“Messy sexy or messy tangled?”
“Messy sexy.”
Nikolett shrugged, though she felt more than a little naked without her hair at least partially pulled back and no makeup.
“How long has he been waiting?”
Regina checked her watch. “Five minutes. Keanu is stalling him.”
Nikolett nodded once, reaching inside her shirt to adjust her bra—at some point, Eric’s hand had slipped up there to play with her nipples, and her boobs weren’t sitting right in the cups.
Nikolett started for the door, but Regina didn’t move.
“You invited him for a date while you were in bed with Eric?” Regina asked when Nikolett turned back to her in question.
Nikolett raised her chin. “You disapprove?” Her tone made it clear she didn’t actually care what the answer was because it wasn’t Regina’s place to approve or disapprove.
Regina sighed, then walked past Nikolett to the door. “You two deserved a chance to be happy before something like this.”
Nikolett didn’t answer, but dread wound her stomach tight. She’d been the one to start this, to invite Gus.
For a moment, she thought about telling Regina to send him away. Tell Gus she’d gotten sick or something. His presence here confirmed he wasn’t the Spaniard since the Spaniard was currently robbing an office building.
Gus was who he’d said he was.
A sweet man who tried to give her half his cookie, brought her flowers, worried about her injuries, and helped her into bed when she had too much to drink.
Regina opened the door, speaking to Keanu briefly.
Taking a final, bracing breath before forcing her shoulders down and back, Nikolett stepped into line of sight. Gus met Nikolett’s gaze over the top of Regina’s head and smiled.
That smile made her stomach somersault, but with her sex still wet from Eric’s mouth and her own arousal, she realized exactly how pale her feelings for this man were compared to Eric.
A moment later, Regina moved out of the way to let Gus in before she exited into the hall.
Nikolett smiled, but awareness shivered up her spine and she had to force herself to hold the expression.
Gus looked…different. Dangerous.
He wore black pants, a tight shirt that looked like it might be high performance workout material, and a black leather jacket. His hair was mussed, like it had been when they first met, but instead of looking rumpled in a distracted, messy way, it looked sexily tousled.
The change was stark enough that Nikolett didn’t say anything, merely stared at him.
“Hello, lass.” He held out the flowers and she automatically accepted them, stepping closer to him as she did.
“You came,” she said somewhat stupidly.
“I should have texted first.” He sent her a sheepish grin. “I got your text and came right over. Though I did stop for flowers.”
Was he going to kiss her? It looked like he was. Nikolett turned for the now-empty vase which had ended up staying in the room.
“You didn’t tell me you spoke Romanian.” Her back was to him as she carefully undid the flower bundle, placing them inside the vase.
“What’s that now?”
“You made a joke about how the flowers weren’t poisoned, but my bodyguard mentioned the poison test in Romanian.” She added water to the vase. “I didn’t realize you spoke the language. It wasn’t one you mentioned.”
Nikolett turned, braced to see…something. Some change in him that would reveal him to be a liar.
