property disputes, employee investigations. Basically anything a business owner might need to find out or keep his competitors from learning.”
Meg nodded. So he was smart and ambitious. “Corporate counterespionage? Like companies spying on each other?”
“Right. I majored in engineering so I often handle hi-tech cases myself. I was in Hong Kong to investigate a patent infringement case involving this certain piece of technology that—” He cut himself off and grinned. “I must be tired to even tell you that much, and you haven’t told me anything about yourself except your Japanese name is Michiko. Do you go by an American name as well?”
Meg grinned back. “Maybe, maybe not. You’re the professional investigator, you find out.”
“I can find out in thirty seconds if I ask Rey or Marco. Or look in the wedding bulletin.”
She shook her head. “That would be cheating. Are you a cheater?” she teased.
His eyes darkened and jaw set. Interesting. “No way.” Then his expression lightened. “All right, mysterious Michiko, if you won’t tell me, I’ll find you anyway. That is, if you do want me to find you after tonight.”
She deliberately rested her hand on his, the tiny hairs on the back of his hand tickling her palm. “I do want you. To find me, that is.” Her voice came out breathy as she imagined how his fingers would feel touching, caressing her. Maybe tonight? She shivered. He had mentioned his hotel room earlier.
“I will. That’s a promise, Michiko.”
His sexy voice sliding across her name decided it. Megan O’Malley hadn’t had any luck with hot men, so maybe it was time to let Michiko have a try.
And where Michiko went, Meg would come, too. Preferably more than once.
2
RICK WATCHED in fascination as Michiko took a long sip of whiskey.
“That tasted great, warming my throat all the way down.” She ran her tiny pink tongue around her pouty lips and stroked the creamy length of her neck, trailing her slim fingers between her breasts. “How was yours?”
“What? Oh. My drink’s fine.” He’d been distracted by the expression on her face as she caressed her throat and chest. She was the most sensual woman he’d met in a long time, but he would have a hard time finding her if he didn’t learn more about her. “Tell me about yourself, Michiko.”
“Hmmm, just enough information to give you a challenge. I live in Chicago, but I’m not from here. Rey and I have been friends for a few years.”
“Where do you work?”
She laughed. “I’ll give you a couple clues. I was born in Japan and I work at a university in the city.”
He knew she was as smart as she was beautiful. Was she an artist like Rey? “What department?”
She shook her head, the reddish highlights in her dark hair gleaming. “That’s all you get out of me tonight.” But her sidelong smile as she sipped her drink told him that wasn’t necessarily so.
“You have a drop on the corner of your mouth.” He wanted to see her tongue again, watch it make her full lips glistening and wet.
“Can you get it?” She turned her big green eyes on him.
“Sure.” Instead of wiping the whiskey with a napkin or even his thumb, he deliberately kissed the corner of her mouth, flicking his tongue over the seam of her lips.
She met his tongue with hers, her taste dark and spicy. Her slender hand rested against his chest, and his heart pounded painfully as if to reach her touch.
He cupped the silken nape of her neck and she moaned, her mouth opening even wider under his. Winding her arms around him, she caressed the hollow of his throat. He planted frantic kisses on her mouth, her cheek and jaw, following the path her fingers had traced, almost down to her breast. Her fingers tightened in his hair and he broke away from her, his heart racing.
They stared at each other and he wiped a shaking hand across his face. “We have to stop.”
“Do we?” She lifted an eyebrow.
“What do you suggest?” His pulse pounded painfully.
“I hear the Palmer House has wonderful rooms upstairs, but I’ve never seen any.” Her eyes were heavy-lidded and seductive, her mouth plump and glistening. “Want to show me yours?”
Oh, boy, did he ever. He pulled his electronic keycard out of his jacket pocket and handed it to her. “I’m in room 1033. I’ll meet you in ten minutes.” He’d never settle down enough to walk across the lobby if she sat with him. He also didn’t want her to be embarrassed if they were caught slipping upstairs together.
She stood and turned to look at him. “Hurry, Rick. I’ll be waiting.” She wove her way through the tables, her hips swaying in a sinuous stroll.
He tossed back the rest of his whiskey and took several deep breaths. “Believe me, Michiko, I’ll make it worth the wait.”
MEG MANAGED TO KEEP her walk confident until she got into the empty elevator. The doors glided shut, and she clutched the brass elevator rail.
“What am I doing?” Her voice echoed crazily around the empty elevator, her palm sweaty around Rick’s keycard. The mirrored walls reflected someone she’d never seen before. She stepped closer to examine her face. Her eyes were deep green and heavy-lidded, her cheeks flushed. Her mouth was puffy and pink, despite having kissed off all her lipstick. She hoped he didn’t have a huge smear of Palmer House Plum on his collar.
She gave a start as the elevator rose. The doors opened at the ballroom level and the sweet strains of a Nat King Cole love song floated in. A couple staggered into the elevator, kissing and tugging at each other’s clothing.
Pretending she was alone was the best course of action. She only hoped they got off the elevator before, well, they got off in the elevator.
The redheaded woman was about her age and pulled at the blond man’s tie, kissing the bared skin at the base of his throat. “We have to hurry.” Her voice was low and feverish.
He grabbed her ass with both hands. “Yeah, I have to get back before my girlfriend notices we’re gone.”
What a scumbag. Meg braced herself for an explosion of disgust from the redhead.
The woman shrugged. “My boyfriend was dancing with a brunette. I doubt he’ll miss me.”
The repulsive pair finally stumbled off the elevator onto the ninth floor, one floor below Rick’s room.
Well, Nat King Cole might think love was forever, but Meg knew different.
The elevator door opened on the tenth floor. She took a deep breath and followed the corridor to Room 1033. Peeling the keycard off her palm, she jammed it into the slot. It blinked red warning lights.
Good enough. Her foray into anonymous sex was obviously not meant to be. She pulled at the card, but it stuck
