Chapter 1

Dom

“Should we book rooms on the Ark, George?” I teased the doorman as I waited for the elevator to return.

“Yes, sir, it may not be a bad idea. By my count, this makes the fifteenth day in a row we’ve had rain.” He noticed my tapping foot. “Shouldn’t be much longer, sir,” he gestured toward the elevator and both our eyes flashed to the LED numerals over the door, slowly counting down the floors. The count stopped for an exceptionally long time on the twenty-fourth floor.

George seemed embarrassed, evidenced by his attempt to loosen the collar of his red jacket with his pudgy index finger. “It’s the gentleman from the twenty-sixth,” he said conspiratorially, and I nodded in understanding. That guy had a helluva reputation. Perhaps he and I should compare notes.

The door finally slid open to reveal a remarkably tight ass at the base of a slender back. The woman to whom these belonged was on her knees, wiping her crimson lips with the back of her matching crimson-tipped fingers. At the same time, the gentleman from twenty-six was attempting to simultaneously zip his fly and wipe the traces of white powder from his upper lip, total unconcern governing his expression.

Forget that, he’s already fried, I thought to myself. He wasn’t the only burned-out billionaire brain in the building, but I’d be damned before I’d join them. There was too much game left to be played.

The gentleman tapped the woman out of the way with a gold-topped cane and exited, but she was still putting herself together. I got in with her—I’d grown tired of waiting and she’d undoubtedly appreciated the time the extra floors would allow to make herself presentable. She looked up at me while scrambling for her shoe. Her eyes widened, and the automatic smile was a split second behind.

“Hello there,” she tried, and I shook my head, my lips tightened into a firm line of refusal.

“No?”

“No.”

The elevator paused at my floor and the doors parted. She was still looking hopeful, but I pretended not to notice and crossed the threshold, my gold key in hand. I heard the doors whoosh closed behind me and silence was my reward as I let myself in.

My keys and tie went on the entry hall table and as I passed by the living room, I flicked a switch and banks of monitors bathed the room in a blue glow. I quickly checked the admin panel for current figures and then headed to the master where I pulled on a pair of gym shorts. Another switch and the gym flooded with lights and the rhythmic encouragement of electronic dance music. I pushed it hard for forty-five minutes and then slid the gourmet dinner prepared by my housekeeper into the oven. I tapped my phone to program its heating while I sank into the Jacuzzi on the balcony. Sixty-two floors below, Manhattan pulsed to its own, unique beat but above me, only the stars smiled silently as I sank into eucalyptus-scented bubbles. A sequence of notes alerted me to an incoming call from someone on my favorites list and I tapped a button to take the call.

“Dom?”

“Evening, Eric.”

“Have you seen…?”

“Yes, but stay calm. The Euro will be moving in a few hours and everything will stabilize.”

“I’ve got a client on the hook, man. I can’t have this while I’m trying to close a contract.”

“Who’s the client?”

“William Satterly, he’s in oil.”

I nodded. “I know who he is. So, what’s the problem?”

“He already has representation, but I want his business. He’s flying into town tonight and we’re meeting at the Expose Club at ten. I’ve been working on him for three months and he’s ready to tip, but he wants live numbers tonight to seal it. This Euro shit is fucking things up.”

“I told you, it will calm down. Just keep him busy until the timing is right.” I sipped from the goblet of Cristal balanced on the edge of the Jacuzzi. “You need a diversion, my friend.”

“What are you doing?” His tone was desperate, and I suspected a favor was in the offing.

“Sipping Cristal and waiting for dinner to ding. Then I’m headed for an early night—bushed.”

“No, no, Dom, you can’t. Not tonight. I need you, man. You’re the only guy I know who could convince this guy to trust me. You gotta do this for me, Dom.”

“No, go. I’m bushed, I told you.”

“Remember the hooker you smuggled into The Exchange?”

I rolled my eyes. “She wasn’t a hooker. She was an online concierge from my dating site.” I was the founder of an exclusive, no holds barred dating site for millionaires and used the Forex feeds to find new patrons.

“Same thing—she would suck dick for money, you know as well as I do.”

“So, what do you want?” I didn’t care about the hooker, but I made a point of never letting down a friend.

“Meet us at the Club?”

“Damn, a little late notice, wouldn’t you say? I’d have to come stag.”

“No, no, you can’t. I’ve got someone lined up for Satterly and I’m bringing the wife. You show up alone and his date loses interest in him. You’ve seen it before; you always go home with the broads.”

“Ladies,” I corrected him, but I knew what he meant. “Where am I going to find someone with this late notice?”

“Where do you find them when you get a hard-on at one in the morning? I don’t give a shit, man, just don’t come alone.”

“I think you’d prefer a little higher-class lady than my normal one in the morning, but I get your drift. I’ll do my best. Let me off here so I can eat and get dressed.” I tapped him off and sank back into the foam. I could hear my dinner calling and it smelled delicious. I closed my eyes and thought about how good my bed would feel, but my phone buzzed again and it was George, from downstairs.

“Yes, George,” I acknowledged him.

“Sir, a delivery from Hargrove’s for you.”

“Ask them to leave it with you.”

“I’m sorry sir, but I tried. They insist they must have your signature on the receipt. Shall I refuse it on your behalf, sir?”

I’d ordered an emerald silk dress in an Oriental style for Mary Beth Tyler. Mary Beth was the daughter of Stanley Tyler who just happened to own a few hundred banks along the east coast. If he agreed to refer me, I’d cut him in on my business and between the two of us, there wasn’t a fat wallet that would get past us. I’d have them all dating like fucking rabbits. Most were married, which was all the better. It made for fewer complications.

“Very well, send it up,” I replied to George and with a sigh, stepped out of the Jacuzzi and grabbed a towel to wrap around my waist. A light bell signaled the elevator had arrived and I went out to meet it.

The doors parted and there stood a petite blonde dressed in a navy delivery uniform, complete with double-breasted brass buttons and a smart matching cap pinned onto her curls. “Your package, Mr. North?” she piped up, holding forth a white box tied with a gold ribbon. Her eyes widened as she caught my attire and I hoped I’d draped it so it opened on the side and not the front. I was too occupied looking at her to look downward at myself.

She had the most unusual green eyes I’d ever seen. They were slightly close-set but nearly half again as large as normal eyes and the deepest sea green with thick ebony lashes I’d ever seen. Her complexion was flawless, pale white and her mouth was plum ripe and glistened as it waited to be kissed.

I signed the small clipboard and held it out to her. “Your name?”

She saluted a delicate hand and said, “I’m Samantha Porter, Mr. North.”

“You’re a little different from the regular delivery guys,” I commented.

“Yes, sir. I’m a girl.”

“I can see that.”

She paused, as though she was ready to say something more but thought the better of it. “Well, thank you and have a pleasant evening, Mr. North.” She saluted again and turned to re-enter the elevator.

“Wait!” I leaped forward and reached for the hold button on the control panel, a move which caused the towel to hit the carpet. I saw her look. Her eyes grew even larger and then she demurely looked to the floor.

“How can I help you, Mr. North?” she choked out in a raspy voice that showed she was clearly intimidated.

“I need a date.”

“A date, sir?” Her voice was hoarse with disbelief.

“Yes, yes, I know how it sounds,” I acknowledged, bending to pick up and replace the towel. “Something just came up…” I stopped, hyper-aware of the double entendre. “That is, a friend just called and invited me to a late dinner with his client. I’m to bring a date and…well, I haven’t one. I don’t suppose you’d consider…” I let the invitation sound optional, although I wouldn’t allow it to be.

“To be your date, sir? Oh, no, I couldn’t do that.”

“And why not?”

Perspiration was showing on her pearly forehead and she was tossing her head, fighting to look anywhere but directly at me. “I’m on duty, Mr. North. And besides…” She let the excuse fade.

“Besides?”

“I haven’t anything appropriate to wear. Not even back at my apartment. I’ve just moved to town, you see. I want to be an actress but it’s hard getting started and well… I share a place with some of the others and we have only one fancy dress between us, you see… and it’s too big for me.”

She motioned her hands downward to underscore her diminutive stature.

“What size do you wear?” I asked her impatiently.

“Zero?” She asked it as a question because she didn’t understand where I was going with it.

I reached forward, grabbed her by the hand and pulled her off the elevator so it could be released and return to the lobby. Undoubtedly, someone would be waiting for it.

“But wait!” she cried out, slapping her palm onto her cap to keep it in place. “I’m working, I can’t do that. And besides, I don’t even know you!”

“Whose name is that on the delivery receipt?”

She looked down and back at me, puzzled. “Mr. Dom North.”

“And who am I?”

She nodded slowly, confirming her words, “Mr. Dom…North…”

“There, you see? You do know me, and I’ll call in for you and tell them I require your services for the rest of the evening. I’ll give you a tip that will pay three months’ rent and you don’t even have to sleep with me. Believe me, I don’t say that often. Just come with me to the Club and pretend to be my date, can you do that?”

“I still don’t have anything to wear…” she protested.

I handed her back the white box. “There you go. Everything you need is there. I know. I picked it out. Soup to salad, as they say. Go on into the first room on the left. You can shower and dress in there and you’ll find all the things ladies need on the vanity by the bed. Hurry up, now. We have to be down there by ten.”

“But, Mr. North…”

“Dom. You have to call me Dom. Can you remember that?”

“Well, of course. What kind of actress, well, actress hopeful would I be if I couldn’t remember my lines?”

“There you go. Consider this an acting job. Make you feel better? Okay, go get dressed and meet me back out here in fifteen.” I gave her a small shove in the right direction and then smelled my dinner. “Are you hungry?”

“Me? No, sir, I had dinner on my break.”

“Good. Only enough for me, anyway. Go on now. Get dressed and I’ll meet you here in fifteen minutes.” I’d already moved on to the kitchen and left her standing. When I returned a few minutes later, an empty fork in my hand, she was gone and I could see a light beneath that bedroom’s door. She was evidently doing as I’d ordered. Good girl—she could follow orders. We’d have to see about the rest.