Total pages in book: 95
Estimated words: 89090 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 445(@200wpm)___ 356(@250wpm)___ 297(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 89090 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 445(@200wpm)___ 356(@250wpm)___ 297(@300wpm)
As I mentally jot down a reminder to pop into the store today for essentials, a knock rumbles through Yev’s front door. Believing it is the food I ordered, I snatch my purse off the coffee table before heading for the door, rummaging through my purse for a tip on my way.
“I’m sorry, I am a little low on cash. If you’re ever in town, pop into my boutique and I’ll…” I stop talking when I swing open the door and am slammed with the harsh reality that Yev and I aren’t the only two people in the world.
“Um…” A pretty blonde with sprigs of curly hair checks the apartment number on the door before returning her eyes to me. As she rubs her extended stomach to rid her palms of sweat, she asks, “Does Yev still live here?”
Oh god. “Yeah… ah…”
I’m saved from making a fool of myself by the man in question. “Do you want to grab something to eat before we head in? I’ve done a shit job of feeding you the past couple days.” Cold sweats and vomiting for hours on end killed Yev’s appetite, but I managed with the nonperishable items he had in his pantry and refrigerator. “They opened a drive-thru café last week. We won’t even have to leave the car…”
His words clog in his throat as effectively as mine did when I opened his door. His eyes lift and lock with me. He’s stunned by my silence until I step to the right. I’m tall for a girl, and the woman standing behind me is as tiny as a fairy. It makes sense that he wouldn’t notice her right away.
My stomach swirls when recognition is immediate. “Annika, hey.” Yev brushes off his surprise with a quick headshake, but when his eyes drop to her stomach, it returns full force. “Holy… fucking… shit.”
When he stumbles back like he did more than switch out his shirt in the bathroom, I ask Annika if she would like to come in. “Please excuse the mess, we…” When I fail to find a plausible excuse for the dining table to be squashed against the sofa and for a single chair to be in front of a floor-to-ceiling mirror, I offer to take her coat.
“It’s fine. Thank you. I won’t stay long.” She steps into the foyer before adding, “I just wanted to make sure you got my letter.” Her eyes land on the entryway table with perfect timing. “Oh. There it is.” When she gathers up the handwritten envelope I placed there over two weeks ago, a sigh falls from her lips. “You didn’t open it?”
Yev, the master deflector, does what he does best. He asks his own question instead of answering hers. “You’re the reason my gel kept going missing?” His laugh startles me. It is edgy and uneased but also relieved. “I told him to stop using it for lube, but he wasn’t, was he?”
I feel left out of the loop when Annika shakes her head before smiling.
“Is that…?” Once again, Yev lowers his eyes to her stomach.
As her eyes gloss with tears, Annika answers Yev with a faint, “Yes.”
“Wow.” He looks torn between throwing his fist in the air and yahooing and folding in two.
Upon spotting my bewilderment, Yev tries to settle it. “Annika is owned by the Bobrovs.” I don’t know who balks more, Annika or me. “Not like that. She was raised by them since she was ten.”
“Nine,” Annika corrects before shifting her focus to me. “Which I’m sure you understand placed me in a similar predicament to you. I wasn’t to be touched.”
Her eyes sling to Yev when he asks, “So how did he get in?” He answers his own question two seconds later with a low, gravelly tone. “By pretending to be me.”
Although he isn’t technically asking a question, Annika answers him. “Yes.”
My head bounces back and forth like I’m watching a tennis match when they continue their conversation like they are speaking their own private language. “Did you know it wasn’t me?”
Sprigs of blonde hair bounce when Annika nods again. “Yes, but we didn’t disclose it to anyone else.”
Yev’s reply is breathy. “So they thought he was me?”
Annika’s nod this time around is brief and regretful. “They still do.”
As his hands shoot up to his hair, Yev mutters, “Fuck.”
When he looks desperate for something to take the edge off, I ask, “Will someone please tell me what the hell is going on? I’m feeling a lot out of the loop.”
Yev cusses again before apologizing and tugging me to his side. “Annika, this is Polina, my girlfriend.” When Annika’s face washes with shock along with mine, he says, “Hence me getting my ass chewed out by Alek not even an hour ago.”
“Oh my god,” Annika murmurs. “I’m so sorry.” Her eyes are on me during her apology. “I didn’t know you two were a thing, or I wouldn’t have.”