Total pages in book: 184
Estimated words: 188108 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 941(@200wpm)___ 752(@250wpm)___ 627(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 188108 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 941(@200wpm)___ 752(@250wpm)___ 627(@300wpm)
“I won’t be?” she asked, looking up from her phone.
“Is something wrong?” Salem asked.
She gave him a confused look.
“You were frowning at your phone.”
“Oh, sorry. No, I was just checking to see if I had any new job offers. If you don’t want me to clean until Evette returns, I should go job hunting. I mean, I should do that anyway as I guess she won’t be gone long.”
God. Why hadn’t he realized she would be worrying about this? He should have.
“You don’t need to clean because you’re our girlfriend now and we will take care of you,” Alexei told her.
“You will?” She tried to turn to see Alexei’s face. “What does that mean?”
“We don’t really feel comfortable with you cleaning for us when you’re dating us,” Salem tried to explain.
“Why?” she asked.
“We just don’t want you to feel like you have to pick up after us,” Salem said.
“But I offered.”
“Which is very kind,” Salem told her. “But you shouldn’t feel like you have to do anything. All right?”
“Okay.” She nodded. “I’ll do some job hunting tomorrow, then.”
“No,” Alexei growled.
“Alexei,” Salem said.
“Why no?” she asked. “I don’t understand.”
“I told you, because we’re taking care of you,” Alexei replied.
“Yes, but you didn’t really explain what that meant,” she said.
“That you don’t need a job because we will provide everything,” Alexei stated.
“Umm. You will?” she asked.
“Yes. So, you see, it is simple. You will move in here and allow us to take care of everything.”
Dear Lord, help him.
“Simple,” she repeated.
“It might not be that simple,” Roman said, glancing over at Alexei. “What about her housing now? Is there a lease? Do you need to break it? And what will Tamsyn do while we’re at work? Won’t she get bored? Maybe she might like a career of her own.”
Right.
All good points.
“I think—” Salem started to say.
“I don’t want her working outside the house. It’s too dangerous without me there to watch over her.”
Shit.
That was Alexei’s childhood trauma rearing its head. He’d gone to school one day and when he’d returned home, his entire family had been gone.
But Tamsyn likely didn’t know about that as he rarely spoke of it.
“Dangerous?” she asked.
“Alexei is worried about something happening to you,” Salem explained.
“I know. That’s why he’s snuck into my room the last two nights. Because he worries about me. But you don’t need to worry so much. I can take care of myself.”
“You can’t protect yourself from a gunman or a bomb in the underground or a car crash,” Alexei told her. “Here, you’re safe. Especially if I work from home.”
“How are you going to work from home?” Salem asked. There were some days when he probably could, but not all the time.
Alexei shrugged. “I’ll make it work.”
“Um, I’m home most of the time, anyway. I can protect Tamsyn, or do you not trust me to do that?” Roman pointed out.
Shit. What was Alexei going to say to that?
“Of course he does,” Tamsyn said. “But also, I can look after myself, guys. And I don’t think it’s right to just let you take care of everything financially. Is it?”
“Sure it is,” Alexei said. “It’s what people who care about each other do. We’ll take care of you and you’ll stay here, inside, where it’s safe.”
There was a beat or two of silence at that statement.
“Not sure I could stay inside all of the time,” she said.
“You don’t have to,” Salem reassured her, ignoring Alexei’s scowl. “But we would expect you to be careful all the time and to tell us where you’re going and when you will be back. And be in regular contact at all times. Plus, allow us to track your phone.”
Okay, maybe he and Alexei weren’t so different.
That was disturbing.
“Umm.” She gaped at him while Alexei grinned above her head.
“Why don’t you stay the week with us and see how things go,” Roman said. “If you want a job, you have the time and space to look. And these guys will let you do that.” Roman glanced at them both.
Huh.
Since when had he gotten so forceful?
Salem braced himself for her to argue with them. He’d have to work on convincing her to stay.
“All right,” she said.
“If you could . . . wait, what?” he asked.
“I said I’d stay.”
“You will? Salem asked.
“Oh, were you not expecting me to say yes?” she asked. “Should I not have said yes? I’m new to this relationship stuff.”
“No, no,” Salem said. “You should definitely have said yes.” Relief filled him.
“Good girl,” Alexei told her. “We’re going to take good care of you.”
“I can be home all day Monday, Wednesday, and Friday,” Roman said.
“I have to go into headquarters tomorrow,” Alexei grumbled. “I’ll be here Tuesday.”
“That leaves Thursday for me, baby,” Salem told her. He liked the idea of having her all to himself, even if he did have to work for part of it.