Read Online Daddy's Game by Normandie Alleman - Free Book Online Page B

message anyway. The bouquet on the desk had a large note attached to it.
     
    Congratulations on your big show! I’m so proud of you, babygirl.
    Now for a game of Hide and Seek. Within one of these bouquets you will find a surprise.
    Find it before the opening and wear it close to your heart, the next best thing to me
    being there.
    Love,
    Natron
     
    Hmm. Natron frequently played little games with her. Usually they were sex games, but this could be fun too. She moved around the room, inspecting each of the arrangements, the yellow rose petals soft as satin under her fingertips. Where had he hidden it, and what could it be?
    She rolled her luggage into a corner and sat on the queen-sized bed. Her day had started at the crack of dawn in Dallas and would most likely end with her calling for some room service and turning in early.
    The flight to New York had been something out of a dream. Since Natron was at training camp and he’d had to miss her at her first big show, he’d pulled out all the stops and chartered a private plane to take her to the Big Apple. She had been the only passenger aboard and had been treated to a delicious chicken salad sandwich, cheese, fruit, and a bottomless glass of champagne. Any entertainment she’d required had been available to her—movies, Internet, TV shows—but Carmen had used the flight as an opportunity to catch up on the latest romance novel she’d been reading.
    Natron had arranged a private car to take her to the Plaza, where she checked into her room and was greeted by his latest romantic gesture. Not only had she never seen so many flowers in her life outside a florist’s shop, but she was also impressed he remembered that yellow roses were her favorite flower. She knew it was kinda corny, considering the whole ‘Yellow Rose of Texas’ cliché and all, but she loved them nonetheless.
    She looked through the packet of information from the art show and mapped out her activities for the following day. Tomorrow night was the opening for the National Portrait Society’s Annual Awards, and she would be attending as a prizewinner. With Natron’s blessing, she’d entered his portrait in the competition and was flabbergasted when she won the ‘Stroke of Brilliance’ award in the painting category.
    The festivities would begin with a cocktail party reception at five o’clock at the Guggenheim, followed by a dinner for the winners at Tavern on the Green. She lay back against the plethora of pillows and tried to soak it all in. The whole experience was more than she’d ever dreamed of. The only thing Carmen had ever wanted to do was her art. As far back as she could remember, she had been creating art, from doodles along the margins of her notebook to paintings in art class and countless creations from her markers and crayons at home.
    She’d never exactly planned a career for herself in art, but it was never a question of what she should do with her life either. Art simply was her life. She lived it, breathed it, and she used it to communicate.
    When she was seven years old, something had happened to her on the school bus. She’d come home crying and her mother asked Carmen to tell her what was wrong. Unable to stop crying, Carmen grabbed some paper and managed, “I’ll draw it,” through her tears. Then she proceeded to create an elaborate picture illustrating a bully hitting a little girl in the head. The girl’s wide eyes displayed the terror she must have felt, and the bully’s satisfaction was evidenced by his evil grin. That drawing was only the beginning of Carmen capturing emotions on paper. She was aware she’d been granted a gift and spent most days trying to improve it.
    Lost in her thoughts, Carmen snapped back to the present when something in one of the vases caught her eye. There was something in the vase atop the armoire, something yellow yet too small to be a rose. She climbed off the bed to investigate. Pulling several roses out of the water, she found