Penthouse Suite

by Sandra Chastain

  “Oh, I intend to do that, Kate. I’ll decide what kind of woman I need.” He turned the car into the hotel parking lot and killed the engine, then reached out and took her chin in his hand.

  “You’re really something,” he murmured softly. “And you don’t even know it. What kind of men were there in that town back in Kentucky?”

  “Pretty ordinary. As far as I know, we’ve only had two claims to fame.”

  “You and who else?”

  “Not me—Dwight Yoakam and Joey Huffman. Dwight Yoakam just made a hit record.”

  Max raised one eyebrow. “Really?”

  “And Joey, he’s the keyboard man with a new rock group called Witness. They just got started. But they’re going to be big.”

  Max raised the other eyebrow.

  “He lived down the street from me. His mother was my mother’s best friend.”

  “Lucky Joey. Kiss me, Kate.”

  “Why?”

  “You’re a nice person, Kate Weston, and you kiss nicely, too. Now, come with me.”

  He kissed her lips once more before he reluctantly released her, removed the keys from the ignition, and opened his door.

  “Where are we going?”

  “We’re going up to the penthouse to work on my reference library.”

  “Not tonight, Max. I’m on call. Remember, I’m a working girl?” Kate gathered up her bag.

  “So, be on call from the penthouse. You have your beeper.”

  “When I’m with you, Max, I don’t think I’d hear any other bells ring. Besides,” she said with a smile, “it would be very hard to leave you.”

  “But, Kate, I want you to stay with me, have breakfast with me on my terrace. I want to watch you wake up, see if you squeeze the toothpaste in the middle. Is there anything wrong with that?” He grabbed her shoulder roughly and leaned her back against the car, pressing the full length of his legs and lower body against her.

  His words caught her by surprise. And yet in a crazy way she recognized that he was right. “Max, this isn’t going to make much sense, but it’s the penthouse.”

  “The penthouse is where I live. Would you rather I lived on a fishing boat?”

  “It’s not really the place, Max, it’s the commitment. Making love with you is too much like being in love. Making love in your penthouse, your home, might feel too comfortable. I don’t know if I could move on afterward. Away from the penthouse, I still feel free. Now I have to get inside. The night manager might need me.”

  “By all means, Kate. I wouldn’t want to come between you and an adventure. Heaven forbid that the plumbing, or the electricity, or an escaping bird would have to wait an hour for your services.”

  He got out of the car and walked around to open the passenger door. He didn’t know what he was saying. Of course he wanted the guests cared for. The hotel was his responsibility. And he never wanted Kate to give up her spirit of adventure. He just wanted to be that adventure.

  She hadn’t intended to hurt Max. She hadn’t wanted to think about tomorrow. Now they were back at the hotel. The clock had struck twelve, and she was a maintenance worker again.

  “All right, Kate.” Max’s voice was low and strained. “But I don’t intend to let this end here. You go on inside and keep the hotel safe from disaster. I have a business appointment away from the hotel tomorrow. While I’m gone, you think about us, Kate. You think about relationships and commitments. Because I know what I want. I want you.”

  Kate started to reach out to him, caught herself, and let her hand drop to her side. “You can’t want me. Believe me, Max, it wouldn’t work. I won’t let you do this.”

  Kate whirled and ran across the parking area and into the garden. She reached her room, flung open the door, slammed it closed, and leaned back against it, breathing raggedly. For a long time all she heard was the sound of her breathing. Then she felt that curious sensation that always announced Max’s presence to her, even when she couldn’t see him.

  “All right, Kate,” he said from beyond the door. “But I want to thank you for the nicest day of my life. You don’t think you that fit into my world, but I’m going to prove that you’re wrong. Be ready tomorrow night. We’re going to a Hotel Association business dinner. I’ll pick you up at eight.”

  “Why?”

  “I want you to meet the people in my world. You’ll see that they aren’t so very different from you and me. Kate?” His voice dropped to a whisper. “Will you open the door for a second? I won’t try to come in. I just want to kiss you goodnight. Please?”

  Kate opened the door.

  His kiss wasn’t demanding. It was sweet and gentle, and before he was finished, Kate knew that she’d go with him—anywhere.

  “Sleep well, darling, until tomorrow night.”

  Kate watched him walk down the sidewalk, stop by the pool, and give her a sweet smile. She wanted to go with him. It was all she could do to stay in the doorway and watch him leave. Finally she loosened her hold on the frame, blew him a kiss, and fled into her room before she gave in to her feelings and ran back into his arms.

  If Kate closed her eyes after Max left, she wasn’t aware of it. Eventually in desperation she pulled on a pair of shapeless pants and a baggy shirt and walked down to a secluded part of the beach.

  The sea was rough and angry, hurling frothy waves onto the shore in jerky slaps that broke the night silence, then retreated begrudgingly, leaving deep slashes in the sand. Gone was gentle crystal blue-green water, and Kate understood the uneasy turbulence that churned the sea. She felt drained beyond anything she’d ever imagined. The cottony grayness wrapped around her like a cocoon, and she felt smothered by the heavy air.

  Finally, chilled and weary, she drew herself up and moved back down the beach. From the garden she saw Max, dressed in a soft blue suit, stop and speak to Ricardo, the night manager. Ricardo looked pleased.

  Kate decided that Ricardo was seeing a new side of his employer, an employer who was recognizing the individual faces of his staff. If you’d asked Max a week ago what Ricardo looked like, or who the gardener was, he wouldn’t have known. Max was changing. Could she? Could a woman who had grease on her nose more often than cold cream ever really fit in to whatever relationship Max envisioned? Could what she was feeling be love?

  Kate shook her head and wished she had the magical powers of the gods. Life had been hard while her mother had been ill, but it had been easier too. She’d done what she had to do. Her life had been orderly, different from Max’s, but regimented just the same.

  Afterward, she’d fled from that order, determined never to be responsible for anyone but herself again. Now her carefree life was being threatened. She was changing too. And it frightened her because she didn’t know who she was becoming, and Max didn’t understand who she had been.

  “He’s never taken anyone to the festival before. As far as I know, he’s never even been on the boats,” Helen Stevens observed later as she and Kate shared a late lunch.

  “Really? I don’t understand. I mean, why be interested in me? He could have his pick of any woman in the state of Florida.” Kate toyed with her food.

  “Sure, and he’s paraded a few of them through here at night and sent them home by the hotel courtesy car afterward. But this is different. He’s different. Yesterday he treated Carlos and me as friends not just employees. And this morning he asked Ricardo to set up one-on-one interviews with everyone on the staff. He wants to get to know them. That’s a real change.”

  “I don’t know what to say. That’s very nice,” Kate agreed, still remembering how much she’d liked being Max’s woman. It felt right when she was with him. Why then did she have such doubts when they’d gotten back to the hotel? Was it the hotel that intimidated her? No—it was what the hotel represented that held her back.

  “It was more than nice, Kate. Max has always been fair, but sometimes it’s been hard to explain staff problems to a man in his position.”

  “We’re both changing,” Ka
te admitted. “And the change is hard to deal with.”

  “By the way, Mrs. Jarrett’s companion, the lovely Lucy Pierce, is finally back. You’d better stay away from her. She has her eye on Max, and she wouldn’t think twice about running over you in the process.”

  “Lucy Pierce? Where has she been, anyway?”

  “If you ask me, knowing Lucy, I’d say she’s been with a man. She took off rather suddenly. Said it was family business. Business? Hah! I’d like to tell you more, but I’m due back at the desk. Just watch out for Lucy.”

  Later, in the laundry room, Kate took a telephone call from Mrs. Jarrett.

  “Kate, you need to keep that fishing line tight. Max is beginning to weaken, and it’s time to start reeling him in.”

  “Mrs. Jarrett, I wish you wouldn’t talk like that. By the way, I heard that your companion is back.”

  “Only for the moment,” Dorothea said guardedly. “How are you?”

  “Not very well, I’m afraid. Every time I’m with Max, everything gets more confused. I just seem to make everything worse.”

  “Fiddle-faddle, if this is worse, I can’t wait for total disaster,” Mrs. Jarrett said with a chuckle. “I’m so pleased. You’ve done so well with what you’ve had to work with that I’ve sent you some more.”

  “More what?”

  “You’ll see. Are you ready for tonight?”

  “Tonight? We’re going to some Association party. I have to go so that he can prove to me that I fit into his life. Why on earth would he want me there?”

  “I think if he had his way, you’d be everywhere with him. I was up to the penthouse earlier, and he has his Old Spice, his Frank Sinatra records, and a sign blinking DO NOT DISTURB in neon lights on the elevator door.”

  “Yes, well,” Kate said nervously, “I’m afraid he does expect me to stay the night.”

  “Hot damn! I knew it.”

  Kate didn’t know how to respond.

  “Don’t go shy on me, girl. Are you?”

  “Mrs. Jarrett, you’re incorrigible.” Kate ended the conversation when she heard the sound of water sputtering in one of the washing machines behind her. “Have to go, more plumbing work to do.”

  She simply wouldn’t go, she told herself the whole time she was dressing. She’d explain that the idea was ludicrous. She’d just wait until he returned and meet him for a late dinner in the hotel dining room. They’d be able to talk there. Then later, if it seemed like the thing to do, she’d go with him to his suite. Maybe she’d stay the night.

  Kate was almost ready when the phone rang.

  “Kate, this is Ricardo. I thought I’d tell you that a delivery boy just took a package to the penthouse for you.”

  “A package for me? What is it?”

  Ricardo laughed. “I don’t think I’m going to say. You wouldn’t believe me if I did. One thing I will say is that my job has certainly become more interesting since you came to work here. I want to thank you for putting in a good word for me with the boss. I definitely deserve the raise.”

  If she’d been nervous before, Kate was in a state of full panic now. She surveyed herself in the mirror. She didn’t have the smoldering exotic look she’d achieved the night of the first party. The dark green dress she wore was simple and unadorned. It brought out the green flecks in her eyes. She’d created a simple hairstyle by drawing her hair straight back into a bun and securing it with a bronze Spanish comb that had been a gift from Helen.

  With a light touch of eye shadow, a heavier than usual application of mascara, a simple gold bracelet, and strappy shoes, she was ready.

  All the way to the penthouse, Kate tried not to think about what she was doing, about what her going there implied, or what she expected to happen. Her mouth had gone dry, and she moistened her lips nervously. As she stepped off the elevator she walked straight into a large bushel basket filled with bright yellow lemons.

  Lemons? Mrs. Jarrett popped immediately into Kate’s mind. I like a woman who uses lemons to make lemonade. Mrs. Jarrett had said that the first night. Kate wondered what Max thought of his aunt’s gift.

  The weakness is Kate’s knees intensified when she read the message on the card that was addressed to her.

  If your line breaks, squeeze.

  Dorothea

  The door was open, and Kate smiled as she walked through the apartment. From somewhere in the back, she could hear the sound of piano music. She couldn’t be certain but she thought she recognized the lovely voice of Rossano Brazzi singing “Some Enchanted Evening.” Max was showing his new interest in movies, no doubt.

  The terrace door was ajar, bringing the clean smell of the sea inside. Kate wandered outside into the still-light evening and looked out over the Gulf. There was a tranquil, unending beauty in the view. The sea seemed to reach out to some deeply hidden part of her, and she didn’t know whether or not she’d ever want to live away from it now.

  She’d left a life of routine and schedules after her mother had died, a life in which the only place she could let go was in her how-to classes.

  Organized was what she’d had to be then. She hadn’t had a choice with only so much time and money and so many demands on her. For the last two years, she’d moved from one place to another, never allowing herself to stand still. The whole world had beckoned to her, and she intended to see every inch of it. Work three months and move on—that was her philosophy.

  One adventure after another, that’s what she wanted. And Max was an adventure. That’s all she’d allow him to be. Her mother had fallen in love with her adventurer. Kate would never allow herself to do the same.

  She’d stop fighting him and enjoy whatever came. Moving on might be hard, but Max would be worth it. When had her life ever been easy, anyway? Kate closed her eyes and let the enchantment of the melody envelop her as she swayed to the rhythm of the music.

  She whirled around, holding a phantom lover as the magic of the moment swept her away. When long, slim fingers clasped her outstretched hand, she moved willingly into her mystery lover’s embrace, arching her body and lifting her other arm behind his neck. The imaginary dancer changed into a real-life man who paused for a moment, rocking back and forth in time with the music, before sliding one leg between hers and spinning her wildly around the patio. Coming at last to a breathless stop, she opened her eyes, reluctant to break the spell.

  “Hello, darling. I’ve waited all day for this.” Smoky eyes gazed at her hungrily before possessive lips captured her mouth with such passion that she moaned.

  “Max,” Kate finally whispered, gulping in a breath of air, “you’re overwhelming. I don’t know whether I’m coming or going. You’re making me crazy.” She unwound herself with weak-kneed uncertainty and moved to the balcony rail.

  “You’re coming to me, exactly where you should be, Kate,” Max whispered, standing directly behind her. He reached out and circled her body, folding his arms beneath her breasts. She could feel the steady thud of his heart against her back and his breath against her hair.

  “We have to talk, Max. I’ve made up my mind not to fight you anymore. I do want you. I don’t know how this will work out, but if you trust me to fit in. I’ll trust you to be right.”

  “Trust. That’s an odd word to choose, Kate. I’ve never trusted a woman before. But I’m opening myself up to you, unequivocally. Be gentle, darling. I’m fragile.” He nuzzled her ear. “Want to tell me why I have a basket of lemons in my entrance hall? I thought nectarines were the fruit of the gods.”

  Hands that had been content to hold now cupped her breasts, which peaked in immediate response. Max murmured in her hair and pressed his body against her, and Kate knew that she was lost.

  “Nectarines? Only on Mount Olympus,” she said with a moan and pressed her body wickedly against the man holding her.

  Max gasped and continued to caress her breasts while his lips drew little circles on her shoulder and the back of her neck. Finally he drew back and said in a ragged voice, “As muc
h as I want you, we have to leave now. We’re expected at Red Garden’s party in half an hour, and I have to be there.”

  His hands slid reluctantly from her throbbing breasts, and Kate took a deep breath before turning to face Max. She wanted to say something to let him know how she felt, but she couldn’t. Not yet sure enough of her feelings, she walked away and he followed, not talking, not touching.

  Max paused at the elevator, lifted Kate’s hand, and lightly kissed her fingertips. “I dare not touch you again, Kate, though I want to kiss every part of you. I just want you to know that later, when we return, we have some serious decisions to make. And this time we aren’t parting in the courtyard.”

  “Yes.” Kate’s voice had tightened so that a simple yes was all she could manage. The sound of the elevator door opening broke the intense silence. Max moved inside and turned to her expectantly. Kate reached down and picked up one lemon from the basket. She dropped it in her purse and stepped into the elevator and Max’s waiting arms.

  “Where are we going?” she managed to ask.

  “We’re going to meet the man who’s buying the Showboat. The Showboat is the first piece of property that the Association has lost to an outsider.”

  Kate kept silent, waiting for him to continue. She knew he was disturbed about the sale. It would be like Max to assume full responsibility for the loss. She already knew how he feared for the purity of the strip.

  “The buyer seemed to know exactly how we operate and how far we were able to go. Of course, the committee knew that we’d lose one sooner or later, but this man paid just enough more than we could afford to bid. There’s something wrong about the timing and how he worked it all out.”

  “Maybe he’s just a good businessman,” Kate commented.

  “Maybe, but the entire deal has been much too smooth for that. Still, the papers aren’t actually final yet. The mortgage holder has to agree. But that’s purely a formality. Red already has his check, pending approval by the lender. I guess that I feel as though some piece of the puzzle is missing, and I’m afraid that the failure might be my fault.”