I closed the door between my new neighbor and me and stood there as the sound of it echoed off the walls of my empty condo. I’d been meaner than I needed to, but it had been a long day of moving and I’d lost most of my dishes when I dropped the box in the hallway. I’d be eating cereal out of a cup in the morning. Except, I then realized I didn’t have cereal or milk or anything else required for even the most basic breakfasts.

The woman had been pretty. Beautiful, in fact. Even covered from head to toe in paint with her hair pulled into a lopsided bun on top of her head, she looked like a runway model. Her heart-shaped face was thin, her arms long and willowy, and her legs went on for miles. But a beautiful woman was the last thing I needed in my life. I needed to focus on work, and I couldn’t afford to be distracted

The sooner I finished my job in Chicago, the sooner I could get home to New York. Several other guys had been up for the Chicago job, but I’d volunteered because the only thing keeping me in New York was my preference for the city. I didn’t have a family or a girlfriend. No one to tie me down. I could travel freely and stay in Chicago as long as I needed to without raising any red flags. And in the mafia, not raising red flags was priority number one.

Except, Richard Sabella seemed to have not received that memo. He had a good racket going in Chicago. It was well-known in the mafia world that his security business was a cover for his gambling rings and he made extra money by blackmailing local businesses into paying him for protection from him. He had the city of Chicago by the balls, and that should have been enough for anyone. But not for Richard, apparently. He had started moving his operations into New York the year before. It started small with a few rings popping up here and there, but then he’d started encroaching on Bianchi family territory, and it was time to cut him off at the knees. Which is why I was sent to Chicago to gather intel.

My boss somehow found me a job working in the mail room and as a part-time maintenance man in the same building Sabella’s business operated from. I was supposed to find as much information about Sabella’s criminal operations in Chicago and New York as possible, and then deliver it to my boss. It wasn’t an incredibly dangerous job, but it would be best to fly under the radar. To avoid making any friends or drawing any attention to myself.

But still, I found myself returning to Lindsay’s delicious curves as I unpacked. I didn’t plan to be in the city longer than a few weeks, but that was enough time for a quick fling. It would be a surface level relationship, at most. Plus, by some miracle, she lived directly across the hall from me. Talk about convenient.

I heard Lindsay leave for work early the next morning, and I looked through the peephole as she locked up. I saw she had on a tight red dress that made her ass look tight enough to bounce a quarter off of, but she disappeared down the hall before I could appreciate much else.

I’d received an email the week before about my start date and benefits at the company, but no one had mentioned anything about a dress code. I wasn’t sure whether I was supposed to wear a jumpsuit because I’d be working maintenance or business clothes because I’d be delivering mail to the offices. Or, maybe a uniform would be provided. To ere on the side of caution, I wore a pair of gray slacks and a plain white button-down sans tie. It looked good for office attire, but I could also roll up the sleeves and transition it easily into a more casual look.

The office was only eight blocks away, so I could walk to work. On my way, I picked up a black coffee and a croissant from a tiny coffee shop full of man buns and cut off shorts. One man bun behind the counter tried to sell me a vegan muffin and the glare I fixed on him sent him scurrying to the back room. The morning breeze felt cool, but not crisp the way it surely did in New York City, fall beginning to make itself known. Autumn in the city was my favorite time of year, but I didn’t know what to expect from Chicago. I’d never lived in the Midwest. I’d bounced around from foster home to foster home all over New York, but I’d rarely traveled out of the state.

The building Sabella ran his security business out of was one of many identical glass skyscrapers in the business district. The revolving doors in the lobby never seemed to stop spinning with people flowing in and out of the building constantly. The email I’d been sent said the mail room was in the basement, so I walked through the black and white lobby, past silver chandeliers and a glass reception desk, and rode the elevator down to the cement dungeon that was the basement. The elevator doors opened, and directly across the narrow hallway, beneath a flickering fluorescent, was a wooden door with a black sign nailed to the middle that read “Mail Room.” I knocked.

“Come in.”

I pushed open the door and an elderly black man with vibrant white hair and stooped shoulders looked up at me. His mouth was pulled down at the edges, but his eyes were wide and curious.

“Gabriel,” I said, pointing to myself. “I work here. First day.”

He nodded. “I’m Mr. Yancey. Welcome to the mail room.”

Mr. Yancey wore a pair of loose wool pants with clear pleats running down the front, scuffed brown penny loafers, and a short-sleeved white shirt untucked. Immediately, I felt like I’d made the right fashion choice for the day.

“There really isn’t much to the job. The mail is left on metal carts next to the door to the alley, we wheel it in to this room and sort through it according to floor then office space then last names, and then we wheel it out. In the afternoon, we package outgoing mail, slap a shipping label on it, and leave it on the same metal carts next to the door to the alley. Got it?”

Although, I had no idea where the door to the alley was, which office spaces were on which floors, or how to print out a shipping label, I nodded.

“Good. The morning mail will be here any minute. You can go get it.”

I had barely even stepped in the door, and Mr. Yancey was sending me away.

“The job posting didn’t mention anything about me answering to anyone,” I said. “Are you a supervisor?”

He looked up at me, his milky eyes narrowed. “We operate on seniority down here. Now, I didn’t come out of retirement to hold anybody’s hand. Can you figure out how to roll a cart or not?”

I wanted to tell the old man to drop dead but based on the unnatural curve of his fingers and the milky color of his eyes, I was worried the insult would hit a little too close to home.

The door slammed behind me as I left, saying what I wanted to say more clearly than I could have. I had a few weeks to gather the info on Richard Sabella’s operations, so really, it wasn’t so bad to have a reason to wander around the building.

I got back into the elevator I’d just exited and rode it up to the lobby. I’d seen a large directory of every office in the building on the wall next to the reception desk and I wanted to take a picture of it for reference.

The woman sitting behind the reception desk had a sleek black ponytail and bright red lips. She smiled as I approached, her teeth a violent shade of white.

“How may I help you today?” she asked. Her tone was professional, but her eyes glimmered with a hint of something more.

“I’m fine.” I moved over to the gold-framed directory and crossed my arms. I wanted to take a picture of it, but I felt strange doing so while she was staring at me. So, I studied it, hoping she’d look away soon.

“Looking for anyone in particular?” she asked, leaning forward onto her elbows, her shirt gapping in the front.

I shook my head.

“It’s a big building,” she said, her lips moving around the words slowly, rounding out each letter. “It’s okay if you’re lost.”

I let out a single annoyed sigh and turned to her. “I’m just looking at the directory. I’m not lost.”

She planted her palms on her desk, arms pressing her breasts together, creating enough cleavage that even a saint wouldn’t have been able to resist taking a peek. “Well, I’d be more than happy to deliver you wherever you need to go. All you have to do is ask.”

Every word was suggestive, and she winked at me as she finished, her tongue dipping out of her mouth to swipe across her red lower lip. I wondered whether she was this forward with every man she found remotely attractive. Did she want me to take her right there in the lobby? It was pathetic. Suddenly, I was anxious for her to forget me. The last thing I needed while trying to complete my objective was a desperate woman stalking me around the building.

“Actually, my girlfriend works at Sabella Security Solutions. Which floor is that on?”

The woman’s face fell, her red lips pursed into an annoyed pucker. “There’s only one woman in that office, and she’s coming in the door right now.”

Panic washed over me as I turned around. One woman? Had I just claimed to be dating a seventy-year-old woman? Or someone with severe body odor and halitosis? What were the chances the only woman working in Sabella Security was someone I’d actually want to date?

As it turned out, very good.

A leggy blonde in a form-fitting dress pushed through the rotating doors, her legs crossing over one another as she walked. She wore black high heels sharpened to points and had a large box in her arms that covered half of her face.

I turned back to the receptionist with an eye raise and a smirk. “Thank you.”

She shot daggers at me, but I was too busy crossing the lobby to care. I could offer to help the woman with the box, it would look like we actually knew one another, and the receptionist would forget all about the man she’d met in the lobby. Everything was working out perfectly.

“Do you need any help with that?” I offered, standing a bit closer to the woman than I usually would. I could feel the receptionist’s eyes boring holes in the back of my head.

“Oh my God, yes please. This thing weighs a ton.” The woman laughed and dropped the heavy box into my willing arms. As soon as she did, I saw her face, and recognition flickered.

Her mouth opened halfway, she pointed at me, and then she snapped her fingers. “Gabriel!”

I stared at her in a stunned silence. I knew exactly one person in the entire city of Chicago, and I’d run into her twice in two days.

“Now, you have to promise you won’t drop this box the way you did your own,” Lindsay joked, flipping her blonde hair back over her shoulder and winking at me. “What are you doing here?”

“I work here,” I said, still a little stunned. “And apparently you do, as well.”

“What are the chances?” she asked with a chuckle and a shrug.

“Very slim, I’d imagine,” I said, trying not to let my eyes wander past her collarbone. The red dress she was wearing fit tightly around her waist and hips and then flared out mid-thigh in a ruffle of fabric that hung around her knees. Most women I’d known who were as tall as Lindsay were self-conscious of their height, but she owned it and even accentuated it with razor sharp high-heels that shaped her calves. I dragged my eyes back up to her face, realizing how badly I’d failed in not drinking in the sight of her.

“My office is on the eighth floor,” she said, blushing slightly as she walked towards the elevators, probably because she’d noticed me ogling her.

Her office. Her office at Sabella Security. The chances of the same woman I lived across from also working in the same building as me and for the man I was in the city to gather information on were even slimmer. I needed to focus on my task and I wanted to get back to New York City as soon as possible but knowing someone in Sabella’s office would make my job a lot easier. That way, I could linger without drawing attention. And maybe she knew something about Richard Sabella’s illegal dealings. If she did, it would take a lot of coaxing to get answers out of her but based on how sexy she looked walking ahead of me, I was more than willing to put in the time. Even over time, if necessary.

“What do you do in the building?” she asked. She reached out and pressed the button for the eighth floor with an unmanicured finger. I noticed bits of brown and green paint under her nails.

I couldn’t understand why it was so hard to focus. She swayed her hips as we were waiting, shifting from one foot to the other, and I wanted to reach out and grab her, throw her against the cold metal doors. Instead, I swallowed. “Mail and maintenance.”

She smiled, her white teeth shining in the fluorescents illuminating the small elevator. “Perfect! Then, I should be able to see you around. We always have maintenance in our office for one thing or another.”

“What for?”

“My boss is pretty particular. He likes things a certain way and isn’t afraid to speak up. Plus, there is one light in the corner of his office that is always burning out. It’s bizarre.”

“He sounds fun,” I said sarcastically.

Lindsay shrugged. “There are worse things than being a bit demanding.”

Yeah, like being a mob boss, I thought.

The elevator doors opened into a large lobby space. The wall at the back of the room was floor to ceiling windows that looked out onto the other buildings in the business district. A solid wood desk sat in the middle. On either side of the space were glass walls set with glass doors, name plates next to each door describing either the owner of the office or the room’s purpose. Almost all of the rooms had the shades drawn and the doors closed. Only the employee break room was open, a man with a crew cut, shoulders as thick as a linebacker’s, and a tattoo snaking out from beneath his blue-collared shirt and wrapping around his neck sat at a table that looked comically small compared to his size. He turned as we passed.

“Hey, Linds,” he said, eyebrows raising when he caught sight of her dress, and then lowering when he caught sight of me.

“Hey, Rodge,” she said, shortening his name playfully. I assumed it was Roger.

She walked past the room without stopping and headed towards the desk. “Here we are,” she said, spreading both arms wide. “Home sweet home. You can set the box on the floor.”

I dropped it gratefully. She’d been right. It did weigh a ton. “What do you have in there?”

She laughed and then narrowed her eyes. “If I tell you, I’ll have to kill you.”

I narrowed my eyes at her. What did Lindsay know about Richard Sabella’s business? What had I just carried upstairs for her? Should I grab the box and make a break for it?

Lindsay interrupted my internal dialogue with a sharp laugh. “Just kidding. It is reams of printer paper and boxes of staples. Very exciting stuff if you’re into office supplies.”

My face relaxed and I nodded, acting casual. I didn’t know how much Lindsay knew about mob business, and if she did know a thing or two about what Richard was doing, I didn’t want her to get suspicious of me. The last thing I needed was Richard Sabella being tipped off about the new guy in the building.

“Since we apparently won’t be able to avoid one another, why don’t you let me take you out for a drink tonight after work,” I suggested. “To celebrate my first day and be neighborly and all that,” I added.

She quirked her head to the side. “Were you hoping to be able to avoid me?”

I opened my mouth and closed it, not sure what to say. I had never been a man of many words, but Lindsay seemed to leave me speechless more times than not.

“I’m kidding,” Lindsay said, reaching out to place a hand on my arm for a moment. “You are very serious, Gabriel.”

Lindsay bit her lower lip, disguising a smile, and I felt something stir inside of me. She was bold and outspoken. Perhaps, a bit too chipper for my liking, but still, I was not so secretly hoping drinks would lead to more than information about Sabella Security.

“I wish I could, but I have plans tonight. Rain check?” she smiled. “And since I had to reschedule and you’re the one new to town, the drinks can be on me.”

“I pay for my dates,” I said.

“Welcome to the modern age, Gabriel. I am perfectly capable of paying for my own drinks,” she said, eyes shining with mischief. “And besides, you should save your money for new dishware. I have enough broken pieces for ten mosaics, so I know for a fact you will spend a pretty penny on that.”

I held up my hands, unable to argue with either point.

Her eyebrows flicked, but before she could say anything, I winked and headed back for the elevator. I didn’t turn around, but I could feel her gaze on me as I walked away.