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Chapter Thirteen
Zoe stood in the foyer of the hotel. She was waiting for Hannah. They’d managed to have a quick breakfast together this morning. Her sister had promised to show Zoe the nightlife on Mahé tonight, and she couldn’t wait to get out of her room. All that she’d been thinking about since she’d arrived had of course been Dale. And what had happened between them the last time she was in this hotel.
Zoe rolled her shoulders to try and relax. Why she was so tense, she had no idea. The flight from Cape Town the previous day hadn’t been that long, about seven hours. And because she’d been flying business class, it was actually a very pleasant experience. Normally, she’d be crammed up in economy class with the rest of the working world, but apparently the Cavallos did things differently.
Before she left, she’d also phoned to ask for a digital copy of the plans of the hotel. Dale’s secretary was out, but the person who answered the phone promised to find out where it was and would email it. She really needed it to get a complete picture of the hotel. According to the contract Dale had signed with Susan, her firm would be responsible for everything—from planning the interior decorating, to getting suppliers, right up to furnishing the hotel. How he figured she’d be able to do that without the plans, she had no idea.
She wanted to use the time she was here to finalize her proposal. The sooner she could start working on her own, the sooner she could finish and could go on with her life. The one where Dale Cavallo wasn’t getting her hormones into a tizzy every other second.
Part of the day she’d been resting and the other part she spent looking over the hotel. The setting was, of course, stunning. From the top stories she could see a three-hundred-and-sixty-degree view of the ocean.
And although she’d never willingly admit it to Dale, the interior was just perfect for a hotel on an exotic island.
Classy. That was the one word that described all the hotels she’d seen so far. There was nothing ostentatious, in-your-face, about the interiors of the different hotels, but the understated elegance invited, tempted, enticed, excited. As she had come to expect, neutral colours were used, and the big comfortable couches were covered in different hues and different textures of the same colour. Dale obviously knew what he was doing. Which raised the question again—why had he insisted that she become involved?
At least she was really enjoying this trip. It was giving her a chance to get the much-needed distance from Dale, and she could look at his hotels without his constant hovering.
This morning she’d been taken to Praslin, the other big island that was part of the Seychelles and had visited the Cavallo hotel there. The ten kilometre by nearly four kilometre island was beautiful, and she’d spent about two hours touring the whole place.
It was easy to see why the Cavallos had decided to build another hotel there—Praslin seemed to provide a base for excursions to the neighbouring islands, some of which were important sanctuaries nurturing rare species of endemic flora and fauna.
And she’d fallen in love with the island’s pristine beaches, especially the one called Anse Lazio, which was on the northwestern side. It was apparently rated as one of the ten top beaches worldwide.
She could see herself spending long, lazy days simply lying on that beach, and spending long, lazy nights making love to… No, damn it, she was not going to go there.
“Hi.”
She heard Hannah’s voice and turned around gratefully. She didn’t want to spend another minute thinking of what-ifs with Dale.
She and Hannah burst out laughing. They were wearing very similar outfits, something that happened often. Tonight, they were both wearing grey pants with blue tops.
“We’ve done it again.” Zoe beamed. “I’m so glad to see a familiar face.” She hugged her sister. “So, where to?”
Hannah grabbed her elbow and pulled her towards the big doors of the hotel. “I thought we could walk, it’s such a lovely evening and—” Hannah stopped suddenly, her way was blocked by one of the hotel staff.
The big man bowed in their direction. “Ms. Sutherland, Ms. Sutherland. We are here to escort you—”
“Thank you, but that’s not necessary.” Hannah smiled. “We are going to the little place just around the corner.”
He didn’t budge. “That’s fine. But we’ll escort you.”
“Look, it’s not that we don’t appreciate it, but—”
“We have no choice,” he said. “Mr. Darryn Cavallo insists and—” he began to explain, but Hannah inhaled sharply and held up her hand.
“It’s fine. We’ll eat here.”
She turned and walked towards the restaurant in the hotel. Irritated, Zoe followed her.
“Why would Darryn have us escorted?” she asked. “And why are we listening to someone who isn’t even here?”
“Oh, who knows why Darryn Cavallo does anything,” Hannah muttered as they entered the restaurant. “Let’s eat here. The food is best on the island anyway, and the night is young.”
“Table for two,” she asked at the counter. She gave their name and the maître d’ smiled broadly. “Of course, you are to be our guests anytime you want to eat here.”
Hannah was about to erupt and Zoe grabbed her hand.
“Please follow me,” the maître d’ said and led them to a table overlooking the sea.
