her head. It was a random picture. Anything could have been happening in that moment to distract him.
Madeleine needed to be more focused on what came next. Michael needed to start talking about his ideas, and she needed someone there to write them down. It was her reason for accompanying him to L.A. She still had some media contacts out there, and a host of people it wouldn’t hurt her to reconnect with. If she could work some of her old connections in L.A. and New York, she might be able to get him featured on a prime-time news show.
“Was there anything else?” she asked.
“No. I guess I can’t think of anything. You sure you’re going to be fine? In your room all night? I mean, do you ever leave it? Ever?”
“Of course I do. However, I also don’t mind staying in. It’s why I demand a suite when I do this work. It gives me more than enough room to stretch out.”
She was stretched out on the couch now, with her shoeless feet resting on a pillow. While on the phone with a client.
Shameless hussy, she thought.
“I’m not sure. I think you spend a lot of time by yourself. I thought maybe when we get back I could show you some of Detroit. The good and the bad. Might give you a better sense of who I am.”
Spending time with Michael. Getting to know Michael more.
Both very dangerous things. Madeleine wasn’t an idiot. Michael was intelligent, passionate, interesting and completely charismatic. There was a reason women all over the world flocked to him. Spending time in his sphere on a social level was bound to lead to her liking him.
Heck, she already did like him. She liked his energy and his direction. She liked the way he thought about how she might be lonely sitting in her hotel room.
He was a good man. She sensed it about him. Spending more time with him? It would do nothing but lead to trouble.
“We’ll see when we get back.” It was an easy out and would generate the least amount of resistance. She wasn’t sure what Michael’s intent was with all these invitations. Were they purely harmless or something more? Either way she needed to keep him at arm’s length if only for a little while. This job wouldn’t last too much longer. As long as she kept dancing out of his reach, she should be able to accomplish his goal and move on unscathed.
“Okay. How about you check me out? See if this monkey suit looks okay.”
Madeleine accepted the FaceTime request on her phone and a blip later she could see Michael standing in what appeared to be a very large closet holding his phone out so she could get the full effect.
It was as she thought. He looked utterly handsome, if a little restrained. She bet the first thing he would do when he got home from this evening would be to remove the jacket and tie and unbutton his cuffs and roll up his sleeves and relax.
Unless, of course, Charlene was with him. She hadn’t considered that possibility. She didn’t know why. The woman was obviously interested in him to have come all this way. Of course it made sense he would bring her home at the end of the evening. He had probably already done so on their two previous dates.
That thought made her irritated, but she wasn’t willing to admit why.
“You look very nice.”
“Nice? That’s the best you can do? I spent a couple of grand on this suit.”
“How about dashing?”
He smirked and she had to be careful not to roll her eyes since she knew he could see her, too.
See her, too! She was still lying on the couch with her shoes off. Instantly she sat up and while she held the phone steady on her face, she moved her feet around until she found one pump and slipped her foot into it.
“What are you doing?”
“Nothing. Just sitting here being forced to feed you compliments.”
Where the hell was her other shoe? Her foot stretched around while she worked to keep her hand steady.
“You’ve got a weird look on your face.”
“After I called you dashing…you’ve got some nerve. Wait one second.” Madeleine shoved the phone against the sofa cushion and then finally found her other shoe. Fully clothed she felt more in control of herself.
An acknowledged nutcase, but in control.
“There. I’m back.”
“Hoookay. Well, you have a good night.”
“I will.”
“Watch a movie or something.”
“Your dime.”
“I can afford it. Hell, I can afford two movies if you want. I’ll call you first thing tomorrow. We can have breakfast before we leave for the airport.”
“Or we can meet there. I can certainly get a cab…if you’re…if you’re otherwise engaged.”
She could see his forehead scrunch like he didn’t understand what she was saying.
“With Charlene,” she clarified.
“Oh. Yeah, yeah. Well, I’ll let you know. ’Bye.”
The screen went blank before she could reply. And later that night, instead of enjoying the on-demand movie, she spent the whole time wondering what she had seen in his expression right before he closed the connection.
She was almost certain it was sadness.
CHAPTER FOUR
“COMEON! Don’t be like that. I came all this way to be with you and you haven’t so much as kissed me on the cheek.”
Madeleine was on her way back to her hotel suite with a bucket of ice when the sound of a couple engaged in what appeared to be an intimate conversation stopped her. Not wanting to intrude on what was obviously a private moment, she remained still.
“Then I’ll kiss you on the cheek and say good-night. Some other time for us maybe.”
That voice! She knew that voice. Holy shoot. Peeking around the corner of the hall she saw Michael leaning in to Charlene as if to kiss her.
Immediately she pulled back. What in the hell were they doing outside of her suite? Or more accurately, the suite door next to hers.
Of course. Michael said Charlene was staying in the same hotel. Naturally she’d have a suite, as well. What were the odds she’d be right next door? Apparently very good ones. The idea that she might actually have to go back to her room, knowing what Charlene and Michael were doing in the room next to hers, was unthinkable.
Although, that she considered it unthinkable was probably not a good thing, either.
Darn it! Madeleine began to consider her lifetime legacy of bad luck, when she heard a noise that was part moan and part sigh.
Female
