“Good, let’s go.” She about-faced and marched out of the room, not waiting to see if he was following.
Maxim chuckled as if her snarky mood was an everyday occurrence before sobering up. “Logan, she comes back in one piece, or no one will find all of your pieces, understand?”
“Yes, sir.”
“?????!” Greg didn’t understand Russian, but he understood the hand waving him off, once again dismissing him.
Greg had to hasten to catch up with Zoe. For someone so small, she moved fast. By the time he caught up with her, she was almost at the front door. He had to jog to catch up to her before she left him behind.
“Slow down, are we racing?” he called after her.
“If it’s a problem, you’re more than welcome to stay behind and I’ll have Aleksei take me. His strides can easily keep up,” she called over her shoulder, not slowing.
If Greg didn’t know better, he’d think she picked up her pace as she went down the stairs. At least she waited for him at the bottom of the stairs, a smirk on her face. She was testing him.
“Where are you parked?”
“Right there.” He pointed to his car.
Zoe looked at the car and back to him. “You’re joking.”
Greg chuckled. He got that reaction a lot. “Nope.” He held up the keys, jangling them on the key ring.
“That’s what you drive?” He heard the awe in her voice as well as shock. Greg felt his chest puffing out. He loved his car. He and his dad had rebuilt it when he was growing up. It had cost a pretty penny, but it had been worth it.
Zoe’s fingers slid over the back of his sage metallic-colored 1968 Aston Martin DB6. “How could you— I mean it’s beautiful.” She blushed. Greg knew what she was about to ask. He got that question a lot. For a military guy, he shouldn’t be able to afford a half-a-million-dollar car.
“Thanks.”
Zoe slid into the leather passenger seat and buckled up. Her eyes traveled over the interior. Greg had tried to keep it as close to its original structure as possible. The biggest change he’d made was making sure the steering wheel was on the left side.
“My dad and I rebuilt it years ago. He had a friend that used to collect cars. He ran up some debt and sold us the car to pay it off. Due to its condition, we got a hell of a deal on it.”
“Should I start calling you Mr. Bond?” she teased, her eyebrows wagging up and down.
“Parker. Logan Parker,” he said in a British accent.
Zoe giggled, and it became Greg’s new favorite sound in the world.
“Where to?” he asked as he turned on the car, loving the rumble from the engine.
Zoe gave him the address and they were off.
Chapter 6
“Thanks for last night, saving my neck with Maxim and vouching for me,” he said as they drove down the driveway.
“You’re welcome,” she replied casually as if it weren’t a big deal. “I should be the one thanking you. You saved Aleksei and me.”
“It was nothing. Not to seem ungrateful, but why did you? Vouch for me,” he clarified.
“I owed you a debt. It’s now paid,” she responded as if it were a trifle thing. To him, it wasn’t. She had been his key to getting in with Maxim.
“Will I be driving anything besides you? Packages maybe?” he asked as casually as possible.
“That you don’t need to know.” There was a hard edge to her tone.
“What am I allowed to know?”
