Serpent's Kiss (Elder Races #3)(72)

Rune rubbed her shoulders. He said soothingly, “Don’t worry, your horrible caftans will be here soon.”

“I am not worried, I am grumpy,” she announced. “Quit calling my caftans horrible.”

“I call them as I see them, baby,” he said. “Just as you did with the hairy man with spectacles.”

“If I never saw that T-shirt again, it would be too soon,” she told him.

“I see you understand exactly how I feel about those caftans.”

She glared at him. Was that amusement in his face? She dug into the duffle and pulled out a Glock. Ah, there began to be some explanation for the duffle bag’s weight. He must have half a dozen guns tossed in there, along with a couple of grenades, an assortment of cannonballs, and maybe a rocket launcher or two. She tossed the Glock onto the couch. She knew he had to have clothes stuffed somewhere in that duffle. She had to get to them sooner or later. She pulled out a pair of knives, rolled her eyes and tossed them after the Glock. “There’s got to be something in here I can put on, at least temporarily.”

“You can have anything you find in that bag that you take a fancy to,” he told her. “Including the hairy bespectacled T-shirt. But I only brought a few changes of clothing with me, and those are pretty much shot.”

“Figures,” she said in disgust. She dropped the duffle bag.

Rune said, “I was going to call the concierge and order some new things for myself. Why don’t you take a nice hot shower while I order some clothes for you that you might actually enjoy for a change?”

She raised her eyebrows. Standing under a hot cascade of water and washing her tangled, sandy hair sounded like bliss, but she had the suspicion he was managing her for reasons of his own. He had some kind of agenda. Her mouth pursed. “Do you want me out of the room?”

He said immediately, “Only so that I can order the kind of clothes for you that I would like without it turning into an argument.”

She regarded him warily. “You won’t order anything hairy or bespectacled?”

He burst out laughing, cupped her cheeks and kissed her, savoring the feel of her lips moving in response to his. At first she had kissed him awkwardly, as if she was unfamiliar with using her mouth in a gesture of affection, but she was a quick study and now she leaned into him and kissed him back with such sultry sensuous promise, he nearly dragged her back down to the floor to take her again. He only just barely managed to pull back.

He said huskily, “I promise. Nothing hairy or bespectacled.”

She had to admit, she was beginning to be intrigued by what he might buy for her. It would no doubt be horrible, like those clunky steel-toed boots he wore.

Surrender to the experience and change, hmm? She bit back a smile. Well, why the hell not? What difference did it make if she tried on new clothes? The thought of buying her clothes seemed to bring him a great deal of pleasure, and she found she enjoyed bringing him pleasure. Besides, who would care, if she died two weeks from now?

“All right,” she said. “You may order me something, if you like. If I don’t care for it, I can always wear my own clothes.”

“Of course,” he said. “What size do you wear?” He ran his hands down her sides to explore her narrow waist. “I’m guessing a size eight. Your shoe size?”

Then she did smile. “Six and a half, narrow. I don’t need to hear how you got so accurate at guessing women’s sizes. I can guess.”

“None of them meant a thing to me, darling,” he told her, his husky voice turning even deeper.

Hunger pulsed again, along with the urge to bite him. She managed to articulate, “I’m going to take that shower.”

“Have fun,” he told her. That dazed look on her face was so goddamn sexy. If they weren’t facing such serious issues, he would have offered to join her. He had gobbled her down and now he wanted to savor. The thought of standing under the spray of hot water with her and soaping those luscious curves he had barely had a chance to enjoy, let alone taste, made his groin tighten until he was in actual pain. But she was right, they had so much to do and so little time in which to do it. He gritted his teeth, took a step back and let her go.

Then because he was being so damn good, he gave himself a good-boy cookie and watched her beautifully rounded ass sway gently as she walked away from him. She looked like heaven and moved like sin. She stopped to swipe up one of the knives she had dropped on the couch, and his eyebrows shot up. He wondered what that was about. What an incomprehensible, crazy-hot wicked witch. She was like reading a murder mystery novel, all cliff-hangers and smoking guns, only she was so much more fun.

The suite had two bedrooms. She disappeared into the nearest one, and he forced himself to get relevant.

His first phone call should go toward the issue that would take the longest to accomplish. He used switchboard services to connect to the Illinois Cook County morgue then went through a long series of voice prompts until he reached the Medical Examiner’s Office of Paranormal Affairs. He had been prepared to leave a voicemail message, so he was pleasantly surprised when Seremela picked up and said, “Dr. Telemar speaking. Make it brief, or I’ll get bored and hang up on you.”

“Seremela,” Rune said. “How are you doing?”

The medusa’s voice warmed with surprised pleasure. “Rune! How nice to hear from you. I’m doing fine, thank you. Things have calmed down considerably around here. My office hasn’t seen a single dead body since the last time we talked. How are you? How was your trip to Adriyel?”