Stilettos & Scoundrels

by Laina Turner

  Chapter 5

  Since finding out Senator Daniels was in town, an idea had been brewing in the back of my mind. Maybe I could speak to him. Interview him or something and present it to Trevor to show I could add value to his online magazine. Convince him he needed to have me. I found myself wanting to try my hand at this.

  At breakfast my mom had said he was staying at the Hilltop Marriott, which was odd since his wife was from here, and they had a house here. I headed that direction thinking what the hell, what’s the worst he could say. Just no.

  I walked into the lobby of the Hilltop Marriott a few minutes later. It wasn’t busy for a Friday, but it wasn’t as if Alkon was a great tourist spot or the ideal place for conventions. It was too far off the beaten path for that. What the Marriott didn’t have in the way of regular guests today, they made up for with private security. I saw security agents wherever I looked, at least I presumed them to be some security, as they were all dressed in black and had those cool earpiece thingies.

  Must be nice to be this important. But why did Senator Daniels need all this security? Was it all for him? He was a senator, not the president, and Alkon wasn’t exactly the crime capital of Illinois.

  I hadn’t been inside the hotel in a long time, but it looked recently renovated and upscale, all done up in dark, rich hues of red. I looked at the monstrosity of the chandelier and wondered if it was real glass or plastic. It must have weighed a ton if it was glass, but it fit right in with the deep red–velvet wallpaper and high–backed chairs in the lobby. I thought I should have went home and changed into something a little more professional, but then I hadn’t packed anything more professional. I hadn’t expected to need it.

  “Excuse me, miss.” A man in a somber black suit interrupted my thoughts. By the look of him, I could tell that he was one of the plethora of security guards. The earpiece gave him away. “No unauthorized people are allowed in this area of the hotel.”

  “Hi,” I said sweetly. My name is Presley Thurman. I was hoping to speak with Senator Daniels.”

  “One minute, please,” the man said, holding up his finger as he proceeded to talk into the secret ninja microphone discreetly hidden in his lapel, which I admit, was pretty cool.

  “I’m sorry, miss, but he’s not seeing anyone without an appointment today.” Attempting to usher me to the door, he put his hand on my elbow and began pushing me toward the exit.

  “Listen, I know you have a job to do but I’m from out of town, and I am only here for a few days. I was hoping to get just a few minutes of his time.”

  The guy just looked at me, seemingly bored and resigned to having to deal with this inconvenience. I’m sure it happened a lot in his line of work.

  “Ma’am, I’m sorry,” the man repeated in his calm patronizing voice. That might work to intimidate most people, but I wasn’t most people. If he thought I was going to cave this easy, he was crazy.

  As I geared up to try and convince him to let me by, I heard someone walk up behind me.

  “What seems to be the problem, Simon?” a man asked. The man’s voice sounded familiar, which I thought strange. I couldn’t think of anyone I knew who worked for Senator Daniels other than Tobey Stone, and this voice was not Tobey’s.

  “Well, sir,” the man named Simon started to reply, but I cut him off.

  “I was hoping to get a few minutes with Senator Daniels.” As I turned around to face the man who’d spoken, I came face–to–face with Cooper Sands. And for a moment I was speechless.

  The proverbial bad boy in high school, Cooper was tall, dark, handsome, and a lot of trouble, which made him even more attractive to the average high school girl. Hell, it made him attractive right now, and I wasn’t a high school girl anymore. He used to run with a more dangerous crowd than my own, partied, and got in minor trouble with the law, much like his good friend Dirt. The garden variety smashing mailboxes and spray painting street signs kind of trouble. However, this bad boy with a chip on his shoulder had come to my rescue once after one of my many breakups with Brian. We had talked for hours and something about Cooper made me feel comfortable. I couldn’t explain it.

  Cooper had taken me home that night. Afterward he never spoke to me again, except for a nod as we passed in the halls. I was crushed because I had thought we’d shared something special and had become friends, but he clearly thought differently. It had happened right at the end of the school year, so luckily I hadn’t seen him at school for that long before we graduated and went our separate ways. I headed to Chicago and over time, forgot about Cooper Sands. I hadn’t spoken to or seen him since then and hadn’t thought about him in years.

  It was all childish history, I thought as I faced him. Except that he was still great looking. No matter what kind of jerk he may have been and probably still was, I couldn’t argue that he was hot— whew—hot enough that I felt I was about to melt. Cooper had always been tall, but he wasn’t skinny anymore. Against my better judgment he had filled out in all the right places, I noticed, He obviously got to the gym more often than I did, which wasn’t saying much. His hair, which had been dark brown, longish, and wavy was now cut short on the sides and a little spiky on top. The effect was masculine, and in combination with his piercing blue eyes, made him look like a Gap model. In fact, he reminded me of a poster I saw last time I shopped at the Gap.

  If I weren’t so shocked to see Cooper, my hormones would’ve have went into overdrive. There wasn’t any time for my hormones to act because I was too busy wondering what the hell he was doing here. “What the hell? You have to be kidding. Of all people to run into.”

  “Well, hello to you too, Presley Thurman,” Cooper said with exaggerated politeness. “Simon, I’ll take it from here.” Cooper nodded to him.

  “Sure, boss.” Simon walked away, glaring at me as he left. I wouldn’t want to work in security, but I had to admit that covert communication stuff was cool. I could envision hanging out at the bar with my Chicago buddies Anna and Jared, checking out guys and talking about them through the cool ear buds.

  As Simon walked away, Cooper put his hand on my elbow and tried to lead me off to a side office, which brought my attention back to the present.

  “Get your hands off me!” I said pulling away and trying to act angry. It was hard for me to maintain pretend outrage when I had to work so hard to keep from drooling over Cooper. What was that saying from Casablanca? Of all the gin joints, in all the world... However, that wasn’t the priority now. I needed to focus on getting to speak to Senator Daniels and good looks or not; he wasn’t going to stop me.

  “Nice to see you too and I’m sorry, but the Senator isn’t seeing people who don’t have an appointment. Do you have an appointment?” he asked, his eyes twinkling. He knew I didn’t and was just playing with me.

  “As I told that other guy…”

  “You mean Simon,” he interrupted.

  “I’m not taking no for an answer. I just need a few minutes.”

  Cooper stood there and listened with half a smile on his face. I couldn’t tell for sure if he was laughing at me, but I had a strong suspicion he was and it was making me mad.

  “I can see you haven’t changed much. You’re still the same headstrong, opinionated person. I’m sorry to disappoint you King, but there is no way you are getting in to see the senator today. Maybe tomorrow. Call Tobey later and see, but Senator Daniels is not taking any more appointments today.”

  I was annoyed at the situation, annoyed at Cooper, and downright pissed that I was having a hard time focusing on the problem because his looks were so distracting.

  “Don’t call me King,” I added. I hated that I found myself pleased that he remembered it after all these years. I had told him the family nickname and how much I hated it during our night together. Amazed he remembered, he went up a few notches in my eyes, which only further confused my mixed feelings.

  As we stood there glaring at each other (well, me glaring and him amused), the senator walked out of th
e adjoining office and began to pass right by me. Here was my chance. Screw it, I was talking to him whether Cooper liked it or not.

  “Senator Daniels, excuse me for a second.” I strode away from Cooper to where the senator had stopped. He looked at me. Annoyance was quickly replaced by a plastered on political smile as he looked me up and down.

  “What can I help you with, sweetheart?” the senator asked in a tone that was a bit creepy, while shaking my hand. Senator Daniels was a handsome man, if you liked the aging–pretty–boy look, although to his credit, he was aging well. Dressed in a conservative gray suit, plain shirt, and a lime green tie that added a splash of color. His suit looked expensive, and considering his wife came from money, I was sure it was.

  “I’m sorry I don’t have an appointment but I was hoping to get a few minutes of your time,” I said, “Surely, you have a few minutes to spare. I promise I won’t take up too much of your time. This is important to me, and I’m sure your constituents would love to hear from you.” It was not my norm to suck up, but in this case, I figured it would get me what I wanted the quickest way possible. The senator seemed like someone who would easily succumb to flattery.

  “Well, I am busy today, but I can take a few minutes for a pretty little thing like you.”

  “But, Sir,” Cooper started to say. I could tell he wasn’t too happy with me. Obviously, I was interfering with his plans, but I was distracted by his two adorable frown lines. “As we discussed earlier...”

  Senator Daniels waved him away and motioned for me to follow him back into his office. “You know, I’m not so sure that was something to be worried about. We can discuss it later when I’m done with the little lady.”

  “Fine,” Cooper said, glaring at me. I thought it made him look cute—maybe even turned me on a bit. He was damned hot. He was someone who could make me forget about Rick.

  I heard a buzzing sound from the senator’s pocket. Reaching in and pulling out his phone, he looked at the number and then up at me before answering.

  “Excuse me a minute, sweetheart, I need to take this. Just have a seat,” he said, again plastering on the obviously fake smile. Did anyone ever think he was sincere?

  He motioned to the chairs outside his temporary office while he walked into the inner office. I sat down to wait and heard Senator Daniels raise his voice. The door was thin, and a bit ajar. These offices were not as lavishly decorated as the main entrance, so I could hear his side of the conversation pretty clearly—especially after I scooted the chair as close as I could to the door without it being that obvious.

  “I told you to stop calling me, Peter. You’ll get your money. Don’t you always get it? Calling me here is not appropriate,” he said in a loud whisper. I strained my ears to listen. After a long pause, he spoke again. “You wouldn’t dare, you bastard. If you did, I’d be ruined, and you wouldn’t be able to get your favors. Don’t forget how much I do for you.” Seemed like Senator Daniels was trying to sound authoritative, but I could tell the caller made him a little nervous.

  There was another long pause; in order to hear better, I craned my neck as far as it would go, almost falling-out of my seat. I was, and always had been, a shameless eavesdropper. I found other people’s conversations fascinating, and if they talked loud enough for me to overhear, well, that was their problem. He should have shut the door if he didn’t want me to listen.

  “I don’t care. Just leave me alone,” he said with exaggerated forcefulness, and I heard him snap the phone shut. I wanted to know what that had been about. My wild imagination began cranking through the possibilities, when he walked back out and motioned me to come inside. He looked shaken but quickly gained control of himself. The caller had upset him that was for sure.

  “Is everything all right, Senator Daniels?” I asked. “Can I get you some water or something?”

  “No, no, I’m fine,” he said, waving his hands as if to wave away my concerns. He fidgeted with his tie. “Just the ugly side of politics. Sometimes you have to remind people that it takes time to move things on Capitol Hill.” He forced out a laugh.

  I hadn’t been able to hear everything he said, but I doubted that the call was all about politics. I could be wrong, but either way, I knew he wouldn’t share the details of his call with me and quickly put it out of my mind and started to ask him some questions.

  We had been talking for about twenty minutes and, to my surprise, were having a decent conversation. The Senator was articulate and smart. Despite some of his less attractive qualities, he did seem passionate about what he wanted to accomplish. Then the door opened, and Tobey Stone came in glaring at me. I assumed he’d heard about how I had forced my way past Cooper.

  “I hate to interrupt, sir, but you have a call from Senator Prescott. He says it’s urgent.”

  “Okay. Tell him I’ll be there in a minute. This has been a delightful conversation, sweetheart, but I’m afraid we will have to continue this another time.”

  “I appreciate you seeing me.”

  “No problem. I wouldn’t mind talking with you again.” He leered at me. Twice I had pushed his hand off my leg. He may be a good conversationalist, but he was also a letch.

  “I’m sure. Thank you for your time.”

  “Got to run, sweetheart, work beckons.” He winked at me and rushed out of the room.

  I turned to Tobey to say something, and by the look on his face I could tell he was uncomfortable with the senator’s actions.

  “I apologize for the senator,” Tobey said, nervously fiddling with the buttons on his blue suit. “He doesn’t mean any harm by his actions. He is just a friendly guy.”

  “That’s okay I’m just glad I got to speak to him.” I had been apprehensive at first, but I had been surprised to find that I enjoyed informally interviewing him. I just hoped Trevor liked what I wrote, too.

  “I do have a question maybe you could answer. I overheard the senator arguing with someone on the phone. I think he said his name was Peter. I forgot to ask him who it was, do you know?” I hadn’t forgot. I just didn’t want the Senator to know I had been eavesdropping.

  Tobey looked at me with surprise and trepidation. “Uh, I’m sure it was nothing,” he said hurriedly. “There are many people who may not like what Senator Daniels has to say, and I can hardly keep track of them all. Now, if you don’t mind, I have to go. Can you see yourself out?”

  As Tobey started to walk off, I remembered seeing him and Helen arguing last night and didn’t want to lose my chance to find out why. I figured he was already annoyed with me. What was a little more? “One more thing, Tobey?”

  He stopped and turned around, looking at me expectantly.

  “What were you arguing with Helen Daniels about at the Coffee Café last night?”

  Tobey expression shifted to surprise, but he quickly masked it. “Nothing important. Now I’ve got to run,” he said over his shoulder, obviously wanting to get away from me as fast as possible before I asked any more questions.

  I grinned, and here I thought I had such a winning personality.

  As he walked off, I grew even more curious about the heated phone call I’d overheard. If it wasn’t anything that important, why would Tobey dodge it? It seemed neither the senator nor Helen was easy to get along with these days. I looked at my watch. There was just enough time to get back to my parent’s house, write up some of my notes before I forgot, and take a shower before meeting Katy. I also needed to call Trevor and tell him what I was doing and see if he was even interested.

  Almost to my car in the parking lot, I felt like someone was watching me. I glanced back over my shoulder and saw the security guy, Simon, staring at me through the window. As quickly as I saw him, he was gone.

  Why was he watching me? Or was he? I shrugged it off; must have been my imagination. I was curious about what the senator might be hiding and even more excited about seeing Cooper again. I couldn’t wait to talk to Katy about it.