Danil’s Mate(26)

Danil broke first and chuckled. “Fair enough.”

Dora furrowed her brow like she wasn’t quite sure of him.

“Come to my mother’s house for dinner tonight and we can add more pieces to the chess board.”

“What?” Dora’s mouth dropped open and Danil took the opportunity to kiss it. He swept his tongue through her mouth and was pleased when her tongue met his, if even for a second.

“Come to my mother’s house. As an invited guest. Really meet my Mama and Papa.”

“I-” she broke off and furrowed her brow even further. “But I just called you an asshole.”

He kissed the drawn lines in her forehead and swept her silky hair back. “Yes, but you didn’t mean it. You only said it because of how much you care for me. It was bravado.”

Dora’s mouth dropped open even further, an outraged squeak tumbling out of her. Danil chose his moment. Picking her up by the backs of her knees he lifted her easily. “That’s okay, call me asshole again if it will make you feel better.”

“Where are we going?” Dora asked as he stepped out of the bedroom.

“We shower now,” Danil said, kicking open the bathroom door. “And then I call in sick from work and we go look for whatever clues you want to.”





***



Danil suspected that she had chosen today’s tasks to be especially boring just to spite him. But he didn’t particularly care about that. As long as she wasn’t spelunking down an abandoned mine shaft by herself or whatever mortally dangerous thing she’d probably had planned, then he didn’t care.

Besides, he liked watching her work. He watched her from across the little table at the coffee shop she’d chosen. She made notes in her notebook as she quasi-casually watched out the window. What she was looking for, he had no earthly clue, and he was sure she wouldn’t tell him if he asked. But again. He didn’t care.

She was so wildly gorgeous. The clear, sharp lines of her face along with her spiky, angular haircut. There was just something about that combined with the plumpness of her plush lips. It made him want nothing more than to explore her, figure out what was sharp angle and what was soft. So far, everything had been soft. Danil discreetly adjusted himself in his pants as he thought back on their morning together.

That had… really been something. The magnitude of it was sinking in little by little. He wasn’t sure if he’d be the same after it. He felt different. Like he’d somehow developed a beam of light that went directly from his chest to Dora’s. He couldn’t turn it off. And he didn’t like when anything got in its way.

Like this kid. The skinny dork of a waiter who kept coming over to chat with Dora. Who, apparently, was a bit of a regular at this cafe. Part of Danil couldn’t blame this kid, because, God, just look at her. But the other part of him wanted to tell skippy to buzz the hell off and go find a girlfriend his own age.

“You want more hot water for your tea, Dora?”

“No thanks, Kip,” she replied, a special little smile on her face that Danil was sure Kip was gonna jack off to tonight. “You’re working late this afternoon, huh?”

“Yeah,” Kip said, intentionally lowering his voice an octave. “Which sucks because I pulled an all-nighter at my other job.”

“They kept you at the warehouse that long?” Dora asked, widening her eyes and drawing Kip closer. Danil lifted a wry eyebrow and tried not to shift in his seat.

“Yeah. We got a huge shipment in. So, we had to do a ton of sorting.”

“It couldn’t have waited until the morning?” she asked.

“No, they were all overnight packages so they had to be ready for distribution by the morning,” Kip replied, obviously mystified that this gorgeous woman would be so interested in his work schedule.

Danil was a little mystified himself.

“Well, I hope your shift ends soon,” Dora said, lifting her cup of tea to him in a cheers. “You should go home and binge on some Netflix and snooze. Or better yet, find some girl to show a good time.”

Kip gave a false little laugh, his cheeks turning pink. He obviously didn’t want Dora talking to him about other girls.

As soon as he walked back behind the counter, Dora’s eyes flicked either way up the street. She rose, tossing some bills out of her back pocket and slinging her messenger bag over her shoulder.

Danil instantly rose as well. Picking up her money, replacing it with his own. As they walked out, Danil made sure Kip saw him sliding Dora’s cash into her back pocket. He wasn’t worried about the kid making a move on his territory, but you know. Good measure.