Читать книгу Weekend in Vegas!: Saving Cinderella! - Jackie Braun - Страница 14

WYATT was in a foul mood. Remembering Alex’s story and her attempt to be nonchalant about what had been done to her fueled an anger he didn’t want to analyze. That anyone would hurt someone as sunny as Alex—she deserved better than that.

A good thing to remember, he reminded himself. Because he’d been thinking about her too much lately, and he wasn’t one whit better than any of those men had been. He would hurt her just as easily as they had.

Something hot and painful sluiced through him. He shoved it aside. Alex was a prize for McKendrick’s. But she wasn’t for him, he reminded himself. He’d do well to remember that.

It was time to get back to thinking about the hotel and to stop thinking about Alex. Maybe he should simply pay her in full and hire someone less competent to stand in until Belinda could return.

But he knew that he wouldn’t do that. He was as bad as any of the men who had harmed her. He liked what she did for McKendrick’s. Worse than that, he liked sparring with her…and looking at her…and touching her. And, for the short time she was here, he was going to continue to enjoy all those things.

“Are you sure you’re all right? You’re looking a little flushed every time we mention Wyatt,” Jayne said later that night. Alex was on a video call with Jayne and Molly. Serena wasn’t around tonight—even though she’d returned to Las Vegas…to be with the man she’d married during their weekend. She and Alex had managed to catch up briefly a few days earlier, when she had called on Alex to help shop for an outfit suitable for a mayoral candidate’s wife. How had that happened?

“I’m fine. Really. It’s Serena I’m worried about. She really didn’t seem like herself.”

“I know. I get the impression she’s confused. Not happy. I wish we had all stayed together that night,” Jayne said.

Molly frowned. “Yes. Staying together would have been best.”

Was there something in Molly’s eyes other than concern for Serena? Alex couldn’t tell. Darn video phone.

“I’m going to talk to her again as soon as I can,” Alex said.

“Yes, but who’s going to talk to you?” Molly asked.

“Molly, I promise if I get in too deep I’ll tell you. So far I’m handling it.”

A long silence ensued. “What’s ‘it’, exactly?” Jayne asked.

Uh-oh. “I kissed Wyatt one day.” Okay, he had kissed her. Same difference, since she had kissed him back.

“Alex…” Molly drawled.

“I’m good. I’m not letting it affect me. I’m totally over it,” Alex said. Which probably wasn’t the best thing to say. It implied that she had, in recent memory, not been over it.

“I don’t like what I’m hearing…or not hearing, Alex.” Molly’s voice quivered. “Men can be such trouble.”

“Men can wreck your life if you let them,” Jayne said.

“But I’m strong. I know Wyatt isn’t available, and I won’t let anyone wreck my life.” Including me, Alex thought.

“But Wyatt kissed you…” Molly prompted.

“Yes, but only in a lustful way, not a romantic way. It was—” the most intimate, expert kiss she’d ever had “—it was nice, but I’m safe. I’m not getting involved.”

“You’re repeating yourself, Alex. And somehow I don’t feel better after this conversation,” Jayne said.

“I do. I miss you guys. For your sakes as much as mine, I’ll do a lot of counting to ten,” Alex promised.

Her friends smiled. “If you need us, we’ve got your back.”

“Thanks, you two. I’ll get in touch with Serena.”

Alex hung up the phone. Talking to her friends was a bit like talking to a mom these days. She loved them, she missed them, and she didn’t dare tell them everything. If she did…

“They would worry themselves sick,” she muttered. Just the way she was worrying about them.

Alex was particularly worried about Serena, so when her friend called and suggested that they meet at Hennesey’s, an Irish pub, Alex jumped.

“I can’t believe you’re back here in Las Vegas,” Alex said. “It’s wonderful.”

“It’s so good seeing you,” Serena agreed, which wasn’t exactly the same thing. How was she feeling about being married? “Come on, let’s move outdoors. The music’s great, but I want to be able to hear what’s happened to you.”

“What’s happened to me?” Alex launched into a description of some of the projects she’d started at the hotel.

“Jayne and Molly said that you and your boss kissed.Alex…”

“Serena…” Alex said, duplicating her friend’s tone. “Or should I call you Mrs. Benjamin?”

Serena blinked. Then she laughed. “Okay, we’re even—and aren’t we a pair? How did life ever get this complicated?”

“I guess we came to Las Vegas and started a few things we hadn’t anticipated starting.” Alex took a sip of her drink as the lilting strains of music floated out on the breeze. “Do you love him, Serena? Does he love you?”

Serena hesitated. “It’s…I’m not sure how this is all going to play out. How about you? How do you feel about Wyatt kissing you? I’m always interested to hear more about the virile one.”

Alex laughed. “Let’s just say that Wyatt could make a living giving kissing lessons if this hotel gig doesn’t pan out. Still, it shouldn’t have happened, and we’ve gotten beyond it.”

Later, after Serena had opened up and talked about her husband, Jonas, just enough so that Alex was really worried about her friend’s chances of ever having a happily-ever-after, Alex drove back to McKendrick’s.

Had she really said that she’d gotten beyond the kiss with Wyatt? When did I become such a liar? she thought. And why was she lying to her friends?

Wyatt needed to get away. For the past two weeks he’d been measuring his every action, his motivations, his words. He should never have kissed Alex, because each time he got near her now, his entire body reacted. He envisioned her in his arms and in his bed, and it was time to put a stop to that. He needed to remember what he was all about…and what he was not about. He had to go somewhere away from the hotel and the world as he knew it. A place where there was no chance of glancing over to see what was going on with Alex. Because she wouldn’t be there.

He was dressed casually, unusual for him, and as he walked toward the entrance, several women smiled and said hello.

As always he was polite, but no more. He dated only casually, and he kept the hotel and his personal life separate. Maybe because the hotel meant more to him than anyone he’d ever dated had. His success in business didn’t carry over to the rest of his life. After walking away from numerous women, he had realized that he didn’t have the basic emotional tools to fall in love and maintain a relationship. That part of him had died long ago. Or maybe it had never existed.

Growing up, solitude, hiding, had saved him from beatings and abuse. He’d always been alone, because when he was young it had been the only way. And now?

It was still the only way. He’d never been able to make the leap to love, could never let anyone inside his walls, and he always ended up hurting some innocent woman. That made him loathe himself for being such a cold beast, so solitude was the life for him. Forever.

Normally he was fine with that, and today, as usual, he was on his own. He drove to the one place in Las Vegas where he didn’t have to maintain his image. The Haven was an old motel with cottages and a small chapel, a rundown bit of property he’d bought a few years ago with the idea of fixing it up. But for some reason he never had. It was a place that drew him. Usually he could relax and lose himself in solitude there…except today he couldn’t.

Lounging in a chair inside the one cottage where he’d made minimal improvements, he tried to read. And put down his book. Once. Twice. Three times.

“It’s her,” he said aloud, glancing at the red rocks in the distance, but seeing pretty blue eyes. Wyatt groaned. “I have to stop thinking of her,” he muttered.

Because nothing had changed. He didn’t want a relationship, and she’d been hurt in her relationships. She wanted a home. He didn’t even live in a home. He had no knowledge of a real home. But what was she doing right now?

Most likely she was at her desk, very efficiently managing his guests. Issues with some of those visitors might be arising. And, even though it wasn’t her job to handle customer disputes, some of his employees had been going to Alex lately if he wasn’t available. Her ability to make people feel good, the way she smoothed things over easily, had people bending the rules. When he was at hand no one did that, but when he wasn’t…

Wyatt slammed the book closed. Maybe he should have brought Alex with him. He wondered what she would think of the Haven.

She’d probably think it was a decrepit pile of rock and wood that needed to be torn down. She’d think less of him then. And that would effectively kill his fascination with her.

Next time, he promised himself. Next time he’d bring Alex. But for now…

“Rest time’s over, McKendrick.”

She should be feeling better about how her day was going, Alex conceded. She’d come up with two new activities to make McKendrick’s stand out from the crowd. And, despite the fact that there’d been an article in the local paper yesterday about Champagne sponsoring some sort of exclusive event this weekend, the crowds at McKendrick’s were just as big as ever. People looked relaxed and happy. She’d had nothing but good vibes from those approaching her desk this morning.

She’d hardly even noticed that Wyatt had left two hours ago, taking some rare time off, she told herself. Despite the fact that the hotel seemed emptier without him around, she was okay with that…wasn’t she? It was normal to feel a little different when there was a change in one’s routine.

Of course she had noticed that a few women gave him hopeful waves as he left. She’d even wondered if there might be another woman sharing his day off, and felt a stabbing pain near her heart, but she’d forced herself to try to ignore it.

She was almost succeeding, too, when she looked up to see a young maid headed toward Randy, then veering off when she saw that he had people at his desk. Alex had none, and the look of relief on the maid’s face was palpable.

“I just passed the ballroom, and two of the workers doing the renovation are fighting,” the young woman said.

“Physically?”

“No, but there’s a lot of yelling. The customers can hear them. And the security guys are on the tenth floor, helping a woman who fell getting out of the bathtub. I didn’t know what to do, so I came here.”

“Thank you. It was the right thing to do,” Alex said, and she took off toward the ballroom. She could hear raised voices before she even opened the doors.

“Don’t worry,” she told the crowd of people that had started to gather. “It’s probably just a minor disagreement between friends. I’ll straighten everything out.”

She pulled open the tall double doors and walked into the huge, mostly empty room. At the far end, workers were involved in various tasks, but just twenty feet inside the room, two big muscle-bound men were right up in each other’s faces, yelling and swearing and getting louder and more red-faced every second. They didn’t even look away from each other when she entered the room.

Alex took a deep breath. She had no idea what to say or do. Her heart started tripping as she drew closer. No doubt she should call someone else, but who? The longer and louder these two got, the more agitated the customers outside the doors would become. If this accelerated into an actual fist fight, wouldn’t that look great in the morning papers? She could practically see the headline: Blood spilt at McKendrick’s. The owner of Champagne would waltz away with Wyatt’s award.

She frowned. She was so not going to let that happen. She wanted Wyatt to win. At the moment she didn’t even care why it mattered to her. She’d worry about that later. But for now…

Alex took a deep breath. She waded into the fray. “I don’t know who you two are,” she said, raising her voice just enough so that it carried, “but I’m here on Mr. McKendrick’s behalf, and if you don’t stop this right this minute, your firm will lose its contract. I’m giving you fair warning. I’m walking right up next to you, so if anyone hits anyone, I’ll probably get hit, too. That will be assault, and you won’t even be able to plead that you didn’t know that I was here.”

She kept moving as she spoke. “Who are you, anyway?” she asked. “And, no, I don’t want to know what you’re fighting about. I just want it stopped. Right now.”

By now she was only three feet away, easily within the peripheral vision of the men. One of them blinked. He turned toward her. “This doesn’t concern you.”

“Yes, it does. My job is to make sure my customers are happy. You’re scaring them.”

The other man turned toward her. He looked her over, head to toe. “So you work for Mr. McKendrick. Who exactly are you, luscious lady?”

Alex realized that if the man wanted to, he was close enough to reach out and touch her. She took a very slight step back.

“I’m Alexandra Lowell.”

“And she’s none of your business.” The deep, steely voice came from behind Alex. She turned to see Wyatt, eyes blazing, bearing down on them. “I suggest you two men return to your work immediately,” he said. “I’ll discuss this with you and your supervisor shortly.”

The man who’d asked who she was scowled and grumbled something unintelligible, but both of them turned. They started to lumber back to whatever they had been doing before all this began.

Wyatt waited until they were out of hearing range. “Break time?” he said, and Alex looked up into his glittering eyes. He was angry and not trying to conceal it.

“I’d say that’s a yes. But I should…”

“Find someone to man your desk? It’s already done. Let’s talk,” he said, his tone perfectly calm.

But Alex didn’t miss the tense line of his jaw. She turned and followed him out of the ballroom and down the hallway. He threw open the door to a conference room, pulled her inside and then shut the door behind them.

“What was that?” Wyatt asked, trying to leash his anger.

“That was me trying to avert a crisis.”

“That was you trying to get your pretty face and body rearranged. Again. Presenting yourself as a punching bag to enraged men is getting to be a habit, Alex. Do you know what one swing from one of those men’s fists could do to you?”

“This is nothing like that other time. Protecting that little boy was…well, anyone would have done that.”

Wyatt seriously doubted that. “So how is this different?” He gazed down into those sky eyes, waiting for her answer and for his heart to stop racing, but it didn’t. Watching her confront two full-grown angry men, listening to one of them try to hit on her…he wanted to swear.

“Two reasons. For one, the hotel’s reputation was at risk this time.”

He lost the battle not to swear. “Alex, you’re an amazing woman. You’re doing great things for McKendrick’s and you’ve become a customer favorite.” My favorite, he thought, but he couldn’t utter those words. He shouldn’t even be thinking them. “But I don’t want you to get hurt helping me.” I don’t want to hurt you. I don’t want to be another man taking your help and then not giving anything back.

“Wyatt, I’m fine,” she said. “Look.” She held out her arms, as if to show him that she was all in one piece.

He raised an eyebrow. “Don’t try to schmooze me, Lowell. You know what I mean. You’re not to confront any more angry men. For any reason. Got that?”

For a second he thought she was going to do the right thing and meekly agree, the way any other employee would have. But Alex raised her chin and looked him square in the eye. “I’m sorry. I can’t agree to that. If I’m going to run my own shop, one I operate alone, I have to be able to handle any situation. That was the second reason I had to get involved.”

Wyatt growled. There was nothing he could say to that, was there? Except this. “I know you’re going to run a fantastic shop. People will visit in droves. Every customer will go away satisfied. But don’t practice your negotiating skills here, Alex. Not again. If any bullies come in and Security is otherwise occupied, you send them to me. If any workers get into an argument, you send them my way. Anything that might threaten you physically, you step away from. If I’m not here, you find someone bigger than you to handle it, and then you find me.”

“It was your day off.” She hadn’t lowered her chin even a notch.

“Where your safety is concerned, I have no days off. Understood?”

She blinked.

“Alex? Please.”

As if that one word did it, she nodded. “All right. Actually, I was just the tiniest bit concerned. When that one guy asked me who I was and looked at me as if he wanted to…do something, it made my skin crawl.”

And any thought Wyatt had of regaining his composure flew right out the window. He slid his hand around Alex’s waist and slowly drew her close, giving her ample time to tell him to stop or to push back. “I’m not going to let anyone touch you.”

But Wyatt was most definitely touching her. He pulled her even closer. For a moment, several moments, he just held her. He stroked her hair and whispered soothing words against her temple. She was warm and vibrant and so…Alex in his arms that he couldn’t stop himself from reacting to her, wanting her.

He drew back and gazed down into her eyes, his lips close to hers. “I’m going to kiss you, Alex.”

“Yes.” The word came out on a breath.

“You can stop me. You can say no. You know you have a choice.”

Her answer was to rise on her toes and press her lips to his. “I know,” she whispered against his mouth.

Heat seared him, desire flooded his soul, and he drew her closer. He kissed her again, opening his mouth over hers.

She met him, kissed him back.

He ran his hand down her spine, learning her curves.

She plunged her fingertips into his hair, licking his lips when they came up for air.

“Alex…” he groaned as he kissed her more, reached for more.

The door flew open. Without taking a breath, Wyatt immediately turned so that Alex was behind him and he was mostly blocking her from view. Jenna, who worked in the office, was standing there, along with several guests. His reaction, though quick, had obviously not been quick enough. They had seen Alex already, splayed up against his chest, locked in his arms.

As if on cue, Alex peeked out from beneath his arm. “Well, that was so great! Thank you so much for that demonstration of what I should do if anyone should try to sexually harass me, Mr. McKendrick. And that nifty move where I turn your thumb back and bring you to your knees? It’s one I’ve heard about but I’ve never actually met anyone who would allow me to try it on them. I mean, I’m really sorry your hair got messed up when you ended up falling during the demonstration, but I assure you that all this stuff is going to be incredibly useful. A girl really needs to know a few tricks to protect herself from the bad guys. Hotels are not immune from these things, you know, Jenna,” she said, shaking a warning finger at the woman. “Every guest should know at least a few basic moves.”

Then, as if she was completely unaware of this surreal situation that everyone was trapped in, Alex got that amazing, intense lightbulb look in her eyes that Wyatt was beginning to recognize. “I think maybe we could offer some basic self-defense classes in the ballroom. Just in case anyone is interested. Wouldn’t that be great? I’m going to get right on that.”

Then she smiled at the tour group again and left the room, her usual spring in her step.

“A self-defense class? That’s a wonderful idea, Mr. McKendrick—don’t you think?” Jenna asked.

Wyatt blinked. He was angry at himself for putting Alex at risk, and it must have shown on his face.

“I’m sorry. Did I do something wrong?”

Wyatt wanted to groan. “No, Jenna. And, yes, it’s a great idea. Alex has come up with another way to improve McKendrick’s.” What was he going to do when she had gone? he wondered, knowing he wasn’t thinking only of the hotel. He frowned again, then remembered Jenna. “So…you think it will work?” he asked her, trying to be encouraging. Jenna hadn’t been here very long. He didn’t want her to think he was crazy. The CEO of Champagne would certainly love that, wouldn’t he?

“Oh, I think it’d be great,” Jenna said. “I’d totally sign up if they were held here. What could be more convenient?”

The people in the group agreed, although some of them still looked as if they weren’t quite sure what had just happened.

Wyatt wasn’t sure, either, but it was probably a good thing that Jenna had interrupted. He was completely losing his selfcontrol where Alex was concerned.

He could still taste her. He wanted to go looking for her to finish what they’d started. Only two things stopped him. Alex had been hurt so badly in the past that she had walked away from men and love forever. And he was still the same man he’d been this morning. A loner. Incapable of maintaining a long-term relationship. If he couldn’t offer her more than the disappointing men she’d already suffered through, then he didn’t have the right to pursue her. He refused to be the next disappointing jerk in her life. He couldn’t be the man who finally broke her spirit.

He wanted to shore up Alex’s spirit. She’d had to handle a nasty situation. His contribution couldn’t have made her day less trying, either. And if he was part of the problem…well, who did she have to share her troubles with? No one, it seemed. She was cut off from the home she loved, without her lifeline. There was no one with whom to discuss the problems her life as his concierge had brought about.

Wyatt swore. In the past couple of weeks he’d begun to learn how Alex operated. She went all out to help people, and sometimes people—unscrupulous men—took advantage of her good nature. He had taken advantage today, and once she had time to think, she might beat herself up for letting him kiss her again.

In fact, too much had happened to Alex since he’d yanked her out of the life she loved. She’d been pushed too far, thrown into situations she never should have been forced to handle. Alex needed backup, maybe even comfort.

For half a second he thought again about spiriting her away to the Haven, his hideaway…a place he never showed anyone. But he immediately dismissed the idea.

That wasn’t the right place for her, and he wasn’t the right person for the job. At all. But he knew who might be. Just because he had no need for friends didn’t mean that he had missed the fact that Alex did need them.