than me.”
“Speak for yourself,” Landon mutters. “I’m ready to run a couple of laps. Maybe enter the Ironman Triathlon.”
“I somehow doubt that,” Rob says.
“What are you doing here?” I ask Landon. “The last I heard, Adam was the one who was keeping an eye on me.”
“Is there any particular reason your cousin showed up here while you happen to be in the store? And don’t tell me he happened to be in the neighborhood, playing the role of a mall Santa.” His tone isn’t pissed, just weary.
I squeeze my eyes shut, willing the last few minutes with Nikolai to be permanently erased from my memory.
I open my eyes, and my gaze catches sight of the star still in Landon’s hand. Fresh tears spill from my eyes again. “I have no idea.”
32
Chloe
Several hours later, I’m sitting in the waiting area outside the surgical suites at the hospital where Landon and Adam were taken.
I’m not alone.
Liam, Connor, Adam, Jayden, and Isabelle are with me, waiting to find out how Landon’s surgery went.
They’re not the only ones. Ava and Kiera are also here.
“You love him, don’t you?” Ava asks quietly next to me. I’ve just finished getting Kiera up to speed on everything that’s been going on for the past few weeks.
“I do. I shouldn’t. We haven’t known each other for long, and I promised myself after Mark that I wouldn’t make the mistake of loving another man again.”
I’m as skilled at ignoring my own advice as Pooh is at ignoring his rumbly tummy at the sight of honey.
Ava flashes me a small smile—a smile filled with wisdom and smugness. “I’ve long since learned that, for better or for worse, the heart and brain often have opposite opinions. Your job is to figure out which one is right, but it’s not always the one you hope it will be.”
“But at least now you know the men you loved didn’t leave you because they stopped caring,” Kiera adds. She still looks taken aback at the news that the three men she’s referring to were killed over the last two decades.
“No, they were murdered,” I say, my heart as heavy as cupid’s statue with pigeon poop on it. “And now I’ve unwittingly cursed Landon to the same fate.”
Ava wraps her arm around my shoulder. “Life isn’t a fairy tale. There are no curses and things like that—just don’t tell that to my readers.”
“She’s right,” Isabelle says. “Don’t let fear prevent you from loving someone because you’re afraid something bad will happen to them.” She glances at her fiancé before turning back to us. “You’ll miss out on so much if you let that guide your heart.”
“Does Landon know you love him?” Kiera asks.
I shake my head and shrug. “It hasn’t really come up. Besides, he was nothing more than my temporary fake boyfriend. What we shared was all part of his cover. And then there’s the part where he lied to me.”
“He truly believed that was the only way he could get close enough to you to protect you,” Isabelle says.
I give her a pointed look. “And to discover where my cousin was hiding.”
She cringes. “Yeah, that too. But you understand why he needed to locate Nikolai, right? Why we were all hired to ensure he didn’t follow in your grandfather’s footsteps?”
I nod because that part I do understand. As much as it hurts that Nikolai died—and I’m sure it will hurt even more later on, once I know Landon will be okay—at the end of the day, he was still the new crime boss. And as a crime boss, it meant doing illegal activities that could lead to more loss of life.
Kiera rubs her hands together and grins. “Does this mean you’re going to tell him you love him?”
“I don’t know if—”
“He’ll be okay, Chloe. You have to have faith in that. You’re not cursed. And once he’s in recovery, you’ll kiss him on the lips—”
My mouth curls to one side. “You mean true love’s first kiss?”
She laughs. “Something tells me you’ve already kissed him. So it’s a little late for that magical kiss. But you will tell him how you feel.”
“And what if he doesn’t feel the same way about me?” Although telling him while he’s still under the effects of the anesthesia might make things a little easier. It’ll be like a truth serum…but he won’t remember later what I told him.
So maybe she’s on to something—even if that’s not what she meant.
“Then we’ll all come over to your apartment with ice