Chapter 6
“Vance! Can you help me for a minute?” I call out as I leaf through the colour catalogue.
A few moments later, I hear him enter the office. He comes up to me and kisses my neck. It sends warm syrup down my spine. “What’s wrong, beautiful?”
“Quit with the charm,” I say playfully. “I need help with this.”
He crouches down next to the desk so he is level with my office chair, and stays there as obedient as a guard dog. I move the catalogue toward him.
“What colour do you think would go better in the lobby?” I ask, pointing at the page where the catalogue was open, “Sun Yellow or Umber Reddish?”
He scrunches his face up in thought, in the cute way he always does. After several moments of silent deliberation, he irons out his expression and grins at me. “I think whatever you decide will be the best choice.”
I sigh, and sink back in my chair. “We’re supposed to be working on this together, remember? This is a joint venture.”
He leans forward and nuzzles my ear. “There wasn’t much call for interior design in the slum I grew up in,” he whispers. “I leave matters of taste to the experts. There’s only one joint venture I’m interested in, my love.”
I giggle as he starts nibbling my ear, and slap him gently on his broad chest. “Is that all you ever think about? Come on, I need you to engage the brain in your head as well as the one in your pants.
“You hurt me, madam,” Vance exclaims, slumping his head down. “To think, I gave up a life of luxury to endure the cruel torments of a heartless she-devil!”
“Go and carry on with getting everything ready for tonight,” I say, pretending to be weary of him. “Go now, or you’ll really see what a heartless she-devil I truly am.”
Nimble as a gymnast, Vance jumps to his feet and salutes. “Right away, ma’am.”
As I watch him leave, I think back to that fateful night when we had first got to know each other. That had been six months ago, and I still can’t believe how much life has changed for me. It all still seems like a mad dream. After I’d discovered Vance was a confidence artist, I’d been both shocked and fascinated. My head had told me to get as far away from him as possible, but my heart longed for him in a way it had never longed for anyone since Dominic.
After his shock revelation, Estelle had gone wild. She started shouting and swearing, while I was left forgotten, an awkward bystander. Harvey managed to retrieve his clothes and scuttle away, but not before Vance warned him that the film of him and Estelle would get to back to his wife, and could well end up on the internet if he tried to cause trouble. Harvey meekly complied and promised that he would behave himself. After a while, Estelle calmed down and got dressed, and then she and Vance had a long conversation in what I assumed was Ukrainian. They seemed to reach some kind of agreement, and Estelle started packing. Vance took me downstairs and drove me home, again apologising for what had happened.
I was still baffled, and had no idea what to do next. When I went back into work in the morning, Estelle had left town and Vance had checked into a motel a few miles away. He left me the details though and his number, with a message to call him if I still wanted to go on that date.
For three days I agonised over whether to call him or not. Was this just another con, the way he’d set up Harvey? Or was he genuinely interested in me? Eventually, my feelings won out and I called him. We went for a coffee, and then after that date went well, we went to see a movie and then a third date was dinner. He acted like a perfect gentleman, and I found my barriers slowly begin to erode.
He explained that he and Estelle had reached an amicable arrangement. The scam with the statuette was ruined, but Estelle didn’t hold a grudge. She agreed that they could go their separate ways, and she paid Vance a sizeable share of the profits they had made during their partnership. Then she had disappeared to find someone else to help her run her cons. I was uncomfortable that Vance was living off illicit money, but he assured me that he was going to go straight. He wanted a new life now, and if I wanted to share it I was very welcome. I kept my distance initially, fearful of taking such a big step.
Harvey too decided to move on. Now that he had been exposed, he decided to take a job in Seattle, and he and his unsuspecting wife moved away. As the second most experienced member of staff, Mr Walden offered me the job of manager.
I’d finally got what I’d always dreamed about, but I felt strangely empty. My ideal career was finally mine, but I realised without Vance in my life it meant nothing.
Getting to my feet, I leave the office and step out into the hotel reception. Jules is on the desk in her newly promoted role, and chatting pleasantly to some guests who are just checking in. I nod and she smiles back. She is very happy in her new role. I look around the newly refurbished space, pleased with the changes I’ve made, and looking forward to seeing the outcome of the rest of the facelift the Cherry Tree is going through.
Needless to say, I finally decided to forget my past, and gave my heart to Vance. We got together, and I have never been happier. When he offered to buy the Cherry Tree from Walden and the old man accepted, it was like a fairy tale come true.
I head across the hall and peep into the restaurant. The newly furnished dining room gleams, and Vance is busy organising the staff for tonight’s big function. We have invited the town’s dignitaries for a special meal, and night of entertainment to celebrate the change of ownership. It turns out Vance has a flare for catering, and the new waiting staff we’ve taken on respond well to his leadership. Occupancy rates for the hotel itself have improved as well, so I have plenty to keep me busy. I take care of the general running of the place while he manages the restaurant, and I love working with him every day.
While he is helping one of the waiters put up some bunting, he turns and catches my eye. He winks and gives me that mischievous grin that makes me so tingly. I smile back and leave him to it.
I head out back into the garden and the warm sunshine. I turn around around, I look up at the hotel and feel a deep sense of contentment. I had never dared hope that I could be so happy. After everything I had been through with Dominic, I genuinely believed I’d never be with anyone ever again. But Vance has changed all that.
He is still a mystery to me in some ways, but I feel a passion in him that is all consuming. He has transformed my life completely, and the ghosts of my past no longer haunt me. Though there is much uncertainty ahead, and Vance might well have secrets that could come back to haunt him some day, the very core of my being believes that this is right. We are meant to be here, together, at the Cherry Tree. I have found a connection I’d been searching for all my life, and the bond I have with Vance is unbreakable.
Buoyed by my sense of purpose, and I go back inside to carry on planning our future.
Also by Leila Hawkes
Stronger than Heartache
Something More - Part 1
Coming Soon
Something More - Part Two
Thank you
Dear Reader,
Thank you so much for downloading this book and for taking the time to read this story. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. If you did, please leave a review for it on Amazon. I want to know what you think, and how I can keep my readers happy.
Thank you again my wonderful reader.
Love Leila x
About the Author
Leila Hawkes spent most of her childhood devouring books, and now she’s a grown up has discovered she loves creating her own.
She writes steamy Young Adult romance stories because that’s what she loves to read. She hopes you enjoy reading them as much as she enjoys writing them.
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Hawkes, Leila, VANCE
VANCE Page 4
