Til Death Do Us Part (Kornilov Bratva Duet #2) - Nicole Fox Page 0,23
kissing her. It has been several days. Too many days. I miss her.
I ask her how classes are going, and she tells me she is as determined as ever to get the necessary certifications to become an interior designer. She wants to own her own company and have employees, and hearing her talk about her future makes me wonder if I’m part of her plans.
If we make our marriage official, she certainly won’t need a job, but I would never tell her she couldn’t have one. My brother derailed her life, and maybe this is just another instance of me wanting to clean up his messes, but I would like to help her put it back on track. I want Molly to accomplish all of her goals. I don’t want Fedor’s action to steal anything from her.
“You did amazing with Theo’s nursery at my place,” I say. She designed the room when she and Theo were living with me. “I’m sure you could have your own design business right now if you wanted.”
“Thanks, but that was just a small project,” she says. “With help from your designer. I don’t know enough to do it all on my own yet. But I will.”
She lifts her chin and pushes her shoulders back, and the confidence is sexy on her. It also doesn’t make my attraction to her any easier to ignore. I want to throw her over my shoulder, carry her to the car, and have my way with her in the back seat.
“Dessert?”
Our waitress is holding out a dessert menu, but Molly waves it away before I can answer and orders us a milkshake to share. It feels a little Happy Days to me, but I’ll do it. Especially if it keeps the smile on her face a little longer.
The waitress goes back to the kitchen to put in our order, and Molly opens her mouth to continue talking but is cut off by the sound of her own name.
“Molly?”
We both turn and see a thin blonde woman with fake lashes and bright red lipstick. Her arm is wrapped around the arm of a man with shoulders as wide as mine but a gut twice as big. It hangs over the edge of his pants a bit, and he has to keep adjusting his shirt to make sure it is covered.
Molly blinks in surprise. “Angela?”
The blonde woman smiles and rushes forward, arms open for a hug. “Holy shit. I haven’t seen you since … high school. Really? Has it been that long? Damn. How are you?”
Molly looks at me over the woman’s shoulder, stunned. When they pull away from the hug, she manages to arrange her mouth into a smile. “I’m good. How are you?”
“You had a kid, right?” Angela looks around like she expects Theo to come crawling out from under the table. “Right after high school?”
Molly nods. “Yeah, Theo. He’s four.”
Angela whistles. “I can’t imagine having a four-year-old. Man, that’s crazy. Who was the dad? There were rumors, but—”
“How are you?” Molly asks, cutting her off.
“Amazing,” the woman says, excited enough to talk about herself that she doesn’t mind the sudden change in conversation. She holds out an arm for her male friend to take, but when he doesn’t, she clears her throat to catch his attention. He jumps forward to take his place. “Brad and I got married a few years ago, so we’ve been living the high school sweetheart dream. “
The woman turns towards me and seems to see me for the first time. She blinks and her cheeks flush. “Who is this? I’m sorry, did I interrupt a business meeting or something?”
“No,” Molly says nervously. “This is … um … my—”
“Her husband,” I finish, standing up to take the woman’s hand. “Viktor.”
Angela flutters her absurdly long lashes at me as I stand and move around the booth to slide into the same seat as Molly. I wrap my arm around her shoulders and gesture. “Join us. Please.”
Molly explains how they all know each other as the two take their spots across from us. “Brad played football for our high school, and Angela was a cheerleader—”
“Head cheerleader,” Angela corrects, pushing her blonde hair back over her shoulder. “I always lobbied for you to make the team, Molly. I just couldn’t get the other girls on board.”
The way her mouth turns up in a smile at the memory tells me Angela probably wasn’t on Molly’s side.