They stepped out after us and turned down the hall in the opposite direction.
Gage grinned. “Think of the stories.‘There’s Rex’s kinky groomsman. Really, Muffy, he makes her make cat noises when they—’”
I elbowed him and smiled at the small group of hotel workers, dressed in suits and gloves, that stood in a cluster partway down the hall. One of them stepped slightly away from the group and glanced down at his phone. He looked up at us and smiled.
“Mr. Halifax, Ms. Hartmann, welcome.” He gave a slight bow. “Your suite is right this way, sir, miss.”
He and the two women in the group I pegged as actual hotel staff. The other three men were definitely security, probably retired city cops, if I had to guess. I glanced up at the seam between the walls and the ceiling and spotted a few discretely mounted cameras. Hardly enough to provide any real protection, but probably fine to keep out wedding crashers or sneaky paparazzi.
Our guide opened our suite door. Gage handed him a tip, then followed me inside and closed the door. We’d made it. Our mission was a success. But I didn’t move to take the cat carrier off my back because I was staring at yet another Christmas tree, this one at least six feet tall and decorated with red ornaments and a big red bow on top.
I grinned. “Did you order this?”
Gage shook his head. “I’d love to take credit for it, but this looks like a Chelsea thing to me.”
Mr. Whiskerbottom Fuzzypants yowled. I shushed him, and Gage hung up our coats and helped me slide the backpack off my shoulders. The gray fluff ball mashed his face against the bubble. Gage turned the carrier around so the cat could see his surroundings.
“This is home for the next couple of days, buddy,” Gage said. “What do you think?”
He answered with his grumpy growl-purr. We didn’t tell him about the hotel’s canine-only policy that had forced us to undertake our stealth operation.
“It’ll grow on you,” I told him as I unzipped the carrier. “Remember how much you hated my place at first?”
Gage opened one of my suitcases and pulled out cat supplies. He unsealed the travel litter box and set up the box and Mr. Whiskerbottom Fuzzypants’s food and water bowls in the spacious, white marble bathroom. I walked around the sitting room and peered into the bedroom. The king-sized bed had a gold-lined headboard and was piled high with white pillows. I immediately had plenty of ideas about how to spend our time when Gage wasn’t busy with groomsman duties.
“Nope.” He stood behind me. He pulled me back against himself and nibbled my neck. “Under the tree first.”
I sighed dramatically. “Some neighbors are never satisfied.”
“Mmm. I promise you, 6B, you will be very satisfied very soon.”
* * *
An hour after Gage left for the wedding rehearsal, I shared the schedule with Mr. Whiskerbottom Fuzzypants as I put the finishing touches on my makeup. “I’m leaving for the rehearsal dinner in fifteen minutes. It’s in the hotel, so I’ll pop up to see you when I can.”
He was able to spend two hours at a time without a human companion now. Fortunately, most of the weekend’s wedding events would happen in The Plaza, so frequent trips back to the suite to check on him wouldn’t be a problem.
“But you have to behave,” I told him. “No yowls, screams, or meows.” I lowered my voice. “You’re not exactly on the guest list.”
He mrped and walked through my legs, then curled up on the blanket Gage and I had left under the tree.
My phone rang. I checked the caller ID and saw an undisclosed number. A call from the agency, although I couldn’t determine who, exactly, it was. I answered.
“This is Kat.”
“Kat,” X said.
I sat down in one of the upholstered room chairs near the tree. If the boss was calling me herself, it couldn’t be good news. “X.”
“Roxy Energy is making their move.”
I put her on speaker and jumped to my feet. “What does that mean? Is Gage all right” I snatched my dinner outfit from the closet, untied my robe, tossed it over the back of the chair, and stepped into my dress.
“Isn’t he with you at the hotel?”
My stomach twisted. “He’s at the wedding rehearsal. I’m meeting him shortly at the rehearsal dinner.”
“Good,” she said. “Then I’m sure everything is fine. I’m calling to put you on alert that Greenly, the president of the company, has taken three rooms at The Plaza. He’s traveling with two men, obviously muscle.”
