Anton

My teammate Knox looks from side to side, making sure we’re alone in the weight room before he leans in to say something.

“Hey, you heard anything about Adam and his wife splitting?”

My pulse speeds up slightly, but I don’t let it show. “Uh-uh, why?”

“Someone in the front office told Dmitri’s wife they called Mia and asked if she wanted to hand out gifts with the wives at the charity thing this year and she said no because she and Adam aren’t together anymore.”

I finish my last rep and drop the bar to the floor. “So what?”

Knox shrugs. “She’s smokin’ hot. How long do you think I’d need to wait before making a move?”

“Don’t go there.”

“What? It’s not like Adam’s all broken up about it.”

“I said don’t go there.” My tone is sharper than I intended, but I can’t hide the flare of possessiveness I feel for Mia.

Not that I have any right—she’s not mine, and she may never be. But no way am I putting up with a manwhore like Knox going after her.

I’ve been on autopilot all day—going through the motions of practice and working out while my mind’s on Mia.

She’s in my apartment right now. Walking around my kitchen and sitting on my sofa. I wish I was there with her.

When I made her the job offer, I was honest about what she’d be getting into. I told her how many nurses had quit. She accepted it, though, and I was pretty stoked. I put the Uber app on her phone and linked it to my bank account, telling her rides to and from my place are included.

I love my family, and I’d spend my last dime taking care of any one of them if they needed it. But with Mia, I find myself wanting to take care of her in a different way for the first time ever.

I want her to be warm when it’s cold outside. Well fed. Comfortable. Happy. I want to be the person who gives her all those things while making her smile day in and day out. Actually, I want to make her do a lot more than just smile, but I have to start somewhere since she’s technically still married.

Uncle Dix better not be an asshole to Mia. I know the chances are slim that he’s behaving himself, though. When I wheeled him into the living room this morning and he saw her in the kitchen, he whistled under his breath and asked me if he could “get chocolate milk from those titties”. I just about lost my shit on him.

It’s not like me to cut out early from my post-practice workouts, but today, I do. I have to get home and see how things are going. When I get back to my building and step off the elevator, I approach my apartment door and take a deep breath, preparing myself.

The apartment is quiet when I walk inside—either a great sign or an awful one.

“Hey, guys,” I call out tentatively.

“Hey, we’re in here,” Mia calls.

I drop my keys and equipment bag by the door and walk into the living room, where afternoon sun is streaming through the windows. Uncle Dix is sitting in his recliner watching Jeopardy with a sour look on his face. Mia’s sitting in a corner of the couch, reading a textbook.

“How’d it go?” I ask Mia.

“Like shit,” Dix snaps before she can answer. “She’s starving me!”

Mia smiles up at me from the couch. “It was great. A quiet day, mostly.”

“Quiet?” I arch my brows in surprise.

“Yep. Oh, and I prepped some foil packets of salmon and veggies for you guys to have for dinner.”

She gets up from the couch and gathers her textbooks from one of the cushions.

“Here, I’ve got it,” I say, taking the stack. “Do you want to stay for dinner?”

“I told Anita I’d make dinner at home, but thanks for the invite.”

“Bet you’re not making any smelly pussy,” Dix grumbles.

I shake my head. “Ignore him.”

“He can be really nice,” Mia looks over at him, “when he wants to.”

“I have yet to see him want to.” I walk across the room and set the books on the kitchen table. Mia loads them into her backpack, one at a time.

“So you need me here at five tomorrow morning, right? And you’ll be back Wednesday afternoon?”

“Right.”

She opens her mouth to say something, but hesitates.

“What is it?” I ask.

“I take care of Dre on Tuesday nights. Is it okay if I send an Uber for Anita to bring him here and then pick him up to go home?”

“Of course.”

“Thanks.”

She smiles at me, and I swear I feel my fucking body temperature start to rise.

“How old is Dre?” I ask her.

“Four.”

“We should, uh…have some toys delivered for him. To play with when he’s here.”

She shakes her head. “Don’t worry about that. He loves playing with pots and pans and laundry baskets. I’ll keep him busy.”

“I’ll just have a few things brought by. Maybe a nice toy drum set. Uncle Dix would love that.” I wink at her and she laughs.

“That’s really sweet of you, Anton.”

I’m so fucking hooked on the way she says my name. More emphasis on the An- than the -ton.

Christ. I’m like a teenage boy with a raging crush. It’s a good thing no one can tell what I’m thinking.

Mia meets my gaze and smiles again, then takes a step closer and wraps her arms around me in a hug.

“Thanks,” she says softly. “I’m really grateful for this job.”

She’s in my arms. Mia Marceau is in my fucking arms right now. She’s soft and warm and she smells like sunshine and coconut. I can’t even speak.

“Uh…” I manage.

My cock is more than willing to communicate for me. I can’t control the immediate hard-on I get from Mia’s closeness.

And, of course, she notices. Fuck me. She steps back suddenly, eyes wide.

“Uh…I’m sorry about that,” I say. “It’s just, uh…you know, long-term celibacy and all…”

“Oh. How long term?”

“Um…more than two years.”

Her lips part with surprise. “You? Why?” She cringes. “Sorry, that’s none of my business.”

“It’s okay.”

“Is it…” She lowers her voice. “I mean, you can, right?”

I curl my lips up, grinning at her hush-hush tone. “I think you can see I have no problems there.”

Mia glances at my crotch, then cringes, embarrassed. “Geez…sorry.”

I’m not. She’s the only woman in the world I want looking at me this way. Her eyes dart up to mine and I get lost in their gold-flecked depths.

“You know,” she says, her voice almost a whisper. “If I weren’t…” Her words trail away, but I’m rock hard again just knowing she’d think of me this way.

“Yeah, I know.”

After a few seconds, she breaks my gaze and clears her throat. “Can I ask…why?”

“Why…”

“Why more than two years?”

“Oh.” I glance down at the ground, then back to her eyes. “You.”

Her eyes widen. “Me?”

“Yeah, I saw you and…yeah.” I look away. “I tried to date other women, but…it didn’t work.”

Mia’s eyes are the shade of melted caramel as they fill with tears. “I don’t know what to say. No one’s ever…I wish…”

She blinks and the tears slide down her cheeks, knifing my heart.

“It’s okay. Don’t cry, Mia.”

I fight my urge to take her back into my arms and comfort her. It’s all I want—to feel her body against mine like I just did for a few brief, incredible seconds.

“They aren’t sad tears.” She smiles at me.

Sad or not, seeing her cry is shredding me. I want her to put her backpack down and stay. For dinner, for the night…forever.

“See you in the morning.” She grabs her coat and goes to the door.

I follow her and hold the door open. “I’ll have coffee waiting.”

I can’t help it; I peek out the doorframe and watch her ‘til she steps on the elevator. Then I close the door and walk back into the living room, sitting down on the couch.

“So you wanna bang my nurse,” Uncle Dix says.

I glare at him. “Funny how you’re hard of hearing when I tell you to wait for one goddamn second, but you can hear whispered conversations across the apartment when you’re eavesdropping.”

“You want some of that chocolate milk.” He laughs and slaps the arm of his chair.

“Fuck you. Don’t talk about her that way.”

“She’s a pistol.” Uncle Dix sounds impressed.

“You better treat her right.”

He puts up both hands. “She don’t need you lookin’ out for her, Anton. That girl’s gonna make sure I treat her right.”

I give him a skeptical look.

“She wouldn’t give me any bacon cause I called her a bitch!” he says with a cackle.

“Mia? You called Mia…you son of a bitch.”

“She ate my bacon!”

“You shouldn’t be eating bacon anyway.”

“So instead of getting me a real nurse, you’re just paying the chick you want to bone.” He shakes his head. “Hell of a note.”

“I can’t find a single nurse willing to put up with your bullshit. The agency even called and said they weren’t sending any more nurses over. And Mia is more than capable. Plus she needs the money.”

“To get all dolled up for you to bang her?”

“Will you stop saying that?”

Dix shrugs. “It’s true.”

“I’m not trying to bang her. She’s married.”

“Oh.” His eyes light up. “My choirboy nephew’s tryin’ to bang a married woman?”

I point at him. “You’re an asshole. Keep it up and I’ll stop DVRing Jeopardy.”

“Now you sound like your girlfriend. Denying an elderly man his few pleasures in life.”

“She’s not my girlfriend.”

“Well, she missed her calling as a prison guard,” he grumbles.

My phone buzzes with a text, and I look down at the screen. “Huh. Looks like Alexei’s gonna be here for Christmas.”

“Tell him to bring me a bottle of good bourbon. None of that cheap shit.”

I toss my phone onto the couch. “How about a walk before dinner?”

Dix scowls. “I’m in a wheelchair, numb nuts.”

“I’ll push you. Unless you piss me off, then I’ll just leave you on a corner.”

“Bah,” he waves a hand dismissively. “It’s winter, I’ll freeze my balls off.”

“I’ll put a blanket over you. Come on, the fresh air will do you good.”

“Fresh?” He balks. “It smells like car exhaust and old sausage out there!”

“You haven’t been outside in a while.” I get up and roll his wheelchair over.

“Bunch of bullshit,” he mutters. “Don’t be surprised if I die of hypothermia.”

“Quit your bitching and I’ll order you some of that pistachio ice cream you like.”

He’s silent after that. Uncle Dix is a surly old bastard, but he loves ice cream.