Room Service

With failure ringing in her ears, Em’s second attempt had been her chance to prove the previous disaster had been an unlucky break. But right from the beginning, the crew on the safari-adventure-themed reality show had fought viciously amongst themselves, backstabbing and sabotaging at will. Because Em hadn’t been allowed to hire them in the first place, she’d been left in the position of being unable to control them. That, coupled with the fact that not one of them could read a map, and it had been a “lost” cause before they’d even begun.

Em’s third and last effort had been a talk show where, not-so-coincidentally, the host had been Nathan’s niece by marriage. A lovely, funny, sharp woman making her way up the ranks in the comic circuit, a woman who’d had an incredibly unlucky streak in life culminating in a horrific car accident the year before and was now, secretly and unfortunately, addicted to her prescription meds. A secret, of course, that could ruin her. When Em had discovered it, the woman had begged and cried and pleaded for Em not to tell.

Of course Em didn’t tell, it wasn’t in her genetic makeup to do such a thing, but when the comic had self- destructed-on live TV-the decision had cost Em the show, garnering her the knowledge that she didn’t want to work with relatives of her boss ever again.

Now she had three failures like balls on a chain around her neck. Each had occurred, Em was certain, not because she was a bad producer, but because she’d been handed the cast and crew instead of picking them herself.

The stakes had never been higher, she knew this. But she also knew anything was possible, including making it in this business. Her way. “I can do this, Nathan,” she said again. “I know I can. You just have to give me a real chance to do so.”

“Emmaline-”

“A real chance.” She stood, putting her hands on his desk, leaning in, desperate to make him see how badly she wanted this. “If I could pick the crew and the host this time-”

“You don’t have any experience in that area.”

True enough. Until college, she’d driven a tractor, she’d run a hay barn and she’d managed the books for the dairy division of her family’s farm.

Having graduated from college with a business degree in TV development, she knew it was time to hold down a job in her field, not a hay field. And she wanted it to be this job. “You saw something in me, you just said it. Please, let me try again, just one more time.”

Nathan twirled a mechanical pencil in his fingers and did that long silent pause that always made Em want to squirm. Finally he let out a long sigh. “I know I’m going to be sorry, but…yeah.”

“Yeah?” In shock, she laughed. “Really?”

Looking unhappy about it, he nodded.

“Oh, my God, thank you thank you thank you,” she cried, running around his desk to throw her arms around him.

Awkwardly, he patted her on the back. “Okay now.”

“I’m sorry.” She dropped her arms and stepped back, but she still couldn’t swipe the wide grin off her face. “You won’t regret this, not for a minute.”

“Just promise me you’re really going to make this work,” he said solemnly to her face-splitting smile, though if she wasn’t mistaken, his eyes did actually twinkle. “Because, trust me, Em, if you screw this up, you’re done in this business for good.”

“Oh, I’m going to make this work.” She inhaled deeply to keep from hugging him again. “So tell me…what kind of show is it going to be?”

She envisioned another talk show, or maybe a well-written, sharp, witty sitcom. Yeah, that would be so perfect, something that would make people laugh-

“We want a cooking thing.”

Em stared at him, some of her elation fading. “A cooking thing.”

“With a dynamic chef who can really entertain. You know, juggle knives, toss the ingredients around. Like those chefs at the Japanese restaurants, only without the ethnicity. You’ll cook everything across the board on this show, from burgers to beef tartare.”

Tartare? She didn’t even know what that was. “A cooking show,” she repeated, thoughts racing. Unfortunately, she didn’t know the inner workings of a kitchen any more than she understood the aerodynamics of a plane.

“Cooking shows are hot right now,” Nathan said.

A cooking show, when Em could burn water without trying.

“You should start with the chef. He’ll be the key to your success. I actually have one in mind-”

“But you just said I could hire-”

“The staff to support the show.”

She fixed her smile back in place, adding an easy nod that she hoped covered up the panic hurtling through her veins instead of blood. Cooking show…“I was hoping you’d trust me to hire everyone for the show.”

“I do. Just go check out the chef I have in mind. He has charisma in spades. He’d draw the audience right in. Women think he’s sexy as hell, too.”

“Who is he?”

“Chef Jacob Hill, currently running Amuse Bouche, the world-class restaurant inside Hush, an equally world- class hotel in New York.”

“You mean that new hotel that’s themed for…”

“Sex? Yep, that’s the one. You can leave ASAP.” Nathan stopped and looked at her. “Oh, one more thing.”

She was still reeling from the fact that she wasn’t fired, that she was doing a cooking show and that she was headed to a hotel that specialized in sexual exploration and adventure.

“I know your potential, Em. It’s why I’m doing this. But listen to me. You’re going to have to…”

“What?”

He sighed. “Harden that ridiculously soft heart of yours. Toughen up.”

“I’m plenty tough.”

“Not in the way I’m talking. It’d help if you learned to conform to the way we do things around here.”

“You mean like lie and cheat?”

He offered her a smile, his first. “Exactly. If that chef won’t come willingly? Hire someone to find a hair on their plate at Amuse Bouche. In a place like that, he’d be ruined instantly. He’ll be begging to do the show.”

She stared at him. “That’s despicable.”

He shrugged. “That’s life.”

“I would never do something like that.”

“Yeah.” His smile faded and he scrubbed his hands over his face. “Here comes number four.”

“I am not failing a fourth time.”

He didn’t look convinced, but to his credit, he didn’t say so. “You’ve got yourself one month to get this show off the ground. Go break a leg.”

She moved to the door when he opened it for her, feeling a little stunned, a little overwhelmed, a little excited and a lot sick.

“Good luck,” Nathan said wryly.

No doubt, she was going to need it.

1

New York

THREE DAYS LATER EM stood in the gorgeous lobby of Hotel Hush, looking around in marvel. The carpet beneath her feet was a pattern of blacks, greens, grays and pinks, and felt so thick it was like walking on air. The grand furniture and artwork on the vast walls brought to mind the great old salons of the roaring twenties.

She knew from Hush’s Web site that the place catered to the young, wealthy and daring. It was eighty guest rooms of fun, flirty sophistication and excitement, with additional offerings such as designer penthouse suites complete with personal butlers, an “it” bar named Erotique that attracted the glitterati of New York, a luxurious