What you need in every cell in your body.
I kissed her and it was like my whole life became condensed to that little flashpoint. Every kiss that came before was obliterated and every kiss that comes after will never measure up, so as long as it’s with someone other than her.
That kiss undid me in ways I didn’t see coming.
And so now I’m here, I’m sleepy and I’m yearning to have her in this room with me. I know she’s out there in the halls somewhere doing her job.
But grabbing her and pulling her in here and having my way with her won’t be enough. It’s not what I really need.
Always more, never less.
I get up out of bed and slip on my pajama pants and robe and then head out into the hall. It’s 9 a.m. which means she’s cleaning the third floor at the moment, so I make sure the coast is clear and then head up the stairs.
I look up and down the hall until I see a cart and then I quickly head toward it.
There’s a chance, of course, that it’s not her cart but I peek my head into the room with the door open and I see Maggie sorting out the curtains, the sun shining through them like clouds.
With her back turned to me, I sneak inside the room and wait for her to notice, a surprise much like the one where we first met.
She turns around and then opens her mouth to yell.
Thankfully no words come out.
I quickly stalk over to her and grab her, pulling her to the side of the bed so we’re just out of the line of sight from the hallway.
“God morgon,” I murmur to her in Swedish, one hand holding the back of her thin neck like you’d handle a delicate flower stem, the other hand slipping down to the small of her back.
Before she can protest, I kiss her softly on the lips, pulling back just enough to hear her protestations.
“What are you doing here, you can get me killed!” she hisses at me.
I smile, raising a brow. “Killed? Is that how it is in this country?”
She narrows her eyes at me. “Fired. If I get fired, you’re paying for me for the rest of my life.”
Little does she know that’s something I would love to do.
“I have another proposition for you,” I tell her, my eyes drifting between the depths of her brown eyes and the peach sheen of her lush lips.
“Another interview?” she asks dryly, her eyes flitting to the door and back, her muscles tense.
I pull her over until I’m against the wall and I’m holding her to me. “Come with me to LA.”
She stares at me for a moment before her chin jerks back. “LA? Now?”
“Tomorrow,” I explain. “Or tonight. Come with me. The car is fixed, it’ll be an easy drive, we’ll get a hotel…”
I was hoping that last bit would pique her interest but her expression hasn’t changed.
“I can’t go to LA,” she says, shaking her head.
I ignore the sinking feeling in my chest. “Why not?”
“Because I have a job, Viktor,” she says thumbing at the collar of her uniform. “An actual job that I need in order to support everyone.”
I won’t be deterred. “Don’t you have vacation days in this country?”
“Yeah, we do, I do, but it’s so last notice.”
“Maggie,” I say gently, licking my lips, “you work six days a week. No human can keep that up in the long run. So not only are you owed this vacation but you need to take this vacation. It’s just a few days, regardless. Tonight maybe, Friday and Sunday. You have Saturday off, yes?”
“It’s such short notice,” she says again but I can see something in her eyes is relenting.
“But it doesn’t hurt to ask, does it?”
“But the kids. Who will take care of them?”
“Pike?”
“He works.”
“If you’re suggesting they come too, well, I know I sound completely selfish Maggie, but I want you all to myself. Every single inch of you.”
My hands disappear into the soft strands of her hair and I have to hold myself back from kissing her mid-sentence.
“I guess I could ask my friend Annette,” she says after a moment. She saws her lower lip between her teeth. It makes me fucking hard. I want a taste. “She always says she’ll look after the house and them if I wanted to go away for a weekend.”
I raise my brows and stare at her expectantly. “So then…”
She starts tapping her foot against the ground to some invisible drum solo as she looks around the room, thinking.
I let her think. I take a step back from her, giving her space.
Finally, she shoots me a worried, yet hopeful, glance. “Do you think I should?”
I grin and grab her arms, pulling her so she’s flat up against me. I press my hands on both sides of her face, holding her still, forcing her to look at me with those big beautiful eyes of hers. “We only have a few days together until I leave. And until I leave, I want to spend every single second of the day with you by my side. From the moment I wake till the moment I sleep.” I lean in and rub the tip of my nose against her, inhaling deeply. My eyes close. “I’m not going back home until I know what you feel like from the inside, until I’ve tasted every sweet inch of your skin.”
She stiffens under my grasp and when I open my eyes, her cheeks are tinged with pink. I’ve minded my manners, I’ve stayed noble, but when it comes to taking her in the bedroom, all of that is gone. I won’t be royal. I’ll be a savage instead.
“You drive a hard bargain,” she whispers and then bites her lip coyly when she realizes what she’s said.
I take her hand and press her palm against my cock, already thick and straining to escape through the button-up fly of my pajamas. “You have no idea,” I say through a groan as she grips me, cautious at first and then with an eagerness that makes her eyes shine.
“I have some idea,” she says, her words taking on this throaty, sexy voice that strips away another layer of refinement, so close to unearthing the rough, raw instincts inside me. “But we can’t do this here,” she says, shaking her head as if to shake some sense into herself.
She removes her hand and takes a step back from me and I grind my teeth together, fighting the urge to grab her and throw her on the bed. I don’t fucking care whose room this is.
But I don’t. I control myself.
I give her space.
“Ask,” I tell her, clearing my throat. “Please. Now.”
She lets out a shaky breath. “Okay,” she says in a quiet voice but I can hear a tinge of excitement in it. “Let me ask Annette first,” she says, quickly pulling out her phone and scrolling through her contacts.
I notice the whole bottom half of the screen is cracked. “You need a new one,” I point out.
She gives me a wry smile as she texts. “I need a new everything.”
From outside in the hall there is the sound of footsteps, the rustle of someone’s clothes as they walk. It reminds me of home, the way the officials stride down the palace hallways, always so full of pomp and business.
Her eyes widen and she pauses texting. She looks to me in fear and I quickly step into the closet, just in time for me to hear someone say sternly, “Maggie?”
“Yup,” Maggie says and through the slats of the closet I see her slip her phone inside her pocket. She walks over to the door.
“Are you still working on this room?” the voice, a woman, asks.
“Almost done.”
“Good girl,” she says and I can tell she turns to walk away.
“Wait,” Maggie cries out softly. “Juanita, I have a favor to ask you.”
A pause. “Yes?”
“I know this is such short notice but I’d like to use my vacation days and take the next two days off work.”
“What? Why, what’s going on?”
“I, uh, I have a friend who wants to take me to LA this weekend, just to give me a break. Since I haven’t taken any of my two weeks since I started working here, I figured I might as
well before I get burnout.”
“I don’t have a problem with that, Maggie. I do have a problem with such incredibly short notice.” She sighs. “Luckily one of the housekeepers who just started has been asking for more shifts.”
“Oh thank you, thank you.” I can hear the smile on Maggie’s face which makes me smile in return.
It sounds like Juanita walks off and Maggie takes her time slowly walking back over to the closet. She brings out her phone and resumes texting.
“Can I come out yet?” I whisper.
She just smiles, teasingly, like she likes having me in here. Finally she sends through the text and then opens the door.
“Looks like you’re going to LA,” I tell her. I know she hears the joy in my voice, sees it right there on my face, but I don’t care. I’m not going to pretend that this doesn’t mean the fucking world to me right now.
“I can’t believe I’m doing this,” she says nervously. She glances at the phone. “And I don’t know yet if Annette will go for it.”
“Is this the woman who helped you carry me from the bar?”
“That’s her.”
“She sounds like a good friend. I’m sure she’ll say yes.”
At that her phone beeps and she glances down at it.
From the moment I first saw Maggie smile I thought she had the most sexy, innocent and joyous smile I’d ever seen but I’ve never seen it as big and pure as it is right now.
That smile is for you, I tell myself. No one has ever smiled for you like that before.
“She said she’ll do it,” she cries out doing a little dance.
I grab her by the waist and yank her into me, kissing her hard and quick on the lips. If I don’t get out of this room with her soon, there is going to be trouble.
“I’m going to start packing then,” I tell her, heading toward the door. “How much time will you need after work to get ready?”
“Maybe an hour?” she says. “Better make it two.”
“Okay, I’ll come get you at five,” I tell her. “We can get a bite to eat on the road.”
“Okay,” she says, her eyes dancing.
I poke my head out into the hall to make sure no one sees me and then head to my room to pack.
Originally I had made my reservations for tomorrow night at the Hollywood Roosevelt hotel, so I call them and move it up a day, securing one of their cabana rooms that overlook the pool. With Maggie with me, I’m pulling out all the stops to make this as memorable as possible.
Then I make an extra special secret request with the hotel, the kind of crazy thing that only a fool in love would do.
But I’m not a fool in love.
I’m not in love.
And I don’t think I’m a fool.
I don’t know what I am.
I just know that the woman of my dreams, of my heart, of my life, is spending the new few days with me. Just the two of us. And when I get on the plane on Sunday and fly back home, I want to make sure she never ever forgets me.
I know I won’t forget her.
The thought of having to leave her kills me a bit inside but I push it aside and get busy packing.
After I’ve checked out and spent the good portion of the day hanging out in the lobby of the hotel, reading a Swedish thriller that I’ve been flipping through for the last three weeks, I head on over to pick her up. I have to admit, it’s kind of bittersweet to say goodbye to this hotel. I feel like I’ve lived a lifetime already in this past week. I’ll especially miss their waffles.
I’m right on time but Maggie is already standing outside the house, a duffel bag slung over her shoulder.
She smiles broadly at me and then throws a wave over her shoulder to her family who are all gathered by the front door and runs on over to me before I even have a chance to turn off the engine and open the door for her.
She tosses her bag in the backseat and then gets in, arm poised and hanging out the window. She slips on her sunglasses and taps the dashboard.
“Let’s go,” she cries out happily.
“Your wish is my command,” I tell her, giving a quick honk at the house before peeling out onto the street. “You seemed ready to get out of there,” I comment as we cruise through the streets toward the highway.
“Oh yeah. Once it hit me what I was actually doing, where we were going…who I was going with, I couldn’t pack fast enough.”
“Do they care that you’re going?”
“The kids don’t care. April is probably jumping for joy, especially after last night. She thinks the cops threating Tito was all my idea of course, even though I was with you the whole time,” she pauses. “Pike wasn’t too happy about it.”
“I get the impression that he doesn’t like me. I was surprised he even helped me with the car.” In fact, all while he was helping with the carburetor I was afraid to turn my back to him, thinking he might try and whack me over the head with a wrench.
“He’s…distrustful.”
“What does he think I’m going to do?”
“I suppose he thinks you’ll take me to Sweden and I’ll never return.”
I swallow, feeling bricks in my stomach.
Would that be so bad?
“Wouldn’t that be something,” I say, trying to sound ever so easy going.
“Mmmm,” she muses. I have a feeling it’s something she would never even entertain. “I just can’t believe I’m going to LA.”
“You must have been before,” he says. “You live so close.”
“When I was younger, but I don’t remember it too well and you don’t really give a shit about LA when you’re a kid. I think we went for a wedding or something. All I really wanted to do was go to Disneyland but of course we could never afford to do that.”
“Well, I’ve never been to Disneyland either. I think we should go.”
She stares at me, her brows raised. I know her eyes under those glasses are wide and round and saucers. “You’re kidding me.”
I shrug. “Why not? There are no cows on the ice this weekend, Miss America. Only you, only me. And we can do whatever the fuck we want to do, starting right now.”
She laughs, loud and bright, a sound I feel will be burned forever in my head.
“Okay. First stop then is In & Out Burger in Lancaster.”
“In & Out?” I repeat. “That sounds kind of…lewd.”
“Well the taste is orgasmic, that’s for sure.”
“All right. First stop. Orgasmic burgers.”
She seems to get all quiet and blush at that.
Probably because she’s thinking the same thing I’m thinking.
Neither of us can wait for dessert.
Chapter Fourteen
Maggie
“So this is Los Angeles,” Viktor muses as the mustang cruises down the freeway, the valley disappearing behind us, the city opening up in front of us beneath a layer of smog.
Being it’s Thursday evening, there’s quite a bit of traffic, but we’ve managed to miss the worst of rush hour thanks to our stop at In & Out. I think I took too much pleasure in watching Viktor wolf down his animal fries, cheeseburger and chocolate shake. I don’t know where he puts it all, but it’s apparent now that whatever Viktor eats immediately gets transformed into muscle. A steak? He just added an eight pack to that six pack. Must be a Swedish thing.
We’re staying in Hollywood at the famous Roosevelt Hotel, right across from where the Oscars are held and the Gruaman’s Theatre (which now has a new name but old habits die hard). I know most tourists come to this area and that’s probably why Viktor picked it but even though I haven’t seen Hollywood first hand, I do live in SoCal and so I do know it’s a cesspool of human garbage and gaudy commercialism.
“Oh,” Viktor says as the mustang cruises down Hollywood Blvd, eyeing everything like he’s made a huge mistake. “I didn’t quite picture this.”
“What, the guy taking a leak on the Starbucks door, the woman across the street yelling at people, or Captain Jack
Sparrow who seems to be fighting a saggy-assed Spiderman over a quarter?”
He nods as he takes it all in. “Yes. All of that.”
“Welcome to Hollywood,” I tell him. “May we never leave the hotel.”
“May we never leave the hotel room,” he says, glancing at me. Though there’s the telltale smirk on his lips, his eyes have taken on an edge. The kind of edge that makes my stomach flip.
I tried not to think about it on the drive down in case I was going to psych myself out, but there was no mistaking what this weekend was about. Yes, it was about hanging onto Viktor for every last moment that I got.
It’s also about having Viktor in every single way I can get.
In New York, the few dates I’d gone on, some of them had ended in sex. Sometimes the first date, often the second. And I was nervous for each one. Worried about everything from how the guy was going to judge my body or my performance, to whether it was going to be any good, what kind of protection we were going to use, if it was going to be weird to be intimate with someone I didn’t know well. Sometimes I even worried if the guy would be an asshole if I decided to say no.
But with Viktor…it’s different. Every single thing about him is different. He’s nothing like the guys I’ve dated or slept with. What we have, whatever it is, is nothing like the relationships I’ve had before.
Don’t get me wrong, I am nervous about having sex with him. I want everything to be perfect, I want to make it so he’ll never forget me. I want him to strip all my inhibitions away and turn me into a wanton, greedy woman. But at the same time, it feels like it has to be this way. I mean, the first time I laid eyes on this man, he was buck naked. After that, everything sort of fell into place.
I know my cheeks are hot right now under his gaze. My body has been doing nothing but betraying me this past week.
He pulls the car around to the back of the hotel where one of the valets cheerfully takes the vehicle, gushing over the make and model and all that car stuff. The mustang is a gorgeous blue, the color of the deep Pacific, and a few middle-aged women waiting for their rides, big sunglasses taking over their face, are admiring it.
Or maybe they’re admiring Viktor. Everyone here seems to be somebody and Viktor definitely is. They might not recognize him as the crown prince of Sweden but with his stature and his ridiculous good looks, they probably assume he’s a movie star.