Daniil nodded. “I’ll see to it tomorrow.”
Ugly Duckling held up a room key. “Room 919. It’s down this hallway.”
“Think he’s delusional, too?”
Daniil sighed. We walked after them, banging against walls as we went. He grumbled, “I guess we’ll see.”
I started singing “Friends in Low Places” by Garth Brooks.
Daniil hummed with me. His voice was not too bad.
“You like country music?”
He shrugged. “Some, but I prefer classic rock.”
“Ugh. Old man stuff.”
“I’m not old,” he countered, harshly waving his hand in the air.
This resulted in us falling on our asses.
“Break a hip, old man?” I grumbled, getting back up to my feet.
“I’m only forty-nine,” he muttered, rolling to his feet, thumping against the wall.
I tried to do the math in my head. I could not figure it out. “I’m twenty-eight. Big difference there.” I paused and thought about it, Daniil stopping with me…before we started moving again. “How old were you when you had Grigori? He’s what? Thirty-three?”
“Yes, he is. I was very young when he was born.”
His expression went kind of sad, so I started singing “Friends in Low Places” again. That perked him up. He even sang with me this time instead of just humming. We made quite the duet until the guards stopped, and opened a door.
As I walked inside, I stared in awe, leaning against the couch. “This room rocks!”
Daniil shrugged, wobbling through the expensive living room we were in. I followed, gawking at all of the furniture, and even a tiny chandelier hanging in the middle of the room. He turned a corner next to a wall of windows that overlooked the ocean with the huge full moon shining down on it. We went down the hallway, one side a solid wall, the other the windows. There was a room at the end of the hallway with the door open.
We strolled inside. It was a bedroom with a huge bed against the opposite wall, with a nightstand on each side. A dresser was against the wall by the door, and a flat screen sitting on top of it. There was a small table set up next to the floor-to-ceiling windows with a tiny wet bar between the windows and one nightstand.
I dropped my bag and immediately maneuvered to one of the two seats at the circular glass table. The chair looked damn great after our trek through the resort. Good liquor was hard to find.
Daniil grabbed two glasses from the minibar and almost dropped them when he bent to open the fridge, but after some consideration, he bit one, holding it in his mouth while he squatted to grab one of the bottles of vodka in the fridge. When he came over, I took the glass from his mouth and set it down on the table. He poured the liquor, wobbling as he kicked the door closed.
“This had better be worth that walk,” I grumbled, taking a sip. I blinked at the glass, and then glared at him. “This is fucking water!”
He tasted from his glass. His eyebrows came together until he sniffed his glass. His expression relaxed and he shook his head. “No. It’s the good stuff.”
I sniffed my own and could somewhat smell the alcohol. “Oh.” I blinked. “Weren’t we supposed to do something?”
He stared, and took a drink, draining his glass.
I followed suit.
He stated, “I don’t remember.”
Shrugging, I poured us more. “How about we sing? We did that well enough.”
Daniil grinned, and it was sloppy crooked. “I’ll teach you a song from Russia.”
He proceeded to try to teach me a song from his home country. He sang it low and with gusto, and I tried to say the words, but damn, it was hard. He repeated it slowly, putting his hand on my chin, making me move my mouth differently as I said the words. I laughed when he grinned, saying I had just learned a song that would not be appropriate in respectable company.
“Weren’t we using glasses?” I asked where we now stood facing the large windows and singing to the ocean, sharing the bottle between us.
He shrugged and peered at me. He swayed and his forehead bumped mine. Gradually, he tilted his head back to stare me in the eyes. “Speaking of glasses, you shouldn’t wear those. They hide your eyes.” He plucked them off my face, dropping them on the table and making me squint at him. “Green. Your eyes are green.”
“And yours are brown. Together they make a tree.” I reached for my glasses since I could not see without them. My contacts were not in my duffle.
He placed the bottle in my hand that was extending for my glasses.
I forgot what I was reaching for and took a swig.
Seriously, it tasted like water.
I asked, “What?”
He was staring at me as we swayed, bumping against one another.
“You look like a kewpie-doll without those horrid glasses,” he blurted.
My nose wrinkled. “My mom collected those. I used to play with them when she wasn’t around.” I pointed right against the tip of his nose. “You remind me of a land shark.”
He grinned. “Apt description.”
I shrugged. “I thought so. But you’re not so scary right now.”
He chuckled, taking the bottle from me, placing it to his lips for his own swig. He tipped it back far, arching with the effort, but grunted, pulled it away from his mouth, and flipped it upside down.
We stared, blinking furiously. Shit. It was empty.
“I’ll get another one,” I muttered. “I drank the last of it.”
I turned toward the minibar but tripped over his feet.
He caught me, but stumbled over a chair, knocking it over.
Instantly, he wrapped his arms around me, trying to catch his footing.
I squeaked, but when we landed, it was on a soft surface.
I was flat on my back on the sweet, soft bed while Daniil lay sprawled on top of me.
I muttered, “You called me a klutz?”
He lifted his head and grinned deviously. “You fell first. I saved us from the floor.”
Time…wavered.
He stared down at me.
I blinked up at him.
Daniil really was gorgeous. He sure as hell did not feel like an old man against me. He felt all hard and warm. It was almost overwhelming. His shoulder length black hair hung down around his face, and his honey brown eyes were turning darker as they slowly roamed my features.
He whispered, “A minx kewpie-doll.”
He lowered his face and placed his lips on mine.
My eyelids shut, and I instantly groaned as his mouth overtook mine. My lips were a little numb, so I pressed harder, yanking on his hair. He did not seem to mind, giving me want I wanted. I opened my mouth and his tongue slid in.