Chapter 13 - Daniil
Did she think I’d be mad about her leaving me at the bottom of the mountain?
That morning was the most fun I’d had in a long time.
The whole vacation that I thought was a waste of time was turning out to be the best idea my family ever had.
The holiday mood was infectious, down to me agreeing to wear a bright red sweater and a hat with a big, fluffy ball on it.
Mistletoe was everywhere and it had turned into a game trying to trap Paisley under one of the beribboned clumps of leaves.
Her rare smiles aimed at me were intoxicating, mostly brought on by one of the kids making me look like some kind of hero because I gave them a piggyback ride or pulled them on the sled.
If only that stubborn woman could be as easy to please.
Instead of following her back in a cab, I ordered another coffee. It didn’t matter how hard she tried to hide it, she was constantly on the lookout for me. She could wonder why I didn’t chase her back, maybe even be disappointed when I didn’t spend the afternoon with her and the kids.
Sipping my drink, I stretched out my back again, hoping she wasn’t correct about the pain that awaited me after that intense trip down the mountain.
I knew she was proficient at snowboarding, but that wild ride left me stunned at her abilities.
I certainly learned a lot more than I bargained for during our much too short interlude.
She hadn’t offered any details about the accident that stole her shot at megastardom in the winter sports world, and I found myself wondering about it, among other things.
She was fantastic with the kids, but she didn’t have that nanny aura that my cousins’ other babysitters often had.
Paisley was a little too brisk and business-like for me to believe she spent all her time around toddlers and preschoolers.
It wasn’t suspicion, just pure curiosity and a yearning to know everything about her. I had never once been curious about anyone I slept with before. Sometimes even names were optional.
With Paisley, I could interpret every look a different way.
There seemed to be so much hidden depth to her, and I wanted to be able to know them all.
I already recognized the heat, the way her lips pursed when I teased her.
I should stop that if I wanted to get closer to uncovering more, but it was so much fun.
That kiss reignited a fire. I’d expected her to storm off the moment I leaned closer, and was braced for a slap.
Instead, her soft lips molded to mine, there was a slight tilt of her head, an almost imperceptible sigh against my mouth.
She was seconds from sliding off her chair and into my lap, both of us completely forgetting where we were, completely lost in the kiss. No, this was far from over.
Back at the house, I learned that Paisley was going to be taking Alina on a shopping excursion so she could pick out presents for her parents. I intercepted the guard who was assigned to follow them.
“You’re sick,” I said, pulling out a hundred dollar bill. “There’s no way you can go into town.”
This was a ruthless killer who was utterly loyal to our family. We’d worked together before and I’d seen firsthand what he was capable of. Alina and Paisley would be perfectly safe in his care, but I had other plans.
“Nice try,” he said, turning up his nose at the bill. “That’s a great joke.”
I peeled off four more, all I had in my wallet at the time, but I’d take off my Rolex and hand it over if necessary. I was going on that shopping trip. “Start puking, pal. And keep quiet about this little bonus.”
My cousin paid him well, but five hundred bucks for doing nothing made him grab his midsection and moan, heading off to inform Katie that he couldn’t make it. I followed, looking as innocent as a newborn lamb.
“Sorry, honey,” Katie said to Alina, who was about to erupt at the cancellation. “Papa and your uncles are busy. You’ll just have to wait for another day.”
“Wait for another day for what?” I asked, shoving the overacting bodyguard out of the room.
“Aleks doesn’t want Alina going out without protection,” she said.
“Of course not,” I agreed, meeting Paisley’s eye as she tried to console her little charge. A slow grin took over my face and she looked horrified as I jumped in to save the day and offer to accompany them.
Alina’s joy was louder than Katie’s assurances that I didn’t have to give up my afternoon, and since Paisley didn’t have a heart made of ice except where I was concerned, she couldn’t say a damn thing.
Once we were in the busy shopping area, I basically had her all to myself since Alina was completely preoccupied with whatever was in every shop window.
This was the first time she’d taken any of the kids further than the nearby slopes, and it was clear she was a little apprehensive about the need for a bodyguard at all.
She finally worked up the nerve to ask about it when Alina wanted to go into a crowded leather shop to pick out a wallet for her father and I told her we’d wait until it was more manageable inside. Used to it, Alina took it in stride, but Paisley glanced around nervously.
“There’s nothing to be worried about,” I said. “I’m as capable as the regular guard.”
“Yeah, but why do we need any guard?” she asked. “I thought Russia did away with their royalty a hundred years ago.”
While Alina wasn’t secretly related to the last monarchs of Russia, she was royalty of a sort.
The chances the Collective would have known we were in Aspen were miniscule, and they’d be utterly foolish to follow us here, but we would be even bigger fools to act like we didn’t have a constant target on our backs. Even the little ones.
Of course I couldn’t tell her we were the biggest Bratva family in California, and risk scaring her off. That was something I never worried about before, usually glad for any reason to keep women from getting too close. I finally just told her what was already obvious.
“We’re pretty rich.”
She snorted. “That’s an understatement if I ever heard one.”
There was no way she had already forgotten the electricity that coursed between us during that kiss only a couple hours ago, but she was acting like she did.
She wasn’t acting like she was still mad at me, and I probably had Alina to thank for that.
I pointed out the sign for a toy shop halfway down the block.
“What was that doll you were showing me yesterday?” I asked.
She brightened. “It’s not a doll, it’s a collectible figure,” she said with a sniff, then talked about it until she ran out of breath.
“I’ve never heard about those,” Paisley said.
Alina looked stunned. “Every kid I know has them. I only have one so far.”
I was a little stunned too. It made sense I wouldn’t know about these crazy figurines flying off shelves, but someone who was constantly around kids that age group should have known them all by name. “That’s outrageous,” I said. “Let’s go get you another one.”
Alina jumped up, then sat back down, looking at the leather shop. “No, today is for buying presents for Mama and Papa, not myself.”
“I never agreed to that,” I said, winking over Alina’s head at Paisley. “I need to do some shopping for your cousins, too.”
“He’s right,” Paisley said, surprisingly backing me up. “We can’t get the wallet right now anyway since the shop’s too crowded.”
We both stood on either side of her and took a hand and ended up swinging her along, stepping off the crowded sidewalk to keep from hitting anyone with an ecstatic six-year-old.
The toy shop was overflowing with everything from wooden blocks to high tech gadgets.
The dolls Alina wanted were behind glass and I could see right away why she only had one.
They were close to a hundred bucks each and while Aleks would have filled the house with them to make his daughter smile, Katie was more practical.
After she chose her favorites, we went in search of things for the younger kids. She plopped a plastic tiara on her head, tugging Paisley down to put one on her.
“You look like a real life princess,” she said dreamily, then raced off to a display of remote control cars she swore Artie would love.
“She’s not wrong,” I said, unable to keep my eyes off of Paisley, who was laden down with the toys we’d already chosen.
Her cheeks instantly flooded with color and a plush rabbit fell off the top of the pile. We both leaned down to retrieve it at the same time, our heads knocking together. I rubbed the small red mark on her forehead, pushing aside her hair to get a better look at it.
“I’m fine,” she said, flustered into dropping more of the toys.
She was so damn pretty with the childish tiara still perched on her tousled hair that I almost kissed her again.
Alina’s back was turned and she was completely engrossed with the cars.
Paisley’s parted lips were calling to me, and I leaned forward, catching her hand as she reached for one of the dropped toys.
“I’m fine,” Paisley repeated, scooping them up and standing fast enough to make herself dizzy. I caught her arm as she leaned against me, once again causing a rainfall of stuffed animals, puzzles, and building block sets.
“Let me take those from your wife,” a salesman said, swooping in to retrieve the toys.
I wanted to knock his head off for interrupting us, but the look on Paisley’s face was almost worth the interruption.
“I’m not—” she started.
“Let the man hold them at the counter for us, baby,” I said.
Alina overheard and giggled. “Miss Paisley, why are you bright red?”
“She hates being called a baby, just like you, munchkin.”
“Argh, I’m not a munchkin, either,” she said, pulling herself up to her full, but still tiny height.
We arranged for the presents to be gift wrapped and delivered to the lodge so we wouldn’t have to haul them back to the car. Paisley remembered to take her tiara off at the last minute, trying to put it back, but Alina begged her to keep wearing it.
“We can match, and you look just like a snow queen,” she said.
“Don’t you mean ice princess?” I asked, grinning at Paisley’s scowl.
“Don’t start,” she said. “Not when we’re having fun.”
“So you admit it?”
“What?” she asked, like she hadn’t said a thing about fun. “I admit nothing.”
Before we headed back to the leather shop for Aleks’s wallet, Alina pointed out a drinks cart offering hot chocolate with all manner of decadent toppings, along with towering ice cream drinks despite it being forty degrees outside.
She practically wilted between us, acting like she’d walked the entire Sahara she was so thirsty.
“Hey, Alina, did you hear about the guy who got hit with a can of soda?” I asked.
She looked at me very seriously, eyes wide. “Is he okay?”
“Yeah, he’s lucky it was a soft drink.”
Paisley groaned and Alina realized it was a joke, cracking up and begging for another one. “Please don’t,” Paisley said. “I think I recently read that people can actually die from cringing too hard.”
I reeled off a couple more kid friendly jokes I’d been saving up, dramatically putting my arm around Paisley’s waist as we waited in line for our treats. “In case you cringe too hard,” I said, smiling down at her.
Alina joined in, the perfect little wingman, and got under Paisley’s arm on the other side, pretending to keep her upright. Underneath her bright pink cheeks, she had to give in and let out a stiff little smile.
Once we were stuffed full of cocoa, handmade marshmallows the size of my fist, and ice cream piled on top of gooey, warm cookies, music started up behind us.
The skating rink was just opening up for the evening crush of tourists and a mascot dressed up like a fat snowman was careening around on the ice to entice people to join him.
It worked on Alina, who tugged us toward the ticket booth, already nudging off her faux fur rimmed boots to get on a pair of rental skates.
“I guess we’re ice skating,” I said.
“She’s got you wrapped around her little finger,” Paisley answered with a less stiff smile.
“Of course. Don’t tell me this is something you don’t know how to do?”
The kids had been so enamored with sledding and snowboarding we hadn’t once utilized the small rink outside the lodge. With a sniff, Paisley bent down to unlace her own boots.
“We’ll see who ends up on their backside first,” she said.
It was me, and I was glad to lose that little bet just to hear Paisley’s delighted laugh when I went down faster than a house of cards in a gust of wind.
We dragged Alina around and around, chasing the snowman mascot and humming along with the catchy Christmas tunes blasting over the speakers.
I wondered if anyone else mistook us for a family like the sales clerk in the toy shop did.
With Alina’s mittened hand clasped around mine and Paisley laughing on the other side of her as we made another turn around the rink, I was completely free of any thoughts of the Collective, or any other threat. Just the sound of Paisley’s musical laughter did that.
What the hell was happening to me?
A very gentle snow began to fall, and everyone slowed down, turning their faces up to the darkening sky.
“We should have been back by now,” Paisley said.
“We never even got the wallet for Papa,” Alina whined, cut off by a huge yawn.
“We can come back, Munchkin,” I said.
By the time we had our boots back on, Alina was swaying on her feet.
I scooped her up and when we reached the car she was half asleep, nestled against my shoulder.
Paisley opened the door and helped me get her into her seat, both of us reaching for the seatbelt at the same time.
That crackle of electricity was back when our hands touched, heat blazing between us when our eyes met over the sleeping child.
Paisley’s hair fell across her face, the tiara still perched on her head.
I lifted my hand to move the soft strands behind her ear, searching her eyes.
She licked her lips nervously but didn’t look away. I could see everything I needed to know in those baby blue depths. Her barrier was coming down. I would risk getting murdered by Katie to spend another night with Paisley.
“I’ve got it,” I said, taking the seatbelt from her and locking it in, needing to get back to the lodge so we could continue this, whatever this was.
She nodded, seeming to realize where we were, hurrying to get into the car. We rode home in silence to not disturb Alina, or maybe because we were both too preoccupied with what came next. Because something was going to happen between us or we’d both combust.
Once we got back to the lodge, Paisley grabbed her packages and fled, and I didn’t see her again that night, left to smolder on my own.