She probably couldn’t remember the last time I’d smiled at her.
Finishing my task, I took a large bowl out of the cabinet, tossed in all the chunks of meat, and grabbed the dish, taking it out the back door.
This wouldn’t end well for me, but God, it felt good. And I couldn’t stop myself.
“Where are the steaks?” Gabriel asked, glaring down at the leftover corn chowder from the guys’ lunch today and the plates of baked Piroshki—a hand pie with meat filling that Marina was preparing for lunch tomorrow.
“I fed them to the dogs,” I said.
Will snorted, and I heard a scoff, most likely from Vanessa, but I continued to stare at the wall ahead of me, ready to suffer whatever consequences were coming.
I could feel Kai’s amusement. He sat across the table, and I was almost sure he was staring at me, too.
Gabriel exhaled hard. “A couple weeks with you and she’s back to being as bold as brass,” he said to Kai. “Just like when she was a teenager.”
The table was silent, except for Will who’d started eating.
“She knows how to be disciplined, though,” he added.
“Oh?” Kai prodded.
I blinked long and hard. That wasn’t anyone’s business. Not here, not now.
But Gabriel continued. “Ask her to take off her gloves.”
Fucker.
I instantly locked my hands behind my back, out of sight as everyone turned their eyes on me.
Gabriel couldn’t discipline me right now, so he did what he had to do to retain his pride. He humiliated me. Kai hadn’t seen me without the gloves. Not since I was seventeen, before I was “disciplined.”
“Another time, maybe,” Gabriel said, sounding pleased with himself. “She’ll soon be your problem anyway.”
“Oh?”
This time it was from Vanessa.
“Part of the contract,” Gabriel explained, taking a slurp of his soup. “Kai gets you, the hotel, and Banks. Until the wedding, anyway.”
She remained silent, and since she sat below me, I couldn’t see her face, but there was enough hesitation to know what she was thinking.
Or what she suspected.
“She’s a good worker,” Kai chimed in, picking up a hand pie and sniffing it.
“Well, good,” Vanessa sighed, playing stupid. “Why don’t you go unpack my suitcases, Banks? Let us eat.”
“I arranged a suite in the city for you.”
“I’ve changed my mind.” She waved me off. “I’ll stay here.”
I glanced up, finding Rika’s eyes, neither of us looking at all pleased with being here.
Fine. Whatever. Not that I was here that often anymore anyway, but I’d rather she was in a hotel where I was even less likely to run into her.
I twisted on my heel and walked toward the door.
“And don’t give my clothes to the dogs,” she called out.