Page 17 of Merciless Sinner

I tried to imagine either one of the men from my fantasy night at the Glass Kat going through this misery and failed. I may not have much of a bank account to talk about, but I recognized money when I saw it. The suit my mystery man had worn alone would probably cover my rent for several months. The watch on his wrist another year’s worth or more.

Once inside, I dropped my bag and keys on the table near the door and trudged into the bathroom, leaving a trail of clothes behind me. I was about to turn on the water when the banging on my door began.

I tried to ignore it, hoping whoever it was would go away. Someone visiting my place was a rare enough event that I figured it had to be someone banging on the wrong door.

“Harper! Open the door. It’s me.”

I sagged against the wall at the muffled sound of Zia’s voice. Loved her to death, I really did, but right now I needed a shower and some rest more than I needed someone poking me for more details about my night at the Glass Kat.

She’d already called me twice in the last two days, pressing me for all the information and I’d been too busy with work to get into more than a few brief details. And if I was completely honest, I didn’t know if I could share that night yet. My feelings over it all still felt raw. I didn’t even know the name of the man who’d sent me my rose and given me more orgasms in one night than I’d had in months. What was I supposed to say about that?

Still. She was at the door and I knew her well enough to know she wouldn’t go away. I grabbed my robe off the hook and slid into it as I trudged to my front door one leaden step at a time.

With a hopefully appropriate smile pasted on my face, I unlocked the door and opened it.

“Finally,” she said. “I thought I was going to have to kick the door in to get it open.”

With a sarcastic response on the tip of my tongue, something about her banging for all of a minute, I spied the pizza she carried in one hand and the six-pack of beer in the other.

“If that’s a sausage and mushroom from Vino’s then you can come in,” I muttered, my mouth already salivating from the delicious aroma.

She laughed. “You know it is. Would I dare bring anything else? Got the beer swill you love too. I just hope you have some wine or something for me so I don’t have to choke this shit down.”

The fake smile disappeared from my face and transformed into genuine laughter. “Damn you, I was going to be mad at you for interrupting my much needed hot shower, but now I can’t.” I snagged the pizza box out of her hand and turned towards my eat-in kitchen. The one room in the whole place that made those three flights of stairs worth it every time.

“Might as well come in. It’s probably best I not eat this entire thing myself.”

My friend snorted. “You’re so damned friendly, Harper. Anyone ever warn you about that?”

As I opened the box and picked up my first slice I smirked. “I know I’m being a bitch. But I’m cranky because my boss is a slave driver.”

“I’m your boss, you ungrateful brat.”

I grinned around my mouthful of amazing pizza. “I know. Isn’t it great? Can you pass me one of those beers?”

Zia grabbed a bottle, twisted the top off and handed it to me. “You are so lucky I love you.”

I was and I knew it.

I closed my eyes and savored my pizza. If I had eaten today I couldn’t remember so she was also my life saver whether she realized it or not. That was the case in more ways than she knew. I would be eternally grateful for her hiring me as her head baker/manager at the bar. When she’d first broached the idea I thought she was crazy for putting that kind of responsibility into the hands of a barely graduated culinary student with no real experience outside of private parties and school functions we were forced to cater for grades.

I didn’t think graduating at the top of my class necessarily made me ready for what she wanted but I, like her, threw caution to the wind and went for it.

I’d also been thrilled. Thanks to her I was able to afford a decent apartment not far from the city, even if I did have to take a few trains to get back and forth.

“So…” she started. “Are you ever going to fill me in on all the sordid details of your Valentine adventure? I’ve been dying for more information.”

I swallowed my food and took a swig of beer before I responded. “I knew this was a bribe,” I said.

“Can you blame me? If the tables were turned and I’d received a sexy anonymous invitation you wouldn’t be all up my ass for every juicy detail?”

She had a point. I definitely would. I often lived vicariously through her adventures. Now that she was a celebrity, she got to meet all kinds of cool people. And she often traveled all over the world for her show.

“I told you the other day, there isn’t that much to tell.” I kind of felt guilty that I wasn’t sharing everything, but I still had mixed feelings about the whole thing. Filling a fantasy was one thing, not knowing anything about the two men was another. Not that I thought Zia would ever judge me. Not long after her divorce, she’d had a few interesting adventures, to say the least.

I still smiled when I thought about her fling with a certain movie star when she’d spent a summer abroad with her film crew.

“You’re full of shit you know that?” She grabbed a slice of her own and flung herself down into one of my chairs. “It was the Glass Kat. I may not have ever been through those hallowed doors, but I know exactly the kind of thing that happens there. And you, young lady, are lying through your pretty white teeth.”

---