Page 43 of Tiger on the Prowl

“What are you trying to say?”

“He would have been here when the photographer took the group photos. We should look at those photos.”

“Do you have them already?”

“No, but I can talk to the photographer, and have him send them to me. I dealt with him when I helped Grace organize all the vendors for the wedding. He knows me, and I’m sure he’ll have no trouble sending me the proofs before he’s done touching them up.”

Jay pressed a kiss to her lips. “That’s a genius idea.”

“See? I told you I have my best ideas in the morning.”

He smirked. “Oh, I’ve been at the receiving end of your ideas this morning.” He snaked his arm around her and pulled her to him.

“You have a—”

A knock at the door interrupted her. They exchanged a look.

“Housekeeping?” Jay whispered over the sound of the bathroom’s exhaust fan.

“Probably.”

“Tell her to come back later,” he said, and Olivia left the bathroom and pulled the door shut behind her.

She opened the room door, ready to send the maid away, when she realized that it wasn’t the maid who’d knocked, but her parents. Crap!

“Ah, Mom, Dad, what—”

“Did you oversleep?” her father asked, while her mother already squeezed past her into the room. Her father entered the room too, and Olivia let the door fall shut.

“You haven’t even packed yet, Olivia,” her mother chastised her softly. “The reservation is for noon. We’d better hurry.”

That’s when she remembered. She’d promised her parents to go to lunch with them at Fiola Mare in the Foggy Bottom neighborhood of D.C. It was one of their favorite places when they’d lived in Virginia.

“Oh, yeah, uh, I guess I had a little much to drink last night. How about I get packed and then meet you downstairs in the lobby?”

Her mother made a dismissive hand movement. “It’ll be faster if I help you.”

“Mom, that’s not necessary.”

But she couldn’t be dissuaded, and already lifted Olivia’s leather travel bag onto the bed.

Olivia shot a pleading look at her father. “Dad, can you just—”

But her father shrugged. “I try not to interfere when your mother decides on doing something.” Then he turned toward the bathroom door, and added, “Let me just use your bathroom.”

Before she could stop him, he was already opening the door. He froze, then glanced back at Olivia. “Why didn’t you say you had company?”

“Company?” her mother asked and approached.

Jay, dressed in black pants and a white shirt, disguised with his fake beard and wig, stepped out of the bathroom. “Uh, good morning. The sink is fixed, ma’am, sir.”

But he wasn’t fooling anybody. Her mother gave him a curious look, and her father smirked.

“Honey, if you’d told me what your type was,” her father said with a grin, “I wouldn’t have wasted your time to get you to dance with all those guys last night.”

“Sam, stop it,” her mother said quickly. “Can’t you see that you’re embarrassing them?” Then she extended her hand toward Jay. “I’m Alice Morikawa. And you are?”

Jay took her hand and shook it. “Jay, Jay, uh, Zurich.”