Midnight Fever (Men of Midnight #5)(47)

"He loves you," Nick said quietly. "And he loves Felicity."

Goodkind hadn't broken under torture to deliver Felicity to Borodin, a Russian mobster in a good suit. Felicity had something Borodin badly wanted and he'd used Goodkind to get to her. It hadn't worked.

Kay nodded. "He was like a father to her, too. Her own was cold and remote. Grandpa is really good at being an anchor for lost girls." She gave a shake, as if to cast off bad thoughts. "I heard you talk about food, was that just you blowing smoke?"

"No, ma'am." Nick put a hand to her back and ushered her out of the room. "I wasn't blowing smoke at all. I'd never joke about food."



       
         
       
        

They walked along a corridor of doors, which were all bedrooms/living quarters for the various ASI people, until they came to the end of the corridor and walked across another huge living area into a small kitchen.

"Wow." Kay's head was on a swivel.

Well, the place was pretty fantastic. Half the guys at ASI hoped the zombie apocalypse came so they could hang out here forever.

"That's the third kitchen I've seen. How many are there?"

"Four. All fully functional but different sizes. The biggest one has three ovens, one you could roast an ox in. That kitchen's for when we all get together. This one's for a small party." Nick touched a button on the remote in his pocket and a microwave started up. Another button and a cascade of ice fell into an ice bucket.

"So we get the magic kitchen, do we?" she teased.

"Yep. So, milady, your chair awaits."

Nick pulled out a chair that was shaped like a Louis Whatever-Suzanne had explained the whole thing to him but there was nowhere in his brain the intel could stick to-only almost invisible Plexiglas. There was a round table and he'd set two table mats out and two plates and two wine glasses. It wasn't an evening for water.

He knew where everything was because, well, after an ASI agent had asked permission to bring his girlfriend for a weekend, he'd fumbled and opened every cabinet before he'd found the essentials. His girlfriend-now his wife-had made a sarcastic comment and Suzanne had sighed.

The next weekend, all kitchen cabinets in all four kitchens were glass-fronted, and Nick could see clearly where everything was.

"Ma'am. Sit please."

Just as Kay was seated, the microwave pinged and he placed a trivet-a word Suzanne had taught him-on the table and pulled out a deep ceramic dish from the microwave, placing it on the trivet while inhaling deeply. Man, that smelled good.

Kay leaned forward, too, taking a deep breath of the glorious smell. "Wow. Lasagna. Did you whip that up while I was taking a shower?"

Nick wrestled briefly with the temptation to lie but decided against it. She'd never believe him anyway. "No, sadly, I didn't. But Isabel did. She and four of her interns came up for a few days and made about a billion servings of lasagna and other stuff and froze them. She said they had a great time."

Isabel's interns had all been good cooks but more to the point, hot babes. Several of the newer recruits to ASI had spent those days going up to the Grange and volunteering for slave labor and KP.

At another time, Nick would have volunteered, too. But by that time, he'd had Kay in his head and she wasn't leaving it. Hadn't left it. And now he knew would never leave it. 

Another ping and Nick opened the bread maker, and a small loaf of five-grain bread came out, adding to the delicious aromas. The magic freezer had small doughs of the bread and the bread maker defrosted and baked. All he'd done was pop the dough in. He shook some salt and poured some olive oil over a sliced tomato salad-his only contribution to the dinner-popped a cork on a bottle of merlot and sat down.

Kay watched him. "What?" he asked as he spread the napkin over his lap.

"Really? Freshly made bread and a fresh tomato salad? In a country hideaway?"

He poured their glasses and lifted his philosophically. "Well, a really, really well-equipped country hideaway." It wasn't the moment to tell her about the massive security measures, the armory that had enough weaponry to go to war with a small country-say, Aruba-the fact that the entire complex was encased in a Faraday cage built to withstand an EMP …

"That it is. Mm." Kay closed her eyes as she put a bite of lasagna in her mouth. "Oh my God. I hope those interns got a lot of really good sex in return."

Nick's hand stopped halfway to his mouth. What? What did she just say?

Kay laughed. It felt good to hear her laugh. "Oh, Nick, if you could only see your face. You think a company filled to the rafters with testosterone and single guys wouldn't latch on to a cooking session with interns? In a beautiful mountain hideaway? Isabel is out of the running of course, since she's totally devoted to Joe, but I'll bet there were a bunch of guys running up and down the mountain. You included."