From Lukov with Love

What I really wanted to know was would he even want to?

“This is only for a year,” I said, reminding him about something he already damn well knew. They were the same words he’d used on me every time he wanted. The same words he’d literally used on me hours ago just this morning, before practice and ballet.

“I know that,” he muttered.

“So what’s the point?”

“Fine, forget it,” he mumbled, turning the car down onto the street leading to my mom’s neighborhood.

“You’re the one who brought it up,” I muttered in return.

“Well, I changed my mind.”

“Well, I don’t think you really get to change your mind after you said it.”

“I did.”

I blinked, not liking how insulted I felt all of a sudden now that he’d “changed” his mind. I didn’t even want to be his friend. It would have been the last thing I wanted or expected, but now….

I didn’t like him telling me what to do. That had to be it. That’s what I was going to tell myself. He didn’t get to choose what I did with my life and time more than he already had. “Too bad, shitface. I guess we can try.” I might have broken into a sweat just saying that.

He made a noise as he turned the wheel. “You guess?”

“Yeah, I guess.”

He made a face but said, “I’ll think about it.”

I scoffed, forcing myself to look forward. “You’ll think—” I cut myself off as I saw the two-story house coming up on the right. There were three cars I recognized parked in the driveway. Fuck me. “We’re here,” I said, pointing at the house.

Ivan steered the car to the open spot in front of the house, and the second he did, I rushed to say, “Okay, thanks for bringing me,” hand already on the door, my other hand going to the straps of my bag.

I watched him turn off the car more than I actually heard him turn it off.

What the hell was he…?

Ivan raised his eyebrows after turning to me. “Can I use the bathroom?”

Chapter 9

I blinked.

I blinked, and every single word I had learned over the course of my life stopped existing. Because in that moment, as I sat there on top of butter-smooth leather seats with my hand on the door handle to a car that cost more than most people’s homes, I wasn’t sure what the hell to say. I wasn’t even sure I’d heard him correctly.

“Say what?” I basically croaked for what I was pretty sure was the first time in my life.

The man sitting behind the steering wheel didn’t even bother answering my question. What he did was reach to the side… and open his door. Then he said, “Can I use the bathroom?”

He…?

He wanted me to invite him in? Was that what he was seriously fucking asking me? Was he not so subtly telling me he wanted to go inside my house? Where my family was? To pee?

I blinked again, the “no” on the tip of my tongue, filling the back of my throat and so large it went down my esophagus too. It was a stupid-ass response, one I knew I was more than likely going to regret, but I gave it anyway. Because: be better. “If… you want to.”

Ivan’s reply was to get out of the car and slam the door closed, all while I still sat there, wondering what the hell had just happened. Then, just as quickly as Ivan had gotten out, I did the same, grabbing all of my things and closing the door as gently as possible. He was already waiting for me halfway up the paved pathway leading to the front door, hands tucked into the pockets of his sweatpants, his black fleece pullover matching his low-profile black tennis shoes perfectly. Mostly though, it annoyed me that he hadn’t taken a shower either, and I looked like I needed one while he… didn’t.

“Who’s here?” the nosey bastard asked.

I slid him a side-look as I walked around him onto the grass to head to the front door, shoving my arm into the opened zipper of my bag to look for my keys. I’d already taken in the cars parked in the long driveway. The Cadillac was James’s, my brother’s husband. The 4Runner was Tali’s, and the Yukon was Squirt’s husband’s. “My mom, her husband, Ben, my brother and his husband, both my sisters, Aaron, my sister’s husband, and their kids.”

“Which sister?” he asked.

I eyeballed him again as I slid the key into the lock, wondering on a scale of one to ten how shitty of an idea this was going to be. With my luck, probably a thirty. Because today would be the day that he invited himself inside to use the bathroom.

God help me.

“The redhead or the sweet, quiet one?” he asked, like I didn’t know the difference in my sisters.

“Aaron is Ruby’s husband; she’s the nice one,” I replied, my words coming out choppy and stilted because I didn’t get when the hell he’d paid enough attention to know my two sisters. It had been years since Ruby, the younger of the two, had gone with me to the rink. Not since she’d been pregnant with their first baby. Tali still tagged along every once in a while to sit there and judge me, but not as often as she used to. And I couldn’t remember either one of them ever going to his parents’ house to pick me up after I’d hung out with Karina.

“You have another brother, don’t you?” he asked, just as I pulled the key out of the lock and went to turn the doorknob.

How the fuck did he know I had another brother? Maybe Karina had mentioned it before. She did used to claim she had a crush on Seb. “My oldest one. Sebastian.”

Ivan dipped his chin down before taking a step forward, closer to the door—and me—as I shoved it open. Instantly, I could hear quiet laughter coming from the direction of where the kitchen was.

I was going to regret this. I knew for sure I was going to regret letting him in. But if I told him I didn’t want him to come inside, it would just make me look weak or like there was something I was trying to hide from him. Plus, that was kinda mean.

I waved Ivan inside as I stood beside the door and closed it after him. “Let me show you the bathroom,” I offered.

He made a face, his attention going in the direction of the laughter. “Shouldn’t you go tell them hi first?”

Should I, maybe. Did I want to? No.

“I should tell your mom hello, shouldn’t I?”

Oh God.

There was a reason I had never brought a boyfriend over to my house to meet my family. And now... well, now I was going to bring one of the most important people I would ever meet and have a relationship with over to see these psychos, even if it was only for a moment to greet my mom.

Thinking about all the horrible things I had said in front of my brothers and sisters’ old boyfriends and girlfriends over the years was almost enough for me to regret the hell they were more than likely going to pay me back with now.

I wasn’t fool enough to think they were going to be on their best behavior because a gold medalist was coming in to say hi.

At least I sure as hell hoped that’s all he was doing. From a single sniff, I could tell dinner was well on its way to being done. It smelled so good.

With a shrug, I tipped my head to the side so he would follow me. I passed by the living room and found it almost empty except for Ben, who was standing at the liquor cabinet, filling three different glasses with what looked like gin and tonic. “Hey, Ben,” I called out, stopping behind the couch to greet him.

He didn’t look back as he closed the bottle in his hand. “Hey, Jas,” he whispered, glancing over his shoulder before his eyes hit where I was standing and he stopped talking. His whiskey-colored eyes widened, and I knew he was fully aware of who was standing not even six inches away.

“Why are you whispering?” I asked.

He pointed upstairs. “The kids are napping in our room.”

Oh. Deciding to go peek into my mom’s room later, I focused on the person beside me. “Ben, this is my partner, Ivan. Ivan, this is my mom’s husband, Ben,” I introduced them both, not sure what to do with the way Ivan blinked slowly before finally taking a step forward and saying, “Nice to meet you” like a normal, polite human being.

Huh.

I noticed Ben slide his eyes in my direction, giving me a “what the fuck, Jasmine?” look before taking Ivan’s outstretched hand. “Nice to meet you, too.” He paused. “Want a drink?”

“I’m driving, but thanks,” he replied easily.

“Let me know if you change your mind,” Ben replied, giving me another bug-eyed look.

Ivan nodded at the same time I waved to him so he’d follow me into the kitchen. I recognized my sister’s laugh, followed by Jojo saying, “Shut up.”

Stepping into the wide doorway of the kitchen, I took in my siblings and their significant others sitting around the island and focused way too hard on something in the middle of it. My mom on the other hand was peeking into one of the double wall ovens and poking something inside. Glancing back at Ivan, I raised my eyebrows at him and then went into the kitchen, expecting him to follow behind me at the same exact time. Jonathan threw his hands in the air a split second before the sound of a few things falling on the granite filled the room.