Free Kissing The Enemy by Helena Newbury Page A

me.

10

Angelo
    I grabbed my coat and pulled it on. My mind was whirling: I had no idea what I was going to do about her being Vasiliy’s flesh and blood and every logical part of my brain was screaming that this was a bad idea. But that wasn’t enough to stop me. I had to see her, and fuck the consequences.
    Jesus, what’s this woman done to me?
    Rico was waiting outside when I opened the door. “I’m going out,” I told him before he could speak.
    “Now? What about the Russians?”
    Just the mention of Vasiliy and his crew made my stomach knot. “They’ll still be there when I get back,” I said.
    “But we need to hit back! Show them we’re not going to be—”
    I rounded on him. “Goddammit, Rico! Later!”
    He backed off, shocked more than scared. “Okay, sure,” he said, a trace of hurt in his voice.
    I took a long, deep breath. What the hell’s the matter with me? Rico was like a brother. I couldn’t even remember the last time we’d argued. I laid a hand on his shoulder. “There’s just something I need to take care of. Okay?”
    He nodded, but I could see the confusion in his eyes. Normally, nothing came before business, especially when it concerned the Russians. “You want some backup?” he asked.
    I fucking loved this guy. Always there for me, even when I was behaving like an asshole. Again, I considered telling him about Irina...but I couldn’t. Knowing Rico, he’d talk sense into me. I squeezed his shoulder. “Not this time,” I told him. I turned away quickly, shoved open the door to the parking lot and stalked outside—
    And stopped. I stood there blinking in amazement as the door swung shut behind me.
    It had been snowing. It must have started right after I arrived at the bar that morning because everything was covered with a thick white carpet, untouched and perfect. After the dim interior of the bar, the sunlight on all that bright white was blinding.
    The whole world looked different. New. And...I’d never seen snow as anything other than a pain in the ass, before, something that slowed traffic and had to be shoveled out of the way but now…..
    Maybe it was because snow made me think of Russia and Irina but it looked goddamn beautiful.
    I glanced back at the bar. Inside, the other guys didn’t even know it had been snowing out here. I wouldn’t have, if I hadn’t called Irina. I’d still be in there, worrying about the ugly, brutal reality of the job.
    I looked ahead of me, at the unbroken snow. And took a big, deliberate step.
    I blasted across town and pulled up outside Fenbrook Academy in plenty of time. I sat there outside the red-brick building, watching the students milling around on the steps: musicians with instrument cases on their backs, dancers with their hair up in buns and a few cocky guys I guessed were actors, hitting on all the girls. All of them just sitting there, happily chattering away in their nice, safe world where crime was something you heard about on the news.
    I frowned. I’d almost forgotten that world existed.
    Then Irina hurried down the steps wrapped up in a long black overcoat, so beautiful it made my chest hurt. Her hair was still up in a dancer’s bun from class. I pushed open the car door so she could get in, but she shook her head.
    “I need to keep moving,” she told me. “I have another class in ten minutes and if I sit still, my legs will stiffen up.”
    The air coming in through the open car door was so cold it took my breath away. “Are you serious?”
    She nodded. “Walk, or don’t talk.”
    I didn’t even have to think about it. I grabbed my coat and jumped out. She’d already taken a few paces along the street by the time I caught her, her long legs eating up the distance. She hadn’t been kidding about keeping moving.
    Or…. I glanced over my shoulder at the students on the steps. Or she didn’t want to have this conversation in my car, right in front of them.
    She was afraid I was going to end this and reduce her to