She's Got Dibs Read Free Page B

are you?”
    “I stay here a lot when I’m in New York.”
    “Uh-uh, not buying it. I thought that poor girl was going to wet her pants.”
    One side of his luscious mouth quirked in resigned acknowledgment. “I have a standing reservation for the Presidential Suite.” He swung a hand forward when the elevator swished open.
    “Oh, well, that explains everything.” She pushed the button for the sixteenth floor, stepped to the rear of the car and stood beside him while additional hotel guests filed inside.
    The doors closed, and in their mirrored reflection Dibs held her gaze behind the crowd. The corners of his eyes softened, lips curving in a gentle smile.
    On the sixteenth floor, they traversed the corridor to a set of rooms directly across the hall from each other. Dibs unlocked his door and stood inside the open threshold.
    Tessa slid her key card into the slot and a little red light on top of the lock flashed three times. She switched to the second key and tried again. The red blinking resumed. She jiggled the handle, but the door refused to budge.
    “I think the girl at the front desk forgot to program these cards.” She glanced over her shoulder when he approached from behind. “You had her pretty flustered.”
    He cocked an eyebrow, head tilting with a hint of skepticism. “Here. Let me try.”
    “Yes, because after all, this is the first time I’ve unlocked a door.”
    He grunted and pushed the key card into the lock. The red light winked three times and stopped.
    “Told you.” She sighed. “Okay, give me the key. I’ll go back down.”
    “Here’s an idea.” He arrowed his hand and her key card into his pocket and braced a shoulder against the door. “Why don’t you put your things in my room, and we’ll go down together. I’ll buy us some dinner, and we can take care of your keys while we’re down there.”
    “I don’t know.” She crossed her arms. “Pajamas, now dinner? Next thing you’ll be whisking me off to some exotic private island.”
    His eyebrow twitched over the roguish twinkle in his gaze. He set her bags inside his room and pulled the door closed, came forward and offered his arm.
    She rolled her eyes and fit her hand inside the crook of his elbow.
    ****
    The lobby outside the Bull and Bear teemed with activity, the steady buzz of conversation underscored by muted elevator chimes and the rumbling grind of luggage wheels. Tessa peered through the crowd then went up on her toes, hoping for a glimpse inside the restaurant. “Follow me,” she whispered.
    She straightened her shoulders and strode confidently to the doorway, peeked around the threshold and steadily searched the room. A man seated at the bar straightened a stack of bills between two empty glasses, the woman beside him collecting her purse and coat. Tessa clasped Dibs’s hand and led him through the tables. When they arrived at the bar, the couple pushed back their chairs and stood. The timing was perfect.
    “Wow.” He offered one of the high seats, shifting it forward when she sat. “Where’d you learn to do that?”
    “One of the hazards of the job. Let’s just say I know how to read a crowd.”
    A bartender with stylishly mussed hair and a mischievous grin approached. He cleared away the dirty dishes and wiped down the bar in front of them. “How are you this evening?” He winked at Tessa, tossing a cocktail napkin down in front of her. “What can I get you, pretty lady?”
    She smiled. He had to be nearly a decade behind her in years, but the compliment was appreciated all the same. “Why, thank you. Grey Goose martini, three olives.”
    “Very good, and for you, sir?”
    “Dewar’s, rocks.”
    The bartender walked a short distance away, peeked at her from the corner of his eye, and spun a bottle in his hand. She toyed with the corner of her napkin, pursing her lips to avoid gloating over his flirtatious attention.
    A sigh heavy with resignation spilled from Dibs’s throat. “Okay. I guess I