Page 53 of Don't Tell

He pulls on his pants. He's barefoot, and his hair is a disaster. He's calmer than any person should be this early — in a suite where his housekeeper has just woken up next to him.

"Suzanne. Breathe."

"If I clock in from this floor by this time, every camera in the hotel knows I spent the night here."

"I know."

"Roger is waiting for one thing he can use, Cade. One."

"I’m sure he is."

I'm at the kitchen counter, grabbing my ID badge and pulling my hair into a tight knot.

I freeze.

"The hallway has cameras at both ends. I came in last night. I'll be coming out this morning. Anyone watching the feed is going to see me walk into your suite at 9:00 p.m. and walk out of it this morning."

"I'll handle the cameras."

"How will you do that? I don’t think — "

"I'll handle them. Go. Take the stairs. Skip the staff elevator. I'll have the feed before Roger gets in."

"Cade…"

"Suzanne. Go."

He's at the door.

His hand finds the small of my back, only for a second. It's supposed to ground me. Instead, I almost buckle right there.

I kiss him — quick and sloppy. It's part farewell, part promise that we're hashing this out once we've both had caffeine.

I open the door.

Roger is standing right there.

14.Cade

"Suzanne."

Roger.

Suzanne is in the open doorway with her back to me and her hand still on the handle. Roger Tate is in the hallway with his clipboard pressed to his chest and his mouth already shaping the first word of whatever he had planned to say.

I step into the doorway beside her.

I take her hand like a man who has every right to defend her when she's standing there, eyes wide, against someone who would break her into pieces if I don't move first.

"Roger."

He looks at the hand.

"Mr. Nightingale — "

"Thank you for coming up early, Suzanne. Sorry to make you start before your shift. The suite needed serious attention after a late meeting last night, and, Roger" — I look at him — "I called the front desk at 5:30 a.m. I asked specifically for Ms. Jenkins. She knows my preferences."

Roger's face twists as if the story he has been writing in his head overnight is being revised in front of him.