Ivan 2 (Her Russian Protector #9) - Roxie Rivera Page 0,51
and consistent way to get enough protein in my diet. I use vegan because the ingredients are higher quality, and they do more safety testing.” He took the canister from her and put it back in its cabinet. “Block chain amino acids.”
“What?”
“BCAA,” he clarified. “They’re amino acids our bodies can’t produce. We can only get them from food or supplements. “
She seemed surprised as she admitted, “I had no idea you were, you know, educated in nutrition.”
“I can even count to twenty without taking off my shoes and socks.” With a shake of his head, he started drinking his protein shake.
“Yeah? But what about twenty-one? Do you have to take off your pants to go that high?”
Ivan choked on a mouthful of the thick liquid at her unexpected joke. She laughed at his predicament and snatched a dishtowel from next to the sink. She smacked him with it. “Here.”
“Thanks.” He mopped his face and then whacked her right back with it. “I could have choked to death.”
She rolled her eyes. “I totally would have pushed you over onto your side and called 9-1-1 as soon as I finished my juice.”
“Wow. Such compassion and caring,” he grunted.
“You’re the one who made me get up at this ungodly hour. You get uncaring Ruby this time of the morning.”
“You’re more than welcome to go right back to bed and spend the rest of your day trying to get a job washing restaurant dishes or scrubbing hotel toilets.”
“Pass.” She opened a cabinet and grabbed a glass before sloshing orange juice into it. “When do you eat real food?”
“Erin brings breakfast, or I make it at the gym in the kitchenette at the back.” He gestured to the pantry. “You can bring things you like and keep them there. Tell Erin what you like, and she’ll make sure it’s stocked at the gym. For lunch, we go out or hav something delivered. I leave that up to Erin.”
“You really like letting her boss you around, huh?” Ruby’s eyebrows rose as she drank her juice in unladylike gulps. Her eyes narrowed. “Is that your thing?”
“My thing?”
“Yeah.” She gestured with her hand. “Your kink. Having some pretty little thing give you orders and, well, you know.”
He huffed out an annoyed breath. “We aren’t talking about this.”
“I knew it!” she declared triumphantly.
“You don’t know shit,” he replied, swiping the orange juice jug and returning it to the refrigerator.
“Uh-huh.” She grinned as if she had figured out a difficult riddle. “We’ll see.”
“Go ahead and ask Erin.” He grabbed his tumbler and polished off the last of his shake. “Be sure you really want to know,” he warned. “You won’t be able to forget the mental pictures she paints.”
“Gross.” Ruby acted as if she were gagging. She placed her empty glass on the top rack of the dishwasher and took his tumbler from him, placing it there also. “It’s bad enough that I can hear you two if I don’t get my headphones on fast enough.” She puffed up her chest and dramatically imitated his voice. “Oh, Erin. Oh, angel moy.”
“Oh, fuck off,” he swore, laughing despite himself. “I do not sound like that.”
“Bro,” she said seriously. “Would I lie?”
He snorted. “Do you want me to answer that?”
She shot him the finger. “Are we going to work or what?”
“Let’s go.”
The ride to work was surprisingly pleasant. It was the longest time he had ever been alone with Ruby without the buffer of Erin between them. He had to wonder if confessing to Erin about what had happened to her in jail had somehow freed the real Ruby. She seemed much more like the younger woman Erin had described to him.
“Did you schedule your classes yet?”
“The drug offender ones?”
“Yes.”
“Not yet,” she admitted, scratching at her knee through her black leggings. “There’s a class toward the end of February. I think I’ll try to get into that one.”
“How long is it?”
“Five days. Three hours each day.”
He frowned. “That’s a bullshit schedule.”
“Right?” She shook her head. “Like people who just got out of jail can afford to take five days off from work or to ask to be rescheduled if they just got a new job!”
“The people who make these laws have never had to deal with that kind of situation. They make their decisions in a vacuum.”
“Clearly,” she agreed. “So, boss, I’m going to need five days off in February and a ride to and from class.”
“Take it up with my supervisor,” he counseled.
“Is that how it is? Like—not joking right now.”
“I