Divine grinned at the question. “Youth is a relative term. I guess I was two hundred, maybe almost three hundred years old when I accompanied the Persians there.”
Marcus arched his eyebrows. “The Persians conquered Egypt, didn’t they?”
“But good,” she agreed dryly.
“Hmmm.” He watched her cross the room to a binder on the table and open it to glance through the contents. They’d grabbed a couple of donuts and coffees from a drive-through coffee shop to tide them over on the way here, but he was starved now. It looked like she was too.
“This room service menu . . .” Divine frowned and shook her head. “It might as well be in Greek. What are buffalo chicken wings? Are there buffalo chickens? I thought buffalo were wild ox or cows or something.”
“So did I,” Marcus said with a shrug. “We could always bypass the menu and order pizza delivered. Dante and Tomasso seem to really like that and order it delivered all the time.”
“Would they deliver to a hotel room?” she asked with interest.
“Why not?” Marcus said and pulled out the cell phone Vincent had loaned him. He quickly looked up pizza delivery in Las Vegas. He found one close to the hotel, looked up the menu, and pursed his lips.
“Problem?” Divine asked, snapping her binder closed.
Marcus shook his head. “I’m just not sure what’s good on pizza. The boys usually order something called a meat eater’s or something and— Oh good, they have a meat lover’s pizza that should be similar . . . It has pepperoni, sausage, bacon, and meatballs,” he read off, and glanced at her in question. “Is that okay with you?”
“Sounds fine,” Divine said and stood up to head for the bathroom. “I’m going to take a quick bath while you order.”
“Take your time,” Marcus murmured, distracted by punching in the restaurant phone number from memory. “It usually takes a while for pizzas to arrive after ordering. Anywhere from half an hour to an hour in Canada.”
“Okay.”
He heard the door close, but his attention was on the ringing from his phone. It wasn’t until he placed the order and ended the call that Marcus realized that Divine was taking a bath. He could hear the running water and supposed she was stripping and—
Realizing that he’d somehow moved across the room without intending to and that his hand was now on the doorknob, Marcus caught himself. She wanted a bath. If she’d wanted something else she wouldn’t be shut up in the bathroom running water, she’d be stripping out here in front of him.
He couldn’t blame her for wanting a bath, Marcus thought as he turned away from the door. While it had probably been in the nineties when they’d started their play evening at five, it had cooled off a little as the night had progressed, but had still been in the high eighties and humid as they’d rushed around from ride to ride. He was feeling a little in need of a bath himself and his clothes were grimy and sweaty, Marcus noted, wrinkling his nose as he raised an arm and sniffed himself.
He definitely needed a change of clothes, and Divine would no doubt appreciate fresh clothes when she got out of her bath too, Marcus thought, and headed for the door.
The plan was for him to just quickly nip out and pick up a couple of things, then hurry back. It didn’t end up that way. Divine was the problem. Marcus wasn’t sure on size or even what she’d like. It wasn’t like Gypsy outfits were easy to find in hotel gift shops. Actually, while there were lots of T-shirts, jackets, etc. with the Luxor logo on them, there wasn’t much in the way of bottoms. Not that he thought Divine would want to walk around with “Luxor” on her ass.
In the end, Marcus asked the concierge for a suggestion of somewhere nearby to shop and then grabbed a taxi out in front of the hotel to the place the guy suggested. What followed was several panicked moments, maybe even half an hour, of picking up and discarding items until he just gathered a bunch of items together and rushed to the till. He had to be back in time to accept the pizza. Marcus wasn’t sure Divine had any money on her, if she was even out of the tub to answer the door.
He was weighed down with half a dozen bags heavy with clothes when he got back to the Luxor. Marcus rushed to the elevators, conscious of the passing time and afraid he’d missed the pizza delivery. That worry in mind, he made a run for it when he saw that one of the elevators was on the ground floor, the doors just closing. Even so, he wouldn’t have made it if the young guy inside, the only occupant, hadn’t grabbed the door to stop it from closing.
“Thanks,” Marcus murmured with relief as he slid inside.
“No problem,” the young man said easily as Marcus glanced to the numbered buttons on the wall.
Finding the button for the floor the room he shared with Divine, Marcus noted it was already lit up and let out a little sigh as he leaned against the wall for the ride. He’d barely done so when the scents in the elevator drew his attention back to his companion. The kid who had held the door for him smiled and nodded when Marcus’s gaze zeroed in on the wide flat insulated bag he carried on one raised hand like a waiter carrying a tray.
“Smells good, huh?” the fellow asked.
“Yeah,” Marcus agreed and completely relaxed as he read the room number on the sales slip taped to the top of the six-pack of Coke in the guy’s other hand. He hadn’t missed the delivery. This was it. Marcus didn’t say anything to the delivery boy, though, simply rode up with him, stepped out, and headed down the hall, aware that the boy was following.
“Figures,” the kid said with a laugh when Marcus stopped to unlock his room door.
“Yeah,” Marcus agreed. “I was afraid I wouldn’t be back in time. Good thing you held the elevator door for me. Thanks again for that.”
“My pleasure. Saved me a trip back and forth for nothing,” he said with amusement, moving forward when Marcus gestured for him to follow. He didn’t come all the way into the room, but stopped just inside, his body keeping the door open as he waited for Marcus to drop all his bags and pull out his wallet to pay him.
Marcus gave him a good-sized tip, took the pizza and pop and wished the kid a good night, then let the door close and turned into the room just as Divine came out of the bathroom. Her hair was damp and slicked back from her head, and she wore a hotel robe. She looked shiny and clean and sexy as hell in the oversized robe and for a minute Marcus considered leaving the pizza until later and just—
“Mmmm, that smells delicious,” Divine said, smiling widely.
“Right,” Marcus murmured, and gave his head a shake. Food first, he told himself firmly and carried the pizza and Coke to the small round table between two chairs. Setting them there, he then snatched up the ice bucket and headed for the door. “You go ahead and start eating. I’m going to grab us some ice.”
Marcus didn’t wait for a response, but hurried out. He’d spotted the ice room on his way up the hall and hurried there now to fill the bucket. When he got back, Divine had found little packaged coffee packets with a spoon, sugar, cream sweetener, and napkins in them. She’d opened a couple and taken out the napkins for them to use. She’d also collected the two glasses from the bathroom counter and set them out on either side of the pizza box on the table.
“Go ahead and start, I’m going to wash my hands,” Marcus said, setting the bucket on the table and heading for the bathroom. The room was still a little steamy from her bath and smelled good from the shampoo and soap, he noted as he walked up to the sink. He turned the tap on, but one glance at himself and Marcus grimaced. He was filthy. He didn’t know how, all they’d done was ride the rides and then drive for a couple hours, but he was coated with a fine dust of dirt, that had pathways through it from where sweat had run.