Read Online Her Perfect Gift by Theodora Taylor - Free Book Online

had invited her up to his hotel room, for goodness sake! How else was she supposed to convey she wasn’t even remotely interested in entertaining a booty call and what happened in Montana would never happen again?
    “Can you check to see if he’s staying here?” she said now to the clerk. “I thought we would be meeting in the bar, but he’s not there.”
    The clerk typed the name into her keyboard, and Lacey hoped like crazy she wouldn’t get a hit. Maybe he had stood her up, just to teach her a lesson about standing him up in Montana. If that was the case, she could apologize on Monday and possibly get her money without things becoming intimate again.
    But the clerk nodded and asked, “Your name?”
    “Lacey Winters,” she answered.
    The clerk picked up the phone and placed a discreet call. “Yes, Mr. Nakamura,” she heard the woman say. “Right away.”
    And a few minutes later, Lacey was standing outside one of the Gold Coast suites, holding a magnetic key card with the name of the hotel printed across the front in Old English lettering.
    She still couldn’t believe she was standing in The Drake, preparing to let herself into her new boss’s hotel room at his instruction. It felt like standing outside a door-shaped Pandora’s box. She had no idea what would happen after she dared open it.
    But open it she did. It wasn’t like she could continue to work without getting paid, and she reminded herself that she regularly stared down men, even larger than Suro, when they tried to get too fresh with the dancers. She could handle this one guy. Couldn’t she?
    She quickly slipped the key card in the door’s locking mechanism before she could chicken out. Inside, she found a spacious hotel room with a separate living area that provided a spectacular night view overlooking Lake Michigan.
    Having only one day off a week, she didn’t get a chance to see the lake all that often, and it looked particularly pretty, lit up as it was by all the tall buildings running along is shoreline. She got so caught up in the sight, she didn’t hear when Suro emerged from wherever he’d been. Suddenly, he was there in the window’s reflection, looking dapper in a white open collar shirt, black leather jacket, and a pair of jeans.
    She stiffened, but forced herself to turn around to face him.
    “Hi,” she said.
    “Hello,” he answered, his cool eyes giving away nothing.
    “So you’re staying at the Drake? How amazing is that? I’ve always wondered what this place looked like on the inside. You hear about so many famous people staying here when they come to town, and a few of the dancers have gotten drinks downstairs just to check it out, but I never have. It’s a really pretty hotel, and I’m really excited I finally got to see it.” Lacey waggled her thumbs. “But it’s late and I don’t want to keep you, so I guess I should get going after you give me my money.”
    “Dinner first,” he said.
    She grimaced. “Hey, thank you for the offer, but I’m way under dressed to be eating at a fancy restaurant, so why don’t we just do the money exchange and I’ll get out of your hair?”
    He took off his leather jacket and hung it across a chair at a round table, which she could now see was covered with a table cloth and set with a bottle of wine, two candles, two side salads, and two dishes of what appeared to be a very delicious-looking chicken linguine with mushrooms, covered in freshly grated parmesan.
    “Dinner first,” he said again and pulled a seat out for her.
    Before she could even think to lie that she wasn’t hungry, her traitorous stomach rumbled its appreciation of the well-presented food.
    “Thank you,” she said, taking a reluctant seat.
    The linguine was just as delicious as it looked, and though she didn’t dare touch the red wine he’d poured for her, Lacey found herself relaxing and, once again, doing most of the talking, though she did keep trailing off to stare out at the lake.
    “Sorry,”