‘I know I do.’ He shrugged. ‘Tell you what, why don’t you come with me tonight?’
‘To dinner?’
‘No.’ He shook his head. ‘It’s going to be a very long, boring meal and there are no partners allowed given that all we’ll be doing is talking business. I do, though, have a suite booked.’
‘Oh, I bet that you do,’ she sneered.
‘I won’t lay a finger on you,’ Daniil said. ‘You could have a sleep or order room service, maybe have a massage or even just spend the night in the bath.’ He smiled as her rapid blink indicated that the last suggestion was the one that tempted her most. ‘They have a bath menu...’ Daniil said.
‘Really?’
‘Really.’
‘Is that what you came here for?’ Libby asked. ‘To ask me to come with you tonight?’
‘No.’
‘Then, why are you asking me now?’
‘You bring out the niceness in me,’ he said. ‘You look tired. It might be pleasant to be spoiled. My driver can take you home or back here tomorrow.’
Libby stared back at him and thought of the frozen meal waiting for her in the freezer at home after a long ride on the underground. And then she thought of another long ride on the underground to get back here tomorrow.
Then she thought of a bath in a luxury hotel suite, room service and the bliss of having his driver in the morning.
And then she thought of one more night in his arms.
She didn’t for a second believe that he wouldn’t touch her.
He watched her eyes as all those thoughts raced through her head and he guessed exactly the moment she decided to accept, because she gave him an angry look.
How she wished she could be a little more haughty and aloof and say no to him, but instead her shoulders sagged in defeat. ‘Yes,’ she said, and gave his chest another push. ‘I’m still cross, though.’
‘I know you are.’ He didn’t try to change her mind. ‘You lock up and I’ll wait in the car.’
Yes, she was cross, Libby thought, but there she went dreaming and hoping again because after all he had come around.
The drive was a short one and they were soon at the hotel. Of course, Daniil didn’t have to worry about checking in the way mere mortals did. He was greeted with a handshake and taken straight up to his suite.
As she stepped in it wasn’t the huge bed or the luxurious surroundings that made a shiver run down her spine—yes, things in Daniil’s world certainly moved quickly because he picked up, from a walnut table, a huge bouquet of the palest pink peonies, roses and calla lilies and handed them to her.
There was even a card!
It took a week to find the perfect blooms—Daniil
‘I don’t believe it took a week,’ she said, but gave a little humph noise, because the blooms were so perfect and her favourite colour. Possibly she could pretend it had taken him a week to find them and that he hadn’t ordered them from the car while she’d locked up.
‘I can be thoughtful when pushed,’ he said, and she buried her face in the flowers when she wanted her hand back on his chest, but for different reasons this time.
She put the flowers in the huge vase that had been put on the table but she moved them through to the stunning bedroom and placed them by the side of the bed.
‘You shouldn’t sleep with flowers in the bedroom,’ Daniil said.
‘Sleep out there, then,’ she said, because she wasn’t letting the flowers out of her sight. She sat on the bed and it was like sinking into a marshmallow, and she watched Daniil as he quickly went through some notes on his computer.
‘I was supposed to be doing this on the way here,’ he admitted, and then glanced over to where she sat happily watching him, content to let him do whatever he had to. ‘Will you be bored?’ he checked.
‘I hope so,’ Libby sighed. ‘That’s my ambition.’
‘Right,’ he said. ‘I’m going to go down. Wish me luck?’
‘For a business dinner?’
‘More than that,’ he said. ‘I want to buy this place.’
‘Don’t I get a kiss?’ she asked, as he went to leave.
‘I promised not to lay a finger on you.’
‘Just your lips, then.’
‘Nope,’ he said, and then he was gone.
Libby lay back on the bed, breathing in the scent of the flowers, with the feeling that the world seemed in better order now.
She looked out of the window. There was her friend Big Ben and she remembered giving Daniil a massage, wishing she could freeze the hands of time.