Nikolai shot the other mechanic a glare that he promptly ignored. Instead, Oats focused on shoveling something out of his pocket into his open maw. He had dirty blond with darker roots, brown eyes, and a skinny face.And he’s currently shoveling food into his mouth with dirty fingers, the little gerbil.Nikolai was a big guy and he was always hungry. Oats’ metabolism put his furry ass to shame, the kid was always snacking or else he’d die. The lanky mechanic peaked inside the window. “What’s up you little stinker? You make Nik whack his head on the hood? I heard that like a gong in an echo chamber.”
Isabella furrowed her brows, eyeballing Oats suspiciously. “Stranger.”
Nikolai crossed his arms, glaring at the little girl.Oh, the elvish kid is suspicious, but you won’t leave me alone? Typical.Isabellascowled at Oats as he pulled away. His coworker shrugged. “Guess she doesn’t like me.”
“Not fluffy!” Isabella huffed.
“Typical,” Nikolai sighed heavily.Why can’t she be obsessed with Jessie? He’s fluffy!Nikolai had work to do. They needed to get through this car and a handful more before Jessie and he could go out to meet with Knox Zrazduel. The Devil from the casino invited them to a meeting to talk about money. Jessie was going without Titan, but not without backup. As Pops gave up the keys and stepped back, it was time that Jessie stepped in. Business needed to keep flowing, and Nikolai was there to get a job done.
However, at the moment, he had a six-year-old and a motor belt to deal with. “Come out, tiny.”
“I’m not tiny!” Isabella squawked all while sliding out of the front seat. She waddled up in front of him and raised her arms. “Ups.”
“One condition,” he grunted, crossing his arms.
She pouted, mimicking his arms crossed. “Uppies.”
“You show me where your mom is.”
Isabella huffed, unwinding her arms to wiggle her fingers at him. He arched a brow. When he didn’t give in, she twisted and pointed out into the parking lot. Beyond him was Katarina on a phone, clearly not seeing the open door behind her.Little shit crawled out like a rogue in the night.
Nikolai scooped up the child and planting her on his shoulders. She squealed happily, her hands deep into his fluff. Katarina jerked, spinning from her spot. As Nikolai strode across the parking lot, he saw the five stages of ‘oh fuck’ play across her face. Finally, her ruby gaze found him, and her body sank against the car.
“Bug! You were supposed to be napping.” The pitch in her voice told Nikolai she was at her wits end.
“Vroom, vroom!” Isabella tugged at Nikolai’s scalp like she were driving him.
“Nik, I am so sorry. I swear I’m not usually so spacey as a mom!” Katarina rushed over, hands frantically moving about.
Heshrugged, eliciting an excited giggle from the child upon his shoulders. Isabella kicked her feet out by his collar bone. Nikolai brought the escape artist all the way back to the car, where Katarina fussed around him. She stopped to inspect her child who didn’t feel like she wanted to come down. Nikolai nodded at the car, meeting the frazzled mother’s eye to ask ‘who’s is that’? As it certainly didn’t come from their shop. Katarina sighed, “Oh, yeah, it’s my best friend’s car. She let me borrow it for the day to get some stuff done.”
“Hmm,” he hummed, nodding in approval.
“I’m sorry about Bella; I don’t know why she’s so obsessed with you,” Katarina laughed before her face lit up in red. She waved her hands with a gasp. “I mean, not that there’s not a reason to be—it’s not like that.”
Nikolai raised a brow at her.Oh?
“I mean, she’s just not very trusting of strangers. But she’s really a huge fan of you. Immediately on the Nikolai train, so to speak,” Katarina wheezed with embarrassment. Nikolai shifted, keeping a firm grip on the little, wiggly legs pressing against his collar bone. Katarina stared up at him, eyes wide and apologetic.She’s really worried about this.
He smirked. “Fluffy.”
“What?”
“Me.” He let go of one leg to motion at himself with a sweeping motion before snatching her leg up again. “Fluffy.”
“Oh.” Katarina glanced up at Isabella, who was face first in Nikolai’s fur. He could feel her little nose nuzzling his scalp. While normally he would detest that kind of intrusion, it was actually kind of cute. The little terror was wrapped around him, with her cheeks pressed against the top of his head. Katarina put her fists against her side and exhaled heavily. “That’s fair. I mean, she does like fluffier bears. Plus, she fell in love with your platypus.”
“Barnibus,” Nikolai added.
“Thank you, by the way, for allowing us to sleep in your bed.” Katarina glanced at her phone, locking it instead of doinganything else, and tucked it away. “Though, we could have survived on the couch or whatever.”
“No,” Nikolai shook his head the best he could without disturbing the tiny gremlin on him.Is she…she’s fucking sleeping already?He would reach up and try to detach her, but she wasn’t deep enough in sleep. She’d just wake up and demand to be returned to her post. “Lumpy.”
“Is that all you have?” Katarina snickered, cocking a hip out and staring up at him with those glowing rubies of hers. “One-word answers.”
“Sometimes…” he trailed off with a grunt. Her lips spread into a giant grin as he scowled. “I’m not a talker.”
“Noticed,” she retorted, shifting to cock the other hip out. “Sorry, I’m just teasing. I’m used to guys who don’t shut up.”
