Nikolai stroked me gently since he knew how sensitive I still was. He leaned in, kissed me softly and then said, "I'm ready for you to fuck me."
A lump of emotion got hung up in my throat. "Um, okay, are you sure? Because I don't need—"
"I do," Nikolai said. "I need." He pressed a kiss to my lips and said, "It took me a couple days to wrap my head around the idea because it's something that's always scared me in the past, but with you…"
He didn't finish his sentence, but I really didn't need him to. I got it. I'd been lucky that my first sexual encounter had been with an older guy who’d known what he was doing. Although I usually bottomed, I sometimes topped when I was in the mood for it, but I couldn't say that I'd ever been someone's first. I couldn't help the rattle of nerves that went through me. Before I could respond, his phone rang. He pulled back from me enough that he could answer it.
"Is he all right?" Nikolai immediately asked. I knew exactly who he was talking about. His nephew.
"Maks?" I asked.
Nikolai nodded and then to my surprise, he put his phone on speaker and held it between us. "Elena, I put you on speaker. Jude is here with me."
"Hi Elena," I said.
Nikolai's sister returned the greeting. She sounded stressed, but not frantic. So that was something.
"I'm sorry, Nikolai, I know you're very busy and I wouldn't ask this—"
"Elena, tell me what you need," Nikolai said in that firm, no-nonsense tone of his that said he would get things done no matter what.
"Maks isn't feeling well. I've tried keeping him in the store with me, but we’re slammed and he’s being fussy. I called Katerina to see if she could come by and help out at the store, but she's got an appointment. Papa had to drive out to Brooklyn to meet one of the delivery vans that broke down and Mama has a catering job. Natalia will be home from school soon and I don't know what—"
"He's coming, Elena," I said before Nikolai could respond. And since I knew what he would say next, I added, "We’re both coming. We'll be there soon, okay?"
Elena's response of, "Okay?" clearly carried some confusion but when I looked up at Nikolai to see if I’d overstepped my bounds, he was smiling.
"We'll see you soon," Nikolai said to his sister and then he hung up the phone.
He leaned into me and murmured, "Are you sure? I know you have a lot of work to do."
I did have a lot of work to do, but for once, I didn't care. I knew I could've just as easily talked Nikolai into going and having one of his colleagues take over his duties for him, but it hadn't felt right. Seeing that moment of worry in his eyes when he’d heard his sister's voice and had known the call was about his nephew had made me want to fix it somehow. To take that look away because it didn't belong there.
"I'm sure," I said. "About this and about, you know… that other thing we were talking about," I murmured as I put my arms around him.
Nikolai chuckled and then kissed the top of my head. We held on to each other for a moment and then quickly finished getting cleaned up and dressed. As we left the office, I informed Simon that I would be gone for the rest of the day. My assistant looked at me like I was speaking a different language. While he hadn’t morphed into a competent secretary overnight, Simon had slowly been getting better and I’d learned to be more patient with him. In truth, my respect for the young man had grown considerably based on both the fact that he’d come back to the office after Nikolai’s lesson with the gun and that he kept coming back day after day despite my less than kind treatment of him.
It took a little while for Nikolai and me to get to his parents’ bakery, but when we walked in, it was like all hell had broken loose. There was a line of customers almost out the door and we could hear Maks screaming from the back of the building. I followed Nikolai to the back room where the ovens were and saw Elena desperately trying to get her son's attention. When little Maks saw Nikolai, he screamed louder and held out his arms.
My heart broke for the little boy because I knew he wasn't throwing a tantrum. From everything Nikolai had told me, he only behaved this way when he truly wasn't feeling well. Nikolai went to the little boy and picked him up and then pressed his hand against the child’s forehead. Maks settled a little but he was still crying as he pressed his head to his uncle's chest.