Before she knew it, almost two weeks had passed without him saying a single word to her. Which was why she was so surprised on Saturday when an envelope appeared at the bottom of her closed office door, sliding into the room with a slick whisper.
She opened it and found a check for two weeks worth of work and her heart sank.
She sat back down at her desk and proceeded to explain over the course of three post-it notes, and in the vaguest way possible, why she couldn’t accept payment in form of a check and how Tony had always paid her in cash. Then she attached the three post-its to the paycheck envelope and slid it under his office door, which was also closed.
It didn’t take long to get a reply. She’d been back at her desk less than five minutes when a note written in elegant handwriting on heavy parchment paper appeared under the door. It read, “If you want your money in cash, meet me at the Drake Hotel tonight after your shift.”
CHAPTER 8
“YOU’RE here to see a Suro Nakamura?” The woman behind The Drake’s guest desk gave her a questioning look, and Lacey couldn’t blame her. A ratty old Wrigley Field t-shirt and knee-length fleece shorts weren’t exactly standard apparel at one of Chicago’s finest hotels, and she certainly felt out of place in the opulent lobby, which was festooned with silk burnt orange curtains, dark wood paneling, oversized tufted settees, and incredible chandeliers practically dripping with light and crystals.
She was a little surprised she’d gotten past the red-coated doorman who’d also given her a suspicious once over as he let her into the ritzy Chicago landmark, which had been around since the 1920s. But it wasn’t like she’d had much choice. Suro had invited her up to his hotel room, for goodness sake! How else was she supposed to convey she wasn’t even remotely interested in entertaining a booty call and what happened in Montana would never happen again?
“Can you check to see if he’s staying here?” she said now to the clerk. “I thought we would be meeting in the bar, but he’s not there.”
The clerk typed the name into her keyboard, and Lacey hoped like crazy she wouldn’t get a hit. Maybe he had stood her up, just to teach her a lesson about standing him up in Montana. If that was the case, she could apologize on Monday and possibly get her money without things becoming intimate again.
But the clerk nodded and asked, “Your name?”
“Lacey Winters,” she answered.
The clerk picked up the phone and placed a discreet call. “Yes, Mr. Nakamura,” she heard the woman say. “Right away.”
And a few minutes later, Lacey was standing outside one of the Gold Coast suites, holding a magnetic key card with the name of the hotel printed across the front in Old English lettering.
She still couldn’t believe she was standing in The Drake, preparing to let herself into her new boss’s hotel room at his instruction. It felt like standing outside a door-shaped Pandora’s box. She had no idea what would happen after she dared open it.
But open it she did. It wasn’t like she could continue to work without getting paid, and she reminded herself that she regularly stared down men, even larger than Suro, when they tried to get too fresh with the dancers. She could handle this one guy. Couldn’t she?
She quickly slipped the key card in the door’s locking mechanism before she could chicken out. Inside, she found a spacious hotel room with a separate living area that provided a spectacular night view overlooking Lake Michigan.
Having only one day off a week, she didn’t get a chance to see the lake all that often, and it looked particularly pretty, lit up as it was by all the tall buildings running along is shoreline. She got so caught up in the sight, she didn’t hear when Suro emerged from wherever he’d been. Suddenly, he was there in the window’s reflection, looking dapper in a white open collar shirt, black leather jacket, and a pair of jeans.
She stiffened, but forced herself to turn around to face him.
“Hi,” she said.
“Hello,” he answered, his cool eyes giving away nothing.
“So you’re staying at the Drake? How amazing is that? I’ve always wondered what this place looked like on the inside. You hear about so many famous people staying here when they come to town, and a few of the dancers have gotten drinks downstairs just to check it out, but I never have. It’s a really pretty hotel, and I’m really excited I finally got to see it.” Lacey waggled her thumbs. “But it’s late and I don’t want to keep you, so I guess I should get going after you give me my money.”
“Dinner first,” he said.
She grimaced. “Hey, thank you for the offer, but I’m way under dressed to be eating at a fancy restaurant, so why don’t we just do the money exchange and I’ll get out of your hair?”
He took off his leather jacket and hung it across a chair at a round table, which she could now see was covered with a table cloth and set with a bottle of wine, two candles, two side salads, and two dishes of what appeared to be a very delicious-looking chicken linguine with mushrooms, covered in freshly grated parmesan.
“Dinner first,” he said again and pulled a seat out for her.
Before she could even think to lie that she wasn’t hungry, her traitorous stomach rumbled its appreciation of the well-presented food.
“Thank you,” she said, taking a reluctant seat.
The linguine was just as delicious as it looked, and though she didn’t dare touch the red wine he’d poured for her, Lacey found herself relaxing and, once again, doing most of the talking, though she did keep trailing off to stare out at the lake.
“Sorry,” she said after she did it a fourth time. “It’s just…Lake Michigan is so beautiful, and I almost never get to see it at night.”
“Why not?” he asked.
She was surprised by the question, since he hadn’t asked one the entire time they’d been eating. “Well, you know, my hours are weird, so I don’t get much leisure time after the sun goes down.”
“You work too much,” he said.
She shrugged. “Obviously you make a lot of money doing high-end security, but paying for Sparkle’s schooling isn’t exactly easy for me.”
“Yet you refuse to apply for a scholarship.”
She lowered her fork and pasted a smile on her face. “Nope. There are students who need them more than Sparkle, and I don’t mind working. It keeps me busy.”
He lifted his eyebrows. “Either that or you didn’t want to provide the school with your financial records, so you’re working what amounts to three jobs to pay her tuition.”