Her Fierce Warrior (X-Ops #4)(21)

"She seems quite taken with our mascot."

Angelo glanced at the man who'd come up beside him. Short and heavyset,  his name tag read Bryce. Underneath it was the word Manager. "Yeah,  she's fond of animals, I think."

Bryce smiled. "You might want to take a look at this then."

The manager walked behind the bar and reached into the glass display  case. A moment later, he came out with a plush bison wearing a white  handkerchief around his neck sporting the name of the restaurant. "This  is Ted."

Angelo grinned. Minka would love it. They needed to find a replacement  for Boris-who was currently waiting in the truck for them-so they could  give the sloth back to Zarina anyway. This would be perfect.

"I'll take it," he said.

Bryce handed it over with a laugh. "I'll tell your waitress to add it to your bill."

Minka had moved away from the bison and was studying the photos on the  wall when the hostess led him to a booth. When she came over, he got up  so she could slide in beside him.

"Did you see that bison on the wall there? He's so big. And so cute."

Angelo grinned. "I thought you might say that. That's why I got a  smaller version." He took the plush animal from inside his jacket, where  he'd been hiding it, and placed it on the table. "This is Ted."

Minka's eyes glistened with tears as she stared at it. Crap, what had he done wrong? He'd thought she'd love it.

But then she grabbed the toy in one hand, threw her arms around Angelo, and squeezed him so hard his ribs creaked.

"Thank you," she said against his chest. "He's perfect."

He wrapped an arm around her with a chuckle. "You're welcome. But is it okay if I breathe now?"

She gave him another squeeze, then sat back in the booth with a smile,  wiping away the tears on her cheeks with her fingers. "How did you know I  would like him?"

He grinned. "I just guessed."

Angelo wanted to ask why she'd been crying, but the waitress came to  take their drink orders. By the time the woman left, Minka had already  put Ted carefully beside her on the seat and picked up the menu. He  discovered that while she spoke English very well, she had some trouble  reading it. So they took their time going through all the options, even  things they weren't going to order.

The waitress came and went twice, but by the third time, Minka was ready  to order. They both went with bison cheeseburgers and fries.

Minka picked up Ted and looked at him closely, her slender fingers  gently caressing the shaggy fur around the buffalo's head. "Thank you  for helping me with the menu," she said, carefully avoiding his eyes.  "You are an amazingly patient man. Your wife must feel very lucky."

Minka's eyes never left Ted's fuzzy features, but it was obvious she was  fishing. Damn, who would have thought it? Minka had all the subtly of a  brick to the side the head.

"I'm not married," he said. "And before you ask, I don't have a girlfriend either."

She relaxed visibly at that. Setting Ted on the seat beside her again,  she gave Angelo a smile. "I wasn't asking. I was just pointing out that  you're very patient. I would never be so rude as to ask something so  personal of you."

With that out of the way, Minka went back to talking about the movie and  how it was the most amazing film she had ever seen. Angelo hadn't seen  an animated movie since he was a kid, but he didn't remember them ever  being so much fun back then. Of course, he hadn't been with Minka,  either. She just seemed to make everything better.                       
       
           



       

"How long have you and Landon known each other?" she asked after the  waitress had brought their food. "You must be very good friends for him  to let you use his apartment and his truck, not to mention his clothes."

Angelo chuckled as he handed her the bottle of ketchup. "Yeah, we're  more like brothers than friends. We met in army basic training fifteen  years ago, then spent over a year together going through Special Forces  assessment and training. We've been together pretty much ever since.  Even now that he's working here, we still keep running into each other.  We both know that if either one of us is ever in trouble, all he has to  do is call. Most of the guys on our team are like that."

Minka was experimenting with how much ketchup it took to completely  cover one of her fries. But once she had that figured out, she looked up  and smiled. "Do you have any real brothers? That you were raised with, I  mean?"

He shook his head as he poured ketchup on his plate. "No, I have two  sisters, Venus and Lydia. My dad was in the army when we were kids,  which means he was gone a lot, so it was my job to keep them from  getting into trouble." He picked up his cheeseburger. "How about you,  any brothers or sisters?"

Minka ate another fry before answering. "No. I was an only child."

The words came out slowly, painfully. She was almost certainly thinking  about how much her parents had to be hurting by not knowing where she  was or what had happened to her. Damn, he shouldn't have brought that  up.

He was still trying to figure out what to say to make it better when she smiled at him again.

"Tell me about your sisters."

That he could do. "Lydia is four years younger than me and lives out in  Oklahoma. My mom's family is still out there on the Indian reservation.  Venus is two years younger than Lydia and lives out in L.A.-California."  He snorted. "Neither of them are married, and it seems every time I  call, some jerk they're dating has gotten them mixed up in something  stupid."

Thank God none of that trouble had landed them in jail-yet. Angelo  didn't mention that to Minka, though. When she didn't say anything, he  glanced over to see that her attention was no longer on him. Instead,  her gaze was locked on the bar. He looked that way to see what was so  interesting and saw two guys at the bar openly ogling her. Both were in  their early twenties and had the total metrosexual thing going  on-pullover sweaters, button-down shirts, and crisp khakis.

Angelo's protective instinct kicked in at the looks in their eyes-along  with a healthy amount of jealousy. The two guys must have picked up on  it because the moment they realized he'd caught them staring, they  tossed some money on the bar and hauled ass.

Minka watched them go, then turned to look at him, confusion clear in  her eyes. "Were they staring at me because I talk differently than they  do?"

From outside, the guys took one more quick look at Minka before hurrying down the sidewalk.

"I doubt it," Angelo said. "There was no way they could hear what you  were saying over all the noise. More likely they were staring at you  because you're the most exotic, attractive woman they've ever seen."

Minka blinked, her dark eyes going wide. "You really think so?"

He grinned. "Do I think they were staring because they thought you were  exotic and attractive? Or do I think you're exotic and attractive?"

She blushed but didn't look away. "I would rather know what you think."

"Then yes, I think you're the most exotic and attractive woman I've ever seen," he said. "You're beautiful."

Her face turned a deeper shade of red, the look of wonder in her eyes  making him realize she hadn't ever thought of herself that way.

"Thank you," she said softly.

"You're welcome."

Minka ducked her head and went back to drowning her poor, defenseless  french fries in an ocean of ketchup. Crap, she probably had more sodium  on her plate than protein.

She picked up her cheeseburger and dipped it in the ketchup covering  half her plate, then took a bite and chewed thoughtfully. When she was  done, she looked at him seriously.

"May I ask a question?"

He nodded. "Sure."

"Why doesn't Ivy like me?"

It took him a moment to recover from the minor case of conversational  whiplash she'd given him. He'd thought for sure she was going to ask to  define exactly why he thought she was beautiful-something he was all  ready to do, by the way. But Minka had a point. Ivy had been  suspiciously absent since she and Landon had first seen Minka in  Zarina's office. And the way Zarina had refused to look at him when he'd  asked if Ivy was going to meet with Minka tomorrow was weird, too.                       
       
           



       

"About a year ago, those two doctors who experimented on you captured Ivy," he said.

Minka's eyes widened.

"Yeah," he said. "You can't tell anyone, though. Only a few of us know  about it. The doctors were able to get samples of her DNA before the  other guys from my team and I helped Landon rescue her. Since then,  they've been using that DNA to try to create hybrids."