AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I couldn’t decipher the look. Obviously, I had no idea what sparked it. But I felt a peculiar warning that caused my hesitation.
Dane said, “I’ll have Amano escort you to your car.”
The corners of my mouth dipped. “I can find my way out of the hotel. I’ve been doing it for a week now.”
“Please cooperate.” He kissed me again, the taste of my arousal on his lips and tongue.
When he pulled away, I let him guide me to the door with a hand on the small of my back. As with every other touch from him, I found I perilously liked how it felt. Protective and possessive, coming from a man such as Dane Bax.
We stepped into the hallway and I was surprised to discover the mammoth dark-haired, stoic Chief of Security standing outside my door.
“Take Miss DeMille downstairs.”
“Of course.”
Dane had gone from seductive to troubled to in charge in less than two minutes. He was wildly sexy in all iterations.
“Please,” Amano said as he gestured for me to precede him down the wide marbled corridor to the elevators. I wrenched my gaze from Dane.
“I prefer the stairwell, if you don’t mind.” With all the sampling of decadent food I partook of every day at the Lux, I needed all the exercise I could squeeze in.
Halfway to the door at the end of the hall, outside of Dane’s office suite, I glanced back. He remained standing in the middle of the corridor, focused on me. Ethan stepped out of the elevator at the opposite end of the floor. He wore a grim expression.
Dane’s intensity was one thing. The fact that they were both agitated was something altogether different.
What the hell was going on?
* * *
The next morning, I was alternately sifting through catalogs and surfing the Web for more ideas when Dane’s executive administrative assistant, Molly, stopped in. She let me know he’d be off-property for the next couple of days.
I found it interesting that he hadn’t called or texted with the news himself. Then I realized he was the one who needed space this time. He had to concede that I was right—that I deserved to know more about him and his troubles at the resort. Why he and Ethan were always so locked in deep discussion.
And, for that matter, I wondered if it had been Ethan on the phone—the angry-ring call. Did he have some sort of vested interest in 10,000 Lux?
Most important, would Dane give me the answers I required?
The following days I spent mostly in interviews—and praying like hell I wouldn?
??t hear from my mother again, because I was seriously stressing over the money I’d given her. Thank God I had a job to cover forthcoming bills.
I did my best to focus solely on my hiring objectives. There were plenty of viable candidates from whom to choose, the vast majority of them coming from prestigious Phoenix and Scottsdale resorts, others from California, Florida, and even New York. I was hugely relieved to be on the cover of Southwest Weddings magazine this quarter, because it gave me instant credibility. I could see from many of the applicants that they hadn’t expected me to be so young.
That I came from a strictly-wedding background didn’t help matters, either, when my applicants boasted of the budgets and events they worked with or managed. But a large percent of them followed industry news and were not only impressed by my professional designations but also that I was on a list of preferred planners and had orchestrated two illustrious weddings, in addition to my other upper-echelon ones.
I actually found it a relief in one respect that Dane was absent from the Lux. I wasn’t looking for him around every corner, nor did I have to worry if anyone saw us together and speculated whether something was going on between us. I suspected it was more and more difficult for us to hide our attraction because it was so all-consuming. Even my dad had caught on. That was saying something.
Conversely, I missed Dane like crazy. A part of me also considered if he’d done it on purpose—disappeared for a spell with no connection just to make me grind over him and transition from a demanding to know things before we proceed stance to a fuck not knowing anything, just let me have at him one.
I took him for the strategic type, and it was a good possibility I was correct with my take on the current situation.
Another thing I found interesting was the way Amano loitered about. Sitting outside my office in one of the plush chairs that accompanied the long glass-topped decorative tables, usually on his iPad or phone. Taking his coffee break at the same time I did. Appearing in the courtyard when I met other executives there instead of on the fourth floor. He greeted me out front in the morning and walked me out to the valet in the evenings. No matter how late I stayed.
Did I have a bodyguard now?
And … why would I need one?
Just a comfort level for Dane? Part of protecting his territory?
