Hare Today, Bear Tomorrow (Mating Call Dating Agency #1)(16)
“The Four... really? You’ve never given me a place any better than a Motel 6. You aren’t hatching any weird plans to try and get me full time, are you?”
“Yeah well, it ain’t me,” Lita grunted. “Anyway, I’m trying to get a line on getting you interviews with some of the protest leaders, it’s a reporter thing. Look, you go back to the hotel and I’ll get in touch with you whenever I’ve got something else for you, yeah?”
Confused, slightly worried about Lita having hatched some kind of plan or other, and still coming down from the adrenaline rush of almost being smooshed by a building, Garnet sat down, a little harder than she hoped. She checked her watch to see the hands creeping to half past five. She had no idea when Stacy was coming, or honestly if he even was – after all, no matter what kind of ridiculous feelings she had about him, he was still someone she met the night before on a blind date.
“Are the things in the mini-bar covered on my expenses?” she texted Lita. A few seconds later, the response came – a smiley face. A few seconds after that. “No, but the regular bar I can probably swing. Those stupid little bottles aren’t even enough to get feeling good anyway. Gotta run, I’ll keep you updated. Have a good night.”
Standing up, cracking her back and knees, and waving to Sanderson, who was standing atop a small pile of rubble and yelling at someone. He took a second to wave back before railing on the poor guy again.
All around her the world seemed to hum with life. People were shopping, the vague din of the protest’s noise could still be heard in the distance, and more than anything, she couldn’t forget Stacy. As much as she knew it was crazy, his burning eyes and the way he made her breath feel just a little tickly as it slid into her nose and the way his laugh and his smile made her feel safe and comfortable... she just couldn’t deny how he made her feel. And after all, why should she?
Looking down the street to her left, in between the small knots of shopping tourists in various states of shiftedness, Garnet could just barely spot the top of the Four Seasons stretching up ahead of where she stood. It was all just so strange. Why would her notoriously Grinch-like, Scrooge-like editor spring for her to have a suite at the fanciest hotel in town? Was there some kind of anniversary she forgot? Had she managed to forget her own birthday again? Wouldn’t be the first time by a long-shot. Once she hit the 30s, Garnet sort of stopped caring very much about the number going up.
Before she knew it, she’d managed to wander up to the front door of the palatial hotel. Before she could open the door, it swung wide, and a very dapper older man in a uniform suit smiled, welcomed her and gestured her inside.
“Uh, hi,” she said, slightly shocked. “I’m—”
“Garnet Pendleton,” he said with exceptional gravitas. “We’ve been expecting you. Your employer made sure that all the arrangements were made well in advance.”
“Er, no, she just told me she got this place, she—”
Garnet stopped herself when he smiled again, broadly and cheerfully. “I’m afraid she’s had these reservations since early this morning. Your employer is an... Yvette Lorraine, yes?”
“That’s... not at all what I expected you to say,” Garnet said. “But... okay, I’ll take it. Are you sure?”
The doorman simply continued to smile. “Can I take your bag?”
She handed it to him wordlessly, completely unable to formulate a thought or put word to thought once formed.
“Oh,” he said, “I have this for you,” he handed her a note in a very fancily folded envelope. “It was delivered just before you arrived. They’ll get your key to you at the desk.”
Garnet nodded, carefully unfolding the paper to avoid damaging the contents. “Dear Garnet,” it read, in exquisitely curled cursive writing. “This isn’t something I always do for my clients, but Dora insisted that you were special. At any rate, enjoy. I know this is the bear for you, and I’m never, ever wrong.”
“Right this way,” the doorman said. “I noticed you seemed a bit taken aback, so I took the liberty of getting your key, Ms. Pendleton.”
“Yeah,” Garnet said, “I’d say that’s fair.”
She could hardly think on the way through the place to the absolutely enormous room that the doorman opened for her. But when she walked inside, a feather could have knocked her flat on her ass.
“I thought you’d never make it,” Stacy said, his voice flowing through the air like silver caressing Garnet’s ears. “Of course, I could sit in this place all day eating these M&Ms from the little fridge and never get unhappy.”
“You,” she stammered, staggering forward and dropping her purse. “You’re...? How? But and...?”
Garnet was staring straight at him, feeling swirls of heat and chill course through her one after another. “But how?”
“Oh, you know, I called in to work when I got the invite from Eve and your boss. Turns out, that girl likes you almost as much as I do, I think. I told her I could get out here early tomorrow, but she wasn’t having any of it. Somehow, she got me picked up by a helicopter and deposited outside of town. I seriously feel like I’m living a life I never dreamed of.”
There was another note on the pillow, which Garnet noticed and immediately disregarded. She much preferred walking over to where Stacy was sitting, and collapsing on his lap. “I hope I’m not being forward,” she said, hardly containing her nervous laughter. “But what the hell is going on?”