From Lukov with Love

by Mariana Zapata

  Well… I hadn’t known, had I?

  And if I suddenly wanted to open two cans of whoop-ass on his bitch of a juniors partner, I would think about it later.

  “You. Matter. To. Me. You. I couldn’t forgive myself if something happened to you because of me,” he kept going, his voice rising. “I’ve known you since you were a little kid, helping my sister off the ice when she fell. You didn’t treat her different because of her last name like everyone else did. You didn’t ask her about me. You and Karina just picked each other. I know the things you did for her, she told me. She told all of us about Jasmine Santos who isn’t scared of anybody. About Jasmine who doesn’t like unicorns because she likes Pegasus, because they can fly.

  “I wanted you to be my partner for years, dumbass. When Karina had told me you were thinking about switching to pairs, I had thought you would say something to me, even in passing as a joke. I thought you would say you were going to kick my ass, and I had planned on talking to you over it. But you never did. The next thing I knew, you had a partner. Some dipshit that wasn’t half as good as you.”

  Was I on imaginary drugs again?

  “Do you remember that? Do you remember that I didn’t talk to you for six months after that?” he asked me, his entire focus on me.

  And I nodded because I did. I remembered how he’d come back at me with a vengeance out of the blue, talking so much shit over those next two years, I wasn’t sure how my ears didn’t bleed and how I managed not to key his car.

  “You’ve been in my life for thirteen years. How could you not think I don’t care about you? We fuck around with each other because we both like it. Because there’s nobody else we can fuck around with that can handle it.”

  I mean… he was right. He drove me crazy, he always had, but he was the only one I could talk to on that level. He had annoyed the shit out of me for years.

  But…

  But…

  My mouth gaped open, and I was silent.

  I—

  He—

  Well—

  His hand went to take mine from where it was laying limply on the table because… I was shocked. Surprised. Totally and completely caught off fucking guard. “I don’t want anything to happen to your stubborn, mouthy, mean ass. My partner or not my partner. Do we have that clear?”

  What. The. Fuck?

  “But I’m not letting you get away with this crap. I want you to be safe. I want you to be happy. But I’m not putting up with your secretive shit, or your bullshit, so you need to get used to it. You could have told me about your mom’s accident. About the letters and the comments. You could have told me you weren’t feeling well, Jasmine. But this ends now. This is the way it’s going to be. Okay?”

  Safe. Happy. Not putting up with my shit.

  I didn’t say a word, but he must have taken it as an agreement because he let go of my hand and sat up straight, ending the conversation with a look I wasn’t sure what it meant.

  “Now that that’s over with, I’m going to take the dogs for a walk. Want to come? If you get too tired on the way, we can drag you back.”

  Chapter 16

  “I don’t know if this is a good idea.”

  Behind the wheel of his Tesla, Ivan shrugged a shoulder and spoke the second sentence he’d decided to deem me with all day. “You won’t get anyone sick. Your contagious period is over already.”

  If he said so.

  I’d spent most of the day sleeping on and off in the guest room that Ivan had dumped my stuff in the day before. I’d been so distracted by his pets, that I hadn’t noticed when he’d gone back outside to grab the bag that I’d dropped on the ground.

  After dinner, we had taken the dogs on a long walk. Apparently he had 103 acres forty minutes outside of the city, and he took the dogs—and the pig—on a walk every day he could. Twice a day, he had a woman named Ellie come by to feed all of them, give them their medications, and let them out to run around while he was at practice. With me.

  Who the hell would have known?

  I wanted to know what had made him get so many animals, but the truth was, I didn’t know how to speak to him after the night before. No one had ever spoken to me like that before. At least no one that wasn’t my mom.

  He said he wanted me to be safe and happy. And that it had nothing to do with us being partners.

  What did it have to do with? I wanted to know. But I was too scared to ask and find out because what if his answer ruined what we had built up?

  I didn’t think the truth was worth it.

  So after a walk I’d bet was at least a mile long, I’d silently followed him to the living room and taken a seat on the opposite side of the couch from him, getting surrounded by Russ and an eight-year-old, three-legged Husky named Queen Victoria who had decided she liked me a lot. Ten minutes on the couch with a dog on my lap and one along my side, I passed the hell out and only woke up hours later when Ivan flicked me on the forehead and marched me half asleep to my room with his hand on the back of my neck.

  And I hadn’t been too half asleep to not remember that I’d crawled under the covers, and that it had been him who had dragged them up to my chin, then followed that up by palming my forehead before he’d turned off the light and left.

  I slept in the next morning and didn’t get up until almost noon, which said just how awful I felt. Ivan had been gone, but he’d left a note on the fridge that said he’d be at the LC and would be back around one, and that I shouldn’t worry if a woman came into the house because it was the pet-walker/caretaker, Ellie, who usually came at seven in the morning. I’d been asleep, obviously.

  So I took advantage of it. For the next hour, I snooped through his house and found more things about Ivan that surprised me.

  The rabbit alone had a big, fancy play area and house in one of the five bedrooms. It was honestly nicer than my own room.

  He had four big dog beds and one small one in his giant master bedroom, and I was pretty sure they were custom Tempur-pedic mattresses. I’d sat down on one with Russ, who had been laying down outside of the room I was sleeping in with the Husky, Queen Victoria, and decided even their beds were more comfortable than the one I had back home.

  Ivan kept a tube of lube in one of his nightstands—and my stomach had only given a dull pulse of dread that I pretended hadn’t happened.

  His house was immaculate.

  There weren’t any beauty products in his bathroom, which meant that perfect skin of his came naturally—total bullshit. But I did find a tin container of organic hair shit in one of the drawers.

  I didn’t find any condoms anywhere.

  But I did find a room filled with trophies, plaques, and two gold medals.

  He had a desktop computer with a password I couldn’t break into.

  The only pictures he had up were either of him with his family, candids of his pets, and his family in general. I happened to be in two of them.

  It was all very interesting.

  The one and only thing I wasn’t totally surprised by was the fact that I was 99.9 percent sure Lacey, the white Frenchie, didn’t like me. She watched me every time we made eye contact with each other and just glared the whole time. I liked her. She was smart to not be sure what to think of me.

  By the time he got back home, I had already looked through his entire house. Opening up drawers and cabinets I had no business looking in, but not even feeling a little bit bad about it. He knew me well enough. He had to expect it. And if he didn’t, then it was his fault for being so trusting.

  My fever had kicked back in again at some point while I’d been snooping, and I headed back to the guest room to nap while he took the dogs—and the pig—out. It wasn’t until almost six o’clock that something wet nudged at my face and woke me up. It was the pink pig sitting on my chest, with Ivan standing off to the side of the bed, watching me, while he held his huge bunny in one arm.

  “What?” I croaked, reaching to stroke the piglet like I’d pet one a thousand t
imes before and this was nothing new.

  Those gray-blue eyes remained on my face as he said, “You almost look sweet when you’re sleeping.”

  I blinked.

  “I said almost.”

  Still petting the pig and not sure if I was doing it correctly, I gave Ivan a wary look as his own hand brushed through his bunny’s coat. “Why are you standing there watching me, creep?”

  Ivan’s gaze had moved to the piggy when he replied, “I came to wake you up. We’re going to dinner at my parents’ house. Get dressed.”

  “I don’t feel very good.”

  “All we’re doing is eating. You can sit there for an hour. My mom has been worried about you.”

  Shit.

  “I don’t want to get them sick.” Which was true. I didn’t. The Lukov’s had always been nothing but wonderful to me. Genuinely. They were rich—wealthy, if you wanted to be exact—and came from a bloodline that had probably married Russian royalty at some point, according to Karina, but they were some of the kindest and most well-mannered people I had ever met.

  That and they gave me a huge discount on my LC fees. As in 90 percent off. All I’d had to pay for almost the last ten years was pretty much just my coaching and choreography fees. They’d insisted.

  “They’ll be fine,” he said, still standing there, holding his rabbit like it was second nature. “And it’s Father’s Day. I want to see my dad.”

  It was Father’s Day?

  “What? You didn’t know?” Ivan asked, reading my mind.

  I’d been so busy over the last month and hadn’t gotten a chance to watch any live television…. “No. I didn’t.”

  His eyebrows bunched together. “You want to call your dad first?”

  I didn’t hesitate to shake my head, even though it still felt weak and wobbly. Heavy.

  “You’re sure?”

  “I’m sure.” It wasn’t like he’d care if I contacted him or not. He probably wouldn’t even notice.

  But…

  Be better.

  Maybe that was the point. I could at least send him a text. Be better.

  Remind him I was his, regardless of whether that disappointed him or not.

  “I’ll send him a text on the way,” I told Ivan with a shrug. He was probably off with his step-kids doing something fun. This funny fucking feeling swam around in my stomach for a second, but I shoved it away. Far away. “I’ll send my brother and Aaron one too.”

  “You’ll come then?”

  For Mr. Lukov, I would. Even though I still felt like a giant butthole. He’d said an hour. I could make it an hour at their house.

  His nod took a moment, but it finally came at the same time his gaze shifted to me and the piggy that had walked up to cuddle against my neck, then he smiled. “She’ll take a shower with you if you let her.”

  The little creature gave two soft snorts into my skin, and I felt my heart give this tiny tingle. “She will?”

  He might have nodded, but all I heard was, “Uh-huh.”

  “Do you care?”

  I glanced up that time to find his gaze hadn’t moved anywhere. “No.”

  And just like that, despite feeling like I’d gotten half my energy sucked out of me and the headache that hadn’t gone away, I sat up, kicked the sheet off my legs, set Charlotte back on the bed before I swung my legs to the side and got up.

  “If your head still hurts, I left painkillers on the table beside your bed,” Ivan let me know.

  I managed a nod, then grabbed the pills, dropping them in my mouth and swallowing them with what was left of the water in the glass beside the bed. And it wasn’t until I was swallowing them, that I realized he’d brought them to me.

  I glanced at Ivan, who hadn’t moved from his spot standing beside the bed with his rabbit, less than two feet away from me, and said, the words coming out easier than they ever had before, “Thank you.”

  He didn’t look surprised… but he did just… look. As he held that freaking giant bunny.

  One shower minus Charlotte, the most unenthusiastic three minutes of my life getting dressed, another glass of water, and a short drive later, we were pulling up to his parents’ house. And I was ready to take another nap.

  The house was in a gated community in south Houston set up on a couple of acres that separated each mansion from one another. The Lukov’s lived in a six-thousand-square-foot stucco and tile-roofed monstrosity with an infinity pool that Karina and I had spent a lot of time in during our teenage years. Well, not a lot of time, but more than I spent just about anywhere else that wasn’t school, the LC, or home.

  Ivan pulled his car into the winding driveway leading to the back of the house and parked it just outside the oversized four-car garage. I let out a tired breath as we got out and headed toward the back door that I’d always gone through in the past. Ivan opened it using a key, and I finally took the time to take in the button-down shirt he had on tucked into fitted gray pants that I had a feeling were custom-made, because there was no way his bubble butt could fit into anything that didn’t stretch, and black leather shoes that almost looked like boots. Then I looked down at the fitted T-shirt and leggings I’d put on, and shrugged inside. The Lukovs had seen me in worse. They knew I wasn’t feeling well. It wasn’t like I was meeting my new boyfriend’s parents.

  Not that that had ever happened. I’d dated a little before I switched to pairs, but every guy I went out with turned out to be a dick by the second date. There had only been one guy I’d seen for a few months, but I couldn’t remember what he looked like anymore.

  “Hello?” Ivan called out the second he was inside the kitchen that the door led into.

  I closed the door behind us, leaning against it for a moment when exhaustion hit me hard once more. The kitchen was the same as the last time I’d seen it, almost… a year ago. The last time I’d come over was for Karina’s last birthday, and that had been right after Paul’s bitch ass bailed on me. Then she had left for another year of medical school, and now we were here.

  “Living room!” Mrs. Lukov’s voice called out.

  Ivan glanced at me over his shoulder and frowned. “You all right?”

  I nodded, and even that seemed like it took too much energy.

  He must have read it on my face because he frowned. “We should have stayed home.”

  “I’ll be fine,” I said, pushing away from the door.

  He didn’t look like he believed me, but he didn’t say anything either as I walked toward him.

  Instead, Ivan held out his hand, and I didn’t think much of it as I slipped my hand into his and leaned into his side without thinking about it. I was used to it, I could tell myself. I was used to being right up against him. It felt more natural than it should have.

  “You’re feeling that bad again?” he asked gently, taking my weight without a complaint.

  I shook my head against his shoulder. “Just tired.”

  His hand squeezed mine. “Want some more water?”

  “I’m okay.”

  He “hmmed” before asking, “What hurts?”

  I swallowed and closed my eyes for a moment. “Everything.”

  There was no hesitation as Ivan asked, “Want a hug? You liked that before.”

  I nodded.

  Ivan was silent as he turned his body and wrapped those long, muscular arms around me, pulling me into his build so that my face went right for that space between his pectorals. My own sigh was instant. One of his hands went flat to my spine and started rubbing up and down the length of it before pausing at the highest point and then rubbing over one shoulder blade and then the other. Circle, circle, circle, easing the ache somehow like it was fucking magic.

  “That feels nice,” I whispered, trying to get closer into him.

  Something about being sick just made me want to be held. And especially when it was Ivan. He was big enough to really hold me, and he wasn’t squeamish or weird about affection or the contact. He was used to it too, I guess.


  One of those big hands went to the back of my neck and started kneading the muscles there, and I swear to God, I moaned.

  Ivan chuckled low into the top of my head. “That good?”

  “So good,” I whispered, pretty much leaning my entire weight into him. “I could fall asleep like this.”

  “I’ll rub your back some more when we get back,” he offered, one hand going to my neck, the other one still rubbing up and down both sections on either side of my spine.

  “Promise?”

  He chuckled some more. “Promise. But when I get sick, you’re going to have to return the favor.”

  “Sure. Uh-huh.”

  “Promise?” the pain in the ass asked quietly, his tone pretty amused.

  “Promise.”

  I sighed into his chest, taking a whiff of that subtle, sweet cologne he usually had on.

  “My poor, poor Jasmine,” came a familiar voice from somewhere close by.

  I froze, realizing where the hell I was and what the hell Mrs. Lukov would see and think, and was about to take a step back when the arms around me grew tighter. So tight I knew there was no way I was about to get a chance to jump back like we’d gotten caught making out, when all he’d been doing was giving me a hug and rubbing my back. You know. Considering I’d been butt fucking naked a few weeks ago in front of him and he’d had his hands all over the place.

  But something about getting caught getting a hug from Ivan seemed even more vulnerable and personal than if we would have been kissing.

  At least that’s what I thought.

  “She’s not feeling well,” Ivan murmured directly above my head, almost like he was talking into my hair.

  “Are you taking your fever reducer?” Mrs. Lukov asked from somewhere behind me.

  I still didn’t move as I said, “Hi and yes. Ivan’s been keeping me stocked on them.”

  How did she know I’d had a fever?

  “Stop being greedy, Vanya, and let me give her a hug too,” Mrs. Lukov demanded.

  With one more squeeze around my body by those warm arms of his, he let me go, and I immediately felt heat rise to my face, and I prayed it came off more like I was overheated because of my fever—if I even still had one—and not because of getting caught getting affection from this woman’s son. The second I was out of his hold, I turned around slowly and came face-to-face with Mrs. Lukov, who had apparently been standing directly behind me.