“You’re quieter than usual today,” Paul, a short and dark-haired man in his early twenties, probed softly.
“Yeah, what did that sandwich ever do to you?” Zoe added dryly. She was a tall and slender redhead who was slightly older than the two of them.
Janina glanced up from the plate containing the half-eaten sandwich she had been playing with rather than eating.
Paul and Zoe had become the closest thing Janina had to friends since she began working at the hospital. They often ate their lunch together if their shifts and breaks allowed for it.
Janina gave up any pretense of eating as she pushed the plate away to lean back in her chair. “I’m not hungry.” She grimaced.
“No doubt the presence of Mister Tall, Blond, and Gorgeous has robbed you of your appetite.” Paul glanced pointedly across the cafeteria.
Janina didn’t need to turn to know he was looking at and talking about Kieran Price.
She hadn’t been at all surprised when Kieran chose to accompany her and her usual bodyguard to the hospital this morning. Not after he’d admitted to her that Nikolai Volkov had heard that someone closely connect to Sergei Federov was rumored to be seeking revenge for his death.
Janina had only met Nikolai Volkov once, when he and the London pakhan, along with Janina’s father, had attended Marisha and Jericho’s wedding two weeks ago. That one meeting with the steely-eyed Russian had been enough to tell her that he was a man who didn’t make mistakes. If he said someone was seeking revenge against her father for the death of the Federov brothers and their men, then she didn’t doubt that was exactly what was happening.
With Janina as one of the targets.
Was it any wonder she had now lost her appetite?
Or that Kieran was making no secret of the fact that he intended to be one of her two personal bodyguards for the foreseeable future?
Not that Janina was complaining about that. She had always felt safer in Kieran’s company than she did with anyone else.
Paul was obviously also thrilled to see Kieran again.
She gave him a rueful grin. “He is rather handsome.”
“He’s fine with a capital F.” Paul never attempted to hide that his sexual orientation leaned toward tall and muscular men.
And why should he?
This wasn’t Russia. Janina didn’t agree with the law there that was basically anti-homosexuality and transgender.
“I certainly wouldn’t say no to giving him half the space in my bed. Or even all of it. I’d happily lie on top of him,” Zoe said with a longing sigh.
“Get in line, girl,” Paul rebuked.
“What about Scott?” Zoe teased.
Paul gave a dismissive phtting noise with an added sweep of his hand. “Fine with a capital F beats an unrequited crush any day.”
Janina laughed at their verbal antics. Openly sexual conversations like this one would be frowned upon in Russia. Since coming to America, Janina had realized that a lot of freedoms were withheld from the Russian people, freedom of speech like this being only one of them.
“I don’t think he swings that way, Paul, sorry,” Janina teased.
“Ooh.” He turned to look at her speculatively, brows raised over avaricious blue eyes. “Is there something you aren’t telling us, babe?”
The blush that instantly warmed her cheeks had nothing to do with Paul’s casual term of affection and everything to do with the fact that inwardly lusting over Kieran and openly admitting that attraction to her friends weren’t the same things at all. Besides, her life in Russia meant she simply wasn’t used to sharing her feelings with others.
“He just gives off an unmistakable heterosexual vibe.”
“A vibe, hm?” Paul mused, giving her a knowing look.
“I’m off duty tomorrow. What are the two of you doing?” Janina attempted to change the subject. Kieran was the last thing she wanted to talk about right now.
Paul grimaced. “Working.”
“Same.” Zoe pulled a face. “What are you going to do?”
The blush, which hadn’t left Janina’s cheeks from earlier, now deepened. “I’m moving into new accommodation.” She chose her words carefully. If Zoe and Paul realized she was moving into Kieran’s house with him, even platonically, the teasing would be merciless.
“You’re moving into the city?” Zoe asked excitedly.
“Does that mean we can come over and eat pizza and watch rom-coms all night? Romantic comedies,” Paul explained at her puzzled expression.
Janina was still adjusting to some of the American idioms. “No, I’ll still be living outside of the city.”
“And I’m guessing still on the Brunelli estate,” Zoe said knowingly.
“Yes,” she confirmed. “I’m just moving out of the main house.”
Neither Paul nor Zoe had ever questioned what Janina’s relationship was to the Mafia boss. Possibly because they both knew she couldn’t answer them honestly. Any more than she would ever reveal that her real name was Borzikov.
The bratva in Russia were feared by almost everyone, and usually only talked about in whispers. So it had been a shock to Janina to realize, within days of starting work at the hospital, that Leon Brunelli, capo dei capi of the Italian Mafia and based in New York, was not only openly talked about but actually respected.
Oh, the powerful Italian was most definitely the ruthless head of the Mafia worldwide, and treated as such, but there was another side to him. He had apparently opened up several shelters for homeless people in the city, as well as homes where battered women—or men—and their children, could seek refuge. All now apparently overseen by his wife, Carla. Janina wasn’t surprised by that. Carla was one of the kindest women she had ever met, and Leon obviously adored her.
Speaking of which…
Janina’s phone had just beeped with the arrival of a text message. She picked up the cell phone, a smile tilting her lips as she read the message from Carla.
“Does Mr. Tall, Blond, and Handsome know about your secret lover?” Paul speculated.
Janina gave him a dismissive glance. “You’re obsessed! The text is from Carla—it’s just a friend asking me if I’m free babysit on Friday.” She avoided mentioning Carla Brunelli’s full name.
Paul gasped. “You have other friends beside us?” He placed a hand dramatically against his heart.
“As it happens, yes, I do,” she answered dryly. “And this friend has an adorable six-month-old baby boy.” She sent Carla back a “luv 2” message.
“Time I was going back to work.” Zoe stood after a glance at the plain leather-strapped watch on her slender wrist. “Catch up with you both later.” She gave a wave as she made her way across the cafeteria.
Janina frowned slightly when she saw her friend stop and speak to Kieran and then saw him smile as he answered her. A totally charming smile that made him even more devastatingly attractive than usual and caused a wave of jealousy to surge through Janina.
It didn’t help that Zoe, once out in the hallway, gave a grin and a double triumphant thumbs-up behind Kieran’s broad back before continuing on her way.
“What does that mean?” Janina asked Paul.
“Put away the claws, hon,” he drawled. “It’s obvious that man only has eyes for you.”
She gave him a startled look. “What?”
He got up. “Let’s get out of here before the Dragon Lady decides to put us on cleaning duty this afternoon for being late.” He linked his arm through hers after he pulled her to her feet. “And Zoe was just excited at having your man talk to her. She didn’t mean anything by it.”
Janina frowned. “He isn’t my man.”
“Oh, I think you’ll find he is,” Paul assured her as they walked toward the doorway where Kieran stood.
“No—”
“Hi, Kieran.” Paul’s greeting to the other man was accompanied by a flirtatious smile.
Kieran wasn’t fooled for a moment by the brightness of the other man’s smile. Any more than he was bothered by the proprietary way Paul had his arm linked with Janina’s. The security files he had on Zoe Carpenter as well as Paul Reynolds told him that Reynolds lived with four other guys in the cheapest area of Brooklyn and Zoe lived alone in a shoebox a couple of blocks down from him.
Kieran was well aware of Paul’s sexual preference from that file. “Paul,” he dryly returned the greeting.
“Are you in the know about Janina’s ‘new accommodation’?” the other man prompted.
The innuendo in Paul’s tone might have been funny under any other circumstances. But as the remark revealed Janina to have been discussing something as personal as where she did or didn’t live, even with her two friends, Kieran didn’t find it in the least amusing.
Leon valued his privacy, most especially so at the estate where Carla and his son were usually in residence. The Mafia boss would not appreciate having anything to do with that estate being discussed outside the family and the men who ensured the tight security maintained there.
Obviously, Janina had had her own bodyguard from the moment she began working at the hospital, and her new friends would have been curious as to the reason why that was. But it would have been preferable if she hadn’t told them she was living on the Brunelli estate.
Especially with this new threat hanging over her.
“It’s on a need-to-know basis,” Kieran answered the other man lightly. “And you don’t need to know.”
“Ooh, does that mean you’d have to kill me if I did?”
It was impossible not to like this irrepressible man. “Possibly maim you a little,” Kieran drawled.
“Ooh—”
“Kieran!”
Both men burst out laughing at Janina’s obviously shocked reaction to the threat.
“Oh, very funny,” she snapped as Kieran and Paul then did a high-five bumping of their fists in acknowledgment of the “gotcha” moment. “You two are just so hilarious.”
“The two of you should seriously think about returning to the ward, Mr. Reynolds and Miss Sokolova,” a strident female voice rebuked.
Kieran turned to look at the woman he’d heard Janina refer to as Dragon Lady. The other woman was tall and blonde and possibly five or so years older than Janina, and also her superior, but there was no reason for her to be quite this acerbic. And Janina and Paul weren’t late. They still had five minutes of their lunch break to go and, as the ward was close by, plenty of time for them to get back on time.
“That would be Nurse Sokolova and Nurse Reynolds,” Kieran corrected evenly.
Hard blue eyes were turned his way. “And who might you be?”
Kieran’s eyes narrowed. This woman knew exactly who and what he was, because Leon’s influence had ensured that all hospital staff knew not to question Janina or her bodyguard. “I would be Mr. Price.” He deliberately didn’t use her own title or name, even though he had a security file on Nurse Amanda Humphries too.
She gave a dismissive sniff. “Well, I think you will find, powerful or not, that Nurse Sokolova’s friends have no sway in the running of this hospital.”
“Really?” Kieran challenged. “I think you’ll find that the new oncology ward currently being built was actually financed by one of her powerful friends.”
The blonde’s top lip turned back with distaste. “Obviously, the hospital board decided a new ward was of more value than being concerned about where the financing of it originated from.” She turned glacial blue eyes on Janina and Paul. “And the delay of this conversation has ensured that Nurses Sokolov and Reynolds will definitely be late back on duty.” Her smile was triumphant. “When you get to the ward, I want the two of you to clean and tidy the large storeroom.”
From the groan Paul gave as the senior nurse continued into the cafeteria, Kieran could only guess that this was going to be a long and unenjoyable job. He was pretty sure they also had care and nursing assistants who usually carried out those more menial tasks.
Amanda Humphries’s bitchiness had certainly put an end to what had previously been a lighthearted conversation.