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Chapter one
Matthew
I checked my phone over my sunglasses and saw that I was twenty minutes late. But my parents had called from Boston, asking if they could come and visit me within the month. And my mother had talked my ear off about marriage.
“You need to find yourself a wife, Matty dear,” she had said. “I’m not getting any younger and want to see my grandchild before I kick the bucket.”
I told her that nobody was kicking any bucket any time soon. But I told them what they wanted to hear, that I had been seeing someone for almost a year and it was so serious that I was planning to marry her.
I knew it would backfire and bite me in the ass one day. For now, at least I had them out of my hair, and my father seemed proud enough to maybe agree on our little ultimatum.
“You get yourself a wife, son. And when you do, you can have all my hotel chains in Boston. You can do whatever you want with them.” I remembered his words that day.
Kristofer Parker was the owner of fifteen hotel chains in Boston. It all started with a small motel he called Lucille’s in honor of my mother. But the establishments thrived and grew to be Boston’s favorite places to stay.
But times were changing, and his business wasn’t doing well in the past five years. So, when Parker Villas rose to become the hotel giant that it is, I was determined to turn things around for my father and buy his company, make it profitable again while keeping the name, maybe call it Lucille’s by Parker Villas.
The elevator pinged, and the double doors opened. I hated being late, but some things are just inevitable. I went inside just as I received a text message from Clair Sullivan, my childhood friend and our Chief of Human Resources.
Clair: Where TF are you? Your new employees have been waiting here for 20 minutes.”
I let the curse slide because she was a dear friend, and she had been so good at hiring our hotel employees that service had become a trademark at Parker Villas.
Matthew: On my way. Relax.
I pressed the button for the ninth floor, where the employees had gathered in Clair’s vast office. The HR department was supposed to be on the lower floors, but she had begged to be assigned to the upper floors with the rest of the offices, the VIP Banquet Hall, and an additional kitchen.
Just as the elevator doors were closing, a radiant and enthusiastic voice called out.
“Hold the elevator!”
I quickly extended a hand to stop the elevator doors from closing completely, allowing the person to enter before the door closed, forgetting about the new text from Clair.
The first thing that caught my attention was the smell of dahlias. It wasn’t the cloying and pungent smell that would cause a headache. It was the expensive kind of scent, the one where it’s subtle, yet sexy. The kind that if I buried my nose in her neck—
“The weather outside is so hot,” she complained, breaking my trance.
“What floor?” I asked, daring a glance at her. Her curtain bangs were stuck on her temples thanks to sweat, and she was fanning herself with her hands.
Her blonde hair was down, and she was wearing an expensive-looking pleated dress. I reckoned she was a guest just by the way she looked. She was the most stunning woman I’d ever met.
Femininity oozed from her when she opened her eyes and answered, “Ninth floor.”
I didn’t question her choice of floor even though it was usually a floor for staff only. Sure, there were a few rooms there, but we don’t give them out to the guests when we have a lot of vacancies because there was so much stuff going in and out of there, and the banquet hall was loud when we had events.
I returned my focus to my phone again before I lost my cool and struck up a conversation. The last thing I wanted was to get involved with a guest.
“Shit,” I heard her curse. “I’m late.”
Now, that got my attention. She was late, and she was going to the ninth floor. There were no other booked activities there, and I didn’t have other meetings aside from with the new employees.
“Are you a new hire, too?” she asked. I could hear the nervousness in her voice. And when I looked up at her, she was looking at me with her green eyes. I noticed that when the elevator lights shone on them, they looked almost light blue. “Because at least I have someone with me to come in there this late.”
It should have offended me that she thought I was an employee with the Armani suit I was wearing, but then again, she was wearing a Dior dress. I guess it was best not to underestimate people.
So she was a new employee, I took note. I hated tardiness, and I sure as hell didn’t want a lagging employee, not when we were supposed to have the best staff around.
“I’m new here as well,” I said, giving her the benefit of the doubt. “It’s my first time here, actually.”
