Page 29 of Spying Under the Mistletoe
I drag my gaze from his mouth and focus on the wall on the opposite side of the room. Anything to distract me from his lips, his eyes.
His thumb brushes against the curve of my back, setting off a series of delicious tremors along my skin. My gaze flicks to his.
He leans in, and I have no idea what to do. Despite what he claimed, this isn’t a date.
My breath stalls in my chest, and I deliberated my options.
“Our burgers are here,” he says, completely throwing me for a loop. That wasn’t what I was expecting.
The air in my lungs escapes in a smoothwhoosh.
“Oh, good,” I lamely say. “I’m super hungry.” Without waiting for him, I hasten to our table.
9
Landon
“How’s teachingkindergarten going so far?”Adam asks with a snicker, his voice coming through the speaker on my phone.
I dropped Chloe off at her vehicle after our date less than two hours ago, and then inconspicuously followed her home to make sure she got there okay.
Now, I’m sitting on my couch, watching a hockey game on TV while Adam is parked in his SUV outside of her apartment building, keeping an eye on the place.
It’s not an ideal situation since we have no control over who enters and exits the building.
And that thought churns sourly in my gut.
It’s another reason why Liam wants me to be Chloe’s boyfriend and push the agenda of spending nights together. Clearly, it’s been a while since he was single and dating.
Given that Chloe and I didn’t kiss after our first date, I’m not sure how likely his plan will come to pass. The closest I got to a kiss was the one I planted on her cheek.
That was my choice—to leave her wanting more.
Things would be a lot easier if we could just tell her the truth, but I have no idea how to do that without revealing our true identities.
And that’s a bridge we don’t want to cross yet.
We want to draw Nikolai out, and this is the best way.
“Let’s just say, I owe my kindergarten teacher a huge box of chocolates for putting up with me at that age,” I say to Adam.
The laughter of my five teammates comes through the phone.
“That bad, huh?” Jayden asks.
“It wasn’t what I was expecting, that’s for certain.”
I get them up to speed on the Christmas concert and my date with Chloe.
“She’s already falling for your charms?” Adam asks. “Nice job, man.”
“It’s more about Whiskey’s charms than anything. This little guy can charm the shit out of anyone.” The little guy in question is snoozing contently on my lap while I watch the San Francisco Rock game.
I cringe as the Calgary Flames score. The Rock are now down two in the second period.
“Any word yet on who has the contract out on Chloe?”I ask them.
“No,” Liam says. “The Feds can only say that whoever’s interested in her also wants to locate Nikolai. The sole difference is, whoever has the contract on her wants to take him out. The Feds just want to lock him up for the rest of his life and destroy the mafia kingdom he inherited.”
