pillow and blanket over to the couch. "I can wash them for you, but that'll take a little bit of time and I know you're tired. Normally I have a second set of bedding, but a lot of my stuff is in storage at the moment." Nikolai seemed embarrassed as he looked around. "This is all… temporary."
I wondered what that meant but figured it was another topic he didn't really want to talk about. I almost laughed because there were a lot of things about Nikolai that I wanted to know that seemed to be out of bounds.
"It's fine," I said. The idea of sleeping on sheets that smelled like Nikolai seemed like a dream come true as far as I was concerned. I nearly laughed out loud at the thought. God, I must be really tired if I was excited about sleeping on another man's sheets.
"I don't mind taking the couch," I said, though that was a lie. Not the part about taking the couch, but about not sleeping in Nikolai's bed. I had a feeling I was going to have some very delicious dreams if I slept in his bed. I glanced at the couch and realized I could have some there as well.
"It's not a problem," Nikolai said. "Let me fix you something to eat really quick."
I wasn't really hungry but as tired as I was, I wasn't ready to fall asleep either. I wasn't sure where to sit as Nikolai moved to the kitchen and began pulling things out of the refrigerator.
“Oh, hang on a second,” he said when he saw me standing awkwardly near the kitchen window. He moved past me and pulled a piece of wood that was attached to the wall upright. I realized it was a folding table. From the gap between the fridge and the wall, Nikolai pulled out a couple of plastic folding chairs. His eyes caught mine as he started setting them up. I could see the apology on his lips, but he didn't utter it. I hated to see that he felt embarrassed by his situation. I wanted to tell him I was more than familiar with living in tight spaces and on extreme budgets than most people.
As soon as he had the little table set up, I went and sat down on one of the chairs. "Thank you," I murmured as Nikolai began to move around the kitchen.
"For what?" he asked as he looked over his shoulder at me.
"For tonight."
Nikolai let out a harsh little laugh that held absolutely no humor in it. "All I did was manage to traumatize you a second time," he muttered. "Those fucking cops…"
“It's not the first time I've dealt with insensitive cops," I informed him. I waited until Nikolai was looking at me before adding, "Thank you for getting me out of there. For knowing that I wasn't going to be able to stay there tonight."
I hated the silence that hung between us. I wondered if Nikolai was thinking about the kiss he’d laid on me or the fact that he’d pretty much flat-out refused my request to go to Cliff's apartment.
I watched Nikolai work as he made what I was guessing was the omelet he'd mentioned to me earlier in the evening. I didn’t have much of an appetite, but I kept that to myself as he set the plate with a huge omelet in front of me along with a glass of juice. I planned to force a couple of bites down just to satisfy him, but as soon as I got the first forkful of egg, meat, and cheese in my mouth, I actually groaned out loud. Something inside my stomach switched and all of a sudden I was ravenous. By the time Nikolai was sitting down with his own omelet, I was halfway done with mine. I told myself to slow down, but my belly was telling me to eat faster.
"Good?" the man across from me asked with a smile. God, he was so beautiful when he smiled.
"Amazing," I said between bites.
Nikolai dug into his own food. We ate in silence. I ultimately ended up leaving a couple of bites of the omelet on my plate because I was already uncomfortably full. When Nikolai was finished, I got up to help him with the dishes.
After drying the few dishes that Nikolai handed to me after washing them, I noticed he was watching me intently. "What?" I asked.