“Well, I know better than to ask any questions.” Gabriella stood, giving me a side-eye. “But with how distracted you’ve been all night and how you haven’t tried to dance with a single woman throughout the reception? I’m gonna bet thatbecausehas something to do with a new lady in your life.”
Well, damn. She was eerily accurate with that guess.
“Yeah, right.” Alexsei shook his head, watching the boys run through the crowd again. “Like you’d let a woman matter enough to get in your head and distract you.”
I smiled, using the expression as a mask. He had a point. I didn’t commit—I couldn’t by the nature of my job. Relationships had never been a goal in my life.
But he couldn’t be further from the truth.
That woman was distracting me.
The idea of a gorgeous woman stalking me delivered too much of a thrill.
Petite, with a sharp gaze and a curvy little body I could spend forever exploring, she had well and truly ensnared me. As I sat here now, feeling like the odd man out, I struggled with the illicit curiosity of when I’d see her again.
“Right?” Alexsei laughed once, prompting me to face him. He smirked at me, incredulous. “There’s not a chance in hell that you’ve met someone. Because dammit, that’s not fair, man.” His laughing expression faded as he scanned the room. “First, Luka and Gabriella. Now Ivan and Raisa…” A long sigh left him next. “I mean, technically,Iwas first. But now?—”
“Hey, hey.” I patted his back as I sat up, not caring for how down and depressed he’d become so suddenly. Alexsei had been the first of us to settle down and marry since my mother died over twenty years ago. But Alexsei had been a widower far longer than he’d been a married man. With a bit of emotional whiplash, I grimaced and hated how I hadn’t been watchinghim, and checking on how he was doing at another Dubinin wedding so soon. Of course, all of this would remind him of his wedding and late wife, no matter how long they’d been together.
And of course he’d feel similar to me, that we were the only ones without a partner. He was further ahead than me. At least he had a son. I only had… my job. The assignments. The memories of all the people I killed to haunt my dreams.
“That’s nothing to worry about.” I chuckled to lighten my tone. “What, are you trying to suggest some stupid shit like love is in the air and I’m next?” I gave him a silly smile that he returned in kind. “Come on, Cousin. Listen to yourself. That’s nonsense.” I stood, sensing that it would be my turn in babysitting to encourage the boys away from the dessert table. “I’m not settling downanytime soon.”
He rose to his feet too, looking calmer and less alone. “You don’t think so?”
“Nah. I know so.” I scoffed. “How am I gonna find a woman to be my wife? One who’d be okay with me flying all over the world to kill off the stupid fuckers who don’t deserve to live?” In case he’d take my reply as a suggestion that I wished I could find such a partner, I elbowed him lightly as I nodded my head toward the boys splitting up, each one running with a plate of cake in opposite directions. “I’m not interested in settling down at all. I’ve got Lev.”
As I jogged toward the left to get Lev, he nodded before taking off to go after Misha to the right. “Let’s get them out of here before they’re more jacked up on sugar.”
“On it,” I replied, rushing after Lev.
What I wasn’t going to let myself get hung up on was that federal agent at the airport.
Not anymore.
Because it wouldn’t lead anywhere, anyway.
I’d skirt the law and avoid her catching me—like I did with any member of any law enforcement team. And just the same, I’d evade the possibility of her making me any more curious about her than she had already.
2
SADIE
Another slide showed on the screen, and I did my best to hide a yawn.
“And if you look at this map…”
I blinked rapidly, willing my eyes not to go cross-eyed at the cluttered image that told me nothing I needed to know.
We were an hour into this meeting, and I wasn’t sure how much more patience I had in me.
This could’ve been a freaking email…
Emailing confidential information was something we did carefully here at the FBI. Even still, all the details they were covering in this dull, white-walled room didn’t count as news-breaking material. The news has already broken about this particular topic my supervisor droned on about. Reporters and analysts were already covering this episode of fighting crime. All the prime channels were spreading word about this takedown. It was out there.
So… let’s wrap it up.
A briefing was a serious matter. It really was. I didn’t possess an ounce of indifference about my career. Being an agent was my life’s mission. Ordinarily, I was all ears, diligent to absorbing information pertinent to my cases. Whatever it took to solve them and catch the bad guys.
