Page 23 of Devious Madness

“I’m tired, and I need a shower. Let me be clear aboutwhat will happen if you try to leave this room or ask for help from the room service when it arrives.” He reaches behind me, fisting my hair and yanking my head back so I’m looking up at him.

“Ow!” I immediately try to grab at his hand, but then he growls. It’s a low sound that sends a shiver through me. A sound meant to warn, and it works.

“If you try to leave this room, I will strip you bare, bend you over that bed and whip your ass with my belt until you can’t sit. And I don’t mean it in an empty threat sort of way, I mean it in a really can’t sit sort of way.” He shakes my head a little, just to prove how much bigger than me he is. “Do you understand?”

“Yeah. I get it.” I swallow. “Big man with belt. I got it.”

His left eyebrow arches perfectly, and he lets out a long breath. “Eat your dinner when it gets here and get ready for bed.”

He lets me go and heads to the bathroom.

“There’s still only one bed, Rurik.”

“It’s a big bed. We’ll manage.” The door shuts, and I’m alone in the room with all the beauty of the room. It’s too pretty to sleep in for just one night.

A doorbell rings a moment after I hear the water turn on in the shower. The room has a doorbell.

My mouth waters as soon as I remove the silver cover on the first plate. A cheeseburger with fries and coleslaw on the side. The second plate is another burger, and the third is two pieces of chocolate cake.

Before I dive into the food, I give a half-hearted thoughtto leaving. He’s in the shower. By the time he gets out, I could be gone from the hotel. I’m sure the lady downstairs will get me a cab.

But being realistic, he’d just track me down again. And there’s the fact that his friend has Megan. He’d easily called Alexander when I asked him to, and he’d let me try to call Megan.

Rurik might be my fastest and safest way back home. If he’s actually bringing me to see Megan.

Plopping down in the plush chair a million times more comfortable than anything I’ve ever put my ass on, my hunger wins out. I’ll keep trying to call Megan.

In the meantime, food.

After I eat half of my burger and most of my fries, I check if the water is still going in the shower before I dig out a pair of boxers and a T-shirt to change into. As I’m shoving my clothes back into my backpack the bathroom door opens, drawing my attention.

Oh fuck.

Rurik steps out in a pair of black boxers. His black hair, still wet from his shower, drips water onto his bare chest. His bare, muscular chest that leads the way down to the hardest stomach I’ve ever seen on a man. I’ve heard of six packs, and seen pictures in magazines, but I thought they were just airbrushed masterpieces.

Rurik is not a product of photoshop; he’s real and right in front of me. He’s rubbing the back of his head with a small towel, giving him a boyish look.

This man is nowhere close to being a boy, though.

“Did you eat?” he asks in that hard tone.

“What? Oh, yeah. I ate.” I drop my backpack back onto the floor beside the bed. “I put a tip on the bill. You were very generous.”

He inspects my plate with a speculative look. “You didn’t finish the burger.”

“It’s huge. And I ate the fries. I’m saving the cake for breakfast.” I try to ignore him as he moves around the room. Him and all those muscles.

He takes a fry from my plate and bites into it.

“There’s a note on the tray, I think it’s the pharmacy number the front desk lady said she’d get. But I don’t remember the doctor prescribing anything.”

He glances at me over his shoulder. “If you’d stuck around, he would have.”

He drops the note back onto the tray.

“You just didn’t want her to think you’re a wife beater. That’s why you said you needed a pharmacy. To make yourself look like the concerned husband.”

“I didn’t want any reason for her to get any further involved.”

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