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Hunter came over and stood next to Alex. “Yeah, you clean up well, Parker. Wish you’d do it more often,” and he gave her a teasing grin.
“Get lost, Hunter. We’re undercover. I have to play the part of a botanist. Remember? Don’t you think a botanist would prefer pearls over gemstones? Something that is living? Organic?” Lauren glared at him before he could answer. “I sure as hell do.”
Gage held up his hands in surrender. “Hey, you look very nice, Lauren. Really, no bull.”
She snorted derisively.
“Wait here,” Alex pleaded, as he hurried up to the receptionist’s desk.
Lauren frowned at Hunter.
Hunter shrugged.
“What’s he up to?” she growled.
“Got me,” and he gave her an evil grin. “Probably up to no good, by the look on his face.”
Alex came back and held out a white orchid with a fuchsia and gold lip on it. “Here, I thought about your cover. That you love flowers and plants. Would this orchid not look right for you to wear? We are on vacation. Right? And you cannot bear to be without your flowers?”
Lauren’s heart somersaulted as Alex tentatively held out the orchid in his large hand toward her. There was a small plastic vial at the end of its stem, wrapped all around in white satin ribbon to hide it. The orchid would look appropriate for the trip. “T-this is beautiful…,” and Lauren briefly brushed a finger across one of the waxy petals.
“Pin it on her,” Gage ordered Alex. “Left lapel. Nice touch, by the way.”
Alex nodded, but he looked gravely down at Lauren. “Do you mind if I do this?” Because he knew she didn’t want him very close to her or touching her any more than necessary.
“Don’t you feel like you’re going to the prom?” Gage unmercifully teased them. “Boyfriend is gonna pin his girlfriend? Don’t stick her with that needle, Kazak.”
“Shut up, Hunter. Don’t you have anything else better to do?” and Lauren gave him a withering look. Alex looked as if he didn’t know how to pin it on her and she wasn’t going to let Gage ride Kazak. He did often enough, anyway. But not today.
Gage grinned. “Okay, I’m leaving. Corky, your driver, is coming around with the car to take you two lovebirds to the Regan International Airport to pick up your flight. When you reach Lima, check in.”
“Roger,” Lauren muttered. She saw the helpless look Alex gave her, extending the corsage toward her.
She scooped it up and muttered, “It’s okay. Most guys don’t know how to pin a corsage on a woman’s lapel, anyway,” and she quickly affixed the orchid to the gray linen lapel.
“That looks very good on you,” Alex said, nodding in approval, smiling.
“Thanks… that was a thoughtful idea.” And it was. Alex appeared to be an easygoing, somewhat bumbling farm boy from Ukraine, but she was beginning to understand there was a hell of a lot more intelligence to him than what had first met her eyes. Would any other of her mission specialists going on this op with her have thought of an orchid to complete her cover? She sure didn’t think so. It told her about the level of detail Alex was accustomed to utilizing. He was black ops, undercover, and was showing her that he understood the depth and details of being just that with her on this mission.
“My pleasure,” he murmured, seeing the pink blush spread across her high cheeks. Lauren’s eyes were exotic-looking to him. He’d been on missions in just about every part of the once-upon-a-time Russian Empire, and beyond. Women in some countries had slightly tilted eyes, and he always thought that made them mysterious-looking. It certainly did with Lauren. Like the orchid, which was also exotic, the flower and her eyes belonged together, but Alex didn’t think she’d want to hear him wax poetic about his thoughts to her.
“There’s Corky, our driver,” Lauren muttered, pointing to the black sedan pulling in to park at the front doors.
Alex picked up his calf-leather briefcase. “After you,” he said, gesturing toward the door. Their luggage had already been put in the trunk earlier.
Lauren was about to open the car door, but Alex got there first, opening it for her. His eyes sparkled with humor as he said, “We are married. I will always open a door for my wife.”
Giving him a weak grimace, Lauren scooted in and said nothing. Kazak was quite the charmer when he wanted to be. Lauren sternly told herself, as he climbed in beside her, that it was all a charade on his part.That was all.Yet, her heart skipped for a moment. First, the rings with the pearl in one. Then, the orchid corsage. Now, he was opening doors for her. It was almost too much to take in. She was glad it was a half-hour ride to the airport. It gave her time to collect herself.
The American Airlinesjet took off right on time from Washington, D.C. enroute for Lima, Peru via a Miami, Florida stopover. There, they’d land and have a two-hour wait for another flight to take them on to Lima. Lauren noticed Alex insisted, as they took their seats in First Class, that he sit on the aisle of their large, wide row. She got the window. And, even though he appeared relaxed, she knew he was sensing, listening to other conversations around him, watching everything discreetly, not being obvious about it in any way. When the flight attendant came around offering wine, he declined it. So did she. They were working. Alcohol was a bad partner on an undercover op like this.
Once they were at altitude, and had been served a snack, he leaned toward her and said, “I like that they let us keep our real first names for this op.”
Lauren nodded, feeling the nearby heat of his body. That quiet power rocked her from a feminine standpoint. She saw his hazel gaze sweep appreciatively across her. They had held hands as they had boarded. It wasn’t as bad as Lauren had thought it would be. In fact, she had liked it. Maybe a little too much. “If they can, they will. It makes it easier for us.”
“You smell good,” he murmured, meeting her gaze. “Like vanilla and cinnamon.”
Amazed, Lauren quirked an eyebrow. “I just washed my hair with cinnamon shampoo and took a shower with vanilla soap. You’re pretty good, Kazak.”
