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She glimpsed over at him. His jaw was set and his muscles were rock-hard, his visage stony.
For as much as this whole international incident was taking its toll on Nikki…it was clearly doing the same to Damen.
And because she couldn’t truly let go of her nature no matter how dire the circumstance, she switched into shrink mode and very smoothly asked, “So, how’s your Christmas shopping going?”
32
Damen chuckled. He made sure it wasn’t a strained one. No need to intensify the situation or amp the emotions. It was all a hell of a lot more than he wanted Nikki to be exposed to, anyway.
And in some scenarios, the danger factor was most certainly weighing on his conscious. He was also curious as to how everything would play out on the ops campus...and back home.
At the moment, however, he went along with her need to bring the fear factor down a few notches.
Of her question, he said, “I haven’t had the chance yet to complete my shopping. But we don’t have a tree up, so it’s not so glaring that there are no presents under it.”
“Now that you mention it,” she said as she seemed to force herself not to glance out the windows to see what other obstacles they might possibly be on the cusp of facing. “I noticed you only had minimal decorations up at the estate. Do you not celebrate the holiday?”
“We do,” he said. “It’s just that Mads is at a private boarding school and doesn’t come home until the week before Christmas—and with me not there all of the time, my mother doesn’t feel the need to go all out just yet.”
“Good point.”
“Plus, she has her traditions. Tamales and tree-trimming on Christmas Eve with the opening of one gift that night.”
“One gift?” Her eyes popped. “That’s pure torture. Once you get rolling, you want to dive into all the presents!”
He laughed again. “Mads agrees. But then, come Christmas morning, she’s really happy she didn’t go overboard the night before.”
“Hmm. I can see that.”
He said, “The difficulty is in figuring out what to get her these days, since she’s not at the estate on a regular basis.”
“I’d guess clothes.”
“You’d be correct, except she has a dress code at school to adhere to that’s fairly strict. So my mother helps her with all of that.”
“Electronics? Aren’t kids her age always wanting to be up on the latest and greatest of everything?”
“Yes, that’s certainly on the list.”
Nikki seemed to give this more thought. Then she admitted, “I really don’t have much knowledge base when it comes to children.”
She fell silent.
He eyed her curiously. “No nieces and nephews?”
“I’m an only child. And my cousins are close in age to me. Two have kids, but they live in Japan and Madrid, so I don’t see them often.”
He studied her for a few moments, then said, “I think you’d make a great aunt.”
“Maybe to Sophie. In that ‘my mom’s best friend’ way, not by way of blood relation, of course.”
“I’m sure Sophie took an instant liking to you. As did Mads.”
“She’s fantastic, Damen. Really. You must enjoy having her around.”
“She keeps things interesting. I wouldn’t mind if she lived at the estate full-time, rather than at her boarding school. But I’m not sure how that could realistically work, with my assignments and travel.”
“What about your mother?” she asked. “Is she at the estate full-time?”
