Something in his tone told me the people who tried regretted it. I walked closer to the pool, staring at the way the edge seemed to disappear into the darkness beyond it. “You ever stay here?”
“I do sometimes but it just depends.”
“For what if you don’t mind me asking.”
“When I don’t want nobody bothering me.” He winked.
I could see that. The place felt removed from the rest of the world, like the gate had closed behind us and cut off every problem waiting outside it. For the first time since leaving the club, I realized I could not hear a car, a voice, or music from anywhere nearby. There was only the water and the faint rustle of palms moving in the breeze.
Lev went back inside, and I followed, reluctant to leave the view even though the glass walls kept it visible from almost every room. He opened a cabinet near the kitchen and pulled out a bottle, then set two short glasses on the counter. “You still drinking tequila?” he asked.
I slid onto one of the stools. “It depends. You trying to get me drunk?”
His eyes lifted to mine as he poured. “You think I need to?”
I started feeling hot all of a sudden. I looked down at my hands. “I didn’t say that.”
“Well, you asked it.”
I smiled and I accepted the glass he placed in front of me, taking a small sip to give myself something to do. The tequila was smoother than what we served at the club, but I wouldn’t have expected nothing less from him.
Lev leaned against the opposite side of the island with his own glass in hand. For a while, neither of us spoke. He seemed comfortable with the silence for now and I usually wasn’t but the quietness in that house didn’t awkward.
His gaze dropped to the rhinestone pouch I had carried inside and placed beside me. He studied me for a long moment. “You think I’d lie about what you paid me?”
“I don’t know you well enough to know what you’ll do.”
That answer seemed to satisfy him more than any reassurance would have. He took a drink and looked toward the water. “But you’re here with me right now though.”
“Guilty,” I sighed with a shy smirk before sipping my drink again.
Lev’s eyes focused on mine, but he didn’t force me back into that conversation. Instead, he lifted his glass and asked, “You hungry?”
The sudden change made me stare at him. “A little.”
He pulled out his phone. “What you eat?”
“Anything simple.” I told him all of a sudden feeling my stomach growl.
“That don’t answer the question.”
I looked around the expensive kitchen. “I don’t know, a burger, fries. Something normal.”
He made one call and said, “I need two smash burgers, fries, and fruit. Bring it here to the Air Bnb.” That was the entire conversation. He ended the call and placed the phone beside his glass.
I stared at him. “You got somebody on call to make you burgers at four in the morning?”
“He’s up, and if he isn’t up, he gets up for me because he’s paid well.”
“That don’t mean he wanted to be up though.” I laughed.
“He’ll get paid good.”
I laughed under my breath this time. “That is such a rich person answer.”
He shrugged. “What was I supposed to say?”
“That you feel bad.”
