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“But if you ate, you became nauseous?”
“Yes.” She studied him intently. “Is that why you’re so lean, Nik?” She saw his mouth curve ruefully as he held the mug between his hands, close to his lips.
“You’re a very astute observer of the human condition, my Kitten.”
“Like you aren’t?”
“Oh,” he said lightly, “I feel we complement one another very well. You’re highly intelligent, but anyone who is a sniper is far beyond the normal human being in some very unique ways. You miss nothing because you know it’s the details that can either make or break the op.” He sipped his coffee and then placed the mug on the table. “And, you care, Daria. That is something you can’t train into a person. They either have a heart or they don’t. You have a very large, giving one.”
She eyed him. “And you don’t? Isn’t this the pot calling the kettle black?” She saw his lips lift away from his teeth; his gaze bemused.
“Caught. Once again. Remind me not to play chess with you?”
Daria loved chess and had the game on her computer tablet she’d brought with her. She’d been goading Nik into playing it with her because he said he loved chess, also, but kept resisting her. “People interest me. They’re like chess pieces. You never know what moves they will make, sometimes.”
He leaned back in his chair, pushing it away from the table and standing. “Yes, like this morning when you suddenly kissed me out on the front porch.”
“Caught you off guard, did I?” and Daria chuckled, standing.
“Yes, but I liked it.”
Becoming serious, she said, “Do you think Korsak has bought us as a couple getting to know one another?”
“Up to a point.” He pushed the chair back in against the table. “Brudin probably placed that bug in here. He can pick any lock. That bothers me.”
“That Korsak’s not buying us?” She went to one corner of the couch and sat down, slipping off her sandals, tucking one leg beneath her and leaning back against the leather.
“He’s wily. He’s a Russian fox. Always alert. Always thinking. This is why,” he said, sitting down in the center of the couch, hands clasped between his opened legs, “that we must carefully cultivate our image and relationship. Plus, he has never fully trusted me. Why would he now? I’m nothing like them. I’ve never been,” and his mouth turned into a slash, his brow drawing downward as he stared at the door in front of them.
Daria reached out, her hand smoothing down the dark hair sprinkling his forearm. “I’m so glad you’re not.”
He twisted a look in her direction. “Me too. I’d never have met you.” And Nik stopped himself from saying any more. It would be inappropriate and it was a secret dream of his. That’s all this was: a beautiful dream in the insane world he lived and survived within. Daria was like a bright, shining symbol of what he’d always wanted: a woman who was strong, intelligent, caring and loving. And he wouldn’t take a prostitute when what he desired was a real, honest relationship with a woman. He craved Daria with his heart and soul. The look in her half-closed eyes, that gold and sienna gaze of hers filled with such care and concern for him. And understanding. She had the incredible capacity to realize the depth of the pressures upon him. It felt good to be cared for. To be understood and appreciated.
“You’ve been the nicest surprise of this whole op, Nik.” Daria allowed her hand to fall away, tucking it back into her lap, studying him in the silence.
“I’ve done nothing out of the ordinary since coming here,” Nik said darkly. He wasn’t about to go where Daria had. She was more than a surprise to him. She was a dream come into reality, and that grabbed his heart, never letting go of it, feeding his yearning, aching dreams. How he wanted to pursue a relationship with her. A real one, where there was no life-and-death dance around them. But an honest, genuine partnership. The kind of exploration and deep, wonderful intimacy he intuitively knew could happen between the two of them. He ached for it. The depth of his losses, the stresses and yearning for something purely uplifting and beautiful, gnawed at Nik.
“Have you seen Korsak much since arriving?”
“A few times. I haddesayunowith the team a few days ago to take their pulse.”
She frowned. “Why would Korsak order a bugNOW, Nik?” She searched his pensive features as he thought through her question.
“Fedor said something atdesayuno, in their abbreviated double speak to keep me out of their conversation,” he muttered, rubbing his face. “He said something like that things were going to get interesting toward the end of our time here in Aguas Calientes.”
“What do you think that meant?” Daria asked, worried.
Shrugging, he sat up, rolling his shoulders to get rid of the accumulated tension in them. “I haveNOidea. Korsak doesn’t trust me. He won’t ever tell me his plans ahead of time. Obviously, something is up and they all know what it is, but as usual, I don’t.”
“Maybe we should rethink our pattern? Would it be helpful if you went back to the hotel instead? Maybe nose around? You said the walls were thin over there. Maybe you could pick up some intel?”
“No,” and he cut her a glance. “It’s better I stay here tonight.” He rubbed his hands down his hard thighs. “Sometimes, we receive shipments of arms beneath crates of vegetables that are being sent to us by train. Fedor Goncharov and Brudin go to the train station and pick them up. They do the heavy lifting on things like this. We’re always needing resupply. The Russian helicopter at the local airport is flown by undercover KGB and Spetsnaz trained pilots. They usually fly in what we need. But sometimes, the winds are bad and they can’t take off and transport us or our supplies to and from Cusco. We’re constantly in need of food resupply. And my medicines that I order in.”
“So Rolan Pavlovich, the latest Russian mafia boss from New York, is working with active Russian Spetsnaz spies presently? And the Russian government knows this?” She saw the wry look he gave her.
“Of course. It’s Russia wanting her piece of the pie in the world drug trade, too. He was in Spetsnaz at one time. He was the hero. He has close, high government ties.”
“I didn’t realize any of this,” Daria whispered, sitting up, scowling. “This is so much more complicated and twisted than I first thought.”
