Page 20 of Nikolai
She watched him.He was comfortable under her scrutiny, calm and sure of himself.“Well, would you accept a dinner invitation at my house?Would that deprive you of your man card?”
Nick suddenly straightened, eyes wide.“You cook?”he breathed.
Parker was amused.“You made that sound as if I said I could fly to the moon.Of course I can cook.And I’m a decent cook.Nothing too fancy though.”
He shook his head.“God, I don’t need fancy.I haven’t had a home-cooked meal in oh,” he looked up toward the sky.“Maybe in at least a year and a half.My meals have been at crappy diners or MREs.Meals Ready to Eat, remember?”he added, noting her blank look.“Absolute poison for anyone who likes food.They are tasteless, manufactured to last years and could probably survive a nuclear blast.Gum you up good, too.”
“Ack.”Sounded awful.“I’m doubly sorry that the food at the Consulate was so bad, then.”
He covered her hand with his.“I’m not.This meal more than makes up for that.I haven’t eaten like this in a long time.And I haven’t had such good company in a long time.Tonight’s a real treat.”
Parker looked at Nick.Really looked at him.And saw beyond the attractive face and tough, outsized body.Saw beyond the veneer of a wealthy, successful businessman who traveled the world.
She saw a lonely man, who had a tough job, and whose life held very few comforts.She was almost certain he had no one at home, if he even had a real home and not some corporate headquarters somewhere.He’d said he lived in London because it was a convenient time zone and that he was rarely there.
There didn’t seem to be a woman in his life.There was just something about him that said he wasn’t a cheater, a player.God knows she’d dated plenty of those and they had tells.Things they wouldn’t talk about.Skirting some subjects.If you knew what to look for, you could tell.
But Nick was what he appeared to be—a highly successful single businessman in a hard business that required constant travel to unsavory places.
And she slipped, a little.That wall she’d had around herself since she was a girl developed a crack, opening up.New feelings started slipping in, feelings she’d never had before, centering around Nick.
She liked this man.A lot.
She put her other hand over his.“Tomorrow night I’ll make you something you’ll like.”
His eyes caught hers.He said, voice low, “I already do.”
Parker could almost feel the world disappear beyond his broad shoulders.Fade into nothing.The other diners, the glittering city, Vesuvius, the Bay.Poof!Gone.There was only Nick.
Parker startled when the waiter appeared, holding a huge platter.“Signori.Ecco a voi.”
Nick nearly jumpedwhen the waiter suddenly appeared.Nick never jumped, never startled.Everything that could happen to him had already happened, except dying.He was immune to surprises, or so he thought.But there he was, drowning in the most beautiful pair of eyes he’d ever seen.Endless pools of cobalt blue, completely lost in them when all of a sudden, this guy pops up and pulls him out of ParkerWorld and oh, man was it a wrench.
To his utter surprise, heresistedcoming back into the world.Nick was an ex-soldier, current security specialist, a warrior down to his bones.He lived in the real world, not some imaginary place with rainbows and unicorns and chirping birds.He never needed to be brought back into the world.He lived in the real world, warts and all, for better or worse, all the time.
So having lost himself even for a moment in amazingly beautiful eyes was unheard of for him.
Even worse, he liked it there.
He liked being immersed in ParkerWorld, with a beautiful, fascinating woman.It was a hell of a lot better than his world, full of violence and greed and hatred.
This was serious stuff.He’d be worried that he was losing his edge, except he was really enjoying himself and for the moment didn’t care.
It had been a long, long time since he’d enjoyed himself.
So when the waiter showed up and brought him back into himself and into the real world, he just sat back and let Parker deal with it.
The waiter held out an enormous oval serving dish covered in a white crust.He laid it on a trolly and expertly broke the crust, revealing a huge fish, which he filleted, plating large chunks of white flaky fish.He spoke to Parker, with a question in his voice.
She smiled.“The waiter wants to know if he can dress the fish for you.Which means some olive oil and lemon.”
At that moment, with Parker smiling at him, the twinkling lights of the harbor in the distance, the stars coming out, the waiter could have poured shit covered in glitter over the fish and he’d have nodded yes, happily.Lemon and olive oil sounded great.
“Sure.I don’t think I’ve ever seen fish cooked in salt.Doesn’t it become salty?”Truth was, he didn’t care.He was having a real good time.The fuck did he care about salty fish?
The waiter was doing his best to keep up a professional demeanor, but he kept sneaking glances at Parker like he had when Parker had ordered their dinner.
Parker spoke briefly to the waiter, who took his time answering, never taking his eyes off her.Parker didn’t seem to notice, or maybe she did.Maybe she was used to men not taking their eyes off her and had learned long ago not to pay attention.
