Page 18 of In the Nick of Time
“What?”
“There’s…eyes.”
“Pretty sure that’s Tim the Tortoise,” Doug said dryly, still facing away from him. “Would you please get dressed? Business today. Your suit is back already and hanging on the door.”
Blearily, Nick looked around. Sure enough, his suit, properly pressed, hung on the bathroom door. With a groan, he heaved himself to his feet and started for the bathroom. But then he figured, who cared? He was already naked. Why should he get dressed in a tiny room when he could get dressed out here?
Tim emerged out from under the bed. Nick narrowed his eyes at the reptile.
“I think you’re trouble. Do we need to leave you in the bathroom? Just in case you have an accident?”
“Quit”—Doug ground the single word out—“talking to the fucking turtle and get fucking dressed already.”
“Well, since you asked so nicely. And, again, it’s a tortoise.”
What Nick had heard about Vegas from various people he’d met over the years was that it was loud, glitzy, and over-the-top. Whoever had designed this hotel and specifically this hotel room had not received the memo. The only glitz so far had been in the form of several slot machines near the lobby.
Yesterday, Nick hadn’t had the luxury of time to really appreciate how horrid and bland their room was. The only decoration was the “In Case of Fire” hotel evacuation map located next to the door. The only mirror was above the sink in the bathroom. A placement Nick was thankful for at the moment.
The carpet was beige, the bedcover a darker beige. The walls were painted a shade of off-white. If the room was meant to be anonymous, the designer had knocked it out of the park with a grand slam.
“I don’t hear you moving around, Sedgewick.”
Nick didn’t bother to respond, just grabbed underthings out of his suitcase and began to get dressed.
Ten minutes was all it took for Nick to be ready to go, regardless that he felt like he’d been run over by a truck, and he even brushed his teeth and swiped some gel stuff through his hair.
“We need to get some food for Tim today. I don’t want him to starve.”
“Fine. Just hurry fucking up.”
SIX
DOUG
Was patience meant to be tried? The jury is out.
Seriously?Naked? Nick Sedgewick naked. And talking. And taking forever to get his clothes on. It took a major effort for Doug to tamp down the unreasonable urge to fuck him silly. He obviously needed it.
Who, Doug? You? Or the baby agent?
Turning away from Nickagain, he stared out at the air-con units until Nick was finally ready to go. He only had to remind Nick once that he was supposed to be getting dressed and not—whatever he’d been doing.
None of the agents had been located yet. Doug felt a deep sense of responsibility toward the unaccounted-for agents, and his sense of unease was only increasing. Doug didn’t know the others, but he’d worked with Mel and he considered Esther Carroll a friend. If it had been anyone else, Doug might have thought they were screwing around on the side, but Carroll was a conscientious, responsible person. Doug just couldn’t see her blowing off an assignment.
Once they were finally downstairs and outside on the sidewalk, Nick halted and squinted against the bright sunshine, adding a little moan while shading his eyes in a way that screamed, “Pitiful me.”
“I need sunglasses,” he said, refusing to budge another inch.
“There’ll be a shop in a hotel lobby somewhere,” Doug replied, realizing they were going no further without eyewear. Their hotel had, for some reason, not jumped on the provide-the-customer-with-everything-they-might-possibly-need bandwagon and merely had a front desk with a handbell to call the concierge and several banks of slot machines lining the lobby.
Typical SPAM.
In the next hotel down, while Sedgewick tried on eighty-seven different pairs of glasses to find the very best pair, Doug kept an eye out. For what, he wasn’t sure, but he felt the need to be careful. The back of his neck was twitchy. They hadn’t learned much at The Ace of Clubs except that there were several gambling areas and at least one was for VIPs only. They needed to get back there. It was the last confirmed location of each of the agents. He hated the club, but it was their only clue.
He’d also learned that Agent Sedgewick was irritatingly sexy even when he danced like hot lava was flowing underneath his feet. Doug let a small smile cross his face. Nick wasn’t paying attention, after all. Doug figured the younger agent was smarter than he let on or SPAM would never have hired him. They may be the landing pad for subpar powers, but they still had some basic requirements.
Maybe it was best to let him play the airhead ditz; it might put someone besides Doug off their guard.
