Free Ekaterina by Susan May Warren, Susan K. Downs Page B

not.” Then he ran a finger down the side of her face and scooped up a tear.
    The kind gesture made her freeze. He must have read her body language, for he immediately withdrew his hand. “Are you hungry?” He tried to hide his embarrassment, but she saw it creep into his face.
    She sat up, wiped her eyes. “Maybe. Thank you, Captain.” Perhaps he wasn’t such a hard-hearted creep after all. He did have blue eyes that looked like the ocean at dusk, eyes that were deep and mysterious, hiding a multitude of secrets—maybe even treasures.
    “Call me Vadeem.” He smiled, and seemed nearly boyish, charm and innocence wrapped together in a heartwarming package. “What you would like?”
    She rubbed her arms, feeling goose bumps. “Maybe some M&M’s?”
    He laughed. “For lunch? C’mon, Miss Moore. You need to eat better than that. I bet I can scrounge up some fruit juice from the food cart, maybe some peanuts.”
    “M&M’s. Plain. I don’t do peanuts with my chocolate.
    He smiled, her first glimpse into a true friendship, and shook his head. “You Americans. You don’t know how to eat right. You live on carbs and chocolate—”
    “And soda, don’t forget that.” She only half-hated the fact she’d warmed to his teasing.
    “America has turned Russia into a land of junk food.” He signaled to a woman pushing a cart down the aisle. “I need to teach you how to eat, I can see.” He pointed to two cartons of apple juice, a banana, and a bag of plain M&M’s. Kat reached for the bag, but he snatched it back, burying it in his lap while he paid the vendor.
    “Not until you have some real food.” He opened the apple juice and handed it over. Kat made a face, but liked the way he waggled his eyebrows at her. She drank the liquid down.
    “Now some potassium.” When he held out the banana, she snatched the M&M’s from his lap. He frowned.
    “Gimme the banana. I’ll show you how Americans eat fruit.” She opened the bag of candy. Vadeem eyed her with suspicion as he handed over the fruit. Kat peeled the banana, then carefully put one M&M candy in the center. “Chocolate has protein, you know. It’s made from beans.” Then she bit off the banana, taking the candy with it.
    Vadeem’s blue eyes widened. “That can’t taste good.”
    “Try it.” She handed over the fruit, and the bag of candy.
    Vadeem had strong hands, fingers that were clean. He tore off a piece of banana and made his own treat. She laughed at the grimace he made as he swallowed it down.
    “Oh, it’s been putrated!” He gulped down a healthy swig of apple juice. “How do you stay all trim and leggy with this kind of diet?”
    His compliment left her speechless.
    His smile dimmed and he held up a hand. “No, don’t answer that.”
    Kat wrinkled her nose at him, hoping to reclaim the light moment, desperately needing it after the last twenty-four hours. “I supplement with Diet Coke. It cancels out the calories due to fruit.”
    His deep, melodic laughter filled the train, turning heads. Kat let it absorb her and soothe her fraying nerves.
    “I’ve met a true junk-food junkie,” he said, shaking his head.
    “What? Do I look like a potato chip?”
    He studied her with a smirk and tease in his eyes. “Not in the least.”
    Her heart thumped hard against her chest as his gaze held hers, reached out, and drew her in.
    “I would never mistake you for a Pringle.”
    Oh, her heart fell down to her knees. She forced herself to breathe, and found a smile. “No, just an M&M, huh?”
    He shrugged. “Maybe. Hard and crusty on the outside, sweet on the inside?”
    She fought another smile. The last thing she wanted to do was truly enjoy this man’s company. He stood between her and her past. . . and she had serious plans to ditch him the second they got off the train. She couldn’t afford to leave behind a piece of her heart—
    What was she thinking? She‘d known the man for less than twenty-four hours.
    It seemed like a decade.
    Kat