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She shrieked and sat up, eyes widening as she frantically looked around. This was obviously not her walk-in-closet-sized room, nor was it the hotel. She had not been paying that much attention to the hotel suite in the first place but she would remember if it had looked anything like this. Everything in the room was either black or gold. The curtains, the comforter, the sheets—the chair in the corner. She mentally kicked herself. Not only had she lost her virginity to a man she knew little of, she’d been kidnapped!
A frantic laugh escaped her lips and she struggled to calm herself. No, she had not been kidnapped. Conall would have some logical explanation to why she was in this room and not the hotel. She sat up, tugging the covers with her so they covered her breasts, and looked over the side of the bed. Where were her clothes? She’d watched movies where people had slept together and their clothes were usually scattered about somewhere on the floor. As she took in the dark gold carpet on the floor, she wondered if anything had ever been on the floor. She lifted her eyes and skimmed the rest of the room: chairs, a large armoire, a large television. Where the hell were her clothes?
She’d just secured the throw around her body and was about to swing her legs over the edge of the bed when the door was pushed open and a blond head pushed inside. Vivienne’s eyes widened as mortification kept her still.
“I knew it,” Eli said, grinning broadly as he entered the room without any care, it seemed, for her embarrassment. He wore a red T-shirt with some form of writing on it—it looked like “Such an Animal,” gray sweat pants, and sneakers. His green eyes sparkled. “I knew you were here.”
“What are you doing in here?” she squeaked, looking about and feeling heat creep up into her cheeks. This was even more embarrassing than the time she’d visited her parents for Thanksgiving and her dad had walked into her room without knocking. They’d both learned a lesson that day: knock and lock. “And where am I? Where’s Conall?”
Eli paused and Vivienne saw his nostrils flare as he inhaled deep. His face lost its smile momentarily as he took quick steps away from her. Vivienne’s brows lifted. Had he just decided to become shy after boldly walking into the room when she was barely covered?
“Sorry,” he said sheepishly. “I’ll get him.” He turned to leave and Vivienne called out.
“Wait!” When he stopped, and turned to look at her, his brows lifted in puzzlement, she continued, “Where am I?”
Shrugging his shoulders, he said, “Cedar Creek.” With that, he left the room, pulling the door in behind him.
Cedar Creek? Vivienne’s eyes widened. Cedar Creek as in Cedar Creek Companies? CCC, the company, owned hotels, a few clubs, and hadn’t she read something about a Cedar Creek Estate?
He’d brought her to his house! Of course she was in his house. How else would Eli have just walked into the room? Wait, Cedar Creek wasn’t in the city. She felt a sliver of panic settle in. How had he moved to her to Cedar Creek without her knowing?
She remembered Max and Drew telling her she’d been drugged at the club, but she also remembered Conall, and the hot kisses they’d exchanged there. He hadn’t drugged her, had he? No. She scoffed at the thought, but she couldn’t shake it, especially with her waking up in his house when she distinctly remembered falling asleep at the hotel. Plus, if he’d drugged her, why would he bring her here? She tried to dismiss the thought, even as she stood and began a more thorough search for her clothes.
Her search led her to a door, which opened to reveal a large bathroom and two thick, black robes hanging inside. She swapped the comforter for the robe, washed her mouth and face, and was about to go back to searching for her clothes when an even more important thought occurred to her—the thought that should have been the first on her mind.
What time is it? She found a digital clock hanging on the wall—it couldn’t be! It was not 10:20 in the morning. The clock was wrong. She did not sleep this late on a work day. She blinked. Hastings was going to kill her!
Her body erupted into movement as she opened the bathroom door, intent on getting to a phone to call in, although she was an hour twenty minutes too late.
She ran into Conall…again. This time however, she clutched at his shirt to prevent the fall that would surely have come, and found herself staring up into those captivating eyes of his. Even as her face flushed and her body grew warm, she pushed away and moved around him, heading to the cordless phone beside the bed.
Without asking, she picked it up.
“Who are you calling?” His voice was casual and almost lazy. He hadn’t moved from his stance by the bathroom.
