Mistletoe (K19 Security Solutions 3)

Dutch looked away from her. “What do you want?”

Alegria bit her lip. “I…I don’t know how to answer that.”

He turned back and met her gaze. “Ask me.”

“What?”

“Ask me what I want.”

“What do you want, Dutch?” she whispered, her eyes filling with tears.

“I want to believe that someday you’ll love me half as much as you love Mantis. Just half as much.”

Dutch got up and walked out. Alegria knew he’d come back, and when he did, she wasn’t sure she’d be able to say anything that would convince him she could love him the way he wanted her to.

Chapter 2

Zary and Gunner

In just a few days, the people who had saved Zary’s life and welcomed her into their makeshift family would be celebrating Thanksgiving. She’d heard of the American holiday but had certainly never been invited to its traditional dinner.

“Good morning, beautiful,” said Gunner. He bent over and kissed her forehead.

“Good morning,” she murmured.

“Talk to me, Rocket Girl,” he said, sitting on the bed next to her. While she’d left behind the code name, Raketa, given to her by United Russia, she still loved it when Gunner called her by its English translation.

“Did you work out?” It was a stupid question. He was sweaty and in workout clothes.

“You know I did. Tell me what’s on your mind.”

She shook her head.

Gunner pushed her over and lay down next to her. “Are you worried about Thanksgiving?”

She smiled. “A little.”

“Tell me what worries you the most.”

The list was endless. She was meeting Gunner’s mother and sister for the first time. And how would it be to spend time with her twin half-sisters? What about her mother and their mother? Would that be awkward? Not to mention that, like her, her mother had never celebrated Thanksgiving before. At least, Zary doubted she had.

“I have some news on the subject.”

More? Now what? When Zary rubbed her temples, Gunner took her hands in his.

“It’s not a big deal. Razor’s mother and sister are coming. And his two nieces. They’ll stay over at Razor’s place.”

Zary did mental math. There were two houses within the compound that sat right on the beach in the seaside village of Cambria. Gunner called the houses a duplex, but no matter how many times he’d tried to explain what that meant, she didn’t understand. He even showed her where the garages connected, but to her, they were still two houses.

Whether they were separate houses or a duplex didn’t matter as much as the number of bedrooms each one had. Gunner’s had three bedrooms, and so far, two of them were occupied. She and Gunner slept in one, and her mother slept in another. When his mother and sister arrived, would they share the unoccupied room?

Razor’s house had the same number of bedrooms, and they were quickly filling up too. Ava’s twin, Aine, and their mother would soon arrive. If Razor’s mother, sister, and nieces came, how would there be room for everyone? Why was she thinking about this? Was it any of her business?

Zary knew what was really rattling her. She hadn’t spent this much time with so many people since her orphanage days, and those weren’t memories she wanted to dredge to the surface.

Every day when she woke up, Zary double-checked her surroundings. If Gunner was still asleep, she’d sneak down the hallway and ease the bedroom door open where her mother slept, just to make sure she was still there.

Seeing her peacefully sleeping was so much like the dreams she’d had for years—that her parents were still alive, and their reported deaths had been a terrible mistake. Zary’s father was no longer alive, but she didn’t regret his dying. She didn’t consider him her father anyway. To her, he was the devil.