10
Dani was quiet through dinner, focusing on something on her phone and then shooing Sergei and Niko upstairs for bath time while she cleaned up the kitchen. She’d disappeared after Veronika left, saying she had some phone calls to make, but Sergei had a feeling something was on her mind. She definitely hadn’t liked Veronika and at first he’d continued the interview because it seemed fun to tease her, but now he regretted it. There wasn’t a chance in hell he was hiring a qualified but wholly inappropriate woman to take care of his son, but his first thought had been she might be just what he needed to scratch the itch he’d felt since the first time he’d laid eyes on Dani. She’d practically thrown herself at him when they’d been upstairs and instead of being turned on, he’d apparently pissed off Dani and frustrated himself.
The chemistry between them was fairly obvious even though they were both ignoring it. It sizzled in the room when they were together, like the tiny sparks from a cord that was shorting out, but as soon as it became too overt, she shut it down by either leaving the room or changing the subject. Casual sex might work out okay if she was more experienced, but her own admission that she didn’t date a lot made him uncomfortable. Not because he wanted her to be sexually experienced—he had no problem showing a woman what he liked in the bedroom—but because treating her like a casual lay when she’d already become his friend was disrespectful. It had only been two months or so but it felt like much longer. They’d spent a fair amount of time together for over a month in Las Vegas and now they were together all day, every day.
She’d put his home together for him in short order, took care of Niko and still found the time to work out, cook, and clean on days the cleaning service didn’t come. They were only friends but in her capacity as his nanny she’d already become virtually indispensable to him. The thought of her leaving in two months was disturbing and using her for one night of pleasure before letting her go was unconscionable. He truly didn’t know what to do about it.
Unable to sleep well with the strangeness between them, he tossed and turned until six before finally getting up. He got dressed and freshened up before checking on Niko and heading downstairs. She was already up and he found her in the kitchen on the phone.
“Hey, Sara, I have to go,” she said into the phone. “I’ll call you later, okay? Yeah, sure… Bye.” She disconnected and stood up. “I was going to go for a run.”
“Before you go, will you tell me what’s wrong?”
“Nothing. Why?” She met his gaze unflinchingly.
“You barely spoke to me after Veronika left yesterday and then you went up to your room and never came back down.”
“I had to call my mom and we wound up on the phone for over an hour, and then I started texting Tiff and lost track of time. I guess I fell asleep. Did you need me for something?”
Yeah, to bend you over that counter and fuck you senseless. “I wanted your thoughts on Veronika. I take it you didn’t like her.”
“She’s not exactly interested in Niko.” She gave a little shrug.
“What does that mean?”
“Come on, don’t be obtuse.” She scowled at him. “The way she kept touching you, flirting… And that ridiculous top she wore, showing off her tits. Who wears that kind of thing to an interview? I mean, it was so obvious she wants to go out with you and if that’s your thing, that’s fine, but to hire her to care for your son would be—”
“You really think I’m going to hire her? You don’t think much of me, do you?”
“I honestly don’t know you that well. You seemed into her.”
“I was playing along, to see if she was just a little flirty by nature—there are women like that, by the way—or if she was truly making a play for me.” He watched something he couldn’t quite decipher flicker across her face before she schooled her features again.
“And what did you decide?” she asked, cocking her head slightly.
“That she’s a bimbo looking for a rich guy to pick up where her husband left off. She somehow thought the Russian connection would make her a prime candidate.”
“You told her you’d call her,” she said, her voice almost accusing.
“But I’m not going to.” He met her eyes. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say you were jealous.”
“That’s ridiculous.” She narrowed her eyes. “You’re not my boyfriend. You can date whomever you like, but I didn’t want you to hire her because Niko really didn’t like her and she was just…icky.” She wrinkled her nose.
“Icky?” he repeated. “You have a master’s degree and icky is the best word you could come up with to describe her?”
“Fine. She was a cheap, slutty-looking gold digger who practically threw herself at you during a job interview.”
He laughed. “You’re right. Which is why I’m not going to hire her and definitely not going to get involved with her.”
“You could sleep with her without having a relationship,” she pointed out.
“I could.” He glanced at her and that ever-present spark between them nearly singed his corneas as their gazes locked. “But she’s not really what I want.”
“What, um, what do you want?” Dani worried her lower lip nervously, her eyes never leaving his.
“I don’t know exactly,” he hedged, unsure how far he could go without coming on too strong. “But definitely someone with more class.”
“Yeah, um, that’s probably a good idea,” she said slowly. Then it was as if someone flipped a switch. She quickly turned away and bent to tie the laces of her sneakers. “Anyway, I need to get going so I can be back in time to make Niko’s breakfast.”
“You don’t have to feed us three meals a day,” Sergei said, somehow both frustrated and relieved she either hadn’t picked up on or chose to ignore his signals.
“I know, but if I’m going to feed him, it’s not a problem to feed you, too.” She grabbed her earbuds. “Do you need anything before I go?”
“No, you go ahead. Have a good run.” He watched her jog out the back door and disappear around the corner.
Well, that had been a bust. He normally didn’t have a problem approaching a woman he wanted, but Dani was in a category of her own and he didn’t want to mess up their friendship. He couldn’t talk to his brothers or closest friends about it—since they were all friends with her brother—and he realized just how much he’d secluded himself since Tatiana’s death. He’d stopped hanging out with anyone but his brothers and friends from the Sidewinders, whom he only saw intermittently, and though the group here in Alaska wasn’t that friendly, there were a few guys he could’ve gotten to know better if he’d put any effort into it. He just hadn’t wanted to until now. For the first time in nearly two years he couldn’t ignore the pull to start living again.
Shit. It was all because of the sexy blonde who’d just scampered out of here like a pack of grizzlies was after her. Maybe it was for the best. She was too young for him, right? And leaving soon to go be an Olympic champion. Yeah, he needed to let this go and find someone to get horizontal with. Someone who wouldn’t get under his skin like a certain hockey-playing nanny he knew. Determined to stop thinking about getting naked with Dani, he went to check on Niko.
He was halfway up the stairs when his phone rang. It was barely seven in the morning and he looked down, surprised to see Dani’s name on the screen. Panic rushed through him and he snatched it to his ear.
“Dani?”
“I’ve had a little accident,” she said quickly. “I’m okay, I just—”
“I’ll be right there—where are you?”
“You can’t leave Niko alone,” she said firmly. “I can walk, I just might need a little help getting up the stairs.”
“Where. Are. You.” He ground the words out succinctly through gritted teeth.
“I’m at the end of the block. Really, I’m fine, I—”
He disconnected without letting her finish and ran down the stairs. He stuffed his bare feet into his sneakers and raced out the front door. She usually took the same route when she ran so he had a good idea where she was and they’d be back in two or three minutes flat. If he didn’t spot her where he thought she was, he’d double back and grab Niko.
His stomach clenched in fear as he ran down the lengthy driveway onto the street, looking both ways. Sure enough, she was coming around the corner, one leg covered in blood. A lot of blood. He got to her in a few seconds, pausing to grip her face between his hands.
“I’m fine, but you need to go back—what if Niko wakes up?” she protested.
“Come on.” He scooped her up in his arms and speed walked back to his yard and up the driveway. “Jesus, you scared the shit out of me—what the hell happened?”
“A car came around the corner too fast and didn’t see me there. I jumped out of the way and landed on some rocks. It looks worse than it is, really.”
“We need to clean it and see.” He climbed the steps to the back door and set her down inside. “Sit,” he said firmly.
She looked like she was going to protest, but didn’t, merely sinking into the nearest chair. Sergei wadded up a bunch of paper towels and knelt in front of her, assessing the damage to her thigh. It was already starting to turn an ugly purple color, but the bleeding had almost stopped and he didn’t think it would need stitches. It needed to be cleaned, though, since there was a lot of dirt in the wound.
“Let’s get upstairs to the master bath,” he said, standing up straight again. “You need to get the blood washed off and I can clean out the dirt.”
“I can do it,” she said, also standing up. She winced, and he quickly shook his head.
“You can barely stand up. Stop being stubborn.” He lifted her in his arms again, trying to ignore how good her skin felt against his. He climbed the stairs and carried her through his room and into the bathroom, where he set her on the closed toilet seat. He leaned into the large open shower that had two full walls, one half wall with the garden-style bathtub on the other side of it, and nothing at all on the side where you entered and exited. It was roomy, easily spacious enough for two people, so he picked her up and set her on the half wall before taking down the showerhead.
“Shit, that stings,” she muttered, wrinkling her nose.
“Almost done,” he said quietly, using his finger to wipe away the dirt.
Dani’s mouth was a little dry as Sergei tended to her. His hands were big, with long, tapered fingers. Though well-groomed, there was no doubt he used his hands a lot. The skin was lightly calloused, but his touch was ridiculously gentle so the contrast actually felt wonderful. Her eyes fluttered closed as he cleaned her injury, goose bumps breaking out on her skin as he trailed his fingers down the inside of her thigh. It wasn’t a sexual motion, he was simply wiping away some of the dried blood, but it felt deliciously intimate. Sensual. She could only imagine those same fingers touching her for pleasure.
Her fantasy came to a halt as he turned off the water and hung the showerhead back up. He patted her upper thigh dry with more paper towels before handing her a bath towel. “Go ahead and dry off while I dig around for some bandages. I don’t know if I have anything big enough. Did we buy any Neosporin?”
“I don’t think so.”
“I’ll run to the drug store after Niko wakes up.”
“I can watch him if you want to go.”
“You’ve been taking care of us for almost three weeks. Let us take care of you for once, okay?”
She smiled faintly. “Okay.”
Dani spent most of the day on the couch watching movies with Niko and taking a late afternoon nap that left her feeling a bit out of sorts. She woke to the smell of something wonderful coming from the kitchen and slowly limped into the room to find out what it was. Niko was up on the counter, laughing with Sergei as they tossed a salad. Half of it was spilling out of the bowl but she couldn’t help a fond smile as she watched. There was no doubt they were father and son, both blond and blue-eyed with dimples. She’d seen pictures of Tatiana, who’d also been blond and blue-eyed, so it was hard to tell exactly who Niko would look like as he got older but the resemblance was already visible. With their heads close together, they were adorable, Sergei trying to toss the salad as Niko attempted to snatch pieces of cucumber to eat.
“You two are making a mess,” she said mildly.
“Hey.” Sergei turned, his eyes warm as he smiled at her. “Did you have a good nap?”
“I did.” She smiled back.
“Does your leg feel better?” Niko asked, wiggling to get down.
Sergei set him on the floor and he ran to her, carefully hugging the leg without the bandage.
“I feel much better. You and your daddy took good care of me.”
“Does your boo-boo still hurt?” He put a tentative finger over the bandages.
“A little, but it’ll be okay.” She tousled his hair. “How about you wash your hands so we can eat?”
“Okay.” He moved to the sink as Sergei brought a big bowl of pasta to the table.
“I used sauce from a jar,” he explained wryly, as if embarrassed about the use of canned pasta sauce. “I added some grilled chicken, garlic, and mushrooms. It’s probably not like what you make, but it’s edible. And there’s salad and garlic bread.”
She grinned. “It sounds heavenly. Starting on the first of August, I’ll cut way back on carbs, so I want to enjoy them now.”
He grimaced. “I hear ya. Now that I’m thirty-three, I have to be a lot more conscious of what I eat, though I stay active enough not to limit myself too much.”
“I’d like to get my body fat down to fifteen percent again,” she said. “I think I’m at around nineteen now, so I have some work to do.”
He glanced down, his eyes rolling over her like a surfboard riding a wave before settling on her face. “I can’t even imagine you more cut than you are, but I’m looking forward to helping you get there.”
She flushed, both happy and exasperated at the way he seemed to be paying a lot more attention to her. Was he actually interested or was he just taking advantage of their close proximity? He wasn’t a jerk, she’d learned that about him by now, but he was still a hot single guy not looking to get serious. She’d originally made an unofficial deadline of losing her virginity before leaving for Colorado, but that had fallen by the wayside once she’d come to Alaska. Now she was thinking about it again, but he was a family friend, her boss, and the kind of guy she now knew could break her heart if she let him get too close. Maybe if she timed it to happen right before she left it wouldn’t be too bad, but she had no idea how to approach a conversation like that. In the meantime, when he looked at her the way he just had, it was all she could do to not throw herself at him. Luckily, Niko’s presence kept her from making a fool of herself. Especially today, when her injury had forced Sergei to be so attentive and solicitous.