Page 79 of Emerald Malice

Kat exhales. “But then?—”

“He has enemies, Kat,” I reveal, lowering my voice. “And those enemies are probably going to come for me if they know I’m carrying his baby.”

“This is some serious Sopranos bullshit.”

I nod. “My best chance of keeping this baby safe is with Andrey.”

Keeping myself safe from Andrey is another matter entirely.

“But—one more time, just to clarify, because I’m a little slow sometimes—you’re not together?” Kat asks with a look of intense concentration like she’s trying to put together a thousand-piece puzzle. “Even though you’re sleeping together?”

“Pretty much.”

She falls into a thoughtful silence. “Okay… okay…”

I leave Katya to her ruminations and order us some drinks and tapas. The waitress looks decidedly less disgruntled now that we’ve finally ordered.

Leonty, on the other hand, is looking more and more restless. He’s already finished his drink and he’s back to scanning the menu.

“You’re not worried?” Kat asks, looking around as though she’s paranoid someone might be listening in on us.

“Of course, I am. All the time.” For more reasons than the obvious ones. “But what can I do? I have a shitty job, a shitty apartment, and no way to raise a child on my own. At least this way, I don’t have to burden Aunt Annie with a screaming infant. Not to mention a twenty-seven-year-old with no prospects for a happy future.”

“You’re selling yourself short.”

“No, I’m being realistic.”

Leonty leaves his chair by the window and signals to me that he’s going to take a call outside. I give him the thumbs-up while Kat watches with interest.

“I mean, as far as bodyguards go, you could do a lot worse,” she mumbles appreciatively.

Her ogling of Leonty is interrupted by a sudden crash.

Someone collided right into the waitress who was bringing us our drinks. Now, they’re in a puddle on the floor. The man responsible is apologizing profusely.

“… my fault, I’m so sorry. I should have been looking where I was going.”

The waitress looks pissed until she sees that the man who nearly ran her down is tall and handsome. Then she smiles, assures him it’s fine, and promises to come right out with fresh drinks for us.

The man turns his hazel eyes on us, and, if I didn’t have a pair of steely silver eyes to compare them to, I might be feeling a little weak at the knees.

“I’m so sorry, ladies. That was all my fault.” He grins, and I’m sure that smile has gotten him out of more than a few tight spots.

Kat’s responding flirty laugh is even more confirmation. “Don’t worry about it. It could happen to anyone.”

“But it didn’t happen to anyone. It happened to me, and right in front of two beautiful women. I have to make it right.” He presses a hand to his heart. “I insist on paying for your drinks.”

“Totally unnecessary, but highly appreciated,” Kat trills before I can say a word.

His eyes flicker to me for a moment. The smile is polite, but curious. “As I said, I insist. My motivations are selfish, anyway. I just want you to leave a better first impression than ‘the klutz who ruined your afternoon.’”

Both his smile and his words are smooth as silk. Apparently, it’s working wonders on Katya.

“Who doesn’t love getting bathed in pineapple juice?” she teases.

He chuckles. “You and I must have different hobbies.”

He smiles and backs away from our table as though he’s sad to leave. Katya turns to me with those bright man-eater eyes of hers. “Yummy.”

---