Page 77 of Push Your Luck

“Wait, how many fires?”

“Whoa, Grandma Dubs! Sounds like you found the champagne fountain in the suite.”

Thatcher picks Muriel up and squeezes her in a tight hug, but his eyes are loaded, and only for me. As soon as she pinches his cheeks and tells him how proud of him she is, she moves to join the Santoris and leaves us alone.

“I hope you’re not mad that I—ooomph!”

The force of my embrace nearly takes both of us to the ground, but Thatcher recovers just in time to hold my thighs as I wrap my legs around his waist and thrust my tongue into his mouth. There will never be a way to tell him what tonighttrulymeant to me, but as soon as I can get him home and get these damn pantsoff…

“So you’re not mad?” His laugh is watery as I pull back to press my forehead to his.

“I’msonot mad. I can’t believe you pulled this off under my nose, though. Even from Russia, there’s not much that you do that I’m not aware of—Misha. That littleshit.The two of you conspiring against me is a sign of the end times. You can’t make a habit of it.”

Swaying us back and forth, no sign of my weight being a problem for him to hold for as long as I want him to, he throws his head back in a bellowing laugh. “We’ll try to limit our collaborations for the good of humanity.ButTeddy was also involved. “So please feel free to direct some of your wrath to him.” He’s using the soft voice that I know is only for me. It means he’s saying exactly what he thinks, even if he was taught his whole life that what he thought didn’t matter. Like what he did didn’t matter.

“I’m overjoyed. It’s impossible to process right now that you did this for me, but I’m so proud to see my last name on yourback while you annihilate another team. It really does something for me, actually.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Mm-hmm. Although now that you mention it, I might be just alittlemad.”

He picks up on my teasing and takes us out of the lounge, finding an alcove with a wall to press me up against. “Why are you a little mad, my love?”

“Well, see…I had plans to reward you that included me wearing nothing but this jersey with your name across it. But since you changed your name, my jersey’s obsolete.”

His eyes darken, promising that the adrenaline after a win will be something special, and I can’t wait to reap the benefits.

“I’m sorry about that. Is there any way I can make it up to you?”

“Hmm, what a good boy, ready to make amends. I’d like the jersey off your back. Perhaps a clean one, not the one from the game tonight. But I want to wearourname across my back while I fuck you. Does that sound like something you’d be interested in?”

The promise in his eyes is deep and true as he answers immediately.

“Yes, Ma’am.”