Page 112 of Control's Undoing

“Something like that,” Nikolett said, because despite her odd mood and exhaustion, she wasn’t going to tell a stranger that a year ago, there’d been a poisonous snake in her house, and the assassination attempts had gotten both more frequent and odder.

“I ate half the cookie.Doesn’t that mean it’s not poisoned, and you can have some?”Gus sounded almost desperate.“Your stomach won’t stop growling.”

Nikolett dipped her chin to look at her empty cup, really hoping she wasn’t blushing.

“Ah, lass, I’m sorry.I shouldn’t have said that.I didn’t mean to embarrass you.”

“Nikolett?”Grigoris asked.

“I’m fine,” she said softly.“I’ll eat at home.”

Grigoris patted her shoulder and started to turn away, but his wife appeared beside him, passing Nikolett a plate with half a sandwich on it.

“Eat this.It’s mine and I’m not dead,” Nyx said in Hungarian.“And then fuck the pretty Scottish man.”

Grigoris wrapped an arm around his wife, nudging her back.“Eat the sandwich,” he said in the same language.“And we have to vet him before you’re alone in a room with him.”

Nikolett looked up in surprise.Not at Nyx—her comments were expected, only because she always expected the unexpected from Nyx.

But Grigoris… The implication that he would facilitate her having an extramarital affair with the cute Scottish mountain sitting across from her surprised her.Not that she needed his permission, but from a security standpoint it would be a pain, and Grigoris knew she was married.

Knew Eric had broken her heart.

Actually, now that she thought about it like that, it made perfect sense that her friends would want her to, maybe, find a moment of happiness somewhere.

Not that she would.This was just a chance encounter in a coffee shop.

Her stomach rumbled again, and with a rueful smile at Gus, she picked up Nyx’s half sandwich as she and Grigoris returned to their table.

It was clear Gus was dying to ask questions, but instead, he told her stories about the people he’d met traveling for his work, some funny enough to make her laugh out loud in between bites.The conversation was easy, and he carried it with no problem while she ate.

The longer they talked, the more her shoulders relaxed, and the harder it was to ignore the way he looked at her with appreciation, or the way it made her feel when he called her “lass” in that deep, rumbling voice.

One thing shecouldn’tignore was the persistent throbbing in her leg.She needed to lie down and elevate it, but that meant leaving.

She shifted, sucking in a breath when that caused a short burst of pain.

“Nikolett?”Gus looked her over, then pushed back his chair before dropping to his knees to look under the table.“Your leg hurting you?”

Two guards were there a moment later.

“Sir, please move back,” one said, not unkindly.

“Yes.I need to go,” Nikolett said slowly.“I’ve been sitting too long.”

She was surprised Grigoris wasn’t the one standing beside her, until she saw him standing near the door on the phone.

Gus straightened from under the table, looking at her softly.“Maybe…maybe we could share a table here again?Next time I’m in Budapest?”

“Maybe,” Nikolett agreed, enjoying the soft fluttery feeling Gus’s gentle flirting caused.

Even if it was hopeless.

Gus flipped over a napkin, scrawling a +44 number and email on the back and handing it to her.Nikolett took it, sliding it into her jacket pocket.

The way Gus grinned at her made her think she might be blushing.Blushing because a cute guy gave her his number.Time to go, before she did anything else embarrassing.

Nikolett cupped her thigh, trying to bend her knee so she could turn to the side and stand.She whimpered, closing her eyes as shards of glass worked their way into her bones.

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