After we got dressed, Wendy checked the problem that she had sent Jeff to fix, then I took her out to the conference to meet some people.

As soon as she saw us, Evelyn gave Wendy the evil eye.

You know what, fuck Evelyn.

I don't know what sort of deal Evelyn made, but it's off. I don't know what sort of 1950s romance novel Evelyn has been reading, but this isn't how things went nowadays. You don't just blindly marry someone and then fall in love. That's just not the world we live in.

I have to back out of the agreement with Evelyn. She'll be upset but she'll see it's for the best. And I'll have to ask her about this money laundering scheme - no illegal shit, that was a ground rule I laid out for myself from the beginning, and I wasn't about to turn around on that.

Later. Right now, I have to make some more rounds with these VIPs.

"Judge Chalmers, I'd like you to meet my good friend, Wendy."

He stood and extended his hand. "Nice to meet you, Wendy. You're a lovely lady." She blushed and returned a compliment.

"I didn't realize there were judges in their 20s!" She smiled and they shared a laugh.

Evelyn seriously fucked up. Wendy was where it was at.

"Daryl, you didn't tell me your fiancé was such a charmer!" He was absolutely glowing.

She glanced at me to see if I was going to correct him - nope, I wouldn't dare.

"Wendy, do I know you? Do you live around here?"

"Born and raised, just like Daryl."

"High school sweethearts?" He looked hopeful.

"Sort of. We had a love affair the summer after high school, but before he went to the Academy."

"Beautiful. I love stories where high school sweethearts get married. Looks very good. Wins a lot of voters. And it's just nice that people still do that."

"Thanks, Judge Chalmers. I always knew that Daryl and I would end up together."

I looked at her and squeezed her hand. She meant it. She's the real deal.

I took her around to meet several more people - the assemblymen, the other State Senators, and the Congressmen. We even had a U.S. Senator make an appearance, and Wendy charmed the pants off of her.

I just had to stand back and let her do her thing. She was a fucking natural.

My first thought was that I couldn't believe it, but I actually COULD believe it. She was always a natural.

After I paraded her around, I took Wendy to the kitchen. I'd had my personal favorite chefs from my casinos come before me to train the cooks for the conference, and for general cooking skills in the restaurant. I planned to open a restaurant in this little town that was able to get a Michelin star. Only they didn't quite know it. Yet.

My favorite chef, Pierre, was an affable, older man with an amazing palate.

"Pierre, the lady would like something to eat. A donut, I believe, was denied you this morning?" She blushed and nodded.

"I was driving and eating and I dropped my donut. I never did get breakfast. I'm actually starving."

"Mon cherie, you must eat! Please, allow me to make beignets for you."

"Oh, like at Disney?"

"Oui, only the best for mademoiselle."

Pierre had a batch in process, and we ate hot beignets out of the fryer. I burned my tongue and she soothed it with little kisses.

I was smitten. I was falling for Wendy all over again. This time, I wasn't going to ruin it with blind ambition.

We moved on to the elevator and rode it up and down at least 10 times. There was making out in front of the guests, in front of the VIPs making their way to their rooms before dinner, and it was all fun and games until Evelyn was there when the elevator opened.

She looked scared.

"Can I talk to you? I need to talk to you." She'd lost that giddy schoolgirl look she had when she was introducing me to to Victoria.

"Can it wait? I've talked to everyone you wanted me to schmooze with. It's going great, Eve, can't you take a night off?"

"It's NOT going great, Daryl. You don't understand."

"Did you demote Wendy, Evelyn?"

"I can explain. Please, just come with me. I need to talk to you. NOW."

"Okay." I leaned in close to Wendy and handed her a room key card. "Meet me in an hour?" She kissed my neck and glared at Evelyn, got off the elevator, and turned to look at me checking out her ass as she walked away.

* * *

"What in the ever-loving fuck is your problem, Eve?" I wasn't that serious with Evelyn very often. Only one other time, in fact. And that wasn't even this serious.

"You don't get it. I worked very hard to find you the perfect wife, Daryl. Victoria is perfect for you."

"She's a fucking Vegas airhead, Eve. I mean, is that what you think I like? A fucking big-titted ditz?"

"You don't understand, Daryl." She looked scared again.

"You keep saying that, and you're right, I don't understand what your problem is. What's your beef with Wendy? She's not little miss perfect body? She doesn't have connections?"

"You have to go forward with Victoria. I can't explain more than that."

"Have you been using my email here, Eve? I... saw some strange messages."

"What sort of strange messages? I didn't send any strange messages. Are you sure they weren't yours? I don't know what you're talking about."

She was a hard ass, but she wasn't shifty. She was being shifty now. About Victoria, and now about these emails.

"Did you fire Wendy?"

"I had a talk with her supervisor, and she was already considering demoting her, yes. It wasn't my call."

I could smell the bullshit a mile away.

"I don't get you, Eve. You tell me I need a woman. I need the perfect wife. I find someone I like and you try - repeatedly - to get her out of the picture so I'll get with this brain-dead bimbo, and you know I don't want that. And what was she talking about, an allowance plus expenses? I didn't agree to that."

"I can't tell you, Daryl," she looked down and shook her head. When she looked up, she had tears in her eyes.

I couldn't believe it, the woman of steel had tears in her eyes.

"What the hell is going on, Eve? What did Victoria mean about money laundering?"

"What did she say?"

"She said she was only doing this as a favor to her father. The mob boss, Evelyn. MOB. BOSS. What they hell is going on?"

"I can't tell you... it doesn't matter, anyway, it's done. But, please, for the love of all that's holy, don't you dare fuck this up, Daryl Dinero, because if you ruin this for me, I'll ruin you."

* * *

I paced the length of the suite for about an hour while I waited for Wendy to show up.

I couldn't go through with the fake engagement or the fake wedding.

I was in love with Wendy.

Love isn't something I was used to. Making decisions that affect hundreds of sailors? Diplomacy? Negotiating multi-million dollar deals? Hostile takeovers? Vegas casinos? No problem.

Love?

I was a wreck.

I can't say that I've ever told a woman that I loved her. But I had these feeling flooding back into me since I bought this hotel, and it's been on full Moses-level flood since I ran into Wendy this morning.

This morning!

I can't believe it's only been since this morning that I ran into Wendy. It's only been since this morning that my world has turned itself inside out.

What was Eve hiding from me? And why was Wendy asking me about emails? I hardly ever send emails. Why was Eve threatening me if I didn't go along with marrying Victoria. If she made a deal with Vic Lobos, she could be in deep shit. That guy doesn't make deals that benefit anyone but him.

Finally, the door beeped and clicked, the little green light flickered and the handle turned down.

Wendy came in, still wearing that amazing dress. I could just stare at her all day. But maybe that's creepy.

I decided that I'd just tear that dress off of her.

"What did Evelyn want?" She leaned against the door as it clicked behind her.

"Let's not worry about what Evelyn wanted. She always wants something. I still think that this campaign is more about her than it is about me."

"What about Victoria? What are you going to do?"

"I don't care about what she wants, either," he said as he walked towards me.

"What do you want?"

"I don't want someone else to decide what I need to do with my life," I said. "I've never lived that way, and I was foolish to let that happen with this. I thought I could trust Evelyn to pick out someone I could live with."

"So what happened?"

"You happened."