Contract Marriage: Married to My Ex-Husband's Alpha Stepfather [BL]

[FROLO]

It was wrong.

Katya knew it.

Even better, he knew just how dangerous it was for him to be here, inside Sergei’s penthouse, alone. But he couldn’t even deny the fact that his expectations had dwindled.

Maybe because Katya had been expecting an actual beast’s lair, one with leashes all around, claw marks, given how dangerous Sergei was to the city. He had expected everything to look like a dungeon.

Not this.

Not this organized place that looked like homes usually did. It felt safe, strangely, in here, which was weird because safe wasn’t what Katya was going for.

He had come to tell Sergei to stop messing with him, and now, he wasn’t even sure the man was doing anything.

Which made his life a little more difficult than before because he was learning that Sergei just had to exist, and his whole life would have him asking insane questions.

Oh, how life was playing him.

"You can’t just..." Katya trailed off like he finally remembered why he was here. Not to admire the home that Sergei had built for himself while looking like a god of sorts, but to tell him to back off.

Also, when the hell had he started thinking of Sergei’s body!?

Katya needed to leave... Fast.

Before things escalated between them.

"I didn’t do anything today, though," Sergei defended, not moving from the wall he’d been leaning on, and Katya glared at him.

He was just standing there.

Not doing anything.

So why was Katya the only one affected? Did this penthouse not have an air conditioning unit?

Damn, his body felt hot.

"You can’t just show up and disappear when you feel like it," Katya said, looking everywhere but at Sergei, who was staring amusedly.

The ceiling was white and had good chandeliers, right?

Ah, the beautiful distraction.

"Solnyshka," Sergei called, his voice soft, the smug look on his face gone, and the amusement with which he’d called him his little wolf gone too.

And Katya willed himself to stay proper.

To look at Sergei as who he was.

His boss.

But damn, was that a fight Katya knew he’d long lost. Maybe if he didn’t know what Sergei saw him as. Maybe if he hadn’t figured out his relationship with the barbarian, it would have been easy. But right now, this was absolutely not easy.

"What happened downstairs?" Sergei asked as he walked closer to where Katya was standing.

He wasn’t trying to corner the omega. If anything, he just wanted to know. Because if it was something that had his beloved in his lair, then it had to be really serious.

"Your employees need you," Katya said stubbornly.

And Sergei...

The alpha smiled at that, so widely that Katya could swear he almost saw the man’s wisdom teeth.

It took a moment for Katya to realize what Sergei had interpreted that as.

"You need me," Sergei breathed, and Katya groaned as he looked at the alpha who was smiling ear to ear at him. Oh, this man was hopeless.

"No. I don’t need you," Katya said, not daring to look at Sergei again.

How the hell had this man gotten close that fast?

Katya walked toward the window, putting distance between him and the alpha, though it was more like him trying to breathe because his body was doing a lot of recalibrations that he did not like.

He didn’t even realize it yet that he was simply walking himself deeper into Sergei’s penthouse without Sergei even asking him to.

This was dangerous.

Not just for Katya but for Sergei too.

Because for years, Sergei had dreamed of moments like this. He’d always put the idea away because, honestly, he didn’t see Katya Romanov walking into his home willingly. Sure, today wasn’t exactly the most willful of decisions, but he was here.

His Solnyshka was here in his home.

Breathing the same air as him.

Furious and still as cute as he’d always been. Oh, but Sergei was a goner for the man at the window.

Now that he looked at Katya, the omega was still in his lab coat, hair pulled up in a messy bun, his goggles hanging on his neck. He looked professional, and it shouldn’t have made Sergei feel giddy because he’d seen this man dressed like that more than once.

But today was different.

Shit, today was his little heavenly appointment.

"Don’t come any closer," Katya warned when he saw Sergei step in his direction.

"But it’s my penthouse," Sergei said softly, and Katya turned his head really fast to look at the alpha. Who the fuck was this, and where was the devil of Frolo?

"You come any closer, and I’ll leave. You won’t see me again," Katya said.

It was supposed to be a threat to Sergei. A warning to have the alpha keep his distance.

"So, I’ll see you again in my penthouse, Solnyshka," Sergei breathed instead.

"No," Katya defended hurriedly, and Sergei raised a brow.

"No?"

"Ugh, stay where you are, Vladimir. I came here to tell you to go to work and stop making people suffer for your incompetence," Katya groaned.

"That’s unfair," Sergei said, and Katya raised a brow this time.

"Huh?"

"All my work is done at least until the next few days."

"You—"

"Stay with me..."

"What?"

"Just a few more minutes, Solnyshka," Sergei said, walking toward Katya at the window, and ignoring Katya’s warning from before.

"Don’t..."

"Tell me you don’t feel the same way, and I’ll step back," Sergei offered, and Katya stared at him like this was the most delusional bundle of brains he’d ever met.

"You need to go back to the office," Katya said, looking between the window in front of him and the door behind the alpha who was still advancing.

"We didn’t finish our bathroom conversation," Sergei added, his voice quieter than before.

"There’s nothing to finish. I have a boyfriend."

"I know. That’s not what I asked, though, Solnyshka."

"Anya said we need to work on the tension between us and make the working environment better," Katya deflected as Sergei got too close.

But then the alpha stopped barely a foot away from him, like he was really counting on that self-control mechanism of sorts.

"Moskowsky can wait a few more minutes while I talk to the love of my life," Sergei said so casually, like that was all the truth there was to this madness.

"What do you want from me, Vladimir?" Katya asked tiredly.

For a moment, there was silence, like they both didn’t have the perfect answer for that.

"I don’t know what to do, Solnyshka... I look at you, and my life brightens. I see you, and everything makes sense. You make life worth living, and I promise I’m not saying this to pressure you. I just... I just need an answer.

"If you say you don’t feel the same way, I’ll never bring it up again," Sergei said in earnest, and Katya stared at him, his breath hitching at the last bit. He knew the barbarian was telling the truth.

If Katya said no, Sergei would stop.

That was just who Sergei was with him.

"Nothing will change... even if the answer isn’t no."

"I’m not asking you to ch— wait," Sergei froze for a moment.

"Yes? As in you feel the same way?" he added, a little too carefully, like he wasn’t sure what to expect this time.

Katya, not trusting himself to say the words aloud, just nodded.

The alpha let out a quiet, disbelieving laugh.

"Awesome! I’ll take a shower and come to work, Solnyshka," was all Sergei said before he practically sprinted away, leaving a confused Katya standing there.

What the fuck just happened?