Chapter 25
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
The first time he passed her, Nikolett blushed.
Eric was breathing hard in the cold morning air, Regina running at his side. They’d left before her and been running for fifteen minutes, looping around the same path Nikolett would take.
She’d just stepped out onto the sidewalk, Maxim and Iacob at her sides, as he jogged past the front of the hotel. Their gazes met for only a moment, but he saw her cheeks pinken and grinned.
“Stop smiling while running,” Regina told him. “It’s odd.”
He sped up, wanting to hurry and see her again.
The route took them not only past the hotel but also past the building the Spaniard would be breaking into if he took the job.
The office was in an ugly modern building on a corner, surrounded by classically Parisian architecture that made it noticeable for how ugly it was.
The concrete core in the center of the building made for a perfect secure server room, and that’s where the Spaniard would have to go.
The jog didn’t take them past the front door, but instead, they ran along one side of the building, turned and ran along the back, before continuing several blocks east, then turning right.
Eric’s pace slowed as they hit the corner and started running along the back of the building.
Something here didn’t feel right. He’d noticed it on their first loop too.
It might just be the jarring ugliness of the building itself, but more likely it was the fact that the fat solid block of the building cast dark shadows.
The switch from early morning light to heavy cold shadow was disquieting.
Eric scanned the back of the building then glanced across the street.
Directly across were residential buildings, the shades still mostly drawn.
The rest of this block not occupied with the ugly building was small neighborhood shops.
The only one open this early was a café.
They jogged out of the shadows, approaching the café.
On their first pass, there had been a line of people waiting for coffee and a pastry. This time, the line was gone, making it easier to see the lone man sitting at one of the two bistro tables set on the sidewalk and tucked up against the café’s window.
He was a construction worker, body thick with insulated work wear to ward off the morning chill. He wore a high-vis jacket and white hard hat. The man’s back was to them, and as Eric jogged past, the worker pulled the bottom half of his balaclava-style helmet liner up over his face.
Eric met the man’s gaze for just a moment, and an odd sense of recognition passed over him, time itself almost slowing.
“Watch out,” Regina said.
Eric turned to face front, since running while looking back was hardly a good idea. He veered to avoid a planter.
Did he know that man?
It was probably one of the French security officers. Still, he didn’t remember that café being one of their designated security points, or a construction worker being one of the team’s undercover identities. As he and Regina hit their next turn, Eric slowed again, looking back.
The man was watching him.
Scope sense. Eric rolled his shoulders to shake off the feeling. He nodded at the security officer. Slowly, the man inclined his head.
Eric hesitated on the corner, now jogging in place as he tried to identify the man. He’d seen enough of his face to know it wasn’t Idir. Hughes was positioned on a roof, he remembered that much. Maybe it was Remi, one of the chevalier who’d been with Nikolett in that courtyard.
Regina had stopped with him, also jogging in place, but she was looking forward rather than back the way they’d come.
“There she is,” Regina murmured.
Eric jerked his attention away from the man. Several blocks down, he spotted not Nikolett but Iacob and Maxim, who were noticeable in their all-black suits. They stood out because they looked like bodyguards rather than men who’d chosen a sleek monochromatic look.
Eric shook off the odd feeling of recognition and started running again, needing to see her.
Nikolett walked between her guards, wearing the same loose pants and oversized sweater she’d been wearing when he woke up from his ill-timed nap yesterday. Given it was cold out, she also had on a scarf and gloves. She walked slowly, using the dark-wood cane.
Iacob was eyeing him as they approached with a sort of flat menace that Eric appreciated.
“Ma’am, if you feel unsafe in any way let me know and I’ll take care of him. It,” Iacob said in English, speaking just a little too loud and making it clear his words were for Eric.
Regina muttered something beside him, but Eric was grinning at Nikolett who was studiously ignoring him…and blushing again.
He chuckled once they were past her.
“Is it going to be like this now?” Regina asked. “All smug and smiling now that you’re finally with her?”
“Yep,” Eric said, feet pounding the pavement. “Let’s go faster, I want to see her one more time.”
Regina huffed but picked up the pace.
They were almost back to the hotel when Regina said, “Who’s going to replace her as the next admiral of Hungary?”
Eric nearly tripped.
That question implied that Nikolett was giving up her job and moving to the Isle of Man to be the wife of the fleet admiral. Of course that was what people would assume.
He didn’t answer her question, because he didn’t know how to. They talked and fucked, made love and confessed their deepest pain.
The one thing they both avoided was discussing their future.
He didn’t think they could put it off any longer.
“Unlock the door!” Eric called.
“I can’t hear you,” Nikolett called back. “I’m getting in the shower.”
“Let me in and I’ll get in with you.”
“Absolutely not!” She stuck her hand in, checking the water temperature. “I smell like sex and I’m sticky and if you’re in here too I won’t get clean.”
The bathroom doorknob rattled.
Nikolett jumped in, fairly sure Eric could and would break down the bathroom door, so she needed to be fast. She took a risk and when the door didn’t explode in a shower of woodchips, she did an “everything” shower since her naked body was getting plenty of attention.
Wrapped in a towel, with another around her hair, she carefully eased open the door, expecting him to be waiting to pounce her.
She was right, and shrieked with laughter when Eric grabbed her. Rather than over-his-shoulder hold, he held her in a bridal carry.
She ran her hand through his damp hair. “You showered.”
“Used the one in Grigoris’ suite.”
Instead of taking her to the bedroom, Eric carried her into the living room. A room service cart was parked next to the dining table.
“Maybe I should get dressed first,” she said as he set her down.
“Or you could eat naked.”
“If I take off this towel, are we going to eat breakfast, or will we end up having sex?”
“Sex.”
“The towels stays on. I need a break.”
Eric had just started pouring coffee, but now looked up sharply. “Did I hurt you? Let me see—”
Nikolett picked up the butter knife and pointed it at him. “Oh no. You stay over there. I’m fine, but you were right.”
“Of course I was.” He put a cup of coffee down in front of her chair as she took a seat. “About what?”
“I was aware of every part of me you’ve touched and played with while on my walk.” She made sure her towel was securely tucked, then added steamed milk from the warm pitcher to her coffee.
Eric set his own cup aside then reached for one of the empty plates on the cart. Taking off domes, he filled the plate and set it in front of her.
“I can get my own breakfast.”
“This is more fun.” He picked up a croissant, and when she opened her mouth to say something, he stuffed it between her lips. “For me.”
Nikolett threw a hunk of melon at him as he sat.
This felt normal. It probably wasn’t normal at all, but since she had no real comparison for normal, she had to accept that moments like this might not be objectively normal, but they were what she wanted for her version of a normal, everyday morning.
Eric ate two Viennese pastries before looking at her with a serious expression. Nikolett set down the slice of apricot she was eating, suddenly wary.
“What are we going to do?” he asked.
Her stomach knotted. “About our jobs?”
He nodded. “While we were jogging, Regina asked who the next admiral of Hungary was going to be.”
Nikolett stared down at her overly full plate. “That’s what most people will assume. I’ll step down, move to the Isle of Man, and be your wife.”
“Nikolett, that’s not what I want. I told you that.”
“You did. You said that you would step down as fleet admiral, but nothing has changed. There’s no way the other admirals would allow it.”
“Fuck the other admirals. Actually, fuck the entire Masters’ Admiralty. Run away with me.”
“We went over this.”
“I mean it, Nikki. We could go. I have money from when I was a mercenary. I didn’t spend much, and it’s all in a Cayman bank.”
She stared at him. “Eric, you can’t be serious.”
“I am.”
“We can’t just…go.”
“Can’t we?”
She looked at him, and he really was serious. This wasn’t a joke to him. All she had to do was say yes, and he would take her away from all of this. “Just us?”
“Yes. Just us. We won’t be rich, but we’ll have enough to live on. To hide with.”
“We could never contact anyone. We’d be breaking every law of the Masters’ Admiralty, and as much as everyone loves you, it wouldn’t stop them from hunting you down.”
“Last time I disappeared, you were the only one who hunted me.”
“Everyone was making allowances for your grief, and you were hunting a murderer of one of our own. It would be different if you and I were to run away together because we were in love and didn’t want a trinity marriage.”
“I don’t want a trinity marriage. I don’t want to share you.”
Nikolett opened her mouth, but Eric held up with both hands. “I know. I know. I’m willing to, maybe, have the cookie guy because you like him.” Eric’s words seemed perfectly calm and rational, but his face was twisted in a harsh grimace.