Page 29 of The Perils of Paulie
“I’ve heard it was expensive to live here—”
“No, not that. Can I lean close?”
“Absolutely,” I answered, charmed that she acknowledged my oddities by asking permission. She leaned in, and I caught a brief whiff of a light perfume that seemed to coil around me. “I was kidnapped once, you see. By my maternal grandparents. They just wanted to see me, but Dad is convinced that his nefarious past in Russia means everyone is gunning for him and his family. And to be honest, I’m not absolutely sure he’s not right. Regardless, if I moved out, he would insist I had round-the-clock bodyguards, and I don’t know about you, but that’s not a living arrangement I could stomach for long. The pretense of freedom but reality of imprisonment...” Shegave a little shudder. “It’s better to just stay at home and slip out when I can. Plus, Dad would worry himself to death if I left. He ended up in the hospital once when I tried, so I stay home rather than fight it.”
“I’m surprised if that’s your father’s attitude that you are doing this race around the world, especially when so much of it will be through Russia.”
Rostakova finished his conversation before I had ended the sentence, and roared an oath in response. “You see? Even English knows the danger of you going to Russia. You go home with us. Will be safe then.”
“Ignore him,” Paulie said, flashing an annoyed look at her father. “He’s on my list anyway.”
“List?” Rostakova’s expression changed quickly from antagonism to pure innocence, his lips pursed and his eyebrows raised. “What list is this?”
“My shit list for you sending Boris after me. Don’t even bother, Dad—I saw him on the plane. Although I will say that, thankfully, he took my threat seriously and hasn’t been pestering me here.”
Rostakova pursed his lips even harder.
Paulie must have noticed it because she set down her fork to slap the table. “Dammit, Dad! If you’ve hired someone else to tail me—someone I don’t know—I swear to heaven I won’t go back home. I’ll just wander the world indefinitely!”
“Is my job to protect—”
“Oh, for god’s sake!”
The rest of dinner was mostly a continued argument between Paulie and her father, although after a few minutes Paulie decided to ignore her father and spoke only to Angela or me. It was exhausting and uncomfortable, and I was relieved when the meal was over and we could leave.
“You and Dixon go back to the hotel,” Angela said after Rostakova had wrestled the check away from me. I made a legitimate attempt to get it back, but one of his bodyguards moved between us, effectively blocking me off. “I want to take a drive through the park before we turn in. Peter, dear, modulate your voice! The other diners are being disturbed.”
“Come on,” Paulie said, nodding to me, and I hurried after her when she bolted to the exit. She didn’t wait around to find a cab, simply glanced up and down the street and took off at a fast walk in the direction that I believed headed for Times Square, where we’d be starting our race in the morning. “Do you mind walking?”
“Not at all. Would you mind if I took your arm?”
“No, but you don’t have to ask,” she said with a smile. “I don’t have any personal space issues.”
I took her hand in mine, not quite sure why I felt it necessary to do so, but pleased that I had. Chivalry, I told myself as we turned the corner and Paulie slowed down to a reasonable walk. I was being chivalrous, nothing more.
“I felt it was only polite, since you ask before touching me. Although I should say that you really needn’t feel like you must do that. I’m only skittish around strangers, and I feel that, after going through the baptism of fire that was dinner with your father, I know you.”
She laughed and we spent an enjoyable hour seeing New York City at night, avoiding the street people, sidewalk touts, and inebriated partygoers, as we enjoyed the amazing mix of cultures that was Manhattan. By the time we returned to the hotel, I was definitely looking forward to the coming month. It wasn’t being unfaithful to Rose by simply enjoying a woman’s company, I told myself. I was, after all, a human being and, as such, needed thepleasure that another person’s company brought. I’d limited myself the last nine years to just the company of a few close male friends and family, but I felt that taking pleasure in sightseeing with Paulie wasn’t tantamount to a declaration of undying affection.
That could never happen. My heart had shriveled up long ago or, at least, the romantic part had.
I glanced at Paulie, noting the excitement in her face and voice as we entered the hotel lobby.
“—going to be so much fun, although I have to admit I’m a bit worried about the cameras filming us. I have a horrible feeling I’m going to pick my nose or scratch my crotch or something, and everyone in England will know that Americans are just as uncouth as they’d thought.”
“I don’t think you’re uncouth,” I said. “I think you’re rather splendid.”
She stopped and turned to me, surprise and delight giving her additional color, making her cheeks a lovely pale pink. “Why, Dixon Ainslie, you devil. First flirting, then a kiss on the cheek, and now an all-out compliment? If you keep on this way, you’re going to turn my head.”
“It was a heartfelt compliment, so I’m not going to apologize for it.”
She glanced around. The lobby was mostly empty. “You have only yourself to blame for this.”
Before I could react, she stepped forward and kissed me, very gently and quickly. The pressure of her lips on mine, fleeting as it was, seemed to release something deep in my belly. It was a yearning, a want that I hadn’t felt in a very long time.
She was gone almost immediately after that, running up the stairs to her room two floors above. I walked slowly to the elevator, absently pushing the button for the eleventh floor while I considered the kiss.
Frankly, it scared me, because it meant my heart wasn’t quite as dead as I’d thought it was.
