She leans against the counter, hiking one big, black boot on the shelf that holds the extra receipt paper rolls and sales tags. “Are you kidding? Gary has been dying for overtime, but Belsky always told him no because he said we were overstaffed. He’s going to love that extra money now that he’s a daddy.” She thinks for a second and says, “Can you believe they can’t find him? I bet that perv hit on the wrong woman and she finally just did him in. Serves the bastard right.”
“You really think something bad happened to him?”
Jess shrugs her shoulders and fiddles with her Christmas skull pin, twirling it while she talks. “I don’t know, and I don’t care. It’s nice not having him here. I knew one day he was going to cross the line and assault someone. Now I don’t have to worry about that. I hope he never comes back.”
“Yeah, he was creepy,” I admit, because it’s nothing I haven’t said before. “Hey, do you think you could do me a favor later?” I say, changing the subject.
She’s digging around in one of the candy jars, trying to find her favorite flavor of sucker, biting her bottom lip in concentration as her fingers grasp the end of the cherry-vanilla sucker. She pulls it out with a triumphant grin on her face and says, “Sure, whatcha need?”
“If it’s not busy, do you mind if I slip away super fast to try and sneak in a bit of Christmas shopping? I just want to grab Aleksandr a few things.”
Unwrapping her prize, she says, “Yeah, no problem,” before popping it in her mouth.
I help a few more customers and then scan the crowd outside the store, looking for Aleksandr and feeling disappointed when I don’t see him. The clock above the stuffed animals says there’s still twenty minutes until it’s my lunch break. For one horrible second I think about how I’d feel if he just doesn’t show. I mean, I did what he wanted, I talked to the police and didn’t say anything and didn’t do anything to cause suspicion. What if he’s done with me now? I’m still wallowing in my worst-case-scenario fears when I see him walk into the store. The sight of him has me grinning like an idiot and feeling like one too when I think about how depressed I’d just made myself imagining things that aren’t going to happen.
“Ready for lunch?” he asks, leaning over the counter and giving me a quick kiss.
“Yeah.” Turning to Jess, I say, “I’ll be back in thirty, okay?”
“Sure thing,” she says, laughing to herself when I practically run over to Aleksandr.
He wraps me up in a big hug before kissing me hard enough to leave me breathless and blushing.
“Have a good morning?” he asks, leading me toward the food court.
“Yeah, it was okay.”
“It looked like you were pretty damn busy. I thought you were going to lose it when that kid kept throwing the action figures on the ground and screaming,” he says with a laugh. “You handled it like an absolute pro.”
“You were watching me?” I stop and look up at him. “I didn’t see you. I thought for a second that you might have left.” I laugh to try and make it sound like I’m kidding, but he sees the truth in my face.
“My sweetlisichka,” he says, cupping my face. “I will never leave you, and I was watching you pretty much the entire time.”
“But I never saw you.”
He gives me wink. “That’s because I’m damn good at my job, baby. People don’t see me unless I want them to.”
“So you wanted me to see you that day?”
He thinks for a second and says, “Yes. I’ve never done that before, but I couldn’t take my eyes off you, and I wanted you to see me.”
“I’m glad you did. I know it might sound weird to say that, but I’m really glad you did.”
“Me too.” He smiles and threads his fingers through mine. “Don’t think your sweet talking is going to get you out of your spanking, though. I have my heart set on it, so it’s kind of a done deal.”
I laugh and bring our hands up so I can kiss the back of his. “Come on, let’s get some lunch. I’m starving.”
“I bet you are,” he says with a laugh.
Chapter8
Aleksandr
After an enormous lunch of more Chinese food than I think I’ve ever eaten before in one sitting, Holly goes back to work, and I go back to watching her. All I can think about is getting her naked again. I’ve never been this obsessed over a woman before. I’ve had plenty of one-night stands over the years, and I even managed a relationship for all of three weeks once, but they all fizzle out eventually, and I’d never once cared enough to try to make anything last any longer.
None of them knew what I did for a living, so it’s kind of nice that Holly does. If she hadn’t wandered in and saw me doing what I do, I never would’ve been able to tell her about it. If we’d met under normal circumstances, she would’ve been given the same spiel that everyone got—business owner of my family’s restaurant who sometimes has to work odd hours. If our relationship became serious and eventually resulted in marriage, she might slowly become suspicious, but suspicions are all it would be. I don’t talk Bratva business with anyone outside of it. All that would do is endanger her, and I would never do that.
I watch her bend down to help a little girl who’s grabbing onto her mom’s leg for dear life. Holly says something to her that makes her laugh, and then she gives a big squeal when Holly shows her a remote control dog that can do flips and bark on command. She’s going to make a great mom, I think and then rub the back of my neck, wondering where in the fuck that idea came from. Last week I was a bachelor, a guy who, yeah, may have been lonely from time to time, but I’d come to terms with it. I knew I’d most likely spend the rest of my life alone, and that was fine.