Los Angeles, 14/04/2013. 09:00.
Nathaniel was lying on a queen size bed, in his hands a book that he had picked up on the nightstand and that he was reading with interest. He wasn't in his own room as it was obvious by the number of women's clothes and undergarment plaster all around the room. The sound of the shower running in the adjoining room gave no suspense at where the owner of that bed was at the moment.
Nathaniel on his side was already fully dressed for a while now. He was wearing a blue jean with a white shirt, he had left his shoes at the foot of the bed and was hitting his two feets to each other at the sound of an invisible beat. Nathaniel was reading the book slowly, he knew the story but wasn't that familiar with the language in what it was written. Still, it was a good story and it was a good way to pass the time and wait for the women to exit the shower.
Thankfully, he didn't have to wait long. The water cut ten minutes later and a breathtaking gorgeous woman exited the bathroom. She had short black hair and her two eyes were of two different colors, her right one was obsidian black and her left was golden. Her hair was still wet and she wasn't wearing anything except a towel wrap around her body which anyone would find a very enticing outfit. To her credit, upon seeing Nathaniel in her bed she didn't jump in fright, she just froze and stared at him.
"What do you think you are doing!?"
Lifting his head from the book that he was reading, Nathaniel looked at her and let out a smile.
"Oh Duchess, fancy meeting you here." Nathaniel answered in a pleased voice, acting like he was happy to see her.
"You are in my bed! How did you get in there… What have you done to my protectors? I swear that if you killed them, I will hunt down everyone you care about!" She almost growled the last part.
Nathaniel actually believed that she would and based on the way his own back stiffen, even him was starting to feel it was a bad idea.
"Don't worry, they are fine. They are in the other room knock out, Andy is watching over them. I don't know where you find them but they are really good, I must compliment you about it." Nathaniel nodded.
"And you think this is going to be enough to save your life? You crossed the line." She said coldly.
"Really? I crossed the line?" Nathaniel said, emphasizing the 'I'. "Let's rewind everything that happens shall we. You were the one who attacked me in Washington, then you drew a freaking sword on me and tried to kill me with it. Following that, you start looking into me even so far as sending your mens to stalk me. To finish the whole thing, one of your men even drew his weapon on me and my pet after ambushing me in front of my house. You have no right to claim the moral high ground in this matter." Nathaniel answers as coldly, if she thought she could intimidate him, she was wrong.
The two face off, not moving an inch they were just staring at each other. Brunhilde finally sighed.
"You are a smart man Nathaniel, that much I know about you. Now that you broke into my house, attacked my protector and even went as far as lying in my own bed, you must now that I'm going to retaliate. You invaded my privacy and I will not let that slide."
"You know that's an excellent point Brunhilde. Four days ago when you and I met outside of my home, I asked you to stay away from me. I thought I was clear but it happened to be that I was not. In the last four days, private investigators in New York, Miami and even here in LA started asking around about me. My private security started to get alert and even thought someone was planning to assassinate me. So we investigated to find out where it was coming from, that was especially hard since the people in question were very good at hiding their tracks but luckily I have very skilled people working for me. Imagine my surprise when it happened that the person responsible for everything was you." Nathaniel explained.
Nathaniel wasn't exactly honest here as the Lyndon security never found out about this. It was thanks to Lina that Nathaniel was made aware that people were investigating him. She had set alert on the internet about every member of the team and let's just say that in the last few days it had started to ring like crazy. It seems that they were focusing more of their investigation in Miami and where he had disappeared which was especially bad.
"Now, I start wondering about maybe the two of us had widely different definitions about invading privacy and so I thought you will not mind me making myself comfortable in your bed and reading your book. Was I wrong? If that's the case, I'm giving you my most sincere apology." Nathaniel said, giving her his most naive smile.
Brunhilde did not believe that smile or that last sentence in the slightest of course. She had understood exactly what he was saying. She was free to consider what he had done to her as an aggression but if she would, he would do the same about her own action. He was letting her the decision to stop doing what she was doing and make peace or to continue and start a war. There was one thing that was sure that she will not give an answer right now about what way she will take.
"You can consider your message sent and received, Nathaniel. What now?" She asked.
"We could maybe use the occasion to talk, you will find asking me questions directly is a much more efficient way to do things. But please sit, it's starting to get weird talking to you while you are still standing."
"You believe that is weird!? What about the fact that I'm obviously naked and you are clearly not?"
"Oh that. It doesn't bother me that much but you are free to dress if you want. I will not peek, scout honor." He said smiling, making a scout sign with his fingers.
Brunhilde did not know what to do anymore. Even if the towel she was wrapped into right now was big enough to hide what needed to be hidden, there was also no way that she could sit down without exposing herself and she was sure that Nathaniel knew that. The only reason why she hadn't attacked him for suggesting something so outrageous was because she could find no trace of lust in his eyes. Brunhilde knew how she looked and she was sadly very experienced in handling the lust of men, using it against them more often than not but Nathaniel was different. In his eyes she could only see amusement and mischief. It was almost like he was having fun at putting her off balance.
"Turn around. I swear if you peek, you die."
Nathaniel laughed and took a sitting position on the side of her bed, turning his back on her. to distract himself and to not be tempted into looking at her, he took the book with him and continued reading where he stopped earlier. Brunhilde on her side didn't move the whole time and was just staring long and hard at him, making sure that there was no reflective surface which he could use to look behind him. Satisfied, she let the towel drop and started putting underwear, to hide her trouble she asked.
"Do you even know what you are reading?"
"I do, Crime and Punishment. I've read it before, never in Russian though."
"It's a pity, Crime and Punishment belong to those books who lost a lot in translation."
"I can see that now, I will read it again in Russian after that. It will also help me practice Russian, I'm still not really great at it, I haven't had time recently to study a new language. Even if it's a good read, this is still a weird choice for a bedtime story, ever heard of Harry Potter or Twilight?"
"I'm way past stories involving teenage wizards and confused girls with fascination for vampires." Brunhilde did not know if she was supposed to be amused or insulted by the books Nathaniel was advising her to read.
"If you are talking about Twilight, the real story is about a dog-men falling in love with a baby." Nathaniel added.
"Seriously?" Brunhilde asked, stopping from putting on her dress and looking at him.
"Look it up if you think I'm joking."
Brunhilde seriously doubted that but ultimately she didn't care enough about it to check and just let it slide out of her mind. Profiting of the fact that Nathaniel wasn't looking at her, Brunhilde had a really girly reaction. Looking at herself in the mirror, she smooths the side of her dress before arranging her hair so that nothing sticks out. Luckily, she had short hair and didn't need a lot of time unlike others with long hair. It was one of the reasons why she kept them so short, the others being that she had a face that looked even better with it but the main reason was so that nobody could grab them in a fight.
"You know, I have heard someone telling me that the messier a girl is, the prettiest she is. I'm starting to believe that." Nathaniel said offhandedly, looking at the clothes scatter everywhere.
"Is that supposed to be a critic or a compliment?" She asked, looking at his back.
"A little bit of both I supposed."
"You can turn back by the way, I'm presentable." Brunhilde said.
Doing just that, Nathaniel turns around and quickly looks her over.
"Lovely. What do you think about going outside to talk? It's a bright and hot day, no reason to stay cramped in this room. On the plus side, you will have the occasion to see your protectors for yourself and make sure I was telling the truth about their state." Nathaniel offered.
"Are you asking me out on a date?" She asked, suspiciously.
"Wait, what!?" Nathaniel asked back, dumbfounded before clarifying. "No, hell no! That's absolutely not what I'm proposing. Let's just go shall we?"
Putting back the book where he took it on the nightstand, Nathaniel stood and opened the door of her room for her. Smiling slightly at his reaction, Brunhilde walked past him and entered the living room. There, she just froze, in the middle of the living room, her two protectors were tied up around a pillar. They look relieved when they see her and try to shout to her, things really hard to do with clothes stuffed in their mouth. Not far from them, Brunhilde saw Nathaniel's wolf sitting and looking at her two protectors with hostility, he seemed displeased to see them move and start growling.
"Like you can see, I was telling the truth." Nathaniel remarked.
"Indeed. I would like you to move your wolf away from my people now."
"Fair enough." Nathaniel answers before making a motion with his hands.
Andy recognizing the meaning of this movement, hurried to Nathaniel's side to let himself be patted. In a blink of an eye, Andy had turned from a dangerous predator into a cute puppy wanting to play.
"Good boy Andy." Nathaniel complimented him and scratched the top of his muzzle before turning to Brunhilde. "I'm going to wait for you in the lobby if you want to take me on the offer. If in ten minutes you did not meet me, I'm going to take it as you are not being interested and I will leave. Duchess, guys." Nodded in their direction before walking to the front door, opening it and stopping in the doorway, he turned back to them.
"And if you do come, you can leave your two dogs here. I don't like to be followed." Nathaniel adds in russian.
"What about your dog?" She asked with a hint of amusement in her voice, also responding in russian.
"Mine is cuter." Nathaniel smiled before closing the door.