Lev

“Don’t be sorry. Mirella will be here in a few minutes.” He answered my unasked question, “Lidiya’s na

“Straight up black,” I uttered, taking the cup with a smile of thanks. I sipped at it slowly and it was wonderful. I couldn’t help watching the chubby, long-lashed little girl. My chest tightened in awe. “She’s adorable, Lev.”

He pulled back to look down at his daughter. His soft response nearly had me swooning in a dead faint. “She is my life.”

Warmth flooded me, leaving me in a haze of wonder. What had I done so well in my life that I’d come across Lev Leokov? Whatever it was, I was thankful for it.

The little girl turned and, finally spotting me, gabbed. “Zhena. Zhena. Zhena.”

My nose bunched with my smile. “What is she saying?”

Lev watched me closely. “She doesn’t know your name. She’s calling you her version of ‘lady’ in Russian.”

“Oh, so you’re Russian then?” I asked stupidly.

Patiently, Lev responded, and I commended him on not calling me a dumbass. “Yes, from both my father and mother’s sides.”

“Oh, cool,” I said. And what followed was a long, awkward silence.

Finally, after what seemed like hours, Lev asked, “Where is your family, Mina?”

My response was curt. “Dead. I’m an orphan. I didn’t know my father. My mother died when I was twelve. My grandmother didn’t want me, and so I went into foster care. I ran away when I was seventeen.”

Affected by my sudden change of ma

The door opened suddenly, and a gaggle of people came through it, conversing loudly and openly.

Nastasia came in first, face red, lips tight, arguing with the man behind her. “I don’t give a shit who she was, Vik.”

The man, who I easily guessed was Viktor, came in behind her, gri

Nas turned and her lip curled. “She was kind of pretty in that ‘I hope you don’t mind STDs’ kind of way.”

Viktor was tall, brawny, and wore a pair of dress pants, a white shirt rolled up at the sleeves to reveal a bunch of colorful tattoos, and had a toothpick sticking out the side of his mouth. His blue eyes popped in a way that made you want to stare into them for days, and he wasn’t at all fazed by Nastasia’s wrath. “You know me. No jimmy, no hanky.”

A beautiful redhead came in behind Viktor. I immediately noticed she had the same eyes that Viktor did. From the way she smiled, she only had eyes for Lev, and when she looked to me, her smile fell fast.

Lev winked at her, a tender look in his eye. “Anika.”

My stomach churned violently at the way Lev looked at her. I didn’t understand it.

I mean, I understood it. She was pretty in a way that I just couldn’t compete with.

“Well, hey there, princess.” Anika held out her hands, smiling once more, and Lev handed over Lidiya as if this were a regular occurrence.

My gut rolled. Again.

What the hell was going on here? Stop it, stomach!

She bounced Lidiya on her hip, kissing her cheek. Lidiya showed no signs of discomfort with the woman. She looked to me and spoke softly, her voice melodic. “Hi. I’m Anika.”

I opened my mouth to respond, already reaching out with my hand when Lev straightened. “This is Mina. The new bargirl.”

I smiled at her. “Yeah, what he said.”

At his explanation, Anika’s tension visibly faded and she warmed up toward me. She shook my hand lightly. “Oh. That’s great. We’ll be working together.”

Viktor looked at me then, and seemed surprised, as if he’d just noticed another person in the room. “What’s up? I’m Viktor.” He looked me up and down appreciatively before turning to Lev and smiling slyly. “Where’d you find this one?”

His eyes on me, Lev responded without emotion, “Stealing Sasha’s wallet.”

My heart stuttered before it started to race. Everyone had gone silent apart from Viktor, who blinked at me a solid ten seconds before erupting in laughter.

My cheeks heated, but my body turned cold. I felt the stares of everyone in the room and the tension became too much.

I got it. I stole his brother’s wallet. It was a shitty move. If I weren’t desperate, I wouldn’t have done it. Was I going to be punished for it forever?

Under my breath, I muttered, “Asshole,” before slipping on my heels and clomping out the kitchen door. I almost fell ass-over-tit in those damn heels, but Nas told me I needed to get used to walking in them.

Ten minutes passed, and down the path, I spied a mature woman with dark curly hair and kind eyes coming up toward the house. She slowed when she saw me, so I smiled. “You must be Mirella.”

“I am,” she stated carefully.

I took a step forward. “I’m Mina.” I pointed back to the house with my thumb. “I’m living here temporarily. Lev told me that I’d be seeing a lot of you.”

Her eyes widened and her jaw nearly dropped. “You’re staying…here? In the house…with Mister Lev?”

My nod was slow. She seemed beyond surprised. More like astonished. What was with that reaction?

Catching herself, she attempted a smile, but it was uncomfortable. “Nice to meet you, Mina,” she said, moving toward the kitchen door.

“You too,” I returned just as she closed the door behind her.

I waited out in the cool breeze for another few minutes before the door opened and everyone, sans Mirella and Lidiya, came outside. I felt Lev’s eyes on me, but I didn’t give him the satisfaction of looking up.

Nas smiled sympathetically as she watched me avoid everyone else’s scrutinizing eyes. “Ready to get that blood pumping?”

“Sure,” I sighed.

I mean, really. How bad could it be?

***

Lev

“How’s she doing?”

Nastasia smiled too widely, and it came across more like a grimace. “She’s only broken four glasses so far, so—” The sound of glass smashing followed by Mina’s “Ah, crap. Sorry!” sounded. My sister shook her head. “Five glasses in two hours. Is she trying to set some kind of record or some shit?”

“She’ll get the hang of it.” I didn’t sound as confident as I hoped.

I watched Mina closely as she listened to Anika. She was concentrating hard, nodding on occasion. I couldn’t understand why this was so hard for her. Her shoulders looked tight with tension.

“Listen,” Nas broke into my thoughts. “I gotta tell you, Lev, telling Vik and Ani that you met Mina when she was stealing Sasha’s wallet…” She winced. “Ouch.”

I was suddenly confused. “What?”

My sister had always been patient with me, but tonight, she sighed. “It’s not cool, bro. You only get one chance to make a good impression, and before Mina had the chance to do that, you tore it out from under her feet.”

“I don’t understand.” I really didn’t.

Nastasia leveled me with a hard stare. “You introduced her to our closest friends as a thief.”

Oh.

I was begi

“No, you don’t.” Nastasia took my hand in her own and squeezed. “You’re a wonderful person, Lev. But you don’t see.”

Panic welled up inside of me. I lowered my gaze, training my eyes on my feet. What was I to do now? I didn’t know how to react. I felt wrong.

Releasing my hand, Nas assisted me in my unspoken query. “When you get the chance, apologize to Mina.”

My stomach ached. I hated this, unintentionally hurting people. I nodded.

My sister kissed my cheek and assured, “You’re a good man, Lev. You just need a little help sometimes. No biggie.”

But it was a big deal, to me more than most.

***

Mina

“Mina.”

It was childish, but I ignored him. “Mina, please look at me.”

I took a moment from reading my handy little guide to mixers and turned my face toward him, but my eyes strayed, focusing on his chin. He spoke softly. “Nastasia informed me that what I said in front of Anika and Viktor was inappropriate and I likely embarrassed you.” My brow furrowed in confusion. He spoke about it as if he didn’t know why I would be embarrassed about it. He went on, “It wasn’t my intention to cause you distress, and I now understand why you called me an asshole. I apologize.”