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I thank A.J. for her efforts and promise to keep her informed about everything going on with me, Nik, and McGuire. After we hang up, however, she remains in my thoughts, even as I hurry to get dressed for the day, eager to be back with Nik.
There simply must be something I can do. There has to be a way for me to kill two nasty birds with one stone—namely, the stronzo and McGuire.
11
NIK
Dmitri’s voice greets me as I enter my dark office. “Look what the cat dragged in.”
After flipping the light switch on, I glare at him. Dmitri lazily lounges on my chair, his handmade Italian shoes boldly propped up on my desk.
“Hiya, Nik. So good of you to join us, hardworking men, on this fine morning. Or is it afternoon yet? Did you sleep well?” The impudent fool smirks at me.
I sigh. “It’s clear to me now that your saint of a mother—God rest her soul—must’ve dropped you on your head a few times when you were a child. That’s the only explanation I can come up with for your complete lack of self-preservation,” I say as I walk towards my desk.
“Where’s your better half, Romeo?” Dmitri asks, still comfortably occupying my seat.
“If you don’t remove yourself from my chair in the next five seconds, you’ll never get to know.”
With an unconcerned smile, Dmitri complies, slowly standing up. “I expected you to be in a much better mood today after spending the entire night—and the better part of the morning—in your little kiska’s arms,” he says impishly, unhurriedly taking a seat on one of the chairs in front of my desk. Not a care in this world.
“Dmitri…” I say with a sigh, finally dropping my weight on my own fucking chair. “One of these days, you will push me too far. And you won’t like what’ll happen then.”
He shrugs, completely unrepentant. “Maybe I like to live dangerously.”
With a shake of my head, I tell him, “For your own sake, I sincerely hope you haven’t been twiddling your thumbs all morning. I trust you have something new to report.”
“Of course. Once we’re done talking about the actual important stuff. Come on, Nik. I’ve been waiting all day. Don’t leave me hanging now. I’m too invested in your romantic life. Are you going to make me beg?”
“Not that it’s any of your business, but if you must know, I spent the night with Kat, yes. Now that we got that out of the way, about McGuire?—”
Dmitri chuckles incredulously. “Hang on. Come on, Nik. You can’t just leave it at that.”
I sigh again, accepting I won’t get anywhere with him until I give him what he wants. I suppose I might as well indulge him. “What can I say, Dmitri? It was great. Everything… clicked into place, I guess.”
“And…?” he asks, staring at me, avidly waiting for more.
I take a deep breath. “And I’ve never met anyone like her. Obviously, she’s exceedingly charming and attractive. And it’s no secret to you or anyone else that she often drives me to distraction. I can’t pretend to understand it, but she has this mind-boggling way of getting under my skin like no one else. Half the time I’m with her, I don’t know if I should throttle or kiss her. But there’s just something about her—no matter what I do, I can’t seem to shake her. Honestly, I’m not sure I ever really wanted to.”
After an unprecedented amount of blissful silence, Dmitri whistles. “Wow,” he says, slowly shaking his head. “Damn. I knew it. She is the one, isn’t she? I called it from the start, remember? I’m sure you do. I just know you too well. I knew there was something different about the way you were obsessing over her.”
“Well, to be fair, she had stolen the Flame of Mir. And I don’t know about your choice of words, Dmitri. Obsessing sounds a little melodramatic?—”
“I call it like I see it, Nik. I could tell your obsession wasn’t about the diamond. You were just so emotional about it,” he says apologetically, as if the term is a curse word.
Exasperated, I can’t help laughing a little. “Regardless,” I say, “I see your point. You aren’t wrong. She certainly made an impression on me from the beginning. And she does affect me like no one has before. I guess last night was just us finally being on the same page at the right place and time.”
“I’ll say,” Dmitri pointedly remarks. I shoot him a warning glance, but it’s pointless. We both know he’ll never learn to behave appropriately.
“The timing could be better, with everything coming to a head with McGuire,” I say with a slight shrug. “But hey, I’ll take it. Gladly.”
Dmitri grins at me, almost beatifically. Then, with a slight shake of his head, he sighs theatrically. “I can’t believe my eyes and ears. I never thought this day would come. Nikolai Stefanovich is taken.”
“Okay, okay,” I say, lightly reprimanding him. “Don’t push it, Dmitri. Now that our little heart-to-heart is over, I can’t wait to hear how productively you’ve spent this morning, certainly chasing after McGuire.”
Still smiling, Dmitri is finally persuaded to change the subject. I listen to his report about last night’s and this morning’s recent developments in our search for the Irish family boss until we’re interrupted by a knock on the door.
“Come in,” I say.
