Spying Under the Mistletoe (Love Undercover #2) - Stina Lindenblatt Page 0,58

But then, my grandfather, her father, decided Nikolai would be better off staying with him.”

That would explain things. Maybe if he had stayed with Chloe and her mother, he would have turned out differently.

Or not.

“I just wish he’d contact me and let me know how he’s doing,” she says, her voice a whisper, as I’m about to resume kissing her again.

Now that I have a better idea of why the two cousins are close—or were close—there are other things I’d rather be doing than discussing that asshole.

I mean, unless she can give me something to go on so the Feds can finally locate him. A family reunion with his grandfather would make our day.

Okay, maybe not Nikolai’s day, but that’s not my problem.

“Have you tried contacting him?” I ask.

She shakes her head. “I have no idea where he is.” Her voice is like that of a kid who realizes Santa isn’t real. “It seems to be a common theme when it comes to the men in my life. Everyone I love isn’t interested in sticking around for the long haul.

“But I guess that’s not entirely true when it comes to Nikolai. He might have vanished from my life, but he sent you to be my guardian angel. So at least I know he still loves me.”

Fuck.

Her words slice through me like a hot knife through peanut brittle ice cream.

Because Nikolai Orlov is just one more man in her life who’s let her down. One more man who cares more about himself than this sweet and giving woman beneath me.

“But now you understand why I’m not looking for love anymore,” she says, smiling brighter this time. “Why I wasn’t interested in dating you before I knew your job was the only reason you wanted to be with me. Now, enough of this discussion. I believe you were kissing me. How about we get back to that?”

Her eager eyes almost do me in. But despite what she might think, there’s still a hollowness in them that cuts me to the marrow.

All I can do is hope that one day she finds a man who’ll wipe it away and prove to her that not all men are like those who have done her wrong.

All I can do is hope someone can fix her broken heart with something stronger than Elmer’s Glue.

All I can do is hope she finds someone who’s the opposite of me.

21

Chloe

The next few days after Thanksgiving break are a whirl of craziness at school. Landon and I spent much of the long weekend hanging out, talking about all kinds of things: hiking trips we’ve done (the places we’ve both been, places one of us have seen), humorous stories about when we were growing up (Nikolai and I weren’t the only pranksters when it came to siblings and cousins), stories about our jobs (Landon’s real job, as I already know about his misadventures in kindergartener-land).

Some things had us cracking up. Others resulted in a sympathetic ear.

All of it was nice—especially those times we shared while cozy together on the couch, with a new level of intimacy that hadn’t existed before our first kiss.

I attended his hockey game with Isabelle and Jayden. Landon’s team won, of course.

Landon and I also cooked together and shared about our families. Well, mostly I shared about my mom. I didn’t have anything to say about the rest of my relatives.

And yes, there was also plenty of kissing and between-the-sheets hotness, much like we experienced after Josephine’s party.

Even though Landon and I have only known each other for a short time, it feels like we’ve been friends and something more for years.

It feels both nice and unsettling—especially when what we have between us is only short-term. At the end of the day, this isn’t a real relationship. I’m just enjoying that it feels like one while I can.

Enjoying feeling special, even though Landon and his team work for Nikolai, work for the boss of the Russian mafia.

At some point—hopefully sooner rather than later—our fake relationship and all the fun perks that come with it will end. Whatever favor Landon’s team owed the mutual third party will be paid in full.

And my connection to the family I appreciate as much as I’d appreciate having my eyeballs coated with extra spicy hot sauce will be terminated for good.

Or is that last point too much to hope for?

But now the realization that we’ve got only three weeks before the Christmas concert is hitting hard. It’s not a lot of time