Their two large suitcases were propped up against the wall near the walk-in closet. Alexei and Sean apparently needed more clothes to match their status, and Jamie had helpfully offered up his credit account again, splurging on several new suits for each of them. The only things Alexei had brought with him out of his closet were his swimming trunks and pajamas, but he wasn’t getting into those until after he’d eaten.
“Place is clean and we’re in the clear!” Annabelle called out from the middle of the suite.
That was one less thing to worry about. Figuring out where everyone was going to sleep was the next thing.
“Can call for second bed?” Alexei asked as he approached the room’s only bed and prodded at the mattress with one hand. Definitely too soft.
Sean tipped over one of the suitcases and pressed his thumb to the biolock to open it. “No, we can’t.”
“Is penthouse suite. Are special guests. Can get whatever we want.”
“That doesn’t mean you’re calling for an extra bed.” Sean stood up with an armful of garment bags. “Chloe thinks we’re a couple.”
“She not here to see us be couple.”
“The casino has a private maid who comes through here every day. We can’t know she won’t report back to them about what she sees.”
“So where I sleep?”
Sean shrugged as he stepped into the walk-in closet to hang up his suits. “The bed is big enough for the both of us. You keep to one side and I’ll keep to the other.”
Alexei knew how he slept sprawled across a bed. What’s more, he knew how he slept when he shared it with someone—wrapped around them as if they were his magnetic north. Somehow, he didn’t think Sean would appreciate waking up like that.
“Okay,” he reluctantly said.
“It’ll be fine. I promise I don’t kick.”
Alexei didn’t say anything to that, still taking in the spacious room. The curtains were pulled across the windows for privacy, hiding them from the outside world. His gaze tracked over every corner of the room, which was how he noticed the thin lines in the ceiling above the bed. The rectangular shapes spoke of something hidden behind the panels. He wondered if it was a second flatscreen. People in Las Vegas were exceptionally lazy if they couldn’t be bothered to lift their heads and look at the one above the dresser.
“Computer, open ceiling,” he ordered.
His eyes widened as the ceiling panels parted down the center, revealing a large mirror the size of the bed itself. The panels locked into place, his face reflecting back at him in the mirror as he stared up at it in surprise.
“That’s…unexpected.”
He looked over at Sean, who was staring at the mirror with an unreadable expression on his face. He didn’t seem embarrassed by it, but Alexei couldn’t not tease him, offering up an exaggerated leer. “Still okay to share?”
Sean rolled his eyes, but couldn’t hide his smile fast enough, despite ducking his head as he knelt to dig through the suitcase again. He came up with a pair of swimming shorts that he forcefully shook out.
“I need to get downstairs. So do you.”
“Food not here yet,” Alexei pointed out.
“Eat, then join us downstairs, but don’t take too long.”
Sean locked himself in the swanky bathroom to change. Alexei left the bedroom to prowl over the rest of the suite, ignoring the rich splendor in favor of figuring out the controls for the windows to check the privacy-mode on them.
“Already got it set,” Madison told him as she sprawled in a chair at the round dining table nestled between the long bar and several window panels. “Where’s your other half?”
“Sean is not other half,” Alexei said.
“Chloe seemed to think so.”
Alexei scowled at the control screen, swiping through the commands so he would know what was available and wouldn’t be caught unawares in an emergency. “Not care what Chloe think.”
A soft ping sounded through the suite before the AI’s clear, female-sounding voice came through the speakers embedded in the walls. “Your room service order is on its way up,” Artemis announced.
Madison raised her arms above her head and cheered as she got up to answer the door. “Food!”
“Which one of you go with Sean?” Alexei asked.
“Trevor lost the rock-paper-scissors game, so he’s on duty.”
They’d all agreed that, in the event he and Sean needed to separate, one of the other three would always keep guard duty on Sean. Alexei could handle himself, but the team was in solid agreement that Sean took risks while alone they didn’t much care for.
Sean came out of the bedroom just as the server finished setting a veritable feast on the dining table. He’d changed out of his business suit for a pair of brand-name boardshorts, a white T-shirt, and brown boat shoes, with a pair of sunglasses perched on his head and tablet in hand. Alexei tracked his approach, taking in his lean, bare arms and legs with a slow rake of his eyes. Sean was always so buttoned-up in his suits that this was the first time Alexei had ever seen him in anything else.
The picture he made wasn’t half bad.
Sean took one look at the spread of food Alexei and the girls were positively drooling over and shook his head.
“We have dinner plans tonight,” he warned before turning to leave with Trevor. “Don’t fill up on food right now.”
“Will have room,” Alexei replied as he speared a steak with his fork and put it on his plate. “Promise.”
As if Alexei would ever say no to food.
6
The House Always Wins
“If you wanted to eat, you could’ve stayed,” Sean said on the elevator ride down to the lobby.
“Jamie would kick my ass if we let you wander around alone,” Trevor replied as he flipped his sunglasses off his head and onto his nose.
“Jamie’s not here.”
“And if something happened to you on our watch, I can guarantee he wouldn’t be happy. Nah, it’s fine. They’ll save me something and we’ll eat before the dinner party tonight. I doubt we three will have a seat at the table like you and Alexei.”
“You’ll be relegated to the sidelines. Probably won’t even be allowed in the house.”
Trevor turned his head to look at him, gaze unreadable through the dark sunglasses. “You think so?”
Trevor was an inch or two taller than he was, stocky in build, with the rock-steady hands that were the hallmarks of his medical profession. He looked every inch the bodyguard right then, down to the faint scruff on his face. Under any other circumstances, Sean wouldn’t converse with him in order to keep their covers intact. But with the way Alpha Team functioned, no one would think very much of their interaction if outsiders knew their background.
“In situations like a private dinner party, personal security is relegated to the vehicles outside. Rarely are they allowed amongst the guests,” Sean explained.
“I take it you’ve done something like this before?”
“Once or twice.”
His deep cover missions weren’t always confined to street-level groups of criminal organizations. Every wannabe crime lord wanted to claw their way into the upper echelons of society, but shaking off the gutter was never easy. Sometimes the job called for a more sophisticated persona. Watching Jamie in London had been a master class on rich snobbery.
Trevor didn’t ask any more questions, well aware they were out in public and not behind the electronic jamming shield Annabelle had set up in the penthouse suite. He just stepped in front of Sean when the doors opened, taking point to lead him through the crowd of the casino.
Olympus had two main wings that stretched back behind the front façade, nearly enclosing the central courtyard area where the pools were located. To get there, they had to take a different hallway that skirted the gambling rooms to their right, bypassing the entrance to the buffet restaurant where people streamed in and out for a late lunch. Trevor guided him through the crowd with ease, h
eading toward the sliding plas-glass doors that opened up into the pool courtyard. Other guests in fancy swimwear wandered in and out through the main pool entrance.
They stepped outside into the shaded sunlight, greeted by a row of towering marble pillars rising three levels into the sky. The pillars stretched the entire length of the hotel wings. They held up no roof, enabling sunlight safely filtered through the biodome to shine down on the partiers gathered in the pool courtyard. Trimmed trees and other plants were interspaced between low-roofed cottages that hotel workers manned while on duty, ferrying clean towels and other items to guests. Olympus had five separate pools of various sizes in the courtyard, all discreetly separated by low cement walls and yet more plant barriers.
The Parthenon Pool was the largest, long and rectangular, shallow enough to swim in but not to dive into. Reserved lounge chairs, covered cabanas, and small tables filled with a multitude of drinks surrounded the main water attraction. Servers in skimpy white togas passed through the crowd to clear empty glasses and bottles and take new orders back to the busy bartenders who held court at various huts scattered between pillars. The Parthenon Pool was open to everyone, while the other four pools ranged in levels of exclusivity.
The smallest, and most luxurious, was located in the rear, separated off from the main crowd by low cement walls and carefully tended greenery that hid the area from prying eyes. The Aphrodite Pool had an intimate feel to it, reinforced by the pair of hotel workers who handled the list of invited VIP guests and kept everyone else from entering. Before Sean could even lift his hand to the scanner, the taller of the two men waved them on through.
“Mrs. Wolcott is waiting for you in the main cabana,” the man said.
Sean didn’t question him, and merely kept walking. The Aphrodite Pool wasn’t as crowded as some of the other pools, but a number of beautiful women and half that number in good-looking men were having fun. Lounge chairs were paired together in between a handful of covered cabanas. The main cabana was double the size of the rest, capable of fitting a small party of at least a dozen people inside its space, which made it easy to spot.
A couple of men in casual clothing whose stances gave away their military background stood off to the side of the main cabana. Trevor leaned in close, tilting his head to hide his mouth in case anyone could read his lips, and whispered, “I’ll go hang with her bodyguards and see what I can find out.”
“Okay,” Sean replied, knowing better than to say anything else when they were within view of the enemy.
Trevor wandered off while Sean headed into the main cabana with its gathering of beautiful women in designer bikinis, hair perfectly styled and makeup flawlessly applied. The amount of jewelry the women wore would’ve been blinding in the sunlight. A few men were there as well, doting on their girlfriends. Their good looks didn’t go unnoticed either.
Chloe was stretched out on a cozy lounge chair in the center of the cabana, having discarded her sundress and high-heeled sandals in favor of swimwear. The blue bikini matched her nail color and the giant sapphire ring taking up space on her right middle finger. She looked up at Sean’s arrival, her face breaking out into a sunny smile.
“Riley!” She gestured to him to take a seat on the lounge chair next to hers currently being used by an African-American woman who was probably a professional model—she was just that beautiful. “Come join us. I was just telling my friends about your company and everything that happened in New Miami.”
Sean inwardly winced as he gamely took a seat on the edge of the lounge chair, smiling a little awkwardly at the gorgeous dark-skinned woman stretched out on it who scooted over with a welcoming smile. She had what looked like a margarita in hand, half-finished, and Sean could smell the tequila from where he sat.
Chloe wasn’t a businesswoman who understood the innate need for confidentiality, he reminded himself. She was rich, privileged, and spoiled. Spouting off about the mess in New Miami—which had made national news for forty-eight hours afterward—was a great way to draw attention to oneself, and some people thrived on attention. Which was a bad thing considering neither of their groups had gone to the police afterward.
“Not everything, I hope,” Sean replied lightly as he placed his tablet beside him on the lounge cushion.
Chloe smiled at him, a look in her eye that had Sean swiftly changing his opinion of her. Maybe not so careless after all.
“Company secrets will remain secret,” she promised. “I was just telling them your cybersecurity company is a worthy investment.”
“It’s not every day your husband sings someone’s praises,” one of the women said.
“We like competent people.” Chloe glanced toward the entrance to the canopy. “Is Alexei coming down?”
“Eventually. He wanted to eat lunch first,” Sean said.
“Considering how strong he is, I suppose he needs to fuel his body more than the rest of us.”
She shared a sultry smile and a wink with him, which Sean could only return, even if he didn’t really want to think about Alexei in terms of hotness. Objectively, Sean knew Alexei was good-looking, but pretty much untouchable from his standpoint due to his background as a spy. Which was a shame, really, because Sean honestly wouldn’t have minded getting closer to him. He was already regretting pushing the bed issue with Alexei. In hindsight, he should’ve agreed to the extra bed.
“How did you guys meet?” a different woman asked before taking a sip of her champagne.
“I was hired to handle their company’s finances as the CFO,” Sean explained. “I’m good with numbers and I’m loyal. The loyalty aspect was what sold them on me. Things evolved from there.”
Chloe pointed at his empty hands as she picked up her wine glass. “You need a drink before we gossip.”
He really didn’t, but Sean knew better than to say no. Within moments a toga-clad server came over to take his order before swiftly leaving and returning with his choice of beer. If he was going to spend a few hours out here socializing with the target’s wife before dinner tonight, Sean didn’t want to risk overdrinking. He might have a fast metabolism due to being a metahuman, but he didn’t want to tip anyone off that he could hold his liquor better than anyone in the cabana.
Sean didn’t bother taking off his shirt or shoes. This might be the pool area, but he had no intentions of going swimming. Chatting with Chloe and her group of friends was a little awkward at first, if only because Sean was walking a fine line between invited guest and possible contracted business partner. But he was good at putting people at ease, drawing them into conversations that were more about themselves than about him. Rich people, he’d learned over the years, loved to talk about themselves.
He was almost done with his beer when he saw a couple of people craning to catch a look at someone out of view beyond the cabana, but he ignored the hushed voices in favor of focusing on Chloe. Only when she paused with her wine glass almost to her mouth, tongue snaking across her bottom lip, did he think to look at the pool.
“It’s a shame I’m married and he’s taken,” she said, much to her friends’ amusement.
Sean turned to look at what everyone was staring at, eyes widening behind his sunglasses at the sight of Alexei climbing out of the pool.
Objectively, Sean had known Alexei was attractive for months. But he’d shoved all those little thoughts and observations to the back of his mind while working with Alexei, determined not to let anything get in the way of his job. It was difficult to do at the moment while staring at near perfection in the male form.
Alexei didn’t have an ounce of fat on him, his tall body all rock-hard, defined muscle that came from a strict training regime and dangerous fieldwork. Sean’s gaze traveled from Alexei’s face and the smirk tugging at his lips, down his throat and chest, following the gleaming trail of water droplets that slid over his skin. His abs were honestly a thing of beauty, tightly cut muscles that flexed smoothly as he straightened up to ascend the wide steps leading out of the
pool.
More and more of him came into view, and Sean’s mouth parted in surprise when he realized Alexei had opted for a pair of tiny black swim shorts that were practically molded to his body, leaving nothing to the imagination. Sean couldn’t quite tear his eyes away from the large bulge on display and unconsciously licked his lips, mouth gone desert-dry that had nothing to do with the warm air. He had a fleeting thought that he wouldn’t mind going to his knees for Alexei if it meant he got to see what was underneath that thin black material.
The only thing that cooled the rising heat in Sean’s body was knowing Alexei would never find him attractive in any way. His mantle of spy was an immediate turnoff for Alexei in that regard, something Sean had known from the first mission they’d worked together. But they had a role to play here, one that came with expectations of reactions.
It’s okay to look, he thought to himself.
Because nothing would come of it, even if the sight of Alexei right now had just catapulted him into the starring role of Sean’s late-night fantasies. Sean made it a point to track his gaze back up to Alexei’s face as he came into the cabana. Sean tipped his head back, raising an eyebrow.
“Tell me you didn’t walk through the casino wearing only that?” Sean asked, voice steady through long practice. He ignored the faint twitch of interest in his cock, glad for the loose-fitting boardshorts he wore.
Alexei shrugged, gray eyes flicking to the group surrounding them. “Is not crime.”
“For you, maybe. If you distracted any casino workers—”
Sean didn’t expect it, but he should have. Alexei knew what kind of show they had to put on; Sean had done his best to warn him on the flight over. While it wasn’t anywhere near as easy as the one Jamie and Kyle had put on back in January, some actions would always go a long way to proving they were together.
In the Shadows (Metahuman Files Book 3) Page 11