“That’s so thoughtful,” Meiling said. She turned toward Gedeon. “Are you hungry? We didn’t have a chance to eat dinner.”
He took the opportunity to be alone with her. It might be the only one they had before the others began to arrive. “Did she leave any of her ham and cheese pastries?”
“I think she did,” Rodion said. He raised an eyebrow at Meiling. “The same for you?”
She shook her head. “I was considering one of her fruit bowls. She has the best fruit and berry bowls.”
“I’ll be right back. Just give me a minute. I have to heat up the ham and cheese pastry in the kitchen oven.”
“Would you mind grabbing me a bottle of water out of the cooler?” Meiling asked.
“No problem.” He waved them toward the tables again and disappeared behind the double doors leading to the kitchen.
Gedeon came up behind Meiling. Close. Too close. Telling himself he had to in order to ensure they weren’t overheard, not because he wanted to inhale her fragrance and fantasize that she was his. Maybe it wasn’t a fantasy if he thought of her that way.
“I never should have agreed to this meet,” Gedeon whispered, his lips against Meiling’s ear. “This could be a setup. We’re on their home turf. Since they’ve done their massive remodeling job, I don’t know the layout of the building. I’m not familiar with attics or whether they have hidden passages. We have to assume they do.”
“There’s a vent in the ladies’ room. I can slip inside the vent and take a look around that way, map out as much as I can and get it to you.”
Gedeon thought it over. No doubt they were being watched through the cameras right then. If she disappeared for any length of time, Timur would send someone looking. He shook his head. “We can’t trust any of them, no matter that they helped us. Lospostos is going to be pissed that he didn’t know what was going on. Amurov kept his word to us. He doesn’t want bad blood between him and Lospostos, so he could very well have made another deal to sell us down the river.”
“I’m not all that trusting, Gedeon,” she said softly.
He knew she wasn’t. He didn’t fully have her trust. He sometimes thought they were close, but then she pulled away from him. She became careful around him, would distance herself from him. He detested those times and would patiently build their relationship back up again, telling himself he couldn’t blame her. He hadn’t done anything—like save her life over and over—to show he had earned her trust.
Rodion returned from the kitchen, placing the ham and cheese pastry on the table in front of Gedeon and a fruit bowl and a water bottle in front of Meiling. Gedeon tried not to notice that the shifter crowded close to Meiling, his body brushing up against hers. She wasn’t sitting down, but she still had to look up at him. She looked very small and delicate beside the man. Gedeon cursed silently, despising his reaction. He had to stay on his guard, not be worried about whether the shifter was flirting with Meiling.
Men began to file into the bakery from the kitchen, having come in from the alleyway entrance. Timur had brought more security than Gedeon had anticipated, and it made him uncomfortable. He signaled to Meiling not to slip into the chair Rodion had pulled out for her.
The table the shifter had placed the food on was in the exact center of the room. They would be surrounded. Meiling caught the consequence of that immediately. The amount of security guards filing in and spreading out around the room already seemed too significant a force and Lospostos hadn’t even entered the bakery yet.
Timur stepped in from behind the kitchen doors, Fyodor right behind him. They came around the counter, Timur leading his brother straight to the table where Gedeon and Meiling were standing. At the same time, the front door opened and Kyanite strode in. Behind him came men Gedeon recognized as Joaquin and Tomas Estrada, personal bodyguards to Elijah Lospostos. Elijah was right between them, his gaze riveted to Gedeon’s face, and he didn’t look happy. Behind him, at least ten more shifters followed.
Gedeon instantly signaled to Meiling to leave. She was very slight, and although she was the only woman in the building, she had a way of disappearing into the shadows. Most of the shifters were big men in terms of density. They took up space in the bakery. If Elijah wanted to bluster at him, that would only draw attention his way. He was fine with that. It would give Meiling the opportunity to slip out of the bakery and set up with a sniper rifle across the street to cover him. She didn’t miss if she was needed—and she would be needed.