Page 32 of The Stalker

“You’re a security specialist?” Heather asked, and Tatiana nodded. “How did you get to be a security specialist?”

“Don’t bother, lover,” Sebastian laughed. “I already asked, and she won’t tell us.”

“Hey, I asked first,” Hayden pointed out.

“You don’t look anything like our bodyguards, but I do like that dress,” Heather smiled at her.

Heather was a fashion designer, so Tatiana was flattered that she liked her dress. It wasn’t like she’d made it herself, but she did have it commissioned the last time she was in Milan. Most of her clothes were custom, because she needed certain specifications in her items of clothing to make them usable.

“Thanks, and that’s the point. I’m not meant to look like Hayden’s bodyguard.”

“Just like a friend or hanger-on, because we won’t be making out in public,” Hayden said with an amused grin at Tatiana.

“You won’t be what?!” Heather whipped her head around to look at him.

Tatiana’s cheeks were flaming with heat as Hayden responded.

“I’m assured that Tatiana and I won’t be making out in public, so she’ll just look like a friend, not a girlfriend,” he laughed.

“I’m sorry, I’m confused,” Lita said. “Why did you think that you would be making out with Tatiana?”

He looked over at Tatiana, who was absolutely mortified, and said, “It’s a long story. I guess you had to be there.”

All four of Hayden’s friends were staring at her now, and Tatiana wished desperately that the ground would open up beneath her and swallow her whole. Maybe a convenient earthquake or something to distract them.

Sadly, Mother Nature wasn’t on hand with sinkholes or earthquakes to help her out, so she said, “Anyway, the point is that I should blend in and not be obvious security that the stalker will think to take out in trying to get to Hayden.”

There was a moment of silence in the room, and Tatiana had no idea what they were thinking about her. She didn’t know these people yet. She had an idea of their personalities, but predicting people’s thought patterns took a far longer assessment of them than the few minutes she’d had.

Finally, Sebastian looked between Tatiana and Hayden a couple of times, then said, “We should go. I’m suddenly very eager to see my friend Blake.”

Heather turned to Sebastian and grinned at him. “Text me.”

“Of course, lover,” Sebastian laughed. He hugged her, then turned to Lita and asked, “Are you sure you don’t want me to stay?”

“I’m sure. But I’m also sure that when we get back to Galena tomorrow, you’re on night-time duty so I can get some sleep,” she told him.

“Deal. I love you, princess. Posso baciarti?”

“Sì,” Lita said, and Sebastian kissed her.

Hayden turned to Ariana and said in a dramatic, low voice, “Posso baciarti, Mrs. Knight?”

“Sì,” she responded with a fake swoon at him.

Hayden hugged Ariana and kissed her cheek before they both burst into laughter with Heather.

“Assholes,” Sebastian grumbled.

“He says that like he wouldn’t take the piss out of any one of us in a heartbeat, given the chance,” Heather smirked at him.

Tatiana raised her eyebrows at the Australianism she’d heard more than once or twice during her recent visit to the country.

Lita laughed, “Yes, Sebastian can dish it out, but he can’t take it.”

“They were making fun of you, too, you know,” Sebastian said.

“Yes. But I, unlike you, can take a joke. Now, are you going to leave for the club sometime before midnight? Because if Mirabella wakes up and you’re still here, she’s all yours,” Lita warned him.

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