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“Mama, I don’t need the seat,” Zoe says, pouting.
“I beg to differ, princess.”
Zoe sneaks a look up at me, still with that disbelieving look on her face. “She calls me princess, but really I’m a dragon.”
I laugh. Of course she is. Just like her mother.
CHAPTER 9
SERENA
Nikolai makes Zoe laugh with ease, bouncing Pico up and down on his knee as he expertly handles the steering wheel. Pico has taken to Nikolai as I’ve never seen before, ecstatic for his attention. Maybe it’s because he senses Nikolai can keep him safe. I try to focus on the road, but seeing my dog so happy and my daughter giggling brightly after what could’ve been a bad morning…
Yeah, it gets to me. He gets to me.
“Can you give us a ride every day, Nicky?”
Nikolai grins. “I can’t promise that, I’m afraid. But don’t worry. Soon you’ll be able to fly.”
She giggles in delight. “See, Mama, I’m a dragon. I told ya.”
Nikolai looks at me. I’m smiling from ear to ear, grinning like a madwoman. I can’t remember a time when Zoe was like this with a man. I’ve never had a long-term boyfriend, and her father’s been in prison almost as long as she’s been alive.
I walk Zoe to the gate and hug her. “He’s really cool,” she says in my ear, like it’s a secret. “And he’s the big boss?”
“He’s the big boss,” I say. That’s what she’s always called him after I told her his office is behind glass. She said that’s a big boss move, and it stuck.
“Nice kid,” Nikolai says when I return.
“Thanks,” I reply. “Where’s the troublemaker?”
Nikolai chuckles and nods to the backseat. Pico is curled up on Zoe’s car seat. I laugh, then it’s like there’s this big vacuum in the car. It was easy when Zoe was babbling beautifully away, but now that safety net is gone.
My mind goes to his text. He dumped Iris because he didn’t want to betray me, but something holds me back or a lot of things. I decided to keep it professional… to try. But it makes him more appealing. He did the right thing. Plenty of men in his position would try to play two women. But not him.
He casually strokes a hand through his thick hair, looking unbelievably handsome. I press my legs together. There’s a big ball of warmth deep in my belly, spreading through me. I want to kiss him again so badly.
“Thanks for the ride, too,” I say.
“What are you going to do about your car? It looks wrecked.”
Hopefully, Nikolai, you’ll pay me enough for the Owen Price info to fix that. But I can’t say that. “I’ll figure it out.”
“You could take this one.”
“What?” I snap, my tone going cold.
He glances at me with that easy smirk. “I’ve got another car. You can have this one for a while.”
“I don’t need that,” I say. “So, just, just don’t bother with that.” I’m stuttering for some reason, and it’s annoying me.
“I didn’t mean anything by it,” he replies. “I just want to help you.”
“Yeah, well, I know where that leads.”
I’m in this mess because I thought Mateo wanted to help me, help his own daughter, but he only wanted to help himself. I don’t want to think of Nikolai like that, but there’s a reason I’ve never brought a man into my baby girl’s life before. I have to be careful.
“I don’t want you stressing about a damn car,” he says fiercely.
