach his eyes. “But then, I know how flighty you are.”
Flighty?
My stomach clenched painfully.
This bitch.
Well, I guess we were doing this. “Are you sure you understood what was said?” My blood went from a quiet simmer to a vicious boil. “Sasha does use big words. I know that confuses you sometimes.”
“Guys,” Mina pleaded but was quickly cut off.
Cora sighed at the same time. “Can we not?”
“Are you getting what you need from this conversation?” Vik lifted his glass and sipped from it. “Maybe there’s another conversation out there that you’d be getting more from. I know how when you’re done with conversing with me, you like to run into a little French conversation.”
Anika gasped lightly.
Holy shit. He went there.
I was officially pissed and leaned in slightly. “What is that supposed to mean?”
“You’re a smart girl. You can figure it out.”
Standing up so roughly that my chair warbled loudly, I pointed at him and spoke through gritted teeth, “Kitchen. Now.”
The footfalls behind me told me he was following, and when I stalked into the next room and opened the door to the walk-in pantry, I all but shoved him in there and shut the door behind us.
“I can’t believe you,” I whisper-hissed, and when I spun around to face him, I probed, “What is your goddamn problem?”
Vik crossed his arms over his chest, looking bored.
Don’t you dare. Don’t you dare look so unaffected. Not when we both knew better.
I hated that.
My expression pleading, I spoke softly. “I’m trying here, Vik. I’m really trying. Do you think this is easy for me?” My feet moved as I began to pace. “I see you at work. I see you at home. Somehow, you’re always where I am. And, let me tell you, having you act like an ass doesn’t help. If I’m being completely honest, it hurts.”
But he was unmoved.
“This is what you wanted, Nas,” he muttered, uninterested. “I never said I’d pretend to be happy about it.”
Was he serious?
No. I never wanted this. “Can’t we just get along? For everyone else’s sake?”
“Get along?” His eyes darkened as he took a step toward me, then another. “Is that what you want?”
Why did he have to be so handsome?
Why did he push up his sleeves like that, giving me an indecent view of his lightly veined forearms? Damn it. He knew how much I liked that.
Also, why did everything have to end in an argument? I was so tired of arguing.
Not that I minded how our arguments ended, because they all ended the same way.
The second I realized what we were doing, I gasped, and my eyes widened. The frown was ripped from my face, and I quickly glued on a huge smile that I did not feel.
A rushed whisper shot out of my mouth. “No, no, no, no, no.” But when he attempted to speak, I pressed my finger to his lips, squishing them lightly as I shushed him. My voice took on a gentle, serene tone. “Inside voices. We’re staying calm. We aren’t arguing. Everything’s good. We’re happy, we’re smiling, and we’re two adults just having a conversation. That’s all.” A strained laugh left me. “We’re having a good time.”
Vik watched me closely, and from the way his brow furrowed, I could tell he was confused by the sudden change in direction. “Why are you acting so weird?”
“I’m not.” My smile wavered but only slightly.
“You are.”
I shook my head, and my cheeks ached. “No, I’m not. I’m just trying to avoid conflict.”
“Why?” His heavy brow narrowed with suspicion. “You never have before.”
My brain-to-mouth filter stammered, and the honest to God truth was worse than any lie I could’ve come up with. “Because if we fight, we’ll kiss. And if we kiss, there is a strong possibility that you’ll end up with your hand in my panties. If that happens, I’m going to come and want you to mount me like a mutt stealing away with a thoroughbred. And that’s the situation I’m trying to avoid here.”
And there it was. I was so weary of the fighting that I didn’t even have the grace to blush.
Of all the things he expected to hear, I could tell it wasn’t the candid confession he just got. I know this because he lost a lot of the tension he wore in his shoulders and returned a smartass, “Why? Sounds like a good time had by all.”