I giggled as he wrapped his arms around me. We heard Viktor’s deep voice talking to Trino as they walked to the office door. Adrik quickly said to everyone, “I don’t care that she’s a potential love interest. Everyone gets thoroughly vetted now. That means Gus, Oscar, Chris, Keith, AND Trino. I’m taking no chances. You guys see or feel anything suspect on anyone, you let me know,” I glanced over to see Andrei discreetly touch Stephen’s arm, so he got the message as well. We were still trying to think of ways to communicate with him that didn’t involve touching him, but we hadn’t figured out how to make it happen quite yet. He still required physical touch to get the message, but it happened instantly and someone could just brush his arm and convey the information to him.
We all carefully studied everyone as they walked in the office. Viktor was at ease with everyone, as everyone was at ease with Viktor. The woman that was with Trino seemed nervous, but she was walking into an office with six more giant men she didn’t know who were hired based on their abilities to intimidate people with one look. I could understand her apprehension. “Trino. Now I understand why you’ve been MIA,” I said, smiling at him as he walked in, his arm around her.
He smiled at me, walking to me and Adrik. After he shook Adrik’s hand, he said, “Miha, I want you to meet Emilia.” She smiled shyly, extending her hand to me.
“Keep your hand on me, please. I’m borrowing your gift,” I told Adrik as I went to shake her hand. I didn’t feel Ivan’s bubble, which was a good sign for her. Bad sign for Misha. When my hand touched hers, I felt nothing but a moment of joy from her. Poor Misha was going to be so disappointed….
Emilia was practically a midget compared to the rest of us. She even made Trino look tall, but she was beautiful. She had jet black hair, olive skin, and golden-brown eyes. Her smile, while nervous, was genuine. Trino noticed me looking her over. He couldn’t keep the smile from his face as he said, in Italian, “you know I want your approval, Miha.”
My mo uth fell open. “Since when did you learn Italian?” I asked him, still in Italian.
“It’s closer to Spanish than Russian. Baby steps,” he said, smiling proudly at me.
“That gives me hope for learning Spanish easily,” I said.
“If you picked up Russian that quickly, Spanish will be a breeze,” he said.
“Noted.” Trino was still smiling, but he was also looking very expectantly at me. I couldn’t help but laugh. “So far, so good, Trino. I need to hear her speak to give you the complete okay,” I told him. He nodded, pulling her with him toward one of the couches.
I quickly gave the guys a translation of what he’d just said to me. “I’m impressed he learned Italian,” Ivan said.
“Apparently he ha ted the thought of being left out of most of the conversations between us and Vitally if I didn’t insist on English for him, “I responded.
“Misha, stop pouting. There will be other chances,” Adrik said.
Misha couldn’t keep from laughing at being chastised for that. Everyone else looked at him, wondering why he was laughing. “So remember that one time when Giana cussed Martin out in Italian? Yeah, that was a good time,” he said, trying to cover. It was so absurd that it made me also laugh, which made the rest of the guys laugh. Trino and his group just thought they were being left out of a joke.
“Nice save, kid,” Ivan said, still laughing in his head.
“I gotta work on that, Clearly, “Misha responded, pretending to shove Stephen over so he could sit down next to him. To everyone else, it looked like they were clowning around. In reality, he’d just let Stephen in on our conversation. Even Stephen had trouble hiding his smile once he learned what
Adrik had said.
“So, Emilia, how did you meet Trino?” I asked. She immediately looked petrified that I’d asked her anything. Poor thing was scared out of her mind.
I could feel Andrei zero in on the fact that she seemed overly scared. Before, I could never tell when he was actively fishing through anyone else’s head. I could feel him in mine, just as he could feel me when I went snooping through his, but I had never felt anything when he looked at anyone else. I knew he was just being thorough with her, which I appreciated.
She cleared her throat, looking at me. “We…we met kind of by accident,” she said. She glanced up at Trino, like she wasn’t sure she should say anything further. Oscar laughed. “Trino literally ran into her on the street and knocked her down. She got up and cussed him out. Most romantic meeting ever,” he said.
Trino was laughing with Oscar. “She ripped me a new one. I think she might’ve bruised my sternum from her finger poking me as she cursed me and pretty much my entire family in Spanish.” I raised my eyebrow, glancing around the room quickly. I could see that everyone else shared in my so far favorable impression of Emilia. I looked between Oscar and Gus, asking, “and what did he do in response?”
They both laughed. “He didn’t say anything at first, then he asked her to dinner. We were sure she was going to smack him, but she accepted instead,” Gus said.
I looked to Trino, unable to hide my smile. “I like her,” I said, in Italian.
“Me too,” he said, his smile stretching across his face.
“Bubba, did you find anything?” I asked. He glanced at me, shocked that I knew he’d been looking. I laughed, internally. “You were very discreet. I can feel you looking now, apparently
He exhaled, visibly relaxing. He shared what he could see of her aura, as he said, “nothing out of the ordinary. She actually really likes Trino. He told her everything right away. She knows who he is. She doesn’t know the extent of what we’re facing, but she’s fine with who he is. Sorry, Misha.”
“She needs Viktor though. I can see that,” I said, looking at what Andrei could see.
Ivan looked to Viktor, asking him in Russian, “how long does it take Kostya to fix someone? Like could you do it from a handshake?”
Viktor thought for a moment, then said, “it’s possible that’s all it would take. Unless there’s extensive damage. It takes longer in that case.”
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.