Chapter 5
CHAPTER 5
A bright light and warmth woke me up. I pushed the covers off and tried to swallow, but my mouth was too dry. A bottle of water sat within arm’s reach on the nightstand. I leaned on my elbow, grabbed it, and took a sip while surveying the room. My suitcase and purse sat at the end of the bed.
I pulled it up on the bed and opened it. Nothing was missing except my phone.
I frowned and slid out of bed. I looked down at the wrinkled button-down shirt engulfing me. Pushing up the sleeves, I brought the collar to my nose. It smelled like him. A subtle cologne with hints of wood and cinnamon. My mouth watered. I on the other hand, felt gross. I grabbed some clothes and padded into the bathroom.
I looked in the mirror and it all came back. He had removed my makeup and fixed my hair. He took care of me.
Apparently, I needed taking care of.
How did I end up at that party last night?
I needed to talk to Natalie. Obviously, working at her father’s hotel was not going to happen. Did she know what was going on? Maybe she did, but she couldn’t have thought it was something I would want to be involved in.
And Her father asking me if I was a virgin. “Yikes.” I cringed and shook it out of my head. I rubbed my knuckles. They were sore from punching Mr. Santorini in the nose. I shrugged.
He shouldn’t have put his hands where they weren’t welcome.
I pulled the elastic band from my hair. Some of the curls remained from last night's adventures, but it was a frizzy mess. It needed a good wash.
I removed the shirt and hung it on a hook behind the door. I fiddled with the shower to get it to heat up. The quicker I got cleaned up and presentable. The quicker I could get out of Kyler’s hair and figure out how to get back home. And, get on with my life.
* * *
I put on a pair of jeans and a white peasant shirt. Slipping my plain white Chuck Taylors on my feet with no socks. I blow dried my hair a bit and gathered it in a ponytail. I repacked all my stuff, made the bed, and wheeled my suitcase to the door. It would be all ready when I had to leave.
I walked down the hall towards muffled voices.
I recognized Kyler’s, but not the others.
“They need to fucking find him, now.” Kyler growled.
He really liked to use bad words. I covered my mouth to keep from giggling.
“Rayna.”
I gasped and peeked around the corner.
“Were you eavesdropping?” He frowned.
“No.” I clasped my hands together. “I didn’t want to interrupt.”
“Come here and sit next to me.” He patted the couch and leaned back, one foot resting on the knee of the other. He was dressed more casual in jeans and a black t-shirt.
I sat down and stared at my shoes.
Shoes.
Kyler wore a pair of leather tennis shoes. In white this time.
“I like your shoes.” I peaked at him. He didn’t smile, but his eyes flashed amusement before going serious again. I surveyed my surroundings like any proper ninja would do. Four other men occupying the room. They all stared at me, but nothing like last night. I instantly felt safe with them. I wasn’t sure why, but I knew Kyler would never let them hurt me.
“How are you feeling this morning?” Kyler drew my attention back to him.
“I’m fine. Thank you.” I nodded. “Thank you for taking care of me last night. I was a mess.”
“It was my pleasure. I’m happy you’re okay.” He tilted his head. “We want to talk to you about last night, but first I think you need to get some food in your stomach.”
On cue, my stomach growled. I rubbed it. How embarrassing! I looked around the room, but no one laughed.
“Rayna.” Kyler pointed. “This is Patrick. He’s the head of my security detail.” The young man didn’t seem too imposing. Maybe he had stealth skills like me. “This is Josh. COO of my company. You met him last night.
I nodded.
“The guy rooting around in my kitchen back there is Chandler. One of my brothers.” Chandler waved and went back to toiling around in the kitchen.
“You sure you’re okay?” Josh sat in the chair opposite the couch. “How’s your hand? You laid Santorini out with a pretty lethal jab.”
I rubbed my knuckles again.
Kyler leaned forward and took my hand. He ran his fingers across it. I shivered.
“Wiggle your fingers.” I did. My shiver didn’t come from pain. It came from his touch.
“That little thing took down Fat Sat.” Chandler chuckled from the kitchen. “Impressive.” He walked into the living room with a plate and sat it on the dining room table situated between the kitchen and living room. I looked around. It was all one big room. The outside wall was floor to ceiling windows. The Vegas Strip in the near ground.
Chandler sat at the table and took a huge bite of a sandwich. My mouth watered.
He held it up.
“Want one?” He asked with his mouth full.
I turned back to Kyler. He rolled his eyes. I could see the resemblance. They had the same jawline and the same eyes. Chandler had blond hair, where Kyler’s was dark brown.
I shook my head and rubbed my tummy. It was queasy from last night.
“Why don’t we start with something easy, like some soup?”
“Okay.” I sat up. “With some noodles, if you have it.” I stood. “I could make it myself if —"
Kyler laughed. “No worries. We have some of the finest chefs in the world in this building. Patrick, call Shitos and have them bring up some of the Ramen. With—” Kyler turned to me. “Chicken, shrimp, pork?”
“Chicken is fine.” Ramen noodles. The one of the finest chefs in the world was making me a pack of ramen noodles. Seems a waste of his talent.
No one waited for my opinion, Kyler spoke, and they scattered. People probably always did whatever he told them to do.
Patrick left. Chandler continued to enjoy his sandwich.
“Get her some water.” Kyler said to no one, but a few seconds later, Josh handed him a bottle. Why didn’t he just hand it to me himself?
“Thank you.” I gripped the bottle with both hands and took a sip. The cool water felt good on my dry mouth. I took another sip and placed the cap on the bottle. Kyler took it from me and sat it on the table.
Did I need to ask for permission if I wanted more?
Before I could contemplate the dynamic between these men, a knock at the door startled me.
“That’s probably Eddie.” Josh went to open it.
“Thank you for getting my suitcase back,” I leaned forward.
“You’re welcome.” Kyler leaned forward. “Happy to be back in your own clothes?”
I nodded. Although wearing his shirt was nice too. I kept that thought to myself.
“Was anything missing?” He asked.
“Just my phone.” I frowned. A short stocky guy with shaggy brown hair shuffled in. He flopped in a chair near the window and perched his laptop on his knees. He pushed his hair back and out of his eyes.
“We have your phone.” Kyler grabbed it from the side table and held it up. “The battery died. With your permission, I’d like to have Eddie check it out first. Disable anything on the phone that may reveal your location.”
“I don’t know.” I thought about what was on my phone. No icky pictures, but my books leaned toward the racy side. What would Kyler think of me and my Daddy Dom book obsession? I’d read everything on the market.
“You have nothing to be embarrassed about. Eddie will be careful. And, nothing he sees will be revealed to anyone, including me.”
“Promise?”
“Promise.” Kyler grinned. “We do want to look at your text messages from Natalie, if that’s okay. I want to know more about how you two met.”
“Natalie is a friend from school.” I narrowed my eyes.
“We’ll get into all that later.” Kyler handed me the bottle again. I followed his non-verbal command and took a sip. He had Daddy vibes coming out of his ears.
The doorbell rang again, and Josh once again answered it. I wondered if it was part of his job description.
Patrick walked back into the apartment followed by a tall older woman carrying a tray. She was dressed in a suit and sensible heels with an iPad tucked under her arm.
She didn’t speak. She sat the tray on the table, stepped back against the wall, and tapped away on the iPad.
“We’re going to get to work on what we talked about and let Rayna eat.” Josh headed toward the door. Patrick followed.
Chandler wiped his mouth on a napkin, sat his plate on the island sink and followed Josh.
“See you later, Rayna.” He smiled and waved.
“Nice meeting you.” I waved back.
Only Eddie and the woman on the wall remained.
“Are you okay with me having Eddie look at the phone?” Kyler drew my attention.
“Oh, yeah, sure.” He stood and held his hand out. I placed my hand in his. He gave my hand a reassuring squeeze, pulling me up. He guided me toward the table and pulled out the chair.
He handed the phone off to Eddie who, without removing his headphones, plugged my phone into his computer and typed away. His fingers moving with lightning speed.
Kyler came back to the table and picked up each item off the tray and arranged it in front of me. When he removed the lid from the bowl of soup; the steam hit me in the face.
I inhaled. It smelled amazing.
It had actual pieces of chicken. Not just chicken flavoring. And the noodles were a little thicker than the packets I used, and the broth smelled heavenly.
He sat a fork and chopsticks on a napkin next to the bowl. A glass of ice water came next. When it was all situated to his liking, he sat down next to me.
Is he going to feed me, too?
I picked up the chopsticks before he offered.
“This looks amazing.” I stirred the noodles. “Better than the packets I get from the dollar store.” I giggled and cringed.
I gathered a heap of noodles on the end of the chopsticks and brought it halfway to my mouth and stopped. Was he going to watch me eat? I sat the chopsticks down and put my napkin in my lap.
“Would you like some?” I asked.
“No.” He smirked. “Thank you.”
His phone range.
I picked up a piece of chicken with my chopsticks and brought it to my mouth.
“Careful sweetheart.” He touched my hand. “It’s hot.”
I nodded. It was hot, his touch was hot, the way he stared at me made me hot. He was hot. Like instead of the fire emoji, my phone should have a picture of him with his arms crossed and glaring in its place.
I blew on the piece of chicken before popping it in my mouth.
“Good girl.” He smiled. I groaned and covered my mouth.
“Good?” He looked at his caller id.
“Oh, my goddess, yes.” Who cared about embarrassment? This was too good to waste. I brought a reasonable number of noodles to my mouth and slurped them down.
“I’ve got to take this.” He held up his phone. “Don’t eat too fast or you’ll make yourself sick.”
“Yes, sir.” I saluted with a chopstick. He stopped and narrowed his eyes at me.
I am such a dork.
“I’ll be right back.” He turns and leaves the room.
No longer under his watchful eye, I enjoy my noodles. The rich broth was incredible. He has ruined me for ramen noodles in the future.
Perhaps I could move in here. I had the feeling I would experience all sorts of new things within these walls.