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And Alex wasn’t either rich or sophisticated.
“But he’s offering you your dream, isn’t he?” Molly asked. “The chance to open your shop sooner. That’s the appeal, isn’t it?”
“Partly,” Alex said. “Without this chance I might never make enough money to open the shop. But it’s more than that. All my life I’ve ended up in situations where I had no power and no stable home. After my father and my stepfather left, my mother struggled to support us. Sometimes we got evicted. We never had a real home. Later, there were men. Always temporary. Robert, the athlete I tutored, who left me for the prom queen; Leo, the painfully shy guy I mentored and turned into a woman-magnet only to have him slip away with someone he’d known all his life. Then Michael…He was struggling to be a single father. I was helping him. I thought we were going to make a home together, but we’re not.”
“Alex,” Jayne said. “That’s what worries me. I read somewhere that McKendrick’s is competing for an award and…we know you so well. You’re too darn warm-hearted. You jump in to help and end up getting hurt by men who don’t appreciate what you’ve done for them.”
“Which is exactly why I’m safe this time,” Alex said. “Jayne, I’m aware of the mistakes I’ve made in the past. Those men I helped and fell in love with but who didn’t love me back—they were my training ground. The scars I picked up will protect me, because now I know that if I want a home—and I do, more than anything—I’ll have to make my own. From now on I’m declaring my independence from men who never offer forever or stability, anyway. I’m going after what I want, and when I get that shop I’m putting my whole heart in it. The money Wyatt is offering me could help speed up that process.”
“What about your Web site?” Molly asked.
“I can update that from anywhere.”
“You’ll probably be living at the hotel. That won’t be anything like a home. You know how you cling to that little apartment you’ve lived in for four years.”
“I know, but I won’t be here long.”
“So you’re staying?”
“I don’t know. It’s difficult. I’d miss all of you and…wow…this has happened so quickly that I’m not thinking straight. I do know that during those moments when I was manning the concierge desk it was exciting and…powerful. A little taste of what it’ll be like running my own place. It was totally crazy, but I liked it.”
“And then along came gorgeous Wyatt McKendrick, offering to let you have that power every single day,” Serena suggested.
Alex and Serena studied each other. She knew that Serena was worried about the possibility of Wyatt hurting her if she stayed here without her friends as a buffer.
“If I stayed, it wouldn’t have anything to do with Wyatt,” she said. “I only spent a few minutes with him.”
“So in those few minutes what did you think?” Molly asked.
“He runs a great hotel,” Alex said. Good answer.
“How about those eyes? I love amber eyes,” Serena said.
“But they’re green.” Alex frowned…and then groaned.
“Alex…” Jayne said, but Alex shook her head.
“If it makes you feel better, if I do decide to take this job, it won’t be because Wyatt has gorgeous eyes.”
“But I’ll bet it doesn’t hurt,” Molly said sympathetically.
No, it didn’t. And that might be a problem. If she stayed, she would have to keep a constant watch over her traitorous body and emotions. Fortunately she’d already been exposed to the dangers of making emotional mistakes. She was getting quite good at the recovery and moving on part, and she was determined to conquer the avoidance part, too. All she had to do was remember one thing: Wyatt was the kind of man who would break her heart without even being aware of it. So there could be no fantasizing about him. At all.
“Just…don’t make this decision in haste,” Jayne said.
“We wish you’d come home with us,” Molly added.
A part of Alex agreed. Home was a known quantity. Her apartment was tiny, but unlike this job it wasn’t temporary. Her real job offered no excitement but no dangers, either.
“I’ll probably leave with you,” Alex agreed.
Unless I don’t, she thought. Inwardly, she sighed and started counting to ten. She kept counting until her urge to decide quickly, take the money and worry about the potential pitfalls later, subsided.
After dinner, Serena and Molly went out to a hotel bar, but Alex and Jayne chose an evening by one of the hotel’s pools. Both of them wanted some quiet time, and the Amber Moon Pool, with its fragrant tropical landscaping, underwater amber lights, low-key background music and swinging hammocks was just the “escape to paradise” mood they wanted. The stress Jayne had been going through and the weekend’s nonstop activity had left her exhausted. She needed to recharge her engine before finishing up tomorrow, and Alex just needed the relaxation of water.
“I need to think,” Alex told her friends.
“You’re supposed to be having fun,” Serena reminded her.
Alex thought back to those adrenaline-charged minutes when she had controlled the lobby of McKendrick’s and she smiled. “I am having fun,” she said. Too much fun, maybe, but…
She knew then that she was going to say yes to Wyatt McKendrick’s job offer. It probably wasn’t that dangerous, anyway. He was, as Jayne had said, a man who probably had a lot of women, so he wouldn’t be interested in her. She wouldn’t be spending much time with him. At least outside of her daydreams.
Wyatt was surprised at his impatience to hear Alex’s decision. He had hired and fired lots of people, always basing his decisions on what was best for the hotel. Firing someone was unpleasant. But hiring? Completely a cut-and-dried decision.
It’s just the timing, he thought. He’d already been cutting things close, trying to locate someone of Belinda’s caliber. Losing her so soon had caught him off-guard. So his mood had nothing to do with Alex’s blue eyes or the curve of her mouth when she smiled.
But when he saw her crossing the lobby, in a poppy-red dress that showed off those amazing long legs, his gut tightened. His male antenna went on full alert. Too bad he was never going to do anything about that.
She smiled at him tentatively. If there was ever a look of “just let me get through this,” Alex was wearing it.
Wyatt steeled himself for her Thank you, but… speech.
Instead, her smile grew as she drew closer. “So, what do we do first?” she asked. “If I’m going to do this, I want to be good at it.”
A slow thrum of pleasure slid through his body. “You’ll be good at it.”
“You don’t know that.”
“Didn’t we have this discussion yesterday? The one where you tried to convince me that you might be a criminal?”
“I did not. I merely implied that you didn’t know anything about me.” That pretty little nose lifted in the air. Somehow Wyatt kept from smiling.
“I think I might have mentioned that I intend to find out all about you. I may have seen your raw talent, but I assure you that I’m a very astute businessman.”
“As if I didn’t know that. I mean…look at this place, Mr. McKendrick.”
“It’s Wyatt. All my employees call me Wyatt.”
She raised a brow. For half a second he thought she was going to give him a lecture on sound business practices. He half wished that she would, just for the entertainment value of it.
Instead she shook herself, as if forbidding herself to give that lecture. “Well, okay. Wyatt. But anyone can see that this place is a palace, and you’re the man who keeps the lights lit. It’s obvious that you know what you’re doing.”
“And you’re worried that you won’t know what you’re doing?”
“If I leave my job to do this and things don’t work out, I’ll be worse off than I was before I said yes.”
“Things will work out. I’ll train you.”
“If you do that, you might as well do the job yourself.”
He arched an eyebrow.
“What?” she asked.
“I’ve never met anyone who tried so hard to convince me not to hire them.”
“I just want to make sure we understand each other.”
He looked into her eyes. “Okay, here’s my part. I need a concierge and I’ve decided you’re it. Barring a major miscalculation on my end, you’ll slide into the job smoothly. Now, you tell me your part.”
She stared right back. “I intend to be the best darn substitute concierge you’ve ever seen.”
“Only the best substitute?”
She lifted one delicate shoulder in a shrug, an action that wasn’t meant to be erotic but turned Wyatt hot. “Well, I didn’t want to sound like I was dissing Belinda.”
“I’m sure she’d appreciate that.”
“How is she?”
“Mother of a baby girl named Misty.”
“Oh, I love that name. I’ll bet she’s a sweetheart.” The look of naked longing in Alex’s eyes served as a warning to Wyatt. Alex could apparently make him burn just by lifting her shoulder an inch, but she was not a woman he could desire. She was the hearth and home type, and he’d never be that guy. He’d missed that imprinting process.
“Are you ready?” he asked.
“Yes. There’s just one thing.”
“And that is…”
“When the afternoon comes, my friends are leaving…”
“Friends. Of course.”
He wasn’t a man who cultivated friendships. Another failure to imprint, he supposed. Or…no. It was a choice. Letting people get close enabled them to see too much and gave them too much power. It left a person vulnerable, and he would never do anything that left him vulnerable again. Still, he understood the value of promoting the goodwill of employees.
“You’ll want to see them off.”
“They’re my closest friends.”
“Friends who are on vacation with you.”
“Yes, but I made a deal with you.”
“And I’ll expect you to be on duty every day, beginning tomorrow. I demand punctuality and good attendance from my employees, but frankly you saved my rear, so I’m not inclined to make you cut your vacation short. We’ll manage to scrape by one more day by having people do double duty and juggling a bit. Fortunately I have no meetings scheduled, and I’m capable of directing people around my own facility when necessary.”
She frowned again. “Already I don’t like the way this is starting. Your other employees will resent being asked to cover for me.”
“My other employees know who signs their paychecks. They also know I’ll compensate them for their trouble and that I’ll return the favor when they need an emergency day off.”
“I don’t like to shirk my duties.”
Wyatt gave her his most intimidating look—the one that had been known to make those on his payroll shake in their shoes. “We’re not going to argue about this.”
Alex looked completely unperturbed. “No, of course not. I’m totally aware that you’re in charge, but still…”
Again he had that urge to smile, and Wyatt had never been a man given to smiles. Without missing a beat, he stepped over to a cabinet, opened a drawer, pulled out a handful of brochures and held them out to Alex.
“What’s this?”
“Homework. If you’re going to play hooky, I’ll at least expect you to start educating yourself about the local attractions and the hotel.”
The woman’s smile could have lit the ballroom at McKendrick’s. The impact of it nearly sent Wyatt reeling. “I’ll do that. Is there anything else?”
Yes. Stop smiling, he wanted to say. Stop making me think of you as a woman I want to touch, and just be what you have to be, a very temporary employee. “Yes, there is one thing.”
She waited.
“Enjoy your day off.”
“I will. And…thank you.”
“For what?”
Her lips curved up more. “You’re making it possible for me to fulfill my dreams.”
Wyatt wanted to groan. He wished she hadn’t said that. Dreamers were delicate creatures who could be easily hurt by men like him. He’d been a dreamer once, a long time ago. These days he gave the naive and the innocently optimistic a wide berth.
“Meet me here first thing tomorrow. I’ll get you started.”
Because the sooner he got her established, the sooner he could start thinking of her as just another employee.
He hoped.
CHAPTER FOUR (#u397688a9-9ba8-5885-bcd9-dc667fec01d3)
ALEX watched her friends pack their bags. Despite their plans to party up until the last minute, the day had been oddly subdued. The night before they’d each gone their separate ways, and this morning Serena had been distracted and flushed at breakfast.
“Yes, I had an…interesting evening,” she’d said, but neglected to give any details.
“Very nice,” was all Molly had said about her time the night before, but Alex had noticed that she’d glanced away.
And now that the time had come for them to part company, no one looked very cheerful. Jayne was even more beautiful with her new hairstyle, but the pain in her eyes was more intense than before the weekend had started. Still, she gave her friends a determined smile.
“This vacation was just what I needed,” she said. “I’m glad you suggested it, Serena.”
“It was an impulse,” Serena said. “Maybe not my best.” They all looked at Alex.
