Page 37 of The Main Event

“Daisy, I’m sure it’s not what you think,” Levi called after me.

“I don’t care what it is. I have work to do.”

You don’t care,I told myself as I stalked out of the room.It’s not as if you have a dog in this fight. They’re consenting adults. Whatever they choose to do with their free time is up to them.

I knew in my head that I was right. My heart was kind of hoping she choked on a lobster tail, though.

10

TEN

Daisy was by the front desk when it was time for me to head out. She was dressed in a pair of wide leg chiffon pants and a pretty top that showed off her toned arms. She was smiling as she talked to the night manager, who was just coming on shift. I hadn’t seen her since our moment in the bar three hours before, but that had been by design.

When I was around her, I swear my brain started short circuiting or something. I didn’t know how else to explain touching her when there was clearly no reason to do it. I wasn’t exactly a crazy sexual harasser or anything, but I knew better than touching a subordinate. Why had I suddenly turned into an idiot?

That question only resounded louder inside my head when I remembered who I was going out to dinner with. Tammy. Freaking crazy-ass Tammy. The woman I spent the better part of my day hiding from even though she was technically my assistant. That coat closet had become my office away from my office.

I still didn’t know how I’d been wrangled into this dinner. One second, we’d been talking about putting together a flowchart to ascertain exactly where we got the best bang for our buck, and the next, she was suggesting we discuss it over food. I thought she was going to order lunch from the bar and bring it back to my office. Instead, she sprang a dinner on me for the following day. I’d already agreed to the food, so there was no graceful way to back out of it without making her feel bad.

Now, making Tammy feel bad wouldn’t weigh all that heavily on my conscience. However, I had a feeling she would make me pay if I went that route. That meant I had a choice to make. A hellish hour and a half over stuffed lobster at a public restaurant, or what would likely turn into a week of sighing and pouting at every turn in my hotel, a place I couldn’t escape from her.

The choice hadn’t been easy, but when I measured the hell I was in for, there had been no contest.

“Do you need something?” Daisy asked out of nowhere. Her tone was cold.

I didn’t realize she was talking to me until I focused my eyes, which were already on her but not pointed at anything specific. The anger permeating off of her caught me off guard. “What?” I asked dumbly.

“Do you need something?” she repeated in the same cold tone.

“No. Did I say I needed something?”

“You were staring.”

The more she talked, the more defensive I got. “I certainly was not staring.” I straightened and brushed the front of my suit.

“You were so. You were staring holes in me.”

“I was not.” She was really on my last nerve. “I was running through my to-do list and was staring forward. I was not staring at you.”

“Right.” Daisy rolled her eyes until they landed on the night manager. I couldn’t remember his name, which was really a failing of mine. Currently, I wanted to blame it on her, though.“I’m heading out,” she said to him. “I’m not on call tonight, but if you run into any problems—not that I’m expecting any—I’ll be over at Finz having pickle martinis. I might be half in the bag if a problem pops up, but I’ll do my best anyway.”

The night manager smirked. “Thanks for the heads-up.”

Daisy cast me one more derisive look before heading towards the door. She didn’t bid me farewell.

I told myself I didn’t care how rude she was being, but I wasn’t certain that was true. I followed her anyway, catching up with her right before she reached for the door.

“Is something wrong?” I demanded of her.

She was the picture of innocence when she turned to me. “Why would anything possibly be wrong?”

“I don’t know. You tell me.”

“I’m fine.”

Her tone reminded me of my mother’s tone when my father asked her if she was angry that he’d decided to take a trip without her, and she denied it. She was always “fine” too. “You don’t seem fine.”

“Well, I am.”

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