Chapter Three
Perfect. As if Alex’s evening could become any more awkward, he had spotted Yuri attempting to eavesdrop near the entrance to the hotel lounge. It had suddenly become imperative to end the conversation with Maddie and get her out of the hotel before Yuri could begin to wonder what was going on.
Alex approached his cousin with raised eyebrows. “And you’re here why?”
“Just keeping an eye on you,” Yuri said quickly. He sketched a quick bow. “It’s time to leave for our meeting. I was beginning to wonder if you were going to make it at all.”
“I assure you, I would never send you without me,” Alex told his cousin in all honesty.
Of course, it wasn’t because Alex particularly wanted to spend time with Yuri. Alex couldn’t send Yuri to a meeting by himself because his idiot cousin would make a mess of everything that Alex had carefully spent the last year putting together. Yuri had a huge mouth and an even larger ego. He tended to believe that his way was the best way and never accepted input from others. It made him an annoying addition to any boardroom. Unfortunately, Yuri’s mother was Alex’s mother’s very favorite baby sister. That meant that Yuri was often assigned to Alex as a companion. The man actually drew a salary for the nonsense.
Alex sighed and tried to put his apprehension out of his mind. He could not start borrowing trouble. If Yuri had overheard the conversation with Maddie, he wouldn’t keep it to himself for long. Alex would just have to deal with each challenge as it arose.
“Let’s go,” Alex grunted. “They’re expecting us in the restaurant in less than five minutes.”
“I still don’t know why we had to have dinner here,” Yuri groused. “I would rather go someplace else.”
“This is convenient,” Alex said in a flat tone that discouraged further discussion. He was sick and tired of his cousin’s assertion that it would be far more appropriate to eat in a local topless establishment. Alex preferred class, and Yuri preferred easy.
“I’ll be taking a companion with me to dinner tomorrow night,” Alex informed his cousin as they crossed the hotel foyer and entered the restaurant.
Yuri actually stopped walking. “What?”
“I said, I’ll be taking a companion to dinner tomorrow night,” Alex repeated. The hostess gestured them forward, taking them immediately to one of the best tables in the center of the large dining room. Alex continued his conversation with his cousin. “I would have thought that would be very agreeable to you.”
“Why?”
“Because it means you can go enjoy the topless club instead of boring yourself for hours at an informal dinner with associates who mean nothing to you.” Alex spotted their dinner companions and gave a polite smile and a nod.
“I don’t like it.” Yuri’s tone was almost pouty. “We’ll see what your mother has to say about all of this.”
Alex groaned beneath his breath. Why did life have to be such a mess? But he had no time to deal with this right now. He had to focus on dinner and business.
Corrigan Peters smiled and shook Alex’s hand. “I trust your flight to New York was pleasant?”
“Quite, thank you.” Alex sat down as Corrigan and his top manager took their seats as well.
“I’m sorry,” Corrigan said hesitantly. “I couldn’t help but notice that you were in the hotel lounge with Madison Castillo. Do you know her very well?”
Well, that was completely unexpected. Alex wondered how to proceed. From the corner of his eye he could see Yuri practically frothing at the mouth with his eagerness to hear this particular explanation.
Alex cleared his throat. “Ms. Castillo—” At least now he was certain of her last name. “—and I met briefly during my last visit to New York. I find her very refreshing and asked her if she wouldn’t mind attending a few social events with me while I am here in town.” There. That sounded innocuous enough.
Corrigan nodded. There was something akin to a smirk on his face. “Yes. She’s quite...refreshing. Madison and my son move in several of the same circles. My son is an aspiring actor, and Madison is a music talent scout for a rather large record label here in New York.”
“She and I rarely discuss business,” Alex said stiffly. “In fact, the two of us tend to speak more about our outside interests...art, movies, and pop culture. That sort of thing.”
“I see.” Corrigan shared a look with his manager. “Well, regardless of your connection, she’s a very resourceful and driven woman.”
It was interesting to hear Maddie referred to in such a way. Perhaps it was because Alex had only ever known her casually at the club and between the sheets in his hotel room. He would certainly have thought of her as single minded, but he would have also said she was incredibly giving and honest in her reactions. Although, perhaps those traits had nothing to do with her business acumen.
“Shall we get down to business?” Alex asked pointedly.
Corrigan made a gesture with his hand. “Of course.”
The waiter arrived to take their drink orders, and Alex had never been so relieved to be interrupted in his life.
***
IN MADDIE’S OPINION, there was only one thing to be done when everything seemed to be going to hell. She was wearing her favorite dress and a pair of great heels. Her hair looked good, and her makeup was perfect. So Alex had other plans. So she was pregnant and therefore couldn’t consume any alcohol. That did not mean she couldn’t have fun, and most importantly, it didn’t mean that she couldn’t dance with her friends.
“Mwah!” Maddie leaned in to give her friend Danika an air kiss on her cheek.
Club Twining was full of partiers tonight, but Maddie’s friends had secured a prime table in view of the dance floor and the bar. Danika sat with Chelsea and Bess. The four of them often went out together. In fact, they had been with her the night she had met Alex six long weeks ago.
“Maddie!” Danika gushed. “Girlfriend, you look hot! What’s the occasion?”
“Alex is back in town.” Maddie decided just to dive in. “I found his pic on the celebrity blog and stopped by his hotel before I came here.”
Chelsea’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. “Whoa! That was a bold decision on your part. I thought the two of you decided to leave it casual.”
“Maddie leaves things casual with any guy,” Bess snorted. She took a long swig of her cocktail. “In fact, I think Maddie is the consummate love-them-for-one-night kind of girl.”
Maddie couldn’t argue with her friend’s accurate assessment. She just wondered what everyone would say when she dropped her next bomb. “Actually, Alex and I are going to hang out this week.”
“Excuse me?” Danika whipped around, black curls flying. “Did you just say you’re hanging out with him this week? What does that even mean?”
“Yeah,” Bess agreed. “Jason Jacobs has that big record release party this week. You were the one who found him in that dive down in the Village. You have to be there!”
“Right,” Maddie murmured. Shit. She had totally forgotten that party. She affected a completely nonchalant shrug. “Maybe I’ll take Alex with me.”
Chelsea began to laugh. “Oh boy, the girl has it bad! Not that I can blame you, Mads. That guy is hot. And the two of you were scorching out there on the dance floor. The chemistry was practically explosive. I think the whole club got a hard on just watching the two of you flirt.”
“That’s a little bit of an exaggeration.” Maddie couldn’t help but laugh. “I do like him, though.”
“Monogamy doesn’t really fit with the scene, you know?” Danika reminded her.
Maddie swallowed back a huge lump in her throat. “Yeah, I do know.”
“So what about Farah Rocket and Ty Rhodes?” Bess asked eagerly. She waved her manicured nails at Maddie. “I know Ty has a contract with your label, but the rumor is that he promised Farah he would cut a single with her for her next record. That’s going to put the guys in legal into straight jackets trying to work through all that red tape!”
Why didn’t this conversation interest Maddie? She felt oddly removed from the details and wondered why. A dozen yards away she heard the thump and beat of the music. It called to her. Perhaps she just needed something familiar, or maybe she needed to forget. Either way, there was only one activity she was interested in at the moment.
“I’m going to dance,” she told her friends.
Without waiting for anyone else to offer to come along, Maddie strode boldly out onto the floor. She nudged her way between the couples and groups and closed her eyes. The high energy techno music seeped slowly into her soul. She let the beat thrum in time with her heart and stopped trying to fight what came naturally. Soon her arms began to move and her hips slowly gyrated to the rhythm.
Her brain stopped spinning, and she forgot for a moment that she was in the middle of what could most definitely be considered a crisis. She let her body move with the music and stopped trying to fight whatever urges came over her.
It didn’t take long for her to garner attention. She felt a large male presence near her, and soon a set of large hands bracketed her hips. Her impromptu dance partner gyrated with her. His hips moved in time with hers. He was far too tentative for her taste, but Maddie wasn’t going to be picky tonight. She slung her arms around the stranger’s neck and let him whirl her around for a moment. She dipped low and felt sweat bead on her skin as she danced. The lights were so hot as they flashed overhead. The bodies around her were sweating too, and the massive room was filled with the scents and sounds of humans crushed together in a moment of insanity.
Maddie lifted her hands over her head and began to hum with the music. She knew this song. In fact, she knew the DJ. She’d helped him get on with her label. That was the way of things here in New York. Now she was dipping and swaying to his music as someone else layered their own beat over the top of his in some bastardized remix.
Suddenly, her partner placed his hands on her belly. Maddie abruptly stopped moving. She opened her eyes and took a step back. The man she was dancing with stopped as well. He was good looking in a muted sort of way. He wore typical club clothes, and his expression was more of a leer than a smile. She didn’t have to wonder what he wanted from her. It was written all over his face.
What she never could have predicted was her reaction. Everything inside her began to shrink away, and she reflexively put her hand over her mouth.
“I’m going to be sick,” she managed to say moments before she vomited all over her shoes.