A Very Important Guest Read Online Free PDF Page B

presentation go?”
    “Pretty good, I think. I’m always happy to debate collective bargaining rights with an asshole corporate lawyer who’s never broken a sweat at his job.” He returned her smile. “So have you picked a restaurant?”
    “We’re going out for Japanese.” She’d chosen a highly recommended Japanese hole-in-the-wall. “I’ll pick you up across the street at eight, okay?”
    “Great.” He glanced around the room for a moment. “Now get out of my room.”
    She laughed. “I’m not quite done.”
    “Sure you are. Besides there’s another reason you need to leave.”
    “Ah, sorry.” She cringed. “You need to actually use the room as an office.”
    “Well, yes. But I’m concerned that if I’m alone with you in here too much longer, I’m going to have to kiss you.” He ended his words with a wink.
    Her eyes widened, but inside she was tickled. “Just because I’m in your room doesn’t mean I’m not working.”
    “So it would be ‘unwise’ to kiss right now.”
    “Uh, yeah …”
    “But otherwise, you wouldn’t mind it?”
    Avoiding his stare, she looked around the room in embarrassment. “Why are you teasing me like this?”
    “Because when I tease you, you’re not so serious. I see that other side of Abby—the fun side.”
    She met his gaze and shook her head in amazement. How had he puzzled her out so quickly? But moreover, why did he want to? She wanted to act as she would’ve a few years ago. Until then, she’d always been a demonstrative person. In an interaction like this, with a hot guy who made her heart sing, she’d be all over him, showing him how she felt. Her old boyfriend loved her for it, but as the fire of her soul slowly cooled and then chilled, so did their relationship. At that moment with Will, she wanted to pounce on him. She stammered, “You’ve got my number.”
    “Figuratively and literally?” He seemed to suppress a laugh.
    She kept quiet, and he quickly said, as if he knew she was anxious. “Don’t worry. You’ve got mine, too.”
    As she absorbed what lay behind his words, she beamed. “We should both get back to work.”
    “See you tonight,” he said and waved a hand to usher her out of the room.
    “Yes. Tonight.” She headed straight to her cart, grinning the whole way.
        
    * * *
     
    When she pulled up to a side street of the hotel, she saw Will across the way, posted at the hotel front doors and looking around. She hoped he’d recognize the car so that she didn’t have to get out. Though the bellhops and valets were her buddies, she didn’t want them seeing her drive off with a guest. Luckily, her car was distinct enough she assumed Will might remember it from the night before. In only a few seconds, he spotted her and walked over.
    She rolled down her window. “Hey.”
    He grinned. “I couldn’t miss the car.”
    As he walked around to the passenger side, she smiled when she saw his more casual dress for the evening. “Welcome,” she said when he finally sat down on the aged leather interior.
    “Thanks for picking me up.” He looked about the car’s interior. “What year is this?”
    “1985.”
    “Wow. It’s an antique.” He pointed to the Mercedes symbol. “Thirty years old, and it still has that German car smell.”
    “It was my stepfather’s. He kept it in perfect condition.” She started the car and began to pull out of the parking space. “When my Honda got totaled by a drunk, I took this car.”
    “Did your stepfather get another Mercedes?”
    Taking her eyes off the road, she glanced at him and shook her head. “He’d died a few months earlier. The car was just sitting there.”
    “I’m sorry to hear that.”
    His serious expression felt like proof he already knew that part of her story. “Thanks,” she said, her voice small. She stole another quick look at him before turning her attention back to the road. The distraction of driving would make the conversation easier. “He had congestive