Wrapped In Shadows (5 page)

“And that’s okay?” I was horrified.

“There’s no right or wrong, Katie. That’s just the way it is.” Diana blew out a loud breath and passed me a monogrammed handkerchief. “Now, no more of this nonsense about canceling the wedding.” Her palm went up as I was about to speak. “I won’t hear of it.”

I bit my lip, knowing it would be futile to argue with my mother. The woman could be an unmovable force when she put her mind to it. I’d have to discuss this with my father. He was often the more reasonable of the two.

The taxi pulled up to the colossal steel building that housed Davenport Advertising on the thirtieth floor. Madison Avenue was busy this time of year, bustling with tourist and holiday shoppers. I scanned the street, looking for Michelle. We were meeting for lunch and Michelle was supposed to be waiting downstairs. Ignoring the impatient look from the cabdriver, I pulled out my cell and dialed Michelle’s number.

“I’m stuck in this stupid meeting. I should just be a few more minutes.” Michelle explained.

My eyes flicked to the driver again. “I don’t think the cab will wait.”

“Then come up and wait for me.” Hearing my hesitation, she added, “Josh isn’t in the office. There’s a big client in from Japan that he’s out with.”

Relieved, I agreed, paid the cab, and headed upstairs. I stepped out of the glass elevators on the thirtieth floor and into a sumptuous reception area. I’d been here only once before to drop something off for Josh. I knew he wasn’t in the office, but a chill still blew over my skin from being there. The receptionist was showing me into Michelle’s office just as she came down the hall.

“Good timing.” My friend gave me a quick hug and walked toward her desk.

My gaze followed her, taking in her trim business suit, plain pumps, and glasses. She looked very different from the woman I’d been with Saturday night.

“How did things go?” Michelle asked, referring to my visit home. She opened a closet and took out her coat.

I sighed, reliving the awful experience. “Mother was completely unreasonable. She wouldn’t listen. My dad was better, but he thinks I’m making a rash decision. He wants me to think about it a little longer.”

Michelle frowned. “Did you tell them what happened?”

“Yes.”

Michelle shook her head as she shrugged into her coat. “I’m sorry, Kay. I just don’t get your parents. My dad would have taken a shotgun to the asshole, would’ve blown his cheating nuts right off the tree!”

I laughed lightly. “I don’t get them sometimes either.”

“Did you tell them about the apartment?”

I shook my head. I’d had enough to deal with just discussing the wedding. Telling my parents that I’d decided to move out of the penthouse would have been another battle. But I’d been looking for my own place for some time now. I wanted something smaller, more comfortable, more…me. I’d come into my trust fund at the age of twenty-two, but had never touched it. I basically lived off the small salary I made from running the Vandercamp Foundation. I could more than manage on my own.

“I’ll tell them when I find a place…after I move…and have settled in.”

“And I suppose that’ll be when you’re old and gray.” Michelle grinned and looked into my eyes. “Still dreaming about Mr. Pumpernickel?”

I felt my cheeks grow hot and that apparently answered the question.

“Maybe we need another trip to the bakery.” She laughed and plucked her purse from her desk. There was a folded newspaper lying next to it and something must have caught her eye because I watched her brows furrow as she raised the paper to her face.

The color drained from Michelle’s cheeks.

“What’s the matter?”

I didn’t know if she heard me because her eyes were quickly flicking from side to side as she read the paper and her skin was growing more pallid. I repeated my question, concern chasing my words.

“Oh my God. Something happened on Saturday night at
Sensations
.” Michelle lowered the paper, her gaze latching on to mine. “Ms. Carmen was murdered.”

I felt my eyes grow wide with disbelief. An image of the thin, dainty woman came to mind. “That’s awful. What happened?”

Michelle kept reading. “It doesn’t say much. Just that her body was found at the club in the early hours of the morning. Apparently she was strangled to death.”

A sense of horror puddled in my belly. I wondered if it had happened while we were still there. Maybe that’s why we’d left quickly through the back door.

Michelle must have been mirroring thoughts. “I knew Eddie was keeping something from me.”

“What do you mean?”

“He’s been a bit cagy all week. He said the police had been at the club, but couldn’t say why. I bet he had to keep this quiet. I’ll get the details out of him, though, don’t worry. Let’s get out of here. I suddenly need a drink.”

I nodded quietly, deep in thought as I followed Michelle from her office. The hall was busier now, as if more people had just come out of the meeting. I walked behind Michelle then stopped, my feet suddenly frozen. My head jerked up and I looked around, my heart skipping every other beat. I inhaled again, deeper this time.
Sandalwood.
That same intoxicating scent. Faint, but definitely there. My body instantly responded, growing warm and liquid.
How could it be?
I glanced around. There were groups of people standing around, talking, excited about something. Three men in suits were conversing in front of a nearby office. My eyes scanned them, searching for recognition.
Nothing
. But I was looking for a shadow. That scent was seeping into my pores, awaking me, tickling my senses and imbuing a lazy disequilibrium.

Michelle appeared in front of me, frowning. “Are you okay?”

I surfaced from my dark room, from the memories and emotions flooding me.

Oh, God…was I losing my mind?

“Uh…I’m…fine.” I nodded. “I’m just freaked out about Ms. Carmen.”

Michelle nodded somberly and started walking. We passed the three men and Michelle stopped when one asked a question about the company’s plan to take over a competing PR agency.

“I’m thrilled about the acquisition. I think it will be good for this company,” she said to one man. She turned to me, who was still dawdling behind. “Kay, this is Steven, Bruce, and my boss, Luke Davenport.”

I smiled slightly and said hello to the men, my mind still in a thick fog. Bruce asked if I worked in the building and I shook my head, telling him I was a friend of Michelle’s and just meeting her for lunch. The three men were all huge, built like football players. All gorgeous. Steven had longish, sandy blonde hair. Luke had bottle-green eyes and very dark hair. I could see the edge of a tattoo snaking out from beneath his shirt collar. Bruce had classic good looks with a strong chiseled jaw and his sky blue eyes were stunning. I wondered briefly if I could get closer and sniff the men, but knew I was just being ridiculous. There was no way
he
could be here. I was letting my imagination get away with me. I’d thought of that night so often that I was starting to hallucinate.

“Michelle, you should have your friends come by more often—if they all look like her,” Bruce teased, his gaze never leaving me.

“You are the reason I keep them away,” Michelle shot back, grinning. “Bye!” She waved as we made our way toward the elevator. I followed, suddenly eager to get out of there.

“Now you see why I love my job?” Michelle smirked.

I managed a smile and rolled my eyes, feeling better as the scent dissipated.

“So much man candy! And you know I’ve got a sweet tooth!”

The elevator came and we stepped in, but I couldn’t help glancing back at the three men still chatting in the hall.

*************************

Kay.
Was that her?
Could it possibly be? How?
I would know that voice anywhere. I’d heard it a thousand times in my dreams over the last week. The shock of it still reverberated through me and I had a hard time concentrating on what the other men were saying. She was beautiful, just as I knew she would be. What was the chance that she’d come to me? I felt the hand of fate working in my life again. Perhaps this time it would be less damning.

I just couldn’t get her out of my head. She had rooted under my skin and infiltrated my every thought—my every dream. Although I knew it was strictly prohibited, I’d thought about inquiring at
Sensations
as to her identity, but then the news had broken about Ms. Carmen. What a tragedy. I’d met her for the first time that night.
That night.
That night my friends had dragged me out of my apartment, promising a big surprise—and surprised I had been.

I’d submerged myself in work and despair over the past few months, trying my best to drown out the past. I’d become a recluse, devoting all of my free time to Livy. My friends and family had been worried about me. I knew that, but hadn’t been able to reassure them. Probably because I hadn't been able to reassure myself that I was going to be okay.

My cell phone rang, dragging me from my thoughts, and I excused myself from the group. I saw the number and a smile tilted my lips.

“Dada?”

“Hi, Livy…” My daughter’s voice instantly warmed me.

“I wanna wear tutu, Dada.”

I bit my lower lip, trying to contain my laugh. My five year old daughter only wanted to be dressed in tutus and ballet slippers. Any other outfit was met with dramatic defiance and a storm cloud of tears.

“Sweetheart, it’s forty degrees out…” I tried to explain.

“I’m a balenina!”

My smile widened. “Yes, Livy. You’re a beautiful ballerina, but you’ll be a frozen one if you go out in a tutu.”

The hiccups and sobs that followed wormed through my heart, as always, and I sighed. “Okay, sweetheart. You can wear the tutu, but you have to wear those leggie things underneath. And
no
slippers. Boots. Pretend they’re ballet boots.”

A giggle burst through the phone. “Ballet boots? Silly, Dada!”

I smiled, happy to have averted an impending tantrum. My secretary walked in and handed me a file, smiling because she’d heard the last part of the conversation.

“Ballet
boots
?” Maria asked, eyebrows raised. Her red hair was like a halo of fire around her head—something I’d had to get used to.

I shrugged and grinned then threw kisses into the phone. After a brief word with my nanny, I signed off.

“These reports were just dropped off for you.” She indicated the file. “The merger and acquisitions team will be meeting again this afternoon.”

“Thank you, Maria.” I sat at my desk and opened it, perusing the information. My mind immediately started wandering and I looked up.

“Maria?” My secretary turned from the door, eyebrows raised.

I scratched the back of my neck, feeling slightly embarrassed. “The young lady with Michelle…her friend? Did you see her?”

She nodded and I continued, my heart rate accelerating.

“Do you know who she is?”

Her face shaded with a blank expression. “Sorry, no. I’ve never seen her before.”

I nodded and returned to my file, forcing my mind to vacate the dark room that had shone a brilliant light on all my shadowy places.

*************************

Katie

A few days later, I rushed through the doors of the Slate Building in Midtown Manhattan and not wanting to wait for the elevator, I took the stairs one flight down. Balancing my overstuffed briefcase under one arm, coffee, a bag of donuts in my hand, and a large cardboard box clutched to my chest, I shouldered through the glass doors of the Vandercamp Foundation headquarters. I had overslept and was late. I was never late. Ever since that day at Michelle’s office, my dreams of
that night
had become more vivid. My mind and body were happy to snub my alarm clock and hover in the subconscious realm. I’d never climaxed in my sleep before, and this morning I’d awoken cloaked in darkness, sweating and moaning, and coming. I’d lain there for long moments, breathless with sweet memories.

I dragged my bottom lip through my teeth. I was surely losing my mind. I had to forget that it ever happened. I’d been just a client, and he’d been performing a service. Period. It had been a rash decision, a moment of impulsive recklessness. The tendrils of guilt were already starting to wind their way inside. I’d tried to tell myself my decision to go to the club had nothing to do with Josh, but who’d I been kidding? I’d been angry and hurt. But what did it say about me that I so readily crawled into bed with someone else, and a perfect stranger at that. I knew I’d been distraught and despite my bravado with Michelle, not really thinking rationally. But did that excuse what I’d done?

Vicki, one of the girls in my office, saw me struggling to get through the door and came over.

“Ooh, let me give you a hand!” Vicki smiled broadly, grabbing the bag of donuts and digging in.

“Thanks!” I laughed with mock sarcasm, following her into the large open space. There were about ten desks scattered across the room, each burdened with computers and piled high with paperwork. I waved to the girls as I walked by, stopping to talk to Marion about her daughter, who’d been sick with the flu since last week.

“She’s doing much better, thanks. Went back to school today.” Marion smiled, peering into the cardboard box. “Are those hats?”

I grinned smugly as Marion and Vicki reached in and fingered the fine knitted wool.

“These are great,” Marion said.

“And warm,” Vicki noted.

I had been badgering the clothing store down the street for weeks to donate their surplus to the foundation. My staff and I had gotten a list of items needed for the women’s shelter a few blocks away, and we’d collected almost everything—except hats.

“These will be great, especially now that it’s gotten colder. We can take them down to the shelter this afternoon and distribute them,” I said to Vicki.

Vicki beamed at me. The Pavilion Shelter had been her home for two years. She’d had a tough battle with drug addiction and ended up losing everything. I had met her there and heard her story of abuse and addiction. I’d hired her immediately, and it’d taken Vicki only a short while to get back on her feet and find an apartment. Every woman at the foundation had a similar story. I knew they just needed a break, someone to give them a chance and believe in them. They helped me organize and plan all the foundation’s charity events. They handled the donations coming in and assisted me with hands-on work in the community. I’d grown to think of all the women as family.