Page 22

Her blond curls bounce as she hurries over to us, waving a keycard in her hand.

“I only gave you one key, here’s the second for your wife.” She smiles at him, completely ignoring me, and offers the card.

Rurik looks down at the card.

“Not needed. One is enough.” He hits the call button.

She turns to me, taking in the bandage on my forehead and the bruise on my chin. “Oh, no. Are you all right? That looks awful.”

“I’m fine.” I paste on a smile. “Thanks.”

When she looks up at Rurik again, it’s with less interest and more concern.

“Maybe you’d like the key?” She offers it to me. “You’ll need it to get into the amenities rooms. There’s a snack bar on the fifteenth floor open until midnight, a fitness room that’s available twenty-four hours a day?—”

“Sure.” I take it, stopping her from continuing the list of things this place has to offer. “Just in case I need to hide in the middle of the night,” I add as a joke, but Rurik squeezes my hand so hard, I’m sure the blood will stop circulating if he doesn’t let up.

“My wife was in a car accident earlier this evening. We weren’t able to get her medication filled at the hospital;is there a pharmacy around here?” Rurik intervenes, playing the concerned husband.

“Oh, yes.” The relief is immediate in the blonde’s features. “There is one in town that’s twenty-four hours. I’ll get the number and send it up to your room for you.”

The elevator arrives with an electric ding.

Rurik pulls me along inside and flashes her a warm smile. “That would be good. Thank you.” He hits the button for the fifth floor.

“You have to stop telling people you’re my husband,” I say once the doors have slid closed and we’re alone in the metal box. It’s a quiet elevator, I’ll give it that, but that doesn’t make it any less of a death trap.

“Are you afraid of small spaces?” He questions, and I realize I’ve stepped closer to him while we make our ascent.

“No.” I take a step to the right, but he still has my hand, so we end up looking like a tiny piece of hands across America.

I rush out the moment the doors sweep open, nearly pulling him along with me. He takes the lead within a few steps and tugs me down a hallway to our room.

“Why didn’t you want me to have a key?” The lock glows green and he lets go of my hand to push the door open.

“You don’t need one. We’re only here for one night and if you need to leave the room, I’ll be with you.” He holds the door and gestures with his chin for me to go ahead of him.

“This place looks expensive.” I take in the room.

This isn’t a chain hotel where the artwork on the wallover the bed looks to have been purchased from a hotel catalogue.

It’s a room meant for luxury. The walls are covered in a dark brown wallpaper with gold velvet baroque swirls, matching the gold trim of the room. In the center of the room is a large, plush king-sized bed with a soft, tufted headboard. The bedding is layered with creamy tones with hints of gold. It looks like a luxurious cloud I could get lost in and sleep for days.

Wait.

“Rurik, there’s only one bed in here.”

He’s sitting on the velvet armchair set beside a small coffee table in the corner of the room, taking his boots off. His jacket is already laying across the arm of the second chair near the window framed with heavy curtains.

“Ah, good you can count.” He drops the second boot and gets to his feet, stretching his arms over his head. “I need a shower. I ordered food when I checked in; it should be here any minute.”

“Food? It’s past midnight.”

“You need to eat,” he says matter-of-factly as he grabs his duffle and heads to the ensuite bathroom that is probably the size of my entire apartment.

“What I need is to get in touch with Megan. And somehow get rid of you.” I try to put some levity into my voice to cover up my seriousness, but I don’t think it works.

His gaze gets darker, and he pads across the lush carpeting until his bare toes cover my shoes.