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She chuckled as she got up off the couch, feeling like an idiot. She wasn’t the type to let her hormones control her like this. She was a professional, damn it!
Not that she really felt like one right now. She told herself that she was going on a date with Nickolay for the job, but she had to admit that she was lying to herself.
She went on that date because she wanted to.
Now, she had to do the right thing. Going into the kitchen, she pulled out a burner phone that she hid in a cabinet behind her canned food. It was the way that she communicated with Roberts, so she typed out a text message, telling him that Nickolay might be worth looking into. She had to do it. The man had been at Alek’s house twice this week, having private meetings with him. No matter how she felt about the man, she couldn’t ignore that.
Still, she hesitated before pressing the SEND button. A moment from earlier in the evening flashed through her mind. He’d reached across the table to take her hand, causing warmth and excitement to zip through her. She’d threaded her fingers through his, and more than desire, she felt affection, a genuine connection to the man.
No. It was wrong.
She sent the text, trying to ignore the pang of guilt she felt as she did it. She was an FBI agent, and her feelings didn’t matter. It was all about the job.
* * *
Monday morning, she was back at Alek’s house. Alice was getting used to cleaning the large house, even though her main priority was getting into the restricted parts of the home.
“Did you eat breakfast?”
Alice looked up from the end table that she was dusting to find Chloe standing in front of her with a box of donuts in hand and a smile on her face.
“What?” she asked, brushing a strand of hair that had fallen out of her ponytail behind her ear.
“I had a craving for donuts this morning,” Chloe said, patting her big stomach. “I got a full dozen. So, have you eaten?”
“Oh. You don’t have to share with me.”
“I know,” Chloe said, gesturing for Alice to follow her into the kitchen. “But Alek isn’t here right now, and I don’t want to eat alone.”
Alice grinned. “Are you saying I’d be doing you a favor?”
“Absolutely.”
Alice decided not to argue the point and took a seat at the kitchen island again, just like did last week when she first met Chloe. In that brief time, the two women had interacted many times, and a friendship was starting to form.
She knew that part of her purpose here was to get as close as necessary to the people in the house to discover the Bratva’s secrets, but she was conflicted about her relationship with Chloe in a way that was entirely different from her complicated feelings for Nickolay.
He was probably heavily involved in the Bratva himself, but it was possible that Chloe didn’t even know about Alek’s business. Not likely, but possible. Either way, she seemed like a good person, one that was easy to get along with and friendly in a way that made Alice care about her.
Chloe handed over a donut, and Alice took a bite, trying to push aside her conflicting feelings and focus on the job.
“So…where’s Alek today?” she asked, not expecting a true answer. But she had to start somewhere if she was going to get the information she needed.
“Just running some errands,” Chloe said.
“If you don’t mind me asking, what does he do for a living?”
Chloe’s hand suddenly fell to her stomach. “The baby’s kicking. Do you want to feel?”
“Uh, sure.”
Chloe took Alice’s hand and pulled it to her stomach. She felt movement under her palm, a little nudge against her touch. It was a strange feeling, but when her eyes flickered up to meet Chloe’s, the mother-to-be was beaming.
“Do you feel her?” Chloe asked.
“Her?”
She nodded. “It’s a little girl.”
