Page 46 of Diamond Don

He smirks at me. “You didn’t think I wouldn’t pay you for your services, did you?”

“Well, you did lord over me that you would be sparring my life for displacing your little bauble. Over and over again, if I may add. I assumed that was my compensation.”

“Hey, if you don’t want the money, I’m happy to take it off your hands,” he quips, reaching for the papers.

I slap his hand away.

“Nope. No returns, refunds, or takesies-backsies. I’ll gladly accept your humble offering. You said Dmitri put the package together? Remind me to thank him properly when I see him next.” I wink at him.

Nik scoffs. “You should stop talking before I change my mind. Now come here. I want to show you something.” He leads me back to the couch area where the TV he’s been fussing about is located.

Folding the papers, I shove them back in the envelope before following him. I’m not taking any chances.

Nik motions for me to sit down on the leather couch. I oblige him, glancing at the screen with curiosity. What seems to be a paused surveillance feed is featured on it. He grabs the remote and sits down on the couch next to me.

“What am I looking at?” I ask.

“Can’t you tell? This is the surviving footage from the night of the gala,” he says, letting his weight sink on the soft leather of the sofa. We are close enough for me to feel the heat radiating from his body.

I study him as he props his feet up on the coffee table in front of us. He is so comfortable and in his element that I feel like I’m sitting in the lion’s very own den. It’s a sensation that should be alarming and troubling. Instead, I’m shockingly content, if not a little excited. For some reason, his relaxed state creates an atmosphere of comfort and—dare I say it—intimacy between us.

More puzzling still is the realization that seeing him so at ease makes me relax, too. I exhale a breath I didn’t realize I had been holding this entire time. Somehow, Nik’s belief that there is nothing worth worrying about right now is all the guarantee my body and mind need to relax.

It’s not a thought I want to—or can afford to—dwell on and it’s not a feeling I’m even sure he shares.

I focus on the task at hand, instead. I don’t have the luxury of falling back under his spell.

“Oh, I see it now. Are those the gardens outside the museum? What about the footage from inside?” I ask, trying to shift my brain into work mode. This is a surveillance feed. This is my bread and butter. I’m in my element. I can do this.

“We haven’t been able to recover any of it so far. Apparently, someone was messing with the feed that night, jamming the signal with this clever little electronic device. You wouldn’t happen to know anything about it, would you, Kat?”

He glares at me, an eyebrow raised. I know he means to look menacing and forbidding, but his intended effect is ruined because he looks absolutely sexy. There’s nothing I can do but resist the urge to climb on his lap to kiss that mean look off his beautiful face until he’s nothing but smiles for me.

Instead, I say, “Oh, my bad. Oops, I guess.”

“Oops, indeed,” he says with a sigh.

“I could ask A.J. if there is anything she can do to salvage the feed. The SBU is her invention. She could try to work her magic.”

Nik’s expression reveals he didn’t expect me to offer A.J.’s help.

“SBU?” he asks after a second.

“That’s what she calls it. The Security Bypass Unit.”

“Cute,” he says, almost dryly. “Thanks for the offer. I’ll keep it in mind.”

I shrug. “You’re welcome.”

Nik and I watch the footage in silence. He’s deep in thought. I try to think of something to say, but he speaks again before I can come up with anything.

“I meant to tell you something earlier, but you sidetracked me,” he says, a teasing glint in his brown eyes. “I’m sorry you didn’t have a clean change of clothes this morning. Or shoes. A personal shopper will be around later today to address that. She’ll bring all you need to choose a new wardrobe. Also?—”

I interrupt him. It’s like he’s speaking to my heart. “A new wardrobe?”

Nik smirks, glancing at me with amusement. “You’ll need to look the part for what I have in mind.”

18

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