Dead No More by L. R. Nicolello

settled back into the plush leather seats of his town car, the hungry glint in his eyes returning. “Seven o’clock Monday, then?”
    “Seven o’clock Monday. It’s a date.”
    She stepped from the car and let the slit of her dress fall open over the top of her thigh. She could feel his gaze drift over her body, burning into her. Once outside of the car, she bent low to bid him farewell, giving him a generous view of the front of her dress once more.
    “Rowland, thank you for your generous hospitality. It wasn’t expected, but it’s most appreciated.”
    Her instincts screamed to proceed with caution as Lily willed herself to walk calmly to the hotel entrance. The doorman held open the large, glass doors. Lily walked into the lobby and headed straight toward the restrooms. She pulled out her phone and did a search for cab companies. She scanned the list that popped up and spied a company on the other side of the city. Might as well give plenty of time and space between her cab and Rowland’s departure. She punched in the number.
    “Cornhusker Cab.”
    “Yes, I’d like a cab to pick me up at Hotel Deco, the servers’ entrance.”
    “Um...” The man on the other end of the line hesitated. “Ma’am, that will be at least a half hour.”
    “That’s perfect.”
    * * *
    L ILY ENTERED HER LOFT , slammed the door and threw her purse onto the counter. She kicked off one shoe, then the other, and rubbed her right foot. She’d forgotten how much she hated heels.
    Her phone rang. Grabbing her purse, she dumped its contents out onto the counter and snatched up the phone on its third ring.
    “Hello.”
    “Home so soon?” Derek’s deep voice cut through the quiet.
    She flipped off the lights, her heart skipping a beat, and went to the wall of windows, pushed back the sheer curtains and peered into the black night. “Do you have me under surveillance?”
    “How’d it go?”
    “It seemed strange, the Elsworths not being there. I think I met every member of Omaha’s high society tonight.” Lily frowned, let the curtains fall from her fingers. “Come to think of it, I didn’t see you the rest of the evening, either. Did you leave?”
    “I didn’t have a choice in the matter,” Derek grumbled. “After your little show, I was escorted out by Rowland’s goons.”
    Lily pressed her lips together to keep from laughing. She hadn’t meant to hit him
that
hard. “Sorry about that, Derek. I didn’t know...” She stopped and frowned. “Wait, what did he say?”
    “I think the exact words he used were ‘John may put up with you, but I won’t. Not tonight.’”
    Walking toward her bedroom, Lily tucked the phone between her shoulder and ear and reached behind her, fingers grasping for the zipper. She needed out of this dress, pronto. Her fingers landed on the zipper and she tugged. “Your reaction was priceless.”
    “I’d say you hit like a girl,” he deadpanned back, “but that’s not true at all.”
    “It worked, though.” The dress fell from her shoulders, the soft material pooling around her ankles, and Lily stepped away as she reached for the crystal hairpins folded into her hair and yanked. Soft curls fell around her shoulders. Raking her fingers through her hair, she massaged the places on her scalp that the hairpins had bitten into all night. “I’m in, but can we debrief tomorrow? I’m exhausted and still need to write out my reports.”
    “Nope. We debrief tonight.”
    “What?” She stopped short. “Absolutely not.”
    “I’m not asking. I’ll be there in ten.”
    She stared at the dead phone, annoyed. But after dancing in his arms across the marble floors of the museum earlier—even ever so briefly—Lily had to admit that she was looking forward to seeing him again.
    She shook her head violently to clear those thoughts and went to hunt up something to wear.
Don’t go there, Andrews. He’s nothing but trouble.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN
    Saturday, September 20, 11:15 p.m.
    D EREK CHECKED