Pipe Dreams(19)

Her father managed a civil good-bye, and they hung up.

Lauren got off the bus and eyed the sleek hotel. Under different  circumstances, she would have enjoyed a trip to a luxury resort on the  beach. But she and Mike had once been here together for the wedding of  one of his teammates. They'd stayed at the adjacent resort.

It had been the most magical weekend of her entire life. The wedding was  both elegant and fun. And afterward she and Mike had attacked one  another in a partially secluded spot outdoors. It was risky and  reckless. She'd loved every second of it.

But the memory loomed large.

These were her thoughts as she stepped into the sleek lobby and marched  toward the check-in desk. This place was top shelf. It had been designed  to make guests feel as if they were at a nightclub. There were no  wicker chairs or potted palms. This was moneyed Florida-the low pulse of  house music played in the background, and long linen curtains billowed  from the thirty foot ceilings. The trippy, oversized furniture was  straight out of Alice in Wonderland.                       
       
           



       

Lauren got her key as fast as she could and slunk off to the elevator  bank without making eye contact with anyone except Nate. "You want to go  over last week's ticket revenue split later?" she asked him as they  both waited for the elevator doors to open.

"Does it look okay to you?" he asked.

"At first glance," Lauren hedged. "I want to add it up again before I decide that the box office got everything right."

He grinned. "You take care of it, then. Just shoot me an e-mail with the results."

"Anything else? I thought I'd spend the afternoon working on next week's corporate sponsorship numbers."

"Sounds like a plan," Nate agreed, holding the elevator door open for  her and then pushing his keycard into the slot so that the elevator  would agree to open on the penthouse floor. They were both headed there.  Wherever they traveled together around the globe, Nate always put  Lauren in the room next to his, just to keep her handy. "I'm meeting up  with Alex at six-an hour before the benefit. So I might need, uh, your  services for a minute just before then."

Lauren puzzled over that for a second and then smiled. "The bow tie, right?"

"Yeah," he said sheepishly. "I hate black tie."

"Then why did you let Alex talk you into it?"

"Some people are annoying when they don't get their way." He shrugged.  "I'll give her black tie, but I won't give away the router division for  less than it's worth."

"Oh, Nate," Lauren laughed. "I love you." She didn't even know why she  said it. It just slipped out. Must be the stress of working for the  Bruisers and that unsettling conversation with Mike the other night.

He tilted his angular face in her direction and considered her with kind  eyes. "You should say that to people more often, Lauren. It suits you."

"No, it doesn't," she argued, trying to get back to the joking place  they'd been in a minute ago. "I'm too crusty to go around telling people  I love them."

"You're not, though. Not really."

"Nate," she warned under her breath.

"What?"

The elevator arrived on the penthouse floor and she followed Nate out.  "I'll make you a deal," Lauren proposed. "I'll tell more people I love  them if you do the same."

He paused mid-stride, and Lauren almost ran right into him. She braced  herself for the words: mind your own business. Nate was famously nosy  and famously tight-lipped about his own life. But if you ran a  multibillion-dollar company you could behave that way, she supposed.

But Nate didn't say anything. He just kept walking like nothing had  happened. They headed down a corridor with carpet so thick that their  footsteps were noiseless. He went to the far end of the hall, where the  plaque read Ambassador's Suite. Hers said: Princess Suite. "Knock when  you need your tie tied," she called softly.

He gave her a wink and then disappeared into his room.


• • •

The Princess Suite was too big for one lonely thirty-one-year-old.

This one had a giant whirlpool tub at one end of a bathroom the size of a  regulation hockey rink. The bed in the ocean-front bedroom was  enormous, and piled high with white pillows of every conceivable size.  There was a row of fluffy terry bathrobes-leopard print no less. And a  vanity table that sat four.

The living room had a table and chairs. This was where Lauren set  herself up to work for the afternoon. But after a couple of hours she  moved her laptop to a shapely leather sofa and sprawled on it.

It ought to have been the perfect working environment. But it was so  quiet she began to feel twitchy. She missed her desk in Manhattan and  the watercooler gossip there. At Nate's software company she wasn't  Lauren-who-Mike-ditched. She was just the efficient woman Nate trusted  with his calendar, with his whole goddamn life really.

She got up and did a lap around the hotel suite, taking time to give  each of the dresses she'd unpacked a shake to eliminate wrinkles. There  hadn't been time to snap pictures and e-mail them to Ari, so she'd just  brought an armful.

Now she had an idea.

Lauren went back to her laptop and e-mailed Ari and Georgia, asking them  if they wanted to swing by the suite for snacks and primping later.  "I've got some dress choices for Ari. But I've also got practically an  entire salon up here, including good lighting and those magnifying  mirrors that make everyone's pores look like lunar craters."

A few minutes later both Ari and Georgia had responded that they'd love  to come up to the penthouse floor to get beautiful for the party.                       
       
           



       

Well okay then. Now she had something else to plan.

She ordered mini sandwiches and finger foods from a deli she located  with her Katt Phone. She ordered beverages from room service-a bottle of  white wine on ice, as well as a six pack of Diet Coke.

At six o'clock she set everything out on the table. It looked like a lot  more food than necessary. But she was so excited about not facing this  awkward party alone that she'd gone a little overboard.

When the knock on the door came, she opened it to reveal Georgia and  Ari, each carrying garment bags, and-to her surprise-Rebecca.

"Hi there," Lauren said, trying to keep the shock off her face. "I  didn't think we'd see you tonight," she said to Nate's other assistant.  If the Brooklyn Bruisers office manager was fully recovered, maybe  Lauren wouldn't be headed to Tampa after all!

"I see that look of excitement on your face," Becca said. "But, sadly,  I'm not back in action yet. My fancy new doctor has outlined several  weeks of therapy." She marched right over to the table and plucked a  pickle off a tray. "I whined so loudly that Nate agreed to a temporary  furlough. I've been let out for good behavior for this party so long as  I'm back at the therapist's office in forty-eight hours."

"Oh." Lauren's heart dove. "Ah, well. I guess I have to go to this fucking party after all. Somebody open the wine."

"This looks great," Georgia said, eyeing the munchies. She lifted the  bottle from its ice bath. "You didn't have to go to so much trouble."

"I didn't make the sandwiches or the wine," Lauren pointed out. "And  anyway-this will probably be the most enjoyable part of the evening."

"Not a fan of parties?" Ari asked.

"It depends on the party."

"I brought the mani-pedi kit!" Becca said wandering toward the windows  facing the ocean. "This is a killer suite." She peeked into the  ridiculous bathroom. "You have a hot tub? Holy shit."

"It's a little much," Lauren agreed. "If we can't get beautiful in here, there's really no help for us."

Becca snorted. "You're in a fun mood."

"Fun" wasn't really the word Lauren would have picked. "Frazzled" would be a better choice. "So what is everybody wearing?"

Georgia laid her garment bag over a sofa and unzipped it. "If this party  is on the beach, I brought the wrong shoes." She pulled out a strapless  dress in pale pink.

"That's pretty," Lauren said. "I wear a lot of pink. It does nice things for my skin."

"This one did nice things for my wallet. I found it on sale at Saks yesterday."

"Shoes don't matter tonight," Rebecca said, lining up wineglasses. "The  party is outside. I'm just going to kick mine off and go barefoot. I  flew all the way to Florida to feel some sand between my toes. I took a  peek at the beach before my room was ready. It's gorgeous."

Yes, it is, Lauren privately agreed. It was in one of the hammocks  strung between the palm trees that she and Mike had made frantic love  that night. Yikes. Stop thinking about that. "So," she clapped her  hands. "Let's pick a dress for Ari."