Page 23 of Nikolai
It was a delicate cake soaked in alcohol.“Rum?”
“Good for you.Yes, it’s called aBaba a rum, a local specialty.Do you like it?”
It was amazing.Nick finished his portion in a couple of bites, hoping no cop stopped him as he drove home because there was enough rum in it to fell a horse.
“And now this.”Parker put a triangular shaped pastry made of a billion layers folded over each other on his plate.
“I know this one, they were at the hotel breakfast buffet this morning.But I was in a hurry and didn’t try it.”
“Now’s your moment,” she smiled, and he cut a slice of the fragrant, crumbly pastry.“That’s called asfogliatella, which means many-layered.”
“Mm.”Nick was too busy chewing to answer.It was almost better than the Baba, filled with a fragrant creamy filling.It was gone in an instant.Then he looked at her plate, frowning.“I’m not eating another bite until you have something.”
Parker laughed.“Yes, mom.Sorry.I was busy watching you.”
“Glad to be a source of entertainment.But watch me while eating something.You’re a writer.You can do two things at the same time.”
“Yes, sir,” she said, amused, and bit into her much smaller piece of Baba.When she’d finished it, she cut out a large piece of a small pie.“Here, try this.”
He did and his eyes widened.
“Yep.”She smiled.“That’spastiera.Made of wheat berries.Very good.”
It was.But there was a problem.“You’re not eating any.That’s not good.”
She sighed.“Much as I’d love to, there simply isn’t room.And besides, I am familiar with all of these sweets.The fun is watching you eat them for the first time.”She loaded something else on his plate.A pretty pale-yellow mound.She pointed to it.
“I obey,” he said, though even he was starting to be full.But man…the mound was creamy and lemony and delicious.He grinned, hoping the icing wasn’t stuck to his teeth.
Parker smiled back at him.“That’s calledDelizia al limone.Lemon delight.”
“In the military, there’s a saying that’s used a lot.Do the hard thing.”He dug in.“Look at me.Doing the hard thing.”
She laughed and Nick held his breath for a moment.She laughed like she seemed to do everything.Wholeheartedly and without pretense.That long white throat tipped back, eyes closed.
Her eyes opened unexpectedly, and she found him staring at her.He was so busted, so he just kept staring.
Her eyebrows lifted in an unspoken question.
“You should laugh more often,” he said.
Parker sighed.“You don’t know me well enough to know if I laugh often or not, though I have been told I am too serious.Sorry.”
She’d taken it as criticism and the last thing Nick wanted was for her to feel he disapproved of her.He liked everything about her.
“No, I’m sorry.That was a stupid thing to say.I really do apologize.”
“Itwasa stupid thing to say.If for no other reason, because a lot of women have to hear men tell them to smile more often.It’s tedious.But I forgive you, because you did make me laugh.”
“It’s not a laughing world.”
“No,” she agreed.“It’s not.Which is why it’s so great to be light-hearted every once in a while.”
“Yeah.”God knows he hadn’t had many light-hearted moments these past years.
And—though she presumably hadn’t been in war zones—Nick had a flash of insight into this stunning, mysterious beauty.
She wasn’t happy.A slight melancholy air surrounded her.She was fulfilled, doing work she enjoyed and was incredibly successful.But she had no family and clearly was used to being on her own and had been on her own since she was a child.He’d gone from a tightly knit family to the close bonds of the military, where hundreds of highly effective and dangerous men had his back at all times.
