Free Nickolai's Noel by Alicia Hunter Pace Page B

and he pointed at the door. “
Pashla Nahui!
Cover yourself, woman!”
    Tewanda took a step toward him and said in a pouty purr, “English, dearest. I’ve told you a hundred times.”
    Nickolai ran his hands through his hair. “Tewanda, you do not want to understand what I said. Though you are not a stupid woman, only a crazy one. I’m sure you take the meaning. Get out of here! Leave this instant.”
    “But, baby, I had to see you for Christmas. I waited in your bed for the longest but I—”
    “You
what?
How you get in my house?”
    “No, precious. It’s ‘How
did
you get in my house?’ But to answer your question”—she laughed a silky little laugh—“I knew you didn’t really mean it when you asked for your key back, so I might have had another made. After all, occasions—like Christmas—do arrive. Too bad that big, bad storm kept you from me.”
    “Khuinya!
I should have listened to Mikhail and gotten the locks changed.”
    “But you didn’t want to spend the money, did you, baby? ’Cause you are so afraid of blowing out your knees and ending up living under some overpass with nowhere to go and no one to go to. But you can always come to me.”
    Nickolai looked like he’d been slapped. “I should have listened to my agent, as well—and asked the American government for help in keeping you away from me.”
    “No one could have kept me from you today.”
    “
Nyet
. No. We are done!”
    “This is what we do. We break up; we get back together. This is the getting back together part.” She moved toward him again, and he backed up a step.
    Nickolai shook his head. “
Nyet.
Is not true.” He met Noel’s eyes. “Is not true!”
    But was it? He certainly seemed incensed, but maybe it was because he didn’t like to be surprised. Maybe he wanted to control when he saw Tewanda again. Or could this all be part of some sort of sick game they played where he’d sleep with someone else and Tewanda would sail in for a reconciliation? No. That was just crazy. Noel rubbed her temples. Or maybe not. What did she really know about Nickolai Glazov?
    And Tewanda
had
known where to find him.
    Nickolai must have been a mind reader because he folded his arms over his chest. “How did you find me, anyway?”
    “Gabe. He tweeted everything—who was at Christmas Eve dinner, how the storm hit, how you stayed over. Did you really sit up all night with a Yule log?”
    “
On menya zaebal.
Someone needs to take away the phone of Gabe Beauford, and it will be me. I will throw it in the ocean.”
    “That’s going be a long trip.” Tewanda’s laugh was mean and abrasive.
    “Then the toilet. I will throw it right in Gabe Beauford’s own toilet!” Noel cringed. Was it her imagination, or were they enjoying this argument? Though his eyes had turned steely cold, Nickolai was calmer now.
    “Well, don’t be too sure you can get access to Gabe or his toilet. I went there today as soon as the roads cleared, and those people wouldn’t let me in. I told the guy in the guardhouse that I was your girlfriend, but he wouldn’t budge. But neither would I. He finally told me you’d already gone, had left really early. So! I figured out the rest. I knew you couldn’t get back to Nashville, and Noel was the only other person you knew in this town—though I had forgotten about her until I saw Gabe’s tweets.”
    “I could have gotten back to Nashville. I didn’t
want
to get back to Nashville. I like it here with Noel.”
    Tewanda stiffened and slowly turned to look at Noel. “
Really
?” Then she began to laugh. “Really! Oh, honey. I knew he liked your quilts, but … oh, well.” Then she laughed some more.
    “Tewanda,” Nickolai said intensely. “Get back on your broom and get out of here. I mean it. Do it now.”
    “I can’t, baby cakes. My broom is
broken.
Either you’ll have to take me, or I’ll have to stay here with you and Laura Ingalls Wilder until someone comes to get me.”
    “What? Who?”