Page 31 of Paved in Venom

“Sorry, sladkaya. I didn’t mean for you to hear that.” I run a hand through my hair, feeling a little embarrassed for the first time in a very long time. “This is a little awkward.”

She gives a soft laugh and sits up, handing me back my computer. “Thank you. I ordered a few things.”

Figuring she wants to just ignore all this, I take my computer back and set it on my desk. “Ready to eat?”

“Sure.”

When we get to the kitchen, the only one around is Lev, who’s just finished his workout and is drinking a large protein shake.

“Morning, Simona.”

She smiles at him and follows me to the coffeepot. “Morning.”

I fill us each a mug while he asks me in Russian how the night went. I tell him about her nightmare while I look through the fridge. Holding up a carton of eggs, I ask, “Do you like eggs and bacon?”

“I do, but you don’t have to go through all that trouble. I can just eat some toast or cereal.”

“It’s no trouble.”

Lev looks at the pants she’s wearing and tries not to laugh. “She looks like she’s expecting a flood, man, get her some damn clothes.”

I laugh and start filling a pan with bacon. “She ordered some stuff while I took a shower.”

“Holy shit, you let her touch your computer?”

“I’m not that bad,” I say, but he’s right. I really am that bad about my equipment.

“I’ve known you my whole damn life, and I’m barely allowed to look at your damn laptop, let alone put my hands on it.”

Simona watches us, not having the slightest clue what we’re saying. I shake my head at Lev, but he just keeps watching us.

“Two down, three to go, I guess,” he says with a smirk.

“I don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about.”

He gives a big smile, showing off that lip ring he’s had since we were fifteen. “Whatever you say, brother.”

He gives Simona a wink just to irritate me and then goes off to shower.

“What was that all about?” she asks, cracking some eggs into a bowl before whisking them.

“Nothing important,” I tell her.

I take care of the bacon while she does the eggs, and it’s like we’ve been doing this for years. It’s easy being around her, and when we sit down at the counter, I refill her coffee and hand her the creamer and sugar like I’d seen her use while I was talking to Lev. She looks up surprised.

“You really pay attention to details.”

“I do. My brain rarely shuts off. There’s always something going on up there, so I tend to pay attention to little things around me as a way to sort of ground me.”

“What do you have going on up there?”

I smile. “Nothing worth talking about.” I could tell her that I’ve imagined fucking her in exactly five different positions since we walked into this kitchen, and that I’ve noticed every single thing she’s done, from the delicate way she whisks the eggs to the fact that she seems to like to alternate between bites of egg and bacon, but I don’t. I’m not so sure she’d appreciate that sort of attention to detail.

She studies me while she takes another bite of her eggs and then takes a bite of bacon. I hide my smile and eat my food.

“Where’s everyone else at?” she asks.

“Matvey and Vitaly are either sleeping or working out or off doing who the hell knows what. Emily has horrible morning sickness at the moment, so Roman is probably back there doing everything he can to make her feel better.”

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