Tempted by her Daddies: Chapter 2

Picking up an apple, Alexei leaned against the kitchen counter and took a large bite.

Was it wrong to be extremely irritated by the way he ate?

Probably.

“Can you not do that?” Salem asked through gritted teeth.

Alexei raised an eyebrow. “Eat? Kind of necessary if I want to live.”

“Can you not eat while you’re naked while leaning your bare ass against the counter.” Salem moved to the cupboard under the sink and grabbed a cloth and some disinfectant to clean the bench and cupboard.

“You have a lot of rules.”

“Rules are important,” Salem stated as he cleaned. He might as well do the whole bench and kitchen.

“Are they? Personally, I think they’re boring.”

“I don’t know how you managed to become an agent,” Salem told him.

“They needed my mad skills.”

“Or they were just mad for hiring you,” Salem muttered to himself.

“What was that?” Alexei asked.

“Nothing.”

“Really? Because I could have sworn I heard you say they were mad for hiring me.”

“You could hear that, but you never hear me when I tell you that the dishwasher needs emptying?”

“What can I say? I’m nuanced.”

“I don’t think that’s the right word.”

“It is.” Alexei shrugged as he threw the apple core away.

“I’ll order some groceries and see if the agency has someone who can come in and start cleaning next week.”

“Done and done.”

“What? By who? Roman?”

Alexei snorted. “Really? I doubt Roman has even noticed that Evette isn’t here. I ordered the food.”

Salem opened the cupboards.

“And I’ve been leaving him food,” Alexei added. “You might say I’m a model housemate . . . housefriend . . . what would be the word?”

“Roommate?”

“I don’t share a room with him, though. I don’t swing that way, even though you seem to admire my dick. I don’t blame you. It’s pretty.”

“I’m not admiring it. I’m not even looking at it. Or thinking about it. But it’s good you ordered food and made some for Roman, too. Otherwise, he’d likely forget to eat.”

Alexei grunted, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Too bad you didn’t remember the laundry before now.”

“I’m not perfect. I know, it was a surprise to me, too.”

Salem massaged the back of his neck just as Roman wandered into the kitchen, appearing confused. “It’s daylight? What day is it?”

Christ.

Evette usually made sure that Roman stepped away from his computer sometimes. She’d been his housekeeper for years. She acted more like his mother than his employee. And Salem vaguely remembered promising to keep an eye on him while she was gone.

Yeah, he really didn’t like this feeling of failure.

“It’s Saturday,” Salem told him. “When is the last time you came out of your room?”

“Or showered?” Alexei asked, wrinkling his nose.

“Saturday? What date?” Roman peered at the calendar. “Oh dear. Where is Evette? Normally she tells me when it’s coming up to the weekend and she leaves me a snack basket. But there’s no snack basket.”

“I’m starting to see that Evette isn’t getting paid enough,” Salem said with a sigh.

“Evette has gone on vacation,” Alexei said.

“But that’s not until March.”

“It is March,” Salem and Alexei said together.

“It is?” Roman blinked heavily. “Are you sure?”

“Very sure,” Salem told him.

“Drat. I thought I would have this database finished by now.”

Roman was also an MI6 agent. But he worked for the tech department. Or maybe it was more accurate to say that the tech department worked for him. He seemed to get whatever he desired. Including the ability to work from home most of the time. He was also part of the taskforce trying to take down Pinky.

“When is the last time you went outside?” Salem asked Roman.

“Outside? I don’t know. I have things to do. I’ve been trying to figure out Pinky’s next move.”

“Haven’t we all,” Alexei muttered.

“Yes, but I’ve been doing it with this program I coded. That’s why I’m behind in creating the other database. It’s rather boring, if I’m honest. I’d let someone else do it, but they’d likely mess it up.”

Roman was brilliant.

A bit odd. But brilliant.

Roman moved to the fridge and drew out a bottle of water and some grapes. Then he sat at the island.

“So? What are we going to do for dinner?” Roman asked.

“Is that really the first thing you want to ask?” Salem asked.

“Um. Right. I suppose we should think about lunch first.”

“Do you not care about the fact that Alexei is naked?” Salem waved his hand over at Alexei.

“Oh. Uh, right. I just figured it was a new thing I’d forgotten about.”

“You think that you forgot Alexei mentioning that he’s going to walk around naked?” Salem asked him.

“Hmm. Well. Perhaps. I don’t always pay close attention when people talk to me. You know that. I thought perhaps he’d decided to become a nudist.”

“And that would be all right with you?” Salem asked.

Chill.

There’s no point in getting upset.

“Well, I mean, who am I to tell him he can’t be a nudist? I don’t want to sound like I don’t support nudism or am an anti-nudist.”

“Good to know that I have your support,” Alexei said solemnly.

“Whew. I thought I might have said that wrong and offended you. Sometimes I do that.” Roman ate a grape.

“He’s not a nudist,” Salem told him, sitting beside him but being careful not to touch him.

Roman didn’t like touching others or being touched.

“He’s not?” Roman asked, looking confused. “Are you sure? Because he’s naked.”

“Yeah, I’m sure. He’s just an asshole.”

“Are the two mutually exclusive?” Roman ate another grape. “Can he not be a nudist and an asshole?”

“I could be,” Alexei said.

Salem’s headache was deepening.

“So if he’s not a nudist, then why is he naked?” Roman asked.

“Because he didn’t do any washing. And he has no clean clothes.”

“Oh, would you like me to buy you some, Alexei?” Roman asked.

Salem’s phone rang and he drew it out of his pocket, grateful for the distraction.

Except it was his mother calling. He grimaced and set the phone down on the counter.

“Are you not going to answer it?” Roman asked, peering at the screen. “That’s your mother.”

“I know it’s my mother. I’m just . . . working up to answering it.”

Alexei snorted.

Great.

Stop being a coward.

He hit ‘answer’ and brought it to his ear. “Mum? Everything okay?”

“Of course! Why wouldn’t it be?” his mother replied. “I was just calling to remind you about dinner tomorrow night.”

“I haven’t forgotten, Mum. I come for dinner every Sunday night that I can.”

“Well, I just don’t want you to get distracted by work.”

“Hey, Mama Adel,” Alexei said loudly.

“Oh, is that Alexei?” his mother asked.

He glared at the other man. What did he think he was doing? And did he have to call his mother that?

“Yes,” Salem said.

“And Roman? Is he there?”

“Yes, Roman is here,” Salem said with a sigh.

“Hello, Mrs. Adel,” Roman said.

“Goodness. Roman’s always so polite and that Alexei, so charming.”

Charming? Alexei?

What Alexei was his mother talking about?

Then she let out this high-pitched giggle.

Salem closed his eyes. Yep, his headache was definitely getting worse. If his mother had a crush on Alexei he was going to . . . well, he wasn’t sure what he would do.

Vomit?

That seemed a reasonable response, right?

“. . . and bring your little friends.”

“I’m sorry, what was that?” he asked.

He could have sworn that she’d said to⁠—

“Make sure that you come to dinner tomorrow at five sharp and bring your little friends.”

“My little friends? Mum, I’m not five any longer.”

“I just think it’s so sweet that Roman lets you live with him in that gorgeous mansion. So much better than the place you used to live in. I never liked it.”

Right. Because he’d lived in a cold, damp studio apartment. It had been close to work and it had been peaceful.

Well, except for when the neighbors grew . . . amorous.

Or the occasional rat came to visit.

Yeah, he had to agree. This place was much nicer.

“Bring them to dinner. Promise me.”

“Of course I’ll bring them to dinner.”

Both men smiled at him. No doubt that was exactly what Alexei had planned when he’d called out a hello to his mother.

He ended the call.

“Well, that’s tomorrow night’s dinner taken care of,” Alexei said. “Now all we need is dinner for tonight.”

“I’ll cook,” he offered.

Mainly because he was the only one who could cook.

“Good. I’ll get back to work,” Roman said.

“Wait. Seriously, Roman, when was the last time you stepped outside?” he asked.

Roman frowned. “I’m not sure. Tuesday?”

“Of which week?” Alexei asked dryly.

“Last week?” Roman guessed.

“You need to go for a walk,” Salem bossed.

“I do? Why would I need to do that?”

“Um, to get some fresh air, some sunshine.” The sun was actually out today. “Some Vitamin D. If you don’t get enough of that you could get rickets or something.”

Rickets?

Was that still a thing?

Alexei just shook his head.

“Isn’t rickets a disease that children get?” Roman asked.

Maybe. Probably.

“Do you really want to take that risk?” he asked.

“I guess not.”

“But, uh, you might want to shower first. Change your clothes,” Salem added as nicely as he could.

Roman sniffed at his sweater which had a large Christmas tree on it. Strange choice of outfit . . . but Salem didn’t comment on it.

“I’ll go shower now.”

One problem down . . . now to tackle the next one.

Naked Alexei.

Alexei grabbed the grapes that Roman had left and started to munch on them. “You gonna fix me too, Daddy?”

Actually, screw it.

If he wanted to walk around naked, he could. Salem would just move somewhere else.

Like Antarctica.

As he strode up the stairs, he wondered if he should head to the club tonight.

He needed a way to get rid of this tension that didn’t involve murdering a naked Russian.