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They arrived at the hotel, and Noah paid and tipped the driver. He grabbed both of their bags. Watching him with the luggage, she realized that unless he had a tux crammed into his duffel, he probably didn’t have anything suitable for the ceremony.
“Um, what do you plan to wear tomorrow?” she asked as they entered the hotel lobby. “The dinner is a black-tie thing. If you come with me, you’ll need something formal.”
“Your dad mentioned that before we left. I rented a tux from a local shop. They’ll deliver it in the morning.”
Her jaw dropped, and he laughed. “I find things go more smoothly when you actually plan ahead for them.”
She ignored the dig. In the lobby, she ran into Cho, one of her competitors, who eyed her warily. Daisy didn’t blame her. If Cho was also getting threats, it was only logical to suspect the other contenders for the foul play. She took the bull by the horns.
“If you’ve received any nasty messages about the contest,” Daisy said. “They’re not from me. I’ve gotten them too, and someone actually shot at us on our trip here.”
Cho’s eyebrows jumped to her forehead. “You were? What happened?”
“My friend took a bullet for me.” Daisy hitched her chin at Noah.
“Will you stop making it sound so dramatic?” Noah said. “I’m fine. Do you have someone to watch out for you?” he asked Cho.
“Oh, no. I just arrived from Japan. I did get a few mean messages, and my parents begged me not to come, but I’d been planning it for so long.” Cho was tiny and timid, and Daisy couldn’t imagine her being behind the malicious events.
“I understand,” Daisy said. “Just be careful.”
At the counter, she turned to Noah. “I booked the room months ago. I had no idea you’d be with me. There’s only one bed. We can ask, but I doubt there are any rooms left.”
“I’m not letting you out of my sight,” Noah said. “We’ll share the room you got and make it work.”
She arched an eyebrow but let it slide that he was telling her, not asking her. To be honest, she was glad. Having just helped plan a funeral had sort of put mortality front and center in her mind. She wanted this award, but not enough to die for it.
They requested two keys and made their way to the suite on the twentieth floor.
“Geez,” Noah said, setting their bags on the bed. “This is nice.” It was a large corner room with views of the city and the river. “I thought you did everything on the cheap.”
“First of all, nothing in New York City is cheap. And second, sometimes you gotta treat yourself. It is a splurge, but I was feeling pretty confident and saucy when I booked it. I may have gone a little overboard.”
She hopped onto the California king and bounced a few times before flopping onto her back and spreading her arms. “Ah, yes. This will do nicely. The bed’s so big, we could both sleep here and still be a mile apart.” She had to put thoughts of sharing a bed with him aside. Sleeping with him was a bad idea two days ago, and it remained so.
“Well, we’re gonna be stuck in here for a while, so good thing it’s roomy.”
“What do you mean?”
“Daisy, it’s not a good idea for you to be parading around New York, or even the hotel. My advice, myprofessionaladvice, is that we hunker down here until the dinner tomorrow.”
“No way!” she said. “This is New York. We’ve got to get out and see something. Plus, there’s a reception tonight for all the nominees. I plan to go to that. That’s why we came to town a day early.”
“A party with all the competition? That would be the perfect place for someone to make a move. On any or all of you. You’d be walking right into his hands.”
“That part’s over. Killing me now won’t do any good. Most of the votes are already in. There wouldn’t even be enough time for news to get out that I’m dead.”
“Please don’t talk about your death so cavalierly. And please promise me you’ll think about this. I had to leave my guns with your dad. I flew them to Charlotte okay, but New York has stricter rules, and I didn’t bring the right storage container to fly them here. The idea of running around New York City unarmed, after everything that’s happened, does not sit well with me.”
He had a point. But still. She plopped down on the bed. “This sucks!”
“We can order room service and watch a movie. And when all this is over, we’ll come back and do every touristy thing there is.”
“We?” What did he mean by that?
“I meant you.Youcan. You know what I mean.”
Of course he hadn’t meant we. That would imply there was something between them other than a professional relationship. Somethingwasbrewing—she was certain he felt it too—but she didn’t expect him to acknowledge it, much less pursue it. At least not while he was working for her father.
