Devilishly Sexy (13 page)

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Authors: Kathy Love

BOOK: Devilishly Sexy
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She just happened to be one who planned to do something about it.
But looking at the depressed, stressed faces, she wondered why any of them would ever be afraid of Hell.
She’d once been scared of it too. But not anymore.
Well, not totally anyway.
She walked out to the reception area and toward the elevators. A receptionist still sat at the front desk. She was the typical blond beauty that Finola seemed to favor for the job. The woman nodded, but otherwise didn’t speak.
Liza was glad. She didn’t feel like chatting, and she also didn’t want the woman to notice where she was heading. It was better to be as careful as she could. Liza knew what happened around here. The expendable disappeared on a regular basis. Or had until the NYPD started to take notice. Now the MIAs had dwindled greatly, but Liza didn’t trust it would stay that way.
She knew the only reason she wasn’t expendable was because none of the demons actually knew how to run a magazine. Demons were good posers, but not so great at getting the actual job done.
She stepped into the elevator, relieved when no one else joined her. She pressed the button marked LL. Lower level. That was where the mailroom was, housed deep in the bottom of the building. Subterranean.
She shivered, her thoughts going to where she might end up if she wasn’t careful. Was Hell underground like it was depicted? Or was it in another dimension? She really didn’t want to find out. But she was willing to take this risk anyway.
The elevator shuddered and vibrated as it approached the lowest level, a place she’d never been. After a couple of bobs, the elevator stopped, but the doors didn’t open right away.
Her heart fluttered again in her chest, stealing her breath. Nerves, more silly nerves. And for what reason? It was just the mailroom, and frankly she didn’t even know if she’d get the answer she wanted here.
Approaching Michael after having rejected him was a valid reason to be anxious. Though just asking about him was hardly reason to be this stressed. But still her heart pounded.
She waited, taking a couple of deep breaths, then finally pushed the
OPEN DOOR
button. She waited, then pushed it again.
Finally the doors parted, opening into one huge room. Wow. If she’d thought the
HOT!
offices were busy, they had nothing on the mailroom. It was well after office closing hours, after postal hours too, yet the vast room still bustled with employees.
Liza’s first impression was worker bees in a large hive, but then she amended that analogy to ants. Ants working away in an underground nest.
“Can I help you?”
Chapter Fourteen
L
iza blinked, turning to find a man standing beside her. She hadn’t even noticed him approaching, but she supposed that wasn’t so weird given how distracted she was by the number of people still working down here.
“Yes, I’m looking for Michael Archer.”
The man, a very average, innocuous guy wearing a royal-blue smock and a name tag with
Dave
printed on it, frowned slightly.
“And this is in reference to what?”
Liza returned a frown. Why did this man care? She supposed they couldn’t very well let random strangers into the mailroom, but she was a
HOT!
employee too. Surely she could come down here looking for one of their staff without reporting her purpose.
But this guy, despite his average Joe appearance, didn’t look like he was fooling around. He looked very serious.
“Umm, I was—hoping to get back a—um, an envelope I gave him earlier today. I—need to add another document to it.”
She hoped that sounded believable. Her heart fluttered again. Dave didn’t look terribly convinced.
“Do you recall about what time he picked this package up?”
She didn’t answer him, instead glancing around the room, trying to spot a tall, muscular man with dark hair and golden-brown eyes. She didn’t see him.
“Is he still here?” she asked. “I can just take a quick look around.”
“I’m afraid we can’t allow just anyone to wander around the mailroom,” he said. “Postal theft is a federal offense.”
“Well, I’m not just anyone. I’m the editorial director of
HOT!
Surely that gives me access to the mailroom too. I can also assure you I have no intention of stealing anything. I’m just looking for Michael Archer.”
Dave started to shake his head, when his action was interrupted by a voice that Liza knew well.
“Liza, what brings you down here?”
Liza turned, relieved to see Elton approaching them in his slow, uneven gait. The older man smiled, and some of her anxiety dissipated.
“Elton, hi. I’m looking for Michael Archer. Do you know where he is?”
“Oh, Michael,” he said as if he’d expected as much. Liza suspected it was to calm the uptight man beside her. “I believe he’s left already. I think he actually left a couple hours ago. So I would imagine he’s home now.”
“Would you happen to know how I could reach him?” she asked, glancing quickly at Dave and wishing he would just go away. But this time the man’s attention wasn’t on her; instead he regarded Elton closely. His eyes were narrowed as if in warning, although Elton didn’t seem to pick up on the silent gesture.
“No,” Elton said, “but maybe I can help you.”
She started to shake her head, but Dave answered for her.
“She claims she is looking for an envelope that she gave to Michael earlier today. She says she needs to add something to it.”
Liza gave the man an irritated look. Claims? Says? Could he be any more obvious that he didn’t believe her story? Okay, it was a story, but still he could at least give her the benefit of the doubt. She didn’t care for Dave. At all.
“Well, I would be happy to look for the envelope for you,” Elton said, shooting Dave a look that made it clear he thought the other man’s behavior was rude too.
“It probably went out already,” Liza said, hating to send the sweet old man on a wild goose chase. Dave made a face as if to say, “See, she’s lying.”
“Well, it can’t hurt to look, now can it?”
“Elton,” Dave said, his voice low and not pleased.
“Dave, it’s fine. It will only take a second.” Elton placed a hand lightly on the small of Liza’s back. Her first reaction, as always, was to pull away, but then she realized Boris was out. Ah, what a lovely thing.
She let Elton lead her away from the other man.
“He’s very uptight,” she whispered to Elton.
“You have no idea.”
Liza smiled and followed him through the sea of machinery, sorting stations, desks, and computers. Only after a few seconds did she notice that many of the employees were watching her quizzically. Then she noticed some were not just quizzical, but almost suspicious.
“The people down here really aren’t used to strangers, are they?”
“It comes from working underground,” Elton said with a smile. “Makes you a little off.”
Liza smiled, although she did glance warily around her again.
“Well, this is Michael’s station.”
They stopped in front of a tidy stainless steel table.
She stared at it, seeing nothing that would give her any hint of the real information she wanted. So after a moment, she decided to just come clean.
“You know I’m not actually looking for an envelope, right?”
“Yes, so what can I really do for you?”
She smiled gratefully at the old man. “I was hoping to get his address.”
He studied her for a moment, his gaze roaming over her, until she felt almost awkward under his perusal. Then when she would have said something, anything, to get him to stop looking at her that way—as if he could look deep into her soul—he nodded, almost as if he was satisfied with what he’d seen.
“I will get it for you. But you can’t ever tell where you got it from.”
“I won’t.”
He studied her a moment longer, then nodded again. He started away from her, then stopped.
“You finally feel like yourself, don’t you, sweetie?”
Liza frowned, shaking her head, not really understanding what he meant.
“It’s all good,” the old man said with another smile. “I will get you that information.”
Liza watched him amble away, then looked around herself again, feeling decidedly uncomfortable. Apparently the mailroom was just as odd as the rest of
HOT!
She’d had hopes that somewhere in this building normalcy survived.
She glanced at a rather geeky-looking man wearing black-rimmed glasses that were exact replicas of the type the fathers always wore in fifties sitcoms. The man watched her over his computer screen, only to look away when he realized she’d noticed.
Beside him a large woman who could pass as a Russian fitness instructor also stared in her direction. She didn’t look away when Liza met her eyes. Liza did.
Yeah, definitely strange. Liza decided to busy herself with finding a pen and paper in her purse, so she could write down Michael’s address, if Elton did actually manage to get it.
Somehow she didn’t think that was going to be an easy feat. This place felt a little like Fort Knox. At the very least, Big Brother was watching.
“Hello.”
Liza looked up from rooting around in her handbag to find another man of average height and looks standing in front of her. The only thing that stood out about the man was the vivid blueness of his eyes. Pale blue. A strange blue.
Dave appeared at his side.
“Um, hi,” she said, not sure what was going on now.
“I’m Eugene, the manager of the mailroom.”
“I’m Liza. I work at
HOT!
as the editorial director.”
“I know who you are, Ms. McLane.”
Liza gave him a bewildered look. How could he know who she was when she’d never been down here before?
“Working in the mailroom, we get familiar with the
HOT!
staff via their mail,” he answered as if she’d actually asked her question aloud. “I’m sure that must seem odd since you usually don’t see us.”
She nodded, not sure what to make of this new member of the mailroom staff. What did these men want? She really couldn’t imagine that they made this much of a to-do about every
HOT!
employee who set foot down here.
“Well, it’s nice to meet you all. I’m just trying to retrieve an envelope that I sent out prematurely.”
“Ah,” Eugene said and Liza got the feeling he didn’t believe her. “Well, I certainly hope it hasn’t already left the building.”
Liza just hoped that Elton returned soon. She was distinctly uncomfortable down here. And disheartened that there really was no normal place in the whole company.
After a moment, when she realized Eugene and Dave didn’t intend to leave, she gathered herself to agree with Eugene’s comment.
“Yes, I definitely hope it didn’t get mailed yet.”
Eugene nodded. Dave just watched her. Damn, this place was weird.
“You know,” she finally said, feeling the need to just get away from here. “I think I should probably head back up to my office. I guess if Elton finds it, he can run it up to me.”
“That’s a good idea,” Eugene agreed.
Liza edged around the two men, giving them a wide berth, but she didn’t make it too far before Elton called out to her.
She stopped, scanning the mailroom to locate him. He headed toward her, waving a manila envelope in the air.
“I found it,” he said, with a small smile.
She frowned, staring at the golden envelope as he held it out to her. Had Elton misunderstood? Did he truly not know she wasn’t looking for an envelope?
Or was he just offering her an easy way out, so she wouldn’t have to suffer any more of the weird mailroom staff ’s odd questions and even weirder stares. That had to be it.
“Thanks, Elton,” she said, giving him a brief knowing smile as she accepted the envelope.
“I’m just glad to have been able to help you.”
She nodded, her gaze moving from him to where the other men stood, still watching them. The fifties geek and Russian fitness instructor watched as well.
She glanced down at the missive in her hands, then nodded again, ready to leave. She had no idea what had just happened down here.
She thanked Elton once more and hurried for the elevator. A distinct wave of relief washed over her as soon as the doors closed.
Once the elevator started moving upward, she looked down at the envelope. It was addressed to a name she didn’t recognize. A Mrs. B. Silver. Liza wasn’t familiar with the mailing address either.
She frowned, wondering if Elton really had misunderstood.
But then she noticed the return address. Not the usual
HOT!
magazine stamped return address. This one was handwritten.
M. Archer
432 West 65th Street, Apt. 3B
New York, NY
So Elton had understood after all. And he’d also understood those two guys down there weren’t going to allow Elton to just give her Michael’s address.
She supposed that could be because it broke some confidentiality rule, but Liza didn’t feel that was the whole reason. The mailroom was a strange place.
Maybe Elton was right, working underground had made them all a little socially inept. Or maybe only the socially inept were willing to work there.
No, that wasn’t it. Michael hadn’t been socially awkward. Nor was Elton. But then there were always exceptions to most rules.
Whatever. It didn’t really matter. She’d gotten the information she’d wanted, and she also knew to avoid the lower level from now on, which should be easy enough. She’d already avoided it for nearly six years. It shouldn’t be that hard to avoid it for the rest of the time she was stuck working for Finola. Even if she did start dating Michael.
In fact, especially if she started dating Michael. She didn’t get the feeling the rest of the mailroom staff would approve. Although she couldn’t imagine why they would care.
But it didn’t really matter at the moment. She wasn’t even sure she could get Michael to take a chance on her again after her crazy reaction to him today.
Wait, maybe that was why those men had reacted so strangely to her. Maybe Michael had gone down there and told them that Liza McLane, the editorial director of
HOT!
was a wackadoo. A certified nuttyhead.
And if he had told them about her reaction, she couldn’t really blame him. Her behavior had been over the top. She’d literally jumped away from his every touch. Although he’d reacted pretty well to her strange behavior. He certainly hadn’t treated her like she was crazy.
But then he worked with those guys down there. He might just be used to odd behavior. Really, there was no point speculating. She should just go to him and find out what he thought directly from him.
She reread the address, then waited for the elevator to come to a stop. Fortunately, yet again, no one joined her on the elevator, and she hit the button to take her right back down to the building’s first floor lobby.
She really wished she had time to go home and freshen up. She knew she must look a mess, between stress and being tired and taking all those meds. But she only had another few hours before the Benadryl wore off. So she had to talk to Michael now.

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