“I’ve been here for about eight years. I used to work part-time as a maid when I was still in school.”
“So, you must have seen some changes in all that time.”
Lea inclined her head. “Some better than others. I heard that back when Hayden was coming more regularly, things ran smoothly, but that was before my time.”
Avery’s pen paused at the casual use of Hayden’s name. “Have you had much to do with Mr. Wexton during his visits to the hotel since you began your employment here?”
Lea leaned back in her chair, a soft smile on her lips. “Not officially.”
Ah.
Who was this woman to Hayden? She couldn’t help wondering. Just another admirer?
Or a lover?
Something twisted inside her chest that she didn’t want to examine too closely. What business of hers was it if Hayden slept with every attractive staff member in this or any other hotel?
“What changes have you noticed since Mr. Wexton stopped visiting the property so often?” she asked, forcing herself to focus on the questions she was allowed to professionally ask.
The other woman sighed. “When the cat’s away, right? I think the general feeling became if we weren’t being watched, things could get a little more lax.”
“But you have a general manager running the hotel.”
Her eyes sidled away. “Of course we do.”
Avery exchanged a glance with Karen. “Is there a problem with the GM?”
“Isn’t that what you are here to decide?”
“Anything you’d like to tell us helps us gain a better understanding of the problems with the hotel.”
“I like my job. I just keep my head down and do what I’ve been hired to do. Decisions about running the hotel are above my pay grade.”
“Of course,” Avery said smoothly. “How about you tell us a little more about your role and what you are personally responsible for.”
Leaning forward, Lea started talking about her job and how it had changed in the years since she’d first come to the hotel.
Avery listened, taking notes as Karen did the same. Growing more comfortable, Lea was happy enough to speak about her work. But Avery noticed a distinct lack of mention of the upper management. She got the feeling Lea managed herself.
Problem with the staff oversight?
She’d seen it before in other hotels. When management slacked, there was a trickledown effect on the other staff. It might explain why the maintenance of the hotel was suffering, as well as the high turnover of unhappy employees.
They breezed through the half hour interview, then Avery rose, signaling the end of their time together.
“Thank you for your candor,” she said. “We’ll let you know if we need to speak with you again.”
“My pleasure,” Lea replied, following her to the door. “While I have you, Ms. Clarke—I received a message from Hayden before coming into this session. He’d like you to meet him at eight o’clock in his suite for his evening update. I gather that won’t be a problem for you.”
“In his suite?” Avery asked, her eyes narrowing.
Lea merely nodded.
It was on the tip of her tongue to give the other woman a message that she wouldn’t be attending, but the words caught in her mouth. She didn’t know what Lea was to Hayden but the knowing expression in the other woman’s gaze got her back up.
“I’ll be there,” she said.
“I’ll let him know.” The words were said without any rancor, as if Lea didn’t care what Hayden did or with whom.
I wish I was that sophisticated.
God knew she wasn’t. She’d never been the sort of woman capable of staying friends with an ex.
“Have a lovely evening,” Lea said before slipping from the room.
“Thank you,” she said to the closing door.
“See?” Karen said from behind her. “Date.”
“Date,” she agreed.
But staring after Lea, the excitement that had previously coursed through her veins was absent.
Chapter Eight
Five minutes before the clock struck eight, Avery rapped on Hayden’s door. Within seconds, it opened.
“Good evening,” he said, leaning against the doorjamb with a smile on his lips.
“Hayden,” she said in greeting. “What’s with the location change?”
“Come see for yourself.” He swept out his arm, inviting her inside.
She stepped across the threshold, her eyes zeroing in on the king-size bed mere steps away. His words drifted back to her.
The next time I get us all worked up, I’ll make sure there’s a bed with a locked door nearby.
Turning to him, she crossed her arms and arched a brow.
A rueful smile lit his expression as he closed the door.
“Something to say?” he asked, moving toward her.
“This is a pretty inappropriate setting for a work update, don’t you think?”
“I think we’ve already established I’m not a play by the rules sort of man.”
“I see. So you normally entertain your business contacts in your hotel rooms? My my.”
“All right. Maybe some rules have their place. But not tonight.”
She flipped her hair over her shoulder. “Why am I here?”
He leaned down as if to kiss her. She inhaled with his mouth a breath from hers. Half of her wanted to bolt, and the other half wanted to rise on her tiptoes and take what she wanted.
“You are here,” he said, his lips brushing lightly against hers, “for dinner.”
Twirling her around, he faced her toward the open balcony doors and the meal laid out on the table there.
“Unless you have other ideas,” he whispered in her ear. “I’d be happy to take any requests for a change in plans under advisement.”
Slipping around her, he walked out onto the balcony.
Get a hold of yourself. She shook her head before striding after him.
Hayden was already folding himself gracefully into one of the chairs. The table was arranged to watch the sunset from the best room in the building. She had to admit, it was a picturesque setting for a dinner date.
Examining her companion, she could no longer fool herself into thinking these briefings had anything to do with work. Though the knowledge should have her heading for the door, she took her seat, instead, and inspected the delicious food laid out before them.
Hayden watched her with bright eyes as she began to fill her plate. “I expected more resistance,” he said.
“Sorry to disappoint, but I’m starving. I take it you aren’t interested in my work update?”
“Has anything happened I should know about?”
“No.”
“Then I feel confident leaving everything to you.”
Her gaze flicked to his as she reached for a fish taco. “You could have just invited me out on a date.”
He tilted his head to the side. “Would you have accepted?”
She shrugged, not able to offer an answer she didn’t have. Would she have declined if Lea had given her that message? Or would her pride have urged to her accept any invitation delivered by the beautiful woman?
“What are you hoping to gain tonight?” she asked.
He leaned forward to fill his own plate. “I’m beginning to understand why you love your puzzles so much,” he said.
“Are you saying I’m a puzzle?”
“The more I learn about you, the more I want to know.”
A glow lit her. “I’m not so complicated.”
His eyes were warm as he watched her. “You might just be the most complicated woman I’ve ever met.”
She held his gaze for a moment before refocusing on her meal. “That says more about the women you’ve chosen to spend time with than it does about me.”
“Maybe I’m changing my ways.”
She scoffed, knowing there was very little chance of a man like Hayden changing permanently.
�
��You’ve got until the sun sets,” she said, pointing toward the orange- and purple-painted sky. “What do you want to know?”
Hayden poured wine into her glass and waited till she took a sip. “I want to know more about who you were before the gala.”
“What?” she asked, swirling her wine.
“I know we had some brief professional meetings, but really, I only started to know you that night. I’m curious about what I missed before then.”
She shrugged. “I doubt you missed much. I was just an external contract worker, very focused on her job.”
“Wyatt said you were almost hyperfocused on work.”
“You asked Wyatt about me?”
“I’d ask anyone I could about you, but I doubt Karen will give me insight into any of your secrets.”
“Not likely,” she agreed. “Though, she seems to be a fan of yours these days, so maybe.”
“Good to know, but I’d rather hear directly from you. Tell me what happened two years ago.”
“My divorce, you mean,” she said, setting down her wine.
“Such an important event must have had a lasting impact. I want to understand you better.”
She looked out at the sun dipping ever closer to the horizon. It really was a breathtaking sight. It seemed a shame to mar such beauty with the ugly recollections of her past.
But even staring at the calm ocean, she knew the words would come. Not just because he’d asked, but because somewhere deep inside her, she agreed with him. She wanted him to know her, too.
“I met Jon in university,” she said. “At a mixer. He was set on going into law, and I was working on my business degree.”
“Love at first sight?”
She smiled at the memory. “Actually, he hit on my best friend. We were both part of the same social circle, so after that night we were thrown together more and more often. Eventually something shifted. We moved from friends to more.”
“And never looked back.”
She shook her head. “I thought he was the love of my life. We were the perfect mismatch, of course. I’d gone through school on a scholarship, whereas he’d used his trust fund. His family was grooming him to take over their firm. Jon’s destiny had been mapped out by age five, while my parents had wanted me to take courses that made me happy.” She smiled. “I think going into business was my way of trying to find something more stable in my life. We graduated and I worried our different paths would pull us apart. His family had never been pleased about him dating a girl with no pedigree or wealth. They warmed up to me once I had a ring on my finger, but it was a rocky road before that.”
“But he didn’t bow to the pressure.”
She smiled. “No. He loved me. Then, at least.”
“And eventually he asked you to marry him.”
“I thought I’d hit the Cinderella jackpot. I was going to marry the man of my dreams, my very own Prince Charming, and live a perfect life with him.”
“I take it things didn’t go according to plan.”
She stabbed at her rice with a little too much force. “Things changed after we were married. What Jon wanted from me changed.”
Hayden said nothing, giving her room to speak.
“He never understood why I wanted to work. I didn’t need to, he assured me time and again. He couldn’t fathom that I liked what I did. I liked finding solutions to problems and helping hotels correct course. Because of him, I stopped taking jobs that required a lot of travel. I started staying closer to home. Closer to him.”
I diminished myself for him. Got smaller for him.
The words caught in her throat. She’d been the commoner marrying far above herself, and for years she’d thought holding herself back was merely the price to pay. It had taken her far too long to realize it hadn’t been her marrying up, but him. She was far better than he’d ever deserved.
“That clever brain of yours would drive you crazy if you didn’t work.”
Her gaze swung to Hayden. He stared back at her, his expression open and honest. Obviously, the words weren’t said to curry favor, just to state fact.
Her heart beat a little bit faster.
“Exactly,” she said.
“Your ex doesn’t sound particularly bright, Avery.”
“Turns out he wasn’t, in the end.”
“How did everything come to a head?”
She stabbed a piece of fish. “The way everything ends. We realized we didn’t fit together any longer.”
“There’s more to the story than that.”
“Get me drunk one night, and maybe I’ll tell you. For now, I’d like some quid pro quo. Tell me about that friend you used to bring to the island.”
The open expression vanished from his face.
“Oh, come on,” she said, putting down her fork on her empty plate. “You wanted to know more about me. You think the feeling isn’t mutual?”
“Should I take that as a good sign?”
“Don’t deflect. What was her name?”
He leaned back in his chair, the silence stretching.
Avery said nothing as she waited. She’d played this game before in other boardrooms. If you waited long enough, eventually the other person would fill the quiet.
“Sophia,” he said at last.
She bit back her smile. “How many times did you bring her here?”
“A handful. Or two.”
She frowned, leaning closer. “Then you were with her a while.”
He reached for his wine. “Five years.”
Avery blinked. That was no small amount of time. Her head spun, unable to reconcile this new information. Her womanizing boss had once had a stable, long term relationship? He’d spent years with someone he must have cared deeply for.
Even loved.
Hayden watched her with knowing eyes. “I’ve surprised you.”
“Let’s just say I didn’t think you were the type.”
“Because you don’t know me.”
“Apparently not.” She shook her head. “But you said you didn’t do long term.”
“I don’t,” he replied. “Anymore.”
She knew full well how a past love could bring about such a decision. The hedonistic, ever-smiling Hayden Wexton had had his heart broken.
A deep, burning curiosity erupted within her. Who had gotten close enough to deliver such a blow? What sort of woman was Sophia that she’d somehow gotten Hayden to love her?
What would it be like to be the center of a man like Hayden’s world?
A shiver ran through her body, one that she refused to acknowledge as longing.
He’d been clear about just how far he’d allow her to get with him. But it didn’t stop her from wishing some nameless woman hadn’t stolen his ability to be the man she wanted.
…
He watched Avery trying to decide what to say, how to process the information he’d offered. Reaching for his wine, he swallowed a large mouthful. Sophia was a topic he’d never meant to bring up with her. Hell, it’d been years since he’d even said the name aloud. He wasn’t sure why he’d done it now except hearing about Avery’s past had made him want to meet her halfway. He’d wanted to honor her confidences with ones of his own.
And now he was exposed in a way he hadn’t been since his teen years.
“When did you meet her?” Avery asked, her lyrical voice soft.
Here came the tricky part.
“I was eighteen.”
She blinked. “But you said…”
That his parents had died before they ever saw him graduate.
“Yes.”
Sympathy flooded her expression, and he couldn’t decide if it soothed something inside him or rankled his pride.
“So, you were grieving when you met her.”
He gazed out toward the setting sun. “Yes.”
“Was she a classmate? A friend?”
A grim smile twisted his lips. “Sophia is ten years older than I am.”
She hissed in a b
reath. “That is barely legal.”
“I stopped being a child the day I stood in a deserted hallway that smelled of antiseptic and listened to a doctor explain I was now alone in the world.”
Avery reached for her wineglass, and he watched her cradle it against her chest as if it offered comfort.
“I’m sorry,” she said.
He shrugged. “It was a long time ago.”
So long that he no longer missed his mother’s carefree smile or his father’s laugh as he pulled his family into his arms. He’d grown up. Moved on. Walled off the painful memories until they no longer had the power to incapacitate him.
Hadn’t he?
“What were they—” Avery broke off when he tensed. She appeared to think over her question before starting again. “Where did you meet Sophia?”
He ran a hand over his jaw. “Their funeral.”
His companion’s shocked expression mirrored that of many of his acquaintances back in the years when he’d been discovering what it meant to be the heir to a fortune. Few had understood his relationship, but he’d never cared. Not as long as he’d had Sophia in his arms.
“Why was she there?” she asked quietly.
“She’d been a friend of the family. At the funeral, she’d offered to help me escape. We got in her car and just drove for hours.”
From that moment, he’d been hooked. She’d been his salvation when his world had been hell. And it had taken him far too long to realize devils could smile just as convincingly as angels.
“What happened after the drive?” she asked.
Dark shame twisted in his stomach. “I moved her into my home by the week’s end.”
Though his lawyers had advised against the relationship so soon after a trauma, he’d had no living relatives to act as his guardian. Not that he’d needed one, legally speaking, at eighteen. But he’d been too young to take the reins of the company.
Sophia, however, had not.
He closed his eyes, remembering what a fool he’d been, handing over the organization his parents had built, just because a pretty blonde had shown an interest in him. Thank God for the provisions his legal team had put in place to ensure she couldn’t completely take it from him.
“You needed someone to care for,” Avery said, breaking through his memories. “Someone to care for you. It’s human nature to need that comfort when you suffer a massive loss. Of course you loved her.”
The Billionaire's Paradise (Sexy Billionaires) Page 8
