21. Dragon #2
I held up my hands. “Hang on. I didn’t agree to anything.”
He smirked. “Of course not. What’s your favorite color? Do you want a different bed?”
“Bed?” Why was my mouth watering? It had nothing to do with the way he stretched his arms behind his head, showing off the bulging muscles in his arms. Or the way he smiled at me with his eyes. He really liked the idea of me pimping Pixel’s beasts.
“The king seems a little big for only one person, but maybe you roll around a lot in your sleep even when you aren’t drugged.
” He fingered his throat where he still had bruises from me.
He stood up suddenly. “Sorry. I’ll try not to offer to hold you.
I think I’m going to get to bed early tonight.
We’ll talk about the room in the morning, okay?
Okay. Night. Text me if you need anything, or you can just come in.
Because I’ll be on the other side of this door if you need anything.
Or you’re bored. Or scared. Or whatever. Anyway…”
There was a knock on the door. I rolled off my bed and grabbed Horse, pulling him against me so his body was between me and the door. What was I even doing? He wasn’t my protector, but according to my body, apparently he was.
He reached back and patted my hand. “You really didn’t like being drugged and kidnapped. Noted. That’s right, I called my doctor friend. I almost forgot about it when we were talking about, um, décor.”
Beds. And I was still pressed against his back like I belonged there. “I don’t want to see a doctor.”
“Yes, you do. Because then he can hook you up to an IV if you’re too dehydrated. Are you coming to the door with me, or would you rather wait in the bed?”
I closed my eyes for a second. A doctor was a good idea, even if I hated it. “Wait a second.” I released him and then took down the tacky paintings and shoved them behind the seventies chair before I nodded at him. “Okay.”
He stared at me for a second. “Interesting. You do live in Vegas.”
“I’m from New York.”
He smiled slowly. “Oh, I see.” He turned towards the door.
I scowled at him. “Don’t be all smug.”
“I didn’t say anything.”
“You didn’t have to. I can hear you being smug from across the hotel.”
“You listen to my smugness often? You have amazing senses.” He opened the door and checked outside before he let the doctor in. He was young, handsome, and short. When he saw me, his eyes widened slightly before he glanced at Horse and then came over to the bed where I sat.
He had my medical records. The gist was that it was a miracle that I was pregnant and after the levels of drugs I’d had, it was a miracle I hadn’t spontaneously miscarried.
My blood pressure was high, my urine full of too much protein, which meant I had preeclampsia and needed at least two weeks of bed rest.
“Excuse me?” I stared at the doctor who didn’t look nearly as handsome as he had before he’d checked my urine.
He flushed and adjusted the neck of his white jacket.
“I realize that you’re used to a certain level of activity, but you’re going to have to take it easy if you want this baby full term.
I’ll let you two discuss it alone.” He took off as fast as he could, leaving me with Horse who leaned against the wall where the Elvis painting had been.
“What just happened?” I stared at the door where the doctor had escaped before I could take my wrath out on him.
“Two weeks isn’t that bad. I had an employee who was on bed rest for three months. That was rough.”
I stared at the tall man who gave me an easy smile. “Isn’t that bad? Two weeks of doing nothing? It’s not possible.”
He crashed down on the other side of the bed and looked up at me.
“I’m going to be doing business stuff for the next few weeks.
You know, promo, sponsors, accountants…” He made a face and then flopped his arm over his eyes.
“You can talk to the people about the custom beasts you’re putting together for Pixel.
We can do puzzles, you can work on machines while I do paperwork, and that will give you time to come up with a long-term plan. ”
“What about finding the attacker?”
“Two weeks isn’t going to change anything.”
“Two weeks with you? That wasn’t the plan.” I tugged his arm off his eyes and got to see a gleam that threw me for a second. It’s like he didn’t hate the idea of me staying here for that long.
He said, “It’ll be good for you to stay here for a few extra days while Nix and Sunshine are going out of town, hitting in the skateboarding circuit. Nix’s team has got to stop marrying all the talent. Maybe I could set Jerome up with someone cute.”
“Jerome?”
He flashed a smile at me. “You call him Death.”
“Ah. That Jerome. He used to eat people’s fingers.”
He beamed at me. “He’s come a long way. I’m so proud of him.”
“Your team is…interesting.”
He sat up and leaned over to study me. “You could join my team. Be the team mother who teaches the children not to eat other children’s fingers. You’d be so good for that. I mean, look at Jezebel. She hasn’t shot anyone in…days.”
I pushed him over, and he went, letting himself fall onto the bed. “I’m not joining your team.”
“But you are going to do Pixel’s beasts.” He flashed his classic manwhore grin up at me.
It would be so easy to lean over and kiss him. “Two weeks is a long time.” I wasn’t used to resisting these kinds of desires. When Horse wasn’t pushing my buttons, it was hard to remember how much I hated him. And he was my fake baby daddy. Wouldn’t things be too weird?
“Only when you’re young. At our age, two weeks is how long it takes to book the air conditioning guy. If you’re lucky. You won’t have to stay in bed. You can lounge on the couch or out in the garden. And we can make this room cute.”
“Cute? Thanks. That sounds like me. Are you sure you’re okay with me infringing on your space? I’ll try to respect your privacy, but I’m not sure where your boundaries are. You don’t seem to have them.”
“Ah, well, if you could stay out of my bedroom, I’d appreciate it.”
I blinked at him. “Yeah, of course. I’m not going to attack you while you’re sleeping and take advantage of you.”
He raised his brows. “No, while I’m in there, that would be fine if you need something. It’s while I’m not there that it might be a problem.”
I frowned at him. “You think I’ll steal your stuff?”
“It’s just personal. You know how that is.”
And now I was dying to poke around in his room while he wasn’t there. I gave him a closed smile. “Sure. You don’t have to worry about me going where you don’t want me.”
He cocked his head and studied me like he’d never seen me before. “I’m not worried about you going somewhere I don’t want you.” He blinked and straightened up. “That is, I can see that you’ll be a great housemate.”
And then he retreated as fast as he could.