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From her seat, Marissa could see the smirk on Viktor’s face as he extended a hand to help Jack up. Jack batted his hand away, stood up, and shoved Viktor on the shoulders before getting into his face. Derek, as usual, stepped in between them.
“Oh, boy,” Maia whispered under her breath.
“Why does Viktor bait Jack all the time?” Sophie asked.
“It’s an alpha-posturing thing,” Marissa said, but she suspected it was more of Viktor playing the part of a protectiveolder brother, and doing his best to keep the man in Maia’s life on his toes.
In the end, the game went into overtime. MDI won by one point, courtesy of a clutch hit from Derek, who sank a three-pointer from mid-court. Sophie went wild, jumping with her hands on her chest, and totally fan-girling over her husband.
And men would always be men. What happened on the court, stayed on the court. Viktor and Jack emerged from the locker rooms side by side, exchanging good-natured ribbing, and shook hands as if the altercation during the game never happened.
Marissa walked up to Viktor now, her breath hitching when his eyes landed on hers and grew heated. It had been three weeks since they had gotten back together. Three weeks where life went on in an even keel and they experienced what it felt like to be a normal couple, doing normal couple things like going out to dinner, staying at home watching TV with some popcorn, and now this.
Viktor scooped her into his arms and kissed her like a conquering Viking coming home from pillaging a village. Strange since they had lost the game, but that didn’t seem to bother her man despite how competitive he was.
“You seem to be in a good mood in spite of losing the game.”
Viktor looked mockingly aggrieved. “Ouch. Way to point that out, kitten. However, I’m looking forward to pity sex.”
“Viktor!” Marissa shushed him, since he wasn’t exactly being quiet.
Grinning wickedly, he gave her another kiss. “I heard you won the track competition. Congratulations.”
Marissa rolled her eyes. “Why do I get the feeling that you made Jack put that game in there mainly for my benefit?”
“Of course not, sweetheart. I needed you to challenge some of my female agents into taking that sport more seriously.”
“Maia’s doing fine.”
“She’s a runner. Olsen needs to build up stamina, and so do the other three new recruits.”
“You’re such a drill sergeant.”
They were at the parking lot now, making their way to Viktor’s Charger.
“AGS only employs the best.” Viktor shrugged in an understated arrogance that was so typical of him. “They should be able to run after perps without stopping to wheeze.”
“Okay, you’re not setting a very good example by blatantly cheating in a team sport.”
Viktor barked with laughter. “That wasn’t cheating. That’s what you call a mind-fuck.”
“What?”
“Psyching the opponent into thinking that I’m not going to play fair.”
Marissa scrunched her nose as she slid her body into the passenger seat. “You didn’t play fair.”
Viktor snorted, “I was handicapped.”
This time it was Marissa who snorted. “Dr. Henderson cleared you a week ago. He said you’re at ninety-nine percent and almost as good as fully recovered.”
Viktor fell silent. Immediately, the atmosphere in the car grew tense. He gunned the engine and pulled out of the parking lot. When he remained silent as they got on the Beltway, Marissa asked tentatively, “Did I say something wrong, Viktor?”
He shook his head, his face hard, expression brooding.
Marissa sat back in her seat and sighed. She knew she just had to wait out this emotional shutdown.
Viktor knewMarissa thought that he had withdrawn from her, but she couldn’t be more wrong. He was a bit … terrified. And that was an unfamiliar feeling for him. But she had just brought up the perfect opening for what had been on his mind for the past few days. And they were not at his house where he had what he needed to get this done.
