Page 3 of Among the Stars

“Can you walk?” he asked.

She nodded, and together they returned to the hall, but they’d barely made it back to the elevator doors when the edges of her vision began to fade. A second later, the world went black.

* * *

This was nothow Cameron Rhodes saw his night going.

Lowering the mystery woman gingerly to the floor, he propped her against the wall and gave her cheek a light tap.

“Wake up. Come on. Wake up.” Cam waited but nothing changed. She was out, and by the smell of her breath, mostly likely for the rest of the night.

Now what?

First, a name. Next to his coat that he’d dropped in their rush to the bathroom, he found her purse and searched for an ID. The tiny clutch held the coat check ticket she’d flashed earlier, and a dead cell phone.

Great. Unless he wanted to run every patron through this hall hoping someone could identify her, Cam had only one option.

“I’m taking you home after all.”

This wouldn’t be the first time he’d taken a beautiful woman home, but his previous guests had all been conscious, willing visitors. Tonight would be a new experience for at least one of them. She might need this type of assistance on a regular basis for all Cam knew. Drawing the cell from his back pocket, he placed a call that was answered on the first ring.

“Yeah, boss?”

“Kyle, please bring my car to the rear entrance.”

“Yes, sir. Be there shortly.”

Phone in hand, Cam stared at his current dilemma and shook his head. What woman went out alone, got herself blackout drunk, and didn’t even carry ID? Every club along Broadway—including his—carded at the door. She had to have lost hers on the premises.

He sent off a quick text to the lead servers on all three floors and watched as each response came back with the same answer. No IDs found.

Accepting his fate, Cam wrapped her in his heavy overcoat and lifted her into his arms. She remained unconscious as a honey-blond curl fell over her cheek.

The eyes had been the first thing he’d noticed after she’d called out for a drink. Though half closed, Cam had caught a sadness there. When she’d shared her dumpee story, that sadness made sense, but his sudden urge to console her had thrown him off balance. In his line of work, encounters with drunk women were the norm. A compulsion to take care of them was not.

“What’s your story?” he mumbled as he carried her down the hall.

In response, she curled against him, tucking her head beneath his chin and sighing against his throat. Cam’s arms tightened, and the rest of him reacted instinctively. Not what he needed right now. Stepping out into the cold night took care of the erection, and true to his word, Kyle arrived in Cam’s black BMW seconds later.

Climbing out of the car, the lanky valet blinked in surprise. “Is she okay?”

“She’ll feel like hell in the morning, but otherwise she’s fine. There’s no ID so I’m going to let her sleep it off at my place.”

The valet stepped around to the passenger side. “Do you want me to see if Trina or Shanáe can put her up?”

Taking an unconscious woman home did open the door for complications. Especially if she woke in a panic and accused him of kidnapping or worse? He was about to suggest Kyle call Trina when slender arms snaked around his neck, and the stranger purred with contentment.

“No need.” He nodded for the valet to open the car door. “I’ve got her.”

Kyle waited as Cam buckled his passenger in. “Merry Christmas, Mr. Rhodes,” he said once his employer stepped back and closed the car door.

“Thanks, Kyle. And thanks for working tonight.”

The young man shrugged. “Only seemed right that folks with families have the night off.”

Like Cam, Kyle didn’t have family close by, and he’d never asked for time off to visit wherever it was he called home. The same went for much of the Rhodes Tavern staff. While working his way up through the restaurant ranks, from washing dishes in a dive in Chicago at age sixteen to opening Rhodes Tavern nearly twenty years later, Cam had encountered countless lost souls.

Outcasts, stragglers, and drifters all navigating life with no tether to family or home. These were his people. Cam understood them because he was one of them, and when it came time to staff his own establishment, those deemed disposable by the rest of society were welcomed into the fold.

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