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“Whatever you think you can do, I promise that you cannot. I suggest you turn around and walk away before you utter another word.”

The man’s shoulders dropped, but he did what Maksim suggested. Once he was gone, Maksim looked at me and Alex and rolled his eyes.

“They can’t all be winners, right?” I shrugged.

“He wasn’t even good enough to be a loser.” Maksim turned on the faucet and started washing his hands. He glanced over at us. “You two been together long?”

I smiled at Alex, who was kind of glaring at Maksim. I playfully patted his chest, snapping him out of it. “Oh yeah, years.”

“Well, hopefully he’s not a five-second Frank.” Maksim dried his hands.

“You seem to be having a rough night.” I stepped closer to him. “How about we buy you a drink?”

I could feel Alex’s eyes burning a hole in the side of my head, but I simply beamed at Maksim, who watched me with suspicion.

“Buy me a drink?” He pointed his finger at Alex and me. “You searching for a third?”

I shrugged. “You never know.”

Maksim pursed his lips and eyed us. “I could use a drink.”

“Great.” I held my hand out to Alex. “Come on, hon.”

Alex’s grip on my hand was strong, I felt every ounce of his hatred for Maksim in that grip. I knew this might be a bad idea—Gideon had after all just told us to observe and report. I was being as careless as Alex had been this past year. But I saw this opportunity for what it was, a way to maybe get some information out of the Russian.

The three of us walked up to the bar, ordered our drinks, and moved to a booth that was off to the side. It was still somewhat loud, but we could talk better here. I wasn’t sure what I was going to say and I didn’t want to make Maksim suspicious, but I’d just have to work my charm on the man.

“Your accent, I can’t place it.” I sipped my drink and cuddled up beside Alex…yeah, I was milking this for all it was worth.

“Russian,” he answered with a smirk. “I had very good teachers and have worked hard to master an American accent.”

“Yeah, it’s really great; I could barely tell. Probably why I couldn’t figure it out.”

“Are you in town for business or pleasure?” Alex broke his long silence and if Maksim could hear the disdain in his tone, he didn’t let on.

“Both.”

“Hopefully this isn’t your introduction to the US, and Beefy Dude wasn’t your intro into what to expect in the pleasure department.” I chuckled.

“I am in the States a few times a year for business and have always mingled with pleasure while I was here. Mr. Beefy Dude, as you call him, was just an unfortunate situation.”

“What do you do for business?” Alex’s tone had softened, likely realizing that if he came off as aggressive, Maksim would bolt.

“It’s my father’s business. I run the sales department. Nothing fancy.”

Alex hummed. “Yes, boring.”

Maksim cocked his head and smiled, about to say something, when he froze and his eyes widened. “Shit.”

I looked over my shoulder, trying to figure out what had the man turning pale. I saw two men in black suits clearly searching for someone.

“Don’t want to be found?” I asked, and Maksim slouched and shook his head. “Then we better get you out of here quickly huh?”

Maksim grinned. “Indeed.”

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Alex