Chapter 33

Michael

On Friday, Rainey and I worked until eight at night finishing up all of the final tasks for the charity event the next night. I couldn’t believe the event was already here. I had the same feeling each year. The preparation took over my life until the night of the gala. This year was no different in that regard, but I had the added pressure of the situation surrounding Sal Rossi’s death. I felt like my limbs were being pulled in all directions at the same time.

“I think it’s quitting time,” I said to Rainey.

She yawned and nodded a few times. “I think so too. We both need our beauty rest for tomorrow.”

“Well one of us does,” I said.

She gave me a strange look.

“I mean me,” I said quickly. “Obviously.”

She gave me a half-smile and started to gather her things.

We were finally back to the working relationship we had before Colorado, even though I kept thinking about when I almost kissed her the other day. I knew exactly what I was doing, but since she was the one to break this off, she’d have to be the one to initiate it again. At least that’s what I kept telling myself. She lingered close enough to me that day that I knew this wasn’t over between us. Something was holding her back. It wasn’t a guy. It was her need to keep her job. I didn’t want to interfere with that. At least not yet. I had plans for her to take over the Christmas charity no matter what happened between us. I had the ability to keep personal and professional separate in my life. I hoped she knew that.

I walked her down to the lobby and flagged her a taxi. Like hell was she taking the train this late. Not under my watch.

Before she got in, I said, “Hold onto the receipt and Sandra will reimburse you in your next paycheck.”

“Thank you,” she said and got into the car.

I waited until it was out of sight before I crossed the street to where Constantine had parked my car. Rainey was much better at accepting my money lately. It helped that I never gave her much of a choice, and I wasn’t being controlling. I had enough of it, and I wanted to treat my employees well. If they didn’t have to worry about money, then I knew I’d done my job correctly. Besides, I had enough to go around.

By the time I got home, I was wired. I checked in with Sam before heading up to my bedroom. Instead of laying down and staring at the ceiling, I decided to be productive. I went into my walk-in closet to choose what I was going to wear for the gala.

While sifting through a sea of black tuxes and white shirts, my mind wandered to the other matter occupying my thoughts. I hadn’t heard anything from the police, and neither had Frederick. I expected they would head to Kadia next, but they hadn’t. Did they know something that I didn’t? And when I spoke with Frederick, he wasn’t any closer to finding out who the thugs were that approached Natalia. And why had they mentioned my name and not made contact? That unsettled me quite a bit.

Natalia already high-tailed it out of town, and I limited my contact with her so she could stay out of this whole situation. This wasn’t her problem, and I didn’t want Teddy to drag her down any more than he already had.

Everywhere I went, I kept an eye out for the thugs. Every big bald man I saw spiked my heart rate. If the cops knew where to find me, surely those thugs could. Which made me think they were trying to catch me off guard. If they were, I hoped that they left the charity event alone. It was highly publicized with me as the front man so that would be the time to strike if they were going to do anything. And I wouldn’t have that. Especially because the charity was about the kids and not me. I didn’t know this mysterious investor or his motives but coming after me at an event like that was the bottom of the barrel.

Ultimately, there wasn’t anything I could do about it. And that fact killed me. I commanded control of any situation I was in, and this one was way out of my control.

It would be nice if I had Rainey on my arm to distract me. But she was there as my work partner, not a date. It could be a date. I realized that we never talked about going together outside of the professional capacity. Should I have made it official? Having her on my arm would make all of this drama go away, at least for a little while. She had a way of distracting me from my own life. It felt good to be with her. And I needed that right about now.

Since Natalia arrived and threw a wrench in things, Rainey had been slipping away from me. With Natalia’s information about Sal and the thugs, Rainey had become more suspicious even though she hadn’t pressed me for answers since the detectives came by the office. Even though she avoided the topic, I knew she wasn’t over it. Her stubbornness was normally sexy, but when it came to matters of Sal Rossi, I wished she’d forget it and move on.

After picking out the pieces of my outfit for tomorrow night, I went into the bedroom and picked my phone up from the side table where I’d left it. I held the phone in my hand and flipped through to find Rainey’s cell number. It wasn’t that late, and I wasn’t sure I could wait another moment before asking her. I hoped she hadn’t assumed she could bring a date. If she had a serious boyfriend, I wouldn’t mind her bringing a date, but since she didn’t talk about anyone tagging along, I hoped she didn’t have anyone in mind.

I squeezed the phone in my palm. Thinking about her with anyone else made me want to break things. It felt like she should be mine. Period.

I took a breath and tried to relax. Just call her and figure this out.

She picked up on the first ring. “Michael, what’s up?”

“Are you busy?” I asked. She sounded a little out of breath.

“No, I just got home. Did I forget a file again?”

I chuckled. “No. I wanted to ask if you’ve made plans to bring a guest tomorrow.”

There was a pause on the other line, and I gritted my teeth.

“No,” she finally said. “Actually, I haven’t even found a dress yet. I was going to go into the City tomorrow and find something. Sorry for being last minute, but all of this came rather quickly.”

I knew the feeling. “I wanted to ask if you would be my date for the event.”

“Your date?” she asked.

“Yes.”

“Oh, um—”

“Just say yes, Rainey.”

She laughed. I imagined the little crinkle in her nose. “Um, okay.”

“And I would like to pay for your dress as well. Pick whatever you like and send me a bill.”

“Michael, I can get my own dress.”

“Just say yes,” I said with a grin on my face. I liked playing this game with her.

She let out a light laugh. “Yes.”

“Perfect. I’ll send a car around to your home tomorrow.”

“No!” she said quickly. “I’ll meet you there.”

“Rainey, my date will not arrive in a taxi. Besides, I will already be at the event, and I want you to show up in style.”

“Okay,” she conceded. “See you tomorrow.”

“And Rainey?”

“Yes.”

“As my date and head of this event, don’t skimp on the dress. There will be a lot of important people there, and you need to represent my company as such.”

“I will.”

“Have a wonderful night then.”

“You too.” Her voice was so soft and sensual. My cock twitched in my pants as my heart fluttered in my chest.

She was the first to hang up. I sat on the edge of my bed and thought about the smile on her face. I heard it through the line at the end of the conversation. Rainey always dressed professionally, but I’d noticed she wore the same things over and over again. She wasn’t very materialistic, which I liked, but tomorrow night I needed her to step up her game. Buying her dress was a small favor for all the work she had done. She impressed me with her efforts. She’d never worked on an event like this but the motivation to help sick children had her working long hours with me to make sure everything was perfect. Her attention to detail was impeccable. She would do Cynthia proud tomorrow.

And I’d be the proudest man to be standing next to her.

With my date out of the way, I still had a lot of energy. It was late, but I was nowhere near ready for bed. That tended to happen the night before events like this. I doubted I’d get a lot of sleep, so I had to do something.

I sent a text to Frederick to see what he was up to.

I’m at the club, Frederick replied.

I’m going to drop by.

Good. I have something to tell you.

I scratched at the back of my neck. I hoped it wasn’t bad news. But knowing my brother… it probably was.