I knew that when we began seeing each other. In fact, Daniel’s professional drive was one of the qualities I admired most in him when we first met. That and his kindness.
He’s a good man in a world that’s shown me so few of them in my twenty-five years.
Sometimes I wonder if he’s only a dream I’ve conjured, a wish I never dared to speak aloud.
I reach across the intimate table to slip my fingers into his. “The bracelet is perfect. This whole night has been perfect.”
“I want it to be. We’re celebrating,” he reminds me. He brushes a lock of my unbound auburn hair behind my ear, his grin lighting up his handsome face. “Business at the firm has never been better. The way things are going lately, I could make partner before the year is out. You must be my lucky charm, Mel.”
He lets go of my fingers to pay for our expensive dinner and the three-hundred-dollar bottle of wine he ordered even after I reminded him I don’t drink. I’ve never been much of a drinker. Given my family history, I suppose that counts as something close to a miracle.
Since I started back at college part-time to finish my MBA last year, the strongest thing I consume now is coffee. But not tonight. I’m in the middle of summer classes and I have an exam in the morning. The last thing I need is to lie awake half the night wired on caffeine.
“Ready to go, beautiful?” When I nod, Daniel rises from his chair to help me up from mine.
His hand at the small of my back steers me through the busy dining room. On our way out, Gavin Castille, the handsome Australian chef and owner of the popular restaurant, stops us to chat for a few minutes with Daniel and make sure we enjoyed our meal. Daniel’s easy charm and gregarious openness win him friends wherever we go. It certainly worked on me when we met over a lunch order mix-up at my favorite deli near the university.
The valet brings Daniel’s Jaguar around and soon we are merging into the crush of Tuesday night summer traffic. When he heads in the opposite direction of the bridge that would take me home toward my place in Queens, I assume he has ideas of capping off our celebration by making love together at his Midtown apartment for an hour or two before I have to think about getting home.
But he’s not driving that way, either.
I swivel a confused look at him. “What’s going on?”
He smiles. “You look gorgeous tonight and I want to show you off. Actually, things have been going so great at the firm the past couple weeks, I’m feeling like I could take on the world right now. Especially with you on my arm.”
“Daniel, what are you talking about?”
He pulls a black envelope from the interior pocket of his suit jacket and hands it to me. The seal has been broken, but I can still make out the stamped monogram of the stylized initials J and R in the pressed glob of antique-gold wax.
A crisp white invitation is inside. At least, I assume it’s an invitation.
All that’s printed on it is today’s date and a Lenox Hill address on the Upper East Side.
A very expensive address.
“I don’t understand.”
Daniel’s eyes gleam in the glow of the dashboard. His grin is practically giddy. “That’s a ticket into one of the highest stakes poker games in the city. Extremely exclusive. Invitation-only.”
“You’re taking me to a poker game? Now?” A current of unease passes through me. I set the invitation down in my lap and glance at him. “I didn’t even realize you play.”
“I guess it never came up.” He reaches out to touch the side of my face. “Does it bother you?”
I shrug, trying to decide if it does, or why it should. I’m sure there are many things about Daniel that I have yet to discover. But something about this feels like a secret, and for the first time in our relationship, the ground beneath me seems a little less solid than it did just a moment ago.
I meet his concerned stare. “I’m just . . . surprised, that’s all.”
“Relax,” he says gently. “It’ll be fun.”
I wish I could be as enthusiastic as he is. Suddenly, I just want to go home. “Maybe you should go without me. You know I don’t like staying out late—”
“If you’re stressing about your exam tomorrow, don’t. You’re brilliant, Melanie. One late night isn’t going to derail your perfect GPA.”
“It’s not only that.”
My studies are important, but I’m also thinking about the other obligations waiting for me at home. My mother and six-year-old niece have been living with me since my older sister died four years ago.
Even though Mom says she doesn’t wait up or worry about me when I’m out, I know better than to believe that. And I try hard not to let her down.
Daniel’s only been to my place a few times, but he knows what my family means to me.
He gives me an understanding smile. “We don’t have to stay long, I promise.”
Reaching over he retrieves the invitation and envelope from my lap, tucking them back into his jacket. “And it’s not just a poker game tonight, Mel. It’s a chance to rub elbows with anyone who means anything in this city. With any luck, maybe I’ll clean out some of their deep pockets while I’m there. Besides, it’s not as if I could refuse when the host is none other than the firm’s biggest new fish, Jared Rush.”
Even though I’ve never met the man, my heart stutters at the mention of his name.
Famously talented and renowned for his dark, edgy portraits that seem to expose even his most beautiful and vaunted subjects down to the barest cores of their broken souls, Jared Rush has been a legend in the art world for a decade.
Although it’s been a while since he’s
