‘But then I’d have to kill you,’ Mikael said, opening the passenger side door for her.
‘You are much more polite than the taxi driver,’ Layla said.
Mikael got in himself and before driving off called his favourite hotel.
He glanced over to Layla. Yes, he told Reservations, he would have his usual luxury suite.
‘Right, I’ve booked you into a hotel. I’ll cover it, and we can sort out money some other time.’
‘You have your retainer.’
‘I do.’ Mikael sighed, imagining trying to cash a rare ruby. ‘Put your seatbelt on.’
‘Pardon?’ Layla frowned. ‘The taxi driver said the same.’
‘And did you?’
Clearly not.
‘You need to.’
It should have been easy to reach over and do it himself, except she started to laugh as if he was tickling her as he leant over to retrieve the belt and suddenly there was nothing straightforward about the way Mikael was feeling as his nostrils delivered to his brain its first hit of the exotic aroma of Layla close up.
‘What are you doing?’ She was giddy from the brief contact.
‘Putting on your seatbelt.’ He pulled the belt out, trying to ignore the scent of her and the sound of her laughter as he clicked it in. ‘Don’t you wear seatbelts in Ishla?’
‘I don’t,’ Layla said. ‘The same thing happened on the plane.’ Then she turned and looked at him. ‘Though it wasn’t as much fun.’
Mikael said nothing. He just drove to the hotel. But he could feel her eyes on him.
‘You’re not a very happy person, are you?’ Layla observed.
‘It’s not a requisite for my job.’
‘You’re not working now.’
‘Yes, Layla,’ Mikael said, ‘I am. Believe me, it would have been far cheaper to get a chauffeur-driven limousine with a trained monkey in the back peeling grapes for you than to have me drive you.’ He turned and saw her frown. ‘You’ll see the breakdown on my bill.’
‘I want that monkey!’ Layla said, then pouted when she got no response from Mikael. ‘You didn’t laugh at my joke.’
‘I wasn’t sure if it was one,’ he admitted, but then turned and gave her a brief smile. ‘It was a good one, though!’
They got out at the hotel and Mikael gave the parking attendant his keys, telling him he’d be out shortly and not to park the car. They walked through to check in.
‘I’ll see you to your room and then I need to go back and do some work.’
‘That’s fine.’
Heads were turning, Mikael realised, and not just turning. People were craning their necks to get a glimpse of Layla as she glided along beside him. As he checked her in under his name he explained that there was no luggage.
‘You might want to…’ He turned to see if she needed some cash but she was no longer beside him. Mikael saw her wandering into one of the hotel’s boutiques.