“Sure,” I said. “And I guess I should have a dark blue or grey?”
“Yes, sir. The darker fabrics are toward the back. Just select one you like. May I suggest the petrol?” He pulled out a dark grey worsted wool sample as Alex tapped and entered carrying two coffees.
Our eyes caught, and she quickly turned on her heel so her back was to me. “I didn’t know this was going to be formal,” she said.
I laughed. “Don’t you knock?”
“I tapped. That’s the part where you shout ‘indecent’ or something.”
“Give me a second.”
She left the room and Henry finished taking measurements. I was dressed and putting my coat back on when I stuck my head out the door to find her leaning against the wall flipping through one of Henry’s catalogs.
“A thousand dollars for a suit?” She glanced at me with an eyebrow arched. “I’m trying to think if I spend that much on clothes in a year.”
“Get in here.” I took the catalog from her hands.
She breezed into my office wearing one of those flowy dresses she preferred. She’d given up the power suits except for official business, and I didn’t object. Lexy always looked beachy and beautiful, just like my plan.
“What’s the deal? Did I get a raise and you forgot to tell me?” she asked.
“Do you need a raise?”
“No, but if you’re buying thousand-dollar suits, I’m starting to feel underpaid.”
I went around and took my spot behind the desk. “It’s for board meetings. You don’t know how those guys act when I walk in wearing a hundred-dollar off the rack number.”
She leaned back, sipping her coffee. “I thought they forgot all about your lack of fashion sense after you wowed them with your big dreams brought to life by my artistic renderings.”
“It helps,” I said, taking the lid off my drink. “But there’s always some guy close to my age who’s sizing me up, and what I’m wearing is a big part of his evaluation.”
“Hmm. I think you’re just rationalizing a nice suit. And don’t get me wrong, I get it. It’s fun being treated like a princess.”
“Prince?”
“Potato, potahto,” she grinned.
“So what are we looking at today?” I watched as she pulled out her portfolio and spread it across my desk.
“I’ve put together what we talked about last week for Phoenician VI, the lobby and the outside patio. Were you wanting to do something different for the penthouse atrium and fitness center?”
I looked over the drawings, amazed how they reflected exactly what was in my head. “What did we do with five?”
“Calypso,” she groaned. “Against my better judgment. You don’t remember that?”
“Oh, yeah. I really liked that with the steel drums and all. Very nice.”
“Hmm. Thanks, I guess.” Her nose wrinkled. “You know, I’ve never actually been to Jamaica, but I’ve seen pictures.”
“We should take a research trip,” I said, thinking how it might work. “Visit other high-end resorts in different locations. It would be a write-off if we were scouting ideas.”
Her eyes widened. “Sounds great! Who do you know with high-end resorts in exotic locations?”
“Right.” I leaned back in my chair again. “And there’s the catch.”
“Talk to some of your investor-friends,” she said, going back to her sketches. “Where’s Bryant? I want a second opinion on this.”
“Some problem with the frameworks at Phoenician I. He told me, but I can’t remember the details.”
She straightened and tossed down her pen. “You don’t remember what Bryant said. You forgot my loud objections to the Calypso theme. What’s with you these days? You’re so distracted. Is it the suit?”
“I don’t want to talk about it,” I said, not looking up.
“Trouble at home?”
My tone grew impatient. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
“If it’s something with the development, you’d better tell me. I could probably still get my job back in Atlanta.”
I glanced up then. “It’s nothing with the development. Everything’s going great there, and I’m scheduled to go back and meet with another investment group in a week. I’ll follow up with Peachtree and then I’m meeting with Aspen Equities. Your job’s secure.”
She nodded. “Aspen. That’s a big deal. So if it’s not the development, then what is it? Battle fatigue?” She leaned back in her chair, crossing her legs and retrieving her coffee.
I followed suit. “Maybe. Probably. Since school’s been out, it’s like what do I do with all this extra time? Normally I’d be either in class or up here working all hours. Now it’s like… I feel like I’m forgetting something all the time.”
“I bet if you wanted to take a few days off no one would have a problem with it. We all know how hard you’ve been working.”
I shook my head. “I can’t do that. I’m finally here full-time. Bryant’s been carrying the ball on this end almost three years.”
“It’s not like you’ve been sitting on the sidelines doing nothing.”
“I know, but I need to be here. I need to establish my identity in the office.”
She smiled. “Time for that portrait?”
“Nah, you were right.” I gave her a little smile back. “We should probably wait a few years before I start declaring the coast conquered.”
“How does Meg feel about all this?”
“I don’t know,” I deflected. “She’s not really interested.”
She narrowed her eyes. “I’m sure she’s very interested in talking to you about your feelings. Did something happen?”
I snapped the lid back on the now-empty cup. “I’m not talking to you about her.”
“We talk about everything else,” she said, leaning forward and sliding her sketches back together. “I mean, heck. I just saw you in your shorts ten minutes ago.”
“I’m not giving you ammunition to use against me. I know you two. You would never take my side against her.”
“I didn’t know there was a side to take.”
My eyes met hers. “I’m not discussing this with you.”
She heaved up her portfolio case. “Fine. I’m going to start on our Small World theme. That’s what we’re doing, right?”
“I was thinking more greens and turquoise. Emerald city.”
“If you only had a brain,” she called.
“A heart.”
She rolled her eyes, pushing through the door. I grinned. It was pretty awesome having someone who really understood my vision and could still make me laugh on the team. I never expected it would be her.
Jan. 16, 19--
Taking the gang to Mexico was a stroke of luck I couldn’t pass up.
Rex called from Atlanta saying he wanted me to meet with a good friend of his, Marco Dominguez. Marco owned Tango Sol, a high-end resort right on the Pacific, and while I suspected Rex meant for me to go alone, my chat with Lexy had been on my mind ever since.
Things with Meg were escalating, and we’d all been working hard. I figured we could use some personal and professional bonding time. We were moving past our status as high school friends, and with the first Phoenician so close to opening, I liked the idea of us having a more jet-set image, regardless of how it was funded.
Marco and I were instant friends. He was a smart guy, and like me, a native of the area he developed. The difference was his family had owned the property and had given him the money to help him get started.
He put us up in his best accommodations, but since it wasn’t quite his high-season yet, I figured it wasn’t setting him back much. Once Meg and I were settled in our private cabin, I walked down the hillside to his office to meet him.
“Bill.” Marco shook my hand. “Rex says you’re the next Gerald Hines.”
“Rex exaggerates,” I said, opting for humility with my peers. “I’m just a salesman. But we have some great engineers on the team.”
&nbs
p; “Well, it’s good to meet you at last.” He motioned me to a chair. “The last time Rex was here, you were all he talked about. The up and coming star. He wanted me to fly over and see what you were doing on the Gulf Coast.”
“The door’s open,” I said, taking a seat. “Once we have the sites online, you owe us a visit.”
“I’ll take you up on it,” he said, sitting as well. “How do you like the place?”
“It’s gorgeous. You’ve done too much for us.”
“Not at all. Only the best for a fellow visionary.”
“So Rex said you had lots to share. Where should we start? A tour of the grounds?”
Marco grinned. “Let’s start with the problem of finding a good manager. One who can take all the work off the owner.”
Jan. 18, 19--
Most of my days in Mexico were consumed with meetings and touring the property, but I wasn’t complaining. Bryant and I were learning things that would otherwise have taken us a lot of trial and error to figure out.
The resort at Tango Sol was much larger than I expected, and it included a full golf course, a spa, a restaurant with a bar out on the beach, and private cabins separate from the main hotel building.
Marco took advantage of the hilly topography by incorporating it into the architecture and the landscape of the grounds. Waterfalls flowed over paths that connected most of the main buildings and cliffs looked out over the Pacific. And while I was preoccupied with work, the girls seemed to be enjoying themselves.
Meg was happier than she’d been in a while. She even wanted to revisit a few of those sex positions we hadn’t tried since our honeymoon.
Her body is rocking as ever, and both of us are experts now at getting each other off. But here’s the deal—and I know this is going to sound all New Age and shit—even though our nights were hot, I couldn’t seem to connect with Meg the way I used to. Something was wrong somehow. It was like a separation as wide as the Gulf had spread between us, and sex didn’t fill the void.
I wanted to shake it off. I figured it was the stress or all the damn baby talk. She brought it up again, but I managed to change the subject. I told her this trip was supposed to remind her of what we were working toward, what I wanted to give her. Once we were over the mountain, we could sail into the sunset, relax, and have fun. And we could have all the babies she wanted.
I just feel like I’m talking to myself half the time.
Making my way down the hillside to the kitchen area I looked out toward the ocean. The effect of the view and the sound of the waterfalls made me eager to get back home, back to planning. I wanted this ambiance for our sites, and I needed to talk to Lex about working up some sketches based on what we were seeing here. She was taking pictures of different elements. We’d look at what she had at our next meeting back home.
I was at the pool when I glanced up and saw her alone sunbathing. I slowed my pace, surprised by my response. I’d seen Lexy in a bikini before, lots of times growing up. But somehow it was different today. She was simply lying on her stomach on a lounger reading a book, but she looked… very sexy.
I tried to compartmentalize my reaction. So she was sexy, so what? I was glad we could contribute to the pretty scenery.
“Laying out alone?” I asked, sitting on the sand beside her chair. “Where’s Suzanne?”
She looked up and smiled at me, and suddenly I couldn’t remember what I had wanted to tell her. When had she started looking so good?
“On her way,” she said. “I just didn’t feel like waiting back at the room.”
I watched as she slid her robe over her smooth shoulders, and my fingers itched to touch her skin. “You don’t have to cover up,” I said. “I’m not staying.”
“You’re very dressed,” she sat up, and I watched her torso flex.
What the hell was wrong with me? Every single movement was hitting me inexplicably hard.
“Meg says we shouldn’t be tanning anyway,” she said. “It ages our skin or something.”
I looked down trying to focus on Meg and not how disoriented I felt. Lexy and I were together all the time. I’d never felt like this around her, like I was tense, anticipating her every move.
“I know, you couldn’t care less,” she continued, misreading my silence. “But if it weren’t for Meg, I’d be a complete fashion misfit.”
“I’m sure,” I looked up and forced a smile.
“So what’s the deal? You haven’t been down here once this whole trip.”
I shrugged. “Marco’s really thrown open the doors. I’m learning a lot.”
“Like what?”
“Management stuff, troubleshooting, staffing problems. Things I hadn’t really thought about before.” Things I was thinking hard about now because they were the exact opposite of anything sexy. “The day-to-day details of running a high-end resort. We’ll hire most of these functions out, of course, but I like knowing how to do every job.”
She exhaled and leaned back again. I kept my eyes focused on my hands and not her body. “Sounds terribly un-exotic,” she said. “But I’m proud you’re making this an honest-to-goodness business trip, even if we never see you.”
I stood and tried to joke. “Nobody wants to see the boss in a swimsuit.”
She slanted an eye at me, and even that was a turn-on. Shit. I needed to get out of here.
“I’ve seen you in a swimsuit practically every summer since we were kids,” she said.
“That was before I was signing your checks.”
“Oh, so it’s like that now. Well, you can let Bryant sign the checks for this weekend.”
“It’s really just a stamp of my signature,” I said, backing away and trying not to come across as weird as I felt. “I think Millie does them all at her desk…”
“So you’re seriously not going to spend any time with us?” She propped up on her elbows again.
“We’ve been having dinners together,” I said looking down. “Speaking of, we’re touring the kitchen today. Wanna come?”
“Not even a little bit,” she laughed. “Oh, here’s Suzanne.”
Lexy’s friend from Atlanta was very nice, if a little plain. She was also very smart, and I felt her sizing up what was going on with me. I dusted off my palms and held out a hand. “Suzanne.”
“William the Conqueror,” she said, shaking it.
“That’s a new one. You ladies have a fun day. I think the guys are hitting the links after kitchen duty.”
“Nice seeing you for five seconds,” Lexy called.
“Same here. Use sunscreen.” I walked away feeling my control slowly returning. Maybe I’d gotten too much sun yesterday.
That night Lexy and Suzanne didn’t join us for dinner. Meg said they’d decided to take the bus into town and have a girls’ night out, which suited me fine. I wanted to get my focus back on reconnecting with Meg. I decided to start getting home earlier in the evenings once we were back. Learn when to stop working and see if I couldn’t make her happy again, get our marriage back on track.
We had a great dinner with Bryant and Donna, and after the evening was over, I let those three walk back to the cabins while I stayed behind to finish my drink.
I was slowly making my way up the hill in the semi-darkness when I noticed a figure wobbling toward me. Lexy. She was looking down and ran straight into me. I caught her before she fell, her flowery scent wrapping around me with her soft hair.
“Whoa, are you drunk?” I asked, holding her arms and trying not to feel anything toward her.
“Bill! Shh!” She held a single shoe in my face, eyes huge. “I’ve lost my shoe!” Then she snorted.
I couldn’t help a little laugh. “Where’s Suzanne?”
“At the cabin. I was there, and I looked down, and… Poof! No shoe!”
I shook my head. “Where did you lose it?”
“I don’t know! I was trying to find it, but it’s so dark!” She turned and dropped to her knees, squinting down the path.
&nbs
p; I reached down to pull her up. “Know what? It’ll be easier to find in the morning. Let me help you back to your room before you fall in the pool.”
She leaned back and frowned, then nodded. “That’s a good idea,” she said. “You’re very smart. Have I told you I think you’re very smart?”
“You just did.”
“You’re very smart.”
“Thanks. You usually are, too.”
Her dark brows pulled together. “What does that mean?”
“It means you’re drunk.”
“Oh my god!” She softly cried, holding her head. “I know. It’s terrible.”
Her exaggerated gestures made me grin. I’d never seen her like this. “And you can’t find a shoe on the side of a hill in the dark when you’re drunk.”
“See?” She poked my chest. “You’re very smart.”
“Come on.” We started making our way up the path.
She wrapped her arms around my waist and rested her head on my shoulder. Gone was the wall between us. Tonight she was only soft and beautiful and holding onto me. I thought about kitchen tours and finding band-aids in soup. Resort concerns that were severely unattractive.
She started giggling again.
“What now?” I asked as we reached her room.
She sniffed and lifted her head, looking in my eyes. “I didn’t like you in high school.”
“I know,” I said softly.
“I thought you were bad for Meg.”
“Yep.”
“But I was wrong, and I’m sorry.”
“I’m not holding it against you.”
She planted her feet and turned to face me, then she put both hands on my shoulders. “I never thought I’d say this, but you’re a good guy, Bill Kyser. And I consider you my friend.”
I raised my eyebrows. “Uh-huh.”
“That’s it.” She dropped her hands, still staring at me.
“Well, I’m glad we cleared that up,” I said with a little smile.
“Yes. All clear.” She waved a hand between us. “Goodnight, friend Bill.”
“Goodnight, friend.”
I shook my head and walked back to my room still smiling. I wasn’t sure what prompted that declaration, but I figured it would make for good blackmail later.
Undertow (Dragonfly) Page 24
