He sounds as surprised as I feel.
The thrill of knowing he wants to take me home to his family lasts about three seconds. Then I moan miserably. "I can't go. We lowly paralegals must slave away all weekend, you know. I'm sure next weekend will be no different."
He twists his mouth into an annoyed slant and rubs his eyes. "Forgot about that. Can't you get all your work done during the week? I'll help."
"You want to do grunt work? That's my job, not yours."
"Let me pitch in. Please."
"You want me to go with you that badly?"
I expect him to change his mind, but instead he says, "I know it's early in our relationship, but I absolutely do want you to meet my family. My parents and my brothers. If it's too much too soon, say so. I won't be offended if you'd rather not."
For several seconds, I hold perfectly still and consider the question. Do I want to meet his family? He's met mine, but then, my only family is Kyle. Chance has parents and siblings. I assume they all met Raisa, multiple times.
"Does your family like Raisa?" I ask.
He makes a pained face. "They tolerated her. She's brash and sometimes curt, and she never appreciated my family's way. We're not stuffy. We're...outgoing."
Okay, so I won't be compared to Raisa and found lacking. But they might still dislike me for other reasons.
Chance touches my cheek. "If you're worried my family won't like you, relax. They won't be able to keep from falling under your spell."
"That's sweet, but you're sleeping with me. Of course you think I'm awesome."
His mouth twists into a frown, but it smooths out quickly. "That's not why I'm with you, Elena. You're more than a lover to me. I feel more comfortable with you than I ever did with Raisa, or with any other woman." He smiles, almost shyly. "Will you come with me next weekend?"
I think about it for a nanosecond. "Yes, I'd love to."
This time when he kisses me, it's hot enough to steam up the windows of every vehicle on the street and the ones on the shops alongside it. I don't even care that the cabbie sees us.
When we get to the building that houses Raisa Volkov & Associates, Chance sprints across the street and up to his hotel room to change clothes. I head for the office, so it won't be obvious we've been together. I'd rather wait for him, but we need to keep up appearances for two more weeks.
I'm going home with him. To England. To meet his family.
Holy shit.
Chapter Thirteen
Chance
Two weeks with Elena, enjoying her company and getting to know her better. What can I say? I've never had a better two weeks in my life, despite the nagging worry about how Raisa will react when we tell her about our relationship. I try not to dwell on that. I meant it when I told Elena I will sue Raisa for wrongful termination if she fires her. My ex-wife has lost the plot, at least in her personal life. At work, she's as brilliant and determined as ever, the qualities I used to love about her.
Elena has erased all of that. I adore her, like I never did Raisa. Elena is open and sweet, as brilliant as Raisa but without the fierce need to always win. Maybe I shouldn't compare the two women, but I can't help it. Elena has a light inside her I've never seen in any other human being, an inner glow nothing could ever extinguish.
Her legal summaries are perfect. She gathers research and collates it in a way that makes my job easier. She ought to be an attorney, not a paralegal, which I told her only a few days after we met. When I tell her again, ten days into our two weeks, she leans back against the puffy sofa in her apartment and sighs.
"You assume that's what I want," she says.
"Isn't it? You gave up on law school because your mother had passed away and you needed to care for your brother."
"That might have been the reason I didn't go back at the time, but things have changed." She tucks her legs under her, angling her body partway toward me where I sit beside her. "At first, getting paralegal certification was a detour, and I still planned to go to law school someday. But after a while, I realized I like being a paralegal. Lawyers have to go to court and argue with other lawyers and with judges. After watching that stuff for six months, I decided I'll stick to research, writing summaries, interviewing clients, and all the no-courtroom stuff that I love doing."
"You love research? I've never heard a paralegal or a lawyer say that."
She hunches her shoulders. "What can I say? I love it. Using my brain to ferret out the right information is a lot more fun than playing the lawyer game. And it is a game, right? Like chess and poker mushed together."
I laugh, enchanted by her way of describing the legal profession. "Mushed together? Well, I can't deny there's a lot of bluffing and even outright lying involved. That's why I quit my job in Chicago."