Cayman Desires
Sabel Simmons
Copyright © 2014 Sabel Simmons
All rights reserved.
ISBN-13: 978-1499592405
ISBN-10: 149959240X
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
MORE BOOKS BY SABEL SIMMONS
Love Me If You Dare
Payback Time Baby
The Tycoon and his Honeypot
The Wildcat that Tamed the Tycoon
contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter One
Curveball. Yes, that’s what it was! That’s what life has thrown her way, a curveball.
The frown that wrinkled her otherwise smooth forehead brought her eyebrows closer, arching them even higher than usual. To the outside observer she seemed preoccupied with the letter in her hand. A letter she gripped so tightly in her fist, her fingers ached. Her clear green eyes returned to the letter and she read it slowly for the fourth time.
‘Dear Miss Langston,
It is with pleasure that we hereby offer you the position of Hotel Manager at The Princeton Intercontinental Hotel situated on the Seven Mile Beach at the Grand Cayman Islands in the Caribbean Sea.’
“Oh God! Why now! Why could it not have happened two years ago, when everything would have been so much easier and simpler?” Clarissa groaned aloud. Her voice sounded jagged with emotion in the cramped space of her small Mini Cooper. She sighed, threw the letter down on the passenger seat and pushed her hair from her brow.
A Curveball … feels more like a lightning bolt that struck her! She has waited for an opportunity like this for four years, four years of applying and re-applying. Every time hoping and praying that somehow she would be good enough, that all the experience and studies she worked so hard for would be good enough for the great Princeton Intercontinental Hotel group. Even after they granted her interviews, she was still too cautious to hope for more!
She sighed heavily and wearily reached for the key in the ignition, resting her forehead briefly on the steering wheel. With a sense of foreboding, she started the car and pulled away from the curb, worrying her lower lip between her pearly white teeth.
How could she accept this now? How could she not? This has been her dream since she was very young, to be a Hotel Manager at one of the elite Princeton Hotels! Since her parents took her to London for her thirteenth birthday and they stayed at a Princeton Hotel. She followed one of the managers around for nearly four days and took in all the aspects of managing a hotel. The Princeton Hotel Group were one of the elite groups in the world, classy but also homey. She decided after that birthday that one day she would be the one to make decisions in one of their hotels. Again, she groaned and accelerated past a slow moving truck, her little car niftily cutting back in front of the truck.
How was she going to tell Ray? How was she going to tell him that even though she said yes to marry him just a month ago and celebrated their engagement last week, she was now going to accept a job offer nearly on the other side of the world? The shiny diamond ring on her finger caught her eye and she sighed in misery.
However, try as she might, she could not stop the bubbling excitement mounting inside her, winning the battle over her anxiety of what this news would do to her relationship and future with Raymond St Claire.
Apprehension played havoc with her mind like never before. Throughout the lovely dinner at one of the most exquisite restaurants in upper Manchester, she kept playing the upcoming confrontation trough her mind. The food tasted like dried leaves in her mouth.
Even Raymond’s efforts to get some conversation going died a losing battle after a while - they eventually left the restaurant with both of them in a pensive mood.
She glanced at him, noticed his clenched jaw and realized it came from her continuous denial that anything was wrong throughout the dinner. She sighed and he looked at her briefly, his strong mouth pressed in an unusual thin line, a deep frown on his brow.
She quickly glanced away and did not even notice the beautiful view that usually enchanted her every time they drove up this hill towards her condominium.
Her hands shook so much she could not get the key in the keyhole. Raymond cursed, snatched the key from her lifeless fingers, stabbed it in the keyhole, unlocked the door and flung it open.
With a hard hand at her back, he unceremoniously pushed her inside and slammed the door shut. She swung around with the rattling of the windows still buzzing in her ears.
“That was uncalled for.”
One brow shot towards his black hair. “Was it?”
“Ray, please … don’t be like this.” She stood in front of him, suddenly feeling extremely small in her high heels at five feet six next to his six feet three.
Raymond St Claire glared at her in disbelief and threw his hands in the air. He planted his fists in his sides and pinned her down with fire in his unwavering glare. His dark grey eyes glittered as black as charcoal, the only sign of the helpless frustration coursing through him.
“Like what Clarissa? How am I supposed to be when you haven’t been yourself the entire evening? How am I supposed to act when I don’t know what the hell is wrong or what I am supposed to have done wrong?”
He pushed his hands though his black hair, a clear indication of the frustration he felt. This behavior was so unlike Clarissa that he had no idea how to deal with the situation. If this were his office, he would be his usual relentless and merciless self to find out what was wrong. With Clarissa … she was his love, the woman he was marrying in a few months.
“Ray please it is not you, and it is nothing that you have done.” She forced the tears back that stung her eyes and swung around to stand in front of the big bay windows overlooking the city below.
Ray sighed, dropped his arms, and walked up behind her. He tenderly wrapped his arms around her from behind and pulled her tight against him, her warmth immediately permeated though him calming and offering him peace.
It has always been like this. From the first day he met her, she calmed him down; tamed the wildness and ruthlessness in him with the softest of touch.
He reached down and kissed her softly in her neck. Clarissa leaned back and let her head fall sideways on his shoulder, allowing him free reign to explore her neck as he usually does, causing her toes to curl.
“What’s wrong, Rissa?” His soft sensual voice stirred her senses as it always did; she wished she were in another place in another time. Anywhere, where she would not have to tell him she was leaving.
Moreover, would not have to dread that he might not understand how important this was to her and not be willing to wait for her! That was all she had been thinking about since she got the letter, that he would not wait for her.
She clutched his arms around her and took a shaky breath that quivered through her body. His grip tightened and she could feel his warm breath above her ear.
“I … I’ve …” She pulled away from him and turned to face him, her eyes smoky as their eyes met. He brushed her hair to one side and cupped her face in his big strong hands.
“What’s wrong, heart of mine? Tell me!”
Clarissa took a deep, tortured breath and the pink tip of her tongue snaked over her suddenly dry lip
s. “I received a letter three days ago. It was a … it was a … Oh God, this is so much more difficult than I anticipated!”
She took hold of his hands around her face and pulled them down between them. His now black eyes worried into hers, silently commanding her to continue.
“Ray … it’s finally happened! What I have dreamed about since I was a child and worked for my entire adult live finally paid off! Princeton has offered me a Hotel Managers position.”
Relief softened his worried features and the grim lines around his mouth relaxed as the smile transformed his face into the attractive, carefree face she loved so much.
“But darling that is wonderful news! How … when did this happen? Is it the one on the Albert Square?”
She dropped his hands and spun around, her hands clasped together in front of her, tension apparent in her whole body.
“It’s not in Manchester.”
“What do you mean? Where then? Hold on a second. Look at me Clarissa.”
His hand on her shoulder spun her around. The tortured look in her eyes told him he would not like what was coming and anxiety cramped around his heart. Something was wrong, dreadfully wrong; so wrong that he could already feel the pain tearing at his heart.
He gripped her chin in his hand, forced her gaze up to his. “Clarissa, when exactly did all this happen? You have already been offered the job, yet I am not even aware of you going for an interview? Why didn’t you tell me this before?”
Her gaze fell away from the fire in his eyes, but the tightening of the grip on her chin forced her eyes back to his.
“Ray please, you’re hurting me.” Immediately he let go of her face, curling his fingers in a tight fist by his side. Frustration was eminent in his face.
“I … I went for the interview at their Head-office, actually two interviews, when I went to London last month. Ray, please! It was completely unexpected! After so many applications and all the rejections, I coul…”
He turned away from her, hiding the hurt he felt. He spun around again to look at her down his nose. In just the aristocratic manner, she had seen him do so many times when dealing with conflict in business.
“A month ago, and in all that time, you never had the opportunity to tell me about it! To share with me that you went for interviews. After all, wasn’t it I that kept on pushing you to keep trying and kept you positive all the time? Even though I still do not understand why you would give up the career you already build up here for Princeton!”
“Honey please! I am sorry, it’s just … it’s just that if nothing came of it, it would only have been another rejection and ano…”
“Come off it Clarissa, after two interviews? No one would be called back for a second interview at Princeton if they didn’t stand a very good chance to be offered the job. At that time, you still didn’t think to tell me about it?”
She sighed and rubbed her hand over her eyes. “I still didn’t want to believe it. I’ve been disappointed so often. Why are you angry Ray? You are a hotel tycoon yourself. You know how hard it is to get a big breakthrough in this business! I thought you would be happy for me?”
Raymond was the owner of the prestige Palazzio Hotel group in Europe and very well known as thè one in self-made hotel tycoons. He started working at one of the hotels when he was only twenty, which at that point only spread through parts of England and worked himself up to CEO in record time.
He made very wise investments during his career and when the hotel group went up for sale, the owner accepted his offer, which included part down payment over a number of years. Within a period of ten years, he managed to expand the hotel group to spread through the whole of Europe.
That is also how they met. Clarissa accepted the appointed as the Assistant Hotel Manager of the Palazzio hotel on Great John Street, three years ago and through hard work and determination, promoted to Hotel Manager within ten months. There was an immediate attraction when they eventually met eleven months after her appointment.
He always knew about her desire and dream to work for the Princeton group and even though he had nothing good to say about the Princeton group, he understood and supported her dream. He clasped her by the shoulders.
“Happy for you? Yes, I should be, but somehow I get the feeling there’s more to it than what you have been saying. Damn it, Clarissa, how can I be happy when you have deceived me all this time! It is something that we should have shared from the beginning. I should have been there for you, waiting for you when you returned from the interview, anticipated and supported you whilst waiting for their response. Now I’m supposed to be happy for you when you decide all of a sudden to inform me about it. After the fact? It is after the fact, isn’t it? You have already accepted the offer?”
He pushed her away from him, turned around and looked through the windows without noticing the glittering lights of the city below.
She laid her hand on his arm; urgency in her voice made her sound hoarse. “I know I should have told you, and I cannot apologize enough for not doing so. Ray, this is my dream come true! I could not say no! Please be happy for me.”
He looked at her, hurt in his eyes. “You think I deny you this?” He shook his head. “Apparently we don’t know each other as well as we thought. Happy for you? Should I be, Clarissa? You said it is not in Manchester. Where then, London?”
Avoiding his gaze, she worried her lip between her teeth.
“Clarissa?” The deep resonance in his voice made her shiver.
“No, it’s not in London. It’s not ev … even in Europe.”
“What? You’re leaving the country?”
“Ray, honey, it is only for three years. It is a three year contract, and once I am in, I am sure I would be able to get a transfer easily enough to a hotel here.”
He nearly pounced on her.
“Three years! You plan to leave the country for three years! What then? Are you planning to commute back here every second weekend? No? Where the hell are you going?” He was shouting now, anger reverberating through his whole body.
Tears ran down her cheeks. She already saw her whole future with Raymond laying in shatters in front of her. She was right! He wouldn’t be willing to wait for her.
“I … I will not be able to commute, it is too far. Only once or twice per year for a week or two.”
She grasped him by his arms, terrified that he had already started to shut her out of his heart and his feelings for her.
“Ray it’s only three years, maybe less! We can work this out please! You can come visit me too. It such a wonderful place, so….”
“Enough!”
The soft but rugged word exploded from his lips. She knew that nothing she said now would matter. Raymond would not listen. He has closed his mind against her.
Her hand tightened around his arm. Her clear green eyes, now the color of the Caribbean Sea, gazed imploringly into his.
“Ray, please! Don’t do this to us! You have to understand …. You know how much I lo …”
He clasped her hand clutching his arm and tightened his hand around her fingers. She gasped in pain and let go of him. He flung her hand away from him as if it was a piece of unwanted driftwood. Pain stabbed at her heart. He looked fiercely into her eyes, his black-grey eyes blazed with scorn.
“Don’t do this to us? Me? You really are …. Forget it! I’m not interested, Clarissa. You chose to leave me out of this part of your life from the beginning. You chose, on your own, without me, there were no us! You say you love me. The choice you just made contradicts that … oh so deeply emotional declaration! Here is another choice for you. I love you. I love you with all my heart, but you have betrayed that love.”
“No … no, no Ray! I love you, please! The past two years have been the happiest of my life! I cannot imagine what life would be without you!”
“Well then, the choice would be easy and it’s all yours to make. No relationship would last three years of separation, especially not since we were supposed t
o be married in six months! You choose, my darling. Stay and you would never doubt my love, leave and well, you’ll have the Princeton Hotel to love!”
She clutched his arm as he tried to walk past her, intended on leaving. “Please don’t leave like this. Ray let’s talk about this. We can work this out!”
“No Clarissa, I’ve said what I wanted to say. When you’ve made your choice and it’s me you choose, you know where to find me. If it’s not … don’t bother. And you’re right; I shouldn’t leave like this…”
Spitting the words at her, he yanked her towards him so fast that she slammed into his hard chest, gasping for breath.
His mouth swooped down on hers. He covered her lips with his and forced her lips relentlessly open. His tongue surged inside. He took procession of her mouth in such a way, that she could feel the fury roaring though him like surf during a hurricane on the beach.
She whimpered in pain and tasted the blood in her mouth as the soft insides of her mouth gave way to the force of his mouth on hers. His hand wound around her ribcage and closed around her breast, his fingers fondling and she groaned as her nipple sprang to life. His hand tightened painfully around her breast before he shoved her away from him, turned around, and strode to the door.
Clarissa ran after him, but he slammed the door in her face. She sagged against the door with her back against it. She pushed her fist against her abused mouth as her legs gave way beneath her. She crumpled down against the door with her arms in a death grip around her knees. Tears streamed down her face as big dry gulps shuddered through her body.
“To my baby girl, my only baby girl! Congratulations my girl, I always knew you had it in you to be successful, to make it in the big world. Be happy and remember … you will always be in our thoughts even though you are thousands of miles away. On Clarissa!”
Raising his champagne glass high, he shouted the toast so that it echoed through the restaurant and heads turned in their direction.
Cayman Desires Page 1
