Page 21 of The Stalker

She returned his smile, then turned away from him and put the bread in the toaster, but she could feel that his eyes were still on her as she did.

“Can I be honest with you?” Hayden asked as she pushed the lever down.

“I’d prefer it if you were,” she laughed, but kept her face turned away from him.

It was easier for her to focus when she wasn’t looking at him. She kept an eye on the entrance to the kitchen as she did, though.

“I’m fascinated by you, Tatiana,” he told her.

She swallowed heavily, ignoring the flare of pleasure that his words gave her. “Really? Why?”

“Just, everything about you. You’re nothing like what I expected, and I know that I said that yesterday, but the more things you tell me, the more interesting you are. I’d love to know your history.”

Tatiana cringed and looked at him, “Sorry, no can do.”

“Oh, not that,” he said quickly. “I mean. Where did you grow up? What’s your heritage? Anything you can tell me up until the point where you can’t tell me things.”

The toast popped, and she put it on her plate as she grabbed some peanut butter out and considered his questions. She did tell some clients these things; it just felt strangely intimate with Hayden. She was worried about building a friendship with him, because she recognized that he was the kind of guy with whom she could want so much more than friendship.

Still, she didn’t want to be rude, so she plowed on with the information she could give. “I was born in Russia. My family moved here when I was four, because my dad is from California, and he wanted to come back home.”

“Do you speak Russian?”

“Da,” she replied without thinking, then laughed, “Obviously. You speak Spanish.”

“Si,” he grinned at her. “How did you know?”

“I’m the best.” She shrugged. “Sebastian also speaks Italian.”

Hayden goggled at her. “Okay, now that I’m impressed by. Wait, did you find out all about us or something?”

Hayden was finishing up making her coffee as she nodded at him. “Yeah, I did my research.”

“Clearly, if you know Sebastian speaks Italian. Not many people do.”

He was correct. That nugget of information had been found during hour nine of a thirteen-hour flight. She’d noted mentally to brush up on her foundation of the language to ensure she could catch any possible issues. Though, since Hayden didn’t speak it, she was less concerned that they might pass messages thinking she wouldn’t understand them.

“You moved to California when you were four, and you speak Russian. What else?”

She finished up her toast, put everything away, and took her food to the dining table. Hayden followed her and placed her mug of coffee on a coaster before he sat next to her, causing Tatiana to smile, even though his closeness was mildly uncomfortable.

“I went to school. Did some martial arts training and gymnastics as extracurriculars. Studied at college, then started my career.”

She could sense that he was looking at her, but she picked up her toast and bit into it while staring across the room and out the windows at Chicago.

“Armed forces of some kind?”

Tatiana nodded as she swallowed her food. “Yes. Armed forces of some kind.”

“Ground, air, or sea? But, I feel like I’m reaching the end of your tether.” She could hear the amusement in his voice as he pried for information that he correctly thought she wouldn’t give him.

She could technically tell him which section of the military she’d started her career in, but it was much easier to demark all of her career as being off-limits, so she never told a client more than that.

“Yeah, once we reach my career, I stop talking. Sorry.” She gave him a chagrined smile.

“And I read your contract, so I know that you won’t talk much about your specialist security stuff, either.”

“Well, I started a business doing specialist security, and have an amazing mentor in the field. Then, one day, he recommended me to this guy named Cooper, and I took a contract to protect this super-nosy rock star,” she teased him.

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