It’s frighteningly close, and quiet. There’s just the sound of our breathing, the moonlight glinting off his amber eyes as they sweep across me, dipping to my mouth.
Maybe this night isn’t the trainwreck I think it is.
“I didn't get your name earlier,” he says, the sound of his voice like a drop in a still lake, ripples of it reflecting off the darkened tile.
It would be so easy to just kiss him again. I don’t have to take him to bed, maybe. It doesn’t have to be preying on the sexual chemistry between us, feeding off of it the way my annual cycle compels me to.
Maybe it can just be nice.
“Gwen,” I tell him, my voice nearly a whisper. “I'm from Monster Resources.”
“Vladyr,” he offers in return, something about the Abyssal depths of his voice goes straight to my clit. It does snag on my attention that he didn't say he was in finance or acquisitions. I don't think we even have those departments though.
“Hi Vlad,” I echo, saying his name a little too much like I could stroke myself with it. It might be the vodka tonic that likes him. Weird how he's the second guy named Vladyr who works for the company—
I freeze, mid thought.
Time stops. Or maybe I just stare at him, eyes too wide for several moments.
I take my time, reevaluating my life, blinking at him. Vladyr Grotesce. The guy I have to work with on this trip. The guy who was most definitely going to make me feel useless at my job.
The same unmovable hunk of well-dressed marble that has already watched me make a fool of myself in every possible way.
7
I don't know how to describe what I saw this morning while heading down to breakfast, except to say I didn't know a disembodied voice and a black shadow of a cloak could wear swim shorts and flip-flops. I know that a few people wanted to take advantage of the hotel's pool before breakfast, but I was surprised to learn Soven was one of them.
Deanna sits next to me with her little bowl of yogurt, and every question she asks makes me want to sink into my chair and under the table a little more.
“Did you ever get some pain meds? Lily let me borrow some from her, but then I couldn’t find you,” she tells me, the most sorrowful expression I’ve ever seen on her, that she failed her mission.
“Um. I remembered I had a couple in my bag,” I lie.
“Are you feeling well enough to be here? If you want to go lie down I’ll let them know you’re not feeling well.”
“I’m just going to keep drinking water.”
“That’s what I should have done, honestly, after the second bar kicked us out after midnight. I swear, I’m still a little hungover. I got up late, at five, and went for a mile jog,” she says. Just hearing her talk about jogging makes me tired.
As if I didn’t already feel like death enough, my eyes find Vlad across the room. He navigates his way to an empty seat a couple tables away with a plate full of scrambled eggs and a glass of orange juice dwarfed by his large hands.
Vlad. Holy fuck.
I still have a few more days of meetings and being in the same room as him; what was I thinking, letting him guard the door while I rubbed one out?
What was I thinking before that when I kissed him at the bar?
Just looking at him right now makes me feel like I'm still interviewing for the job I've already had for years.
He must think I’m so unprofessional, getting drunk and sloppy and latching onto his face like some kind of primordial slime intent on devouring his soul. After I told him I’m a siren, I can only imagine that in his mind I’ve become some kind of twisted, preying creature intent on sucking his soul out through his dick.
Then again, how professional could he really have thought I was before, having seen my vibrator in the TSA line, I muse as my stomach roils with unease.
“Did the stain ever come out of those pants?” Deanna asks, bringing me out of my fugue state.
Vlad’s eyes flick to mine, our gazes catching almost magnetically, and I think I’ve been stabbed in the chest. I drop my gaze to my shoes and seriously consider taking Deanna up on her offer to let me play sick for the day.
“They’re still soaking in the sink,” I lie again, because they’re crumpled up on my hotel room’s floor with the rest of my dignity. It wouldn’t work. I can’t play hooky every day on this trip.
