Chapter One
Employees are not allowed to fraternize with guests. Employees are not allowed to fraternize with guests. One more time, with feeling, I tell myself. I know he’s almost to the front desk, each breath is harder to take as the air thickens. I pretend I don’t know he’s there as I force my breathing to level out. Why the fuck does it always have to get so uneven when it comes to Drake Hawthorne? Just the thought of the man is enough to send it raspy, but when he’s in front of me, close enough to touch, with his piercing blue eyes staring right into me, I struggle to take in air. Making a notation that makes absolutely no sense, I allow myself to look up. I find him without looking around because his eyes are on me. He probably knows the notation I made was nonsense. I open my mouth but nothing comes out. It’s been four months since I last saw him and the sight of him again, so close, so weary, causes all the air to rush out of my lungs in a whoosh.
Latisha chooses the moment to call out from the back room, my name is a whine. I know what she’s going to say and my stomach plummets. “Ria, come on girl. I am promising you, you will have so much fun. We need to find you a man, girl! You need a man, and the men are hot and loaded at this club. Come on!”
She comes out from the office as she practically yells, “Come on!” in my ear. Latisha doesn’t see Drake Hawthorne and as I watch him go still at her words, I want to strangle her. Her change in demeanor at seeing him would be funny, if the moment didn’t feel so damned scary. Immediately, the whine is gone and she goes to serious and faintly flirty at the sight of him. I want to smack her for flirting, but I don’t blame her, everyone went flirty and smiling with Drake Hawthorne. “Mr. Hawthorne, I apologize for raising my voice. How are you doing this evening? I’ll be happy to check you in for the night.”
My eyes go down to the computer screen, and I see nothing, say nothing. Praying he’ll let it go, knowing it won’t happen. I’m not surprised at his words, just very worried about what will happen next.
“Hello, Latisha. I believe I’ve told you, call me Drake. So what club are you trying to talk Ria into going to?”
“Thank you, Drake, I’m trying to talk her into going into the Palladine. It just opened on Rush Street. Have you been?”
“I can’t say I have been, no. What you said is interesting, because I thought Ria was married.”
I say nothing as I stare down at the thin fake gold band around my left finger. Sometimes I forget it’s there, it’s been on for so long. I used to forget to put it on before I came to work, so after a few months I just never took it off.
“Really? I had no idea you thought that all this time. No, our boss, Charlie, warned Ria about working overnights. Because she’s so dang pretty, he suggested she go with the ring. He thought it would keep the passes away. Can you believe he didn’t tell me the same thing?”
“Hmm, that’s hard to believe, as I’m sure you have more than enough passes. I’m sure he believes you can handle the attention. I could have sworn Ria actually mentioned a husband. Then again I’m always tired and it’s so late when I check in, I might have been wrong.” The words are an accusation. I can’t stop my cheeks from going red, I don’t move, just keep my eyes down.
Latisha picks up on the unspoken and the bitch throws me at him. I want to kill her.
“Ria, could you see Drake to his room? I would hate to miss the call from the sitter. It always happens like that, doesn’t it, Drake? You wait and wait for something and the moment you give up, it happens.”
“I know exactly what you mean. I would appreciate you seeing me to my room, Ria. Last time there wasn’t a toothbrush, it would make things more convenient to check before I’m about to turn in.”
The keycard for his room moves into my eyesight. I nod and take it. Allowing my eyes to meet Latisha’s they promise murder. With a few swift clicks I lock my computer and walk around the desk to follow him towards the elevator. He says nothing but he’s vibrating with an energy he didn’t have around him when he walked in.
Fuck, is all I can think as he invites me into the elevator before him. I can’t look at him, only down. I’m waiting for him to break the silence as the numbers edge up to his room. Nothing comes and the silence is almost painful by the time the elevator opens with a ding at his floor. Walking out in front of him, I keep my eyes up but unseeing ahead of me. His room is at the end of the long hall, far from the elevators, and each step feels excruciating. I want to scream when I notice my hands tremble as they slide in the keycard and open the door. As usual, he has no luggage. Moving around the suite, I start turning on lights for him.
Still, he says nothing, neither do I. Coming back to the door, I find him there, leaning against it. Finally, I look up to meet his gaze. Why the fuck did he have to be so beautiful? Men aren’t supposed to be perfect in real life. In centerfolds, on calendars, on billboards, not in real life. Latisha and everyone in the hotel calls him Daniel Craig behind his back. He has a passing look of Daniel Craig, especially with the blue eyes. Only Drake Hawthorne’s features are sharper, he’s taller and his hair is the color of midnight. He’s also always tanned, even in the winter. I’ve met Daniel Craig before, he’s stayed at the hotel twice. Daniel Craig is extremely handsome, he’s also nice, pleasant and a lot of other things I don’t think of when I think of Drake Hawthorn
e. Daniel Craig didn’t make my stomach tumble and my breathing short when I looked at him.
Drake’s eyes say everything, he says nothing. Even though I swore I was going to wait for him to speak first, I give up.
“Employees aren’t allowed to fraternize with guests. If management finds out, they’re gone, no ifs, ands, or buts. Please move, Mr. Hawthorne, I need to get back down to the front desk.”
He doesn’t move, only shakes his head. “Two years, two years of lies from you. Where was he last time? Los Angeles, updating the systems at an oil company you said. Before he was in Atlanta, a conference. Last year he was in England.” He’s moving now, stalking me across the room.
“Employees aren’t allowed to fraternize with guests.” I repeat haltingly, “I’m sorry, but I need this job. What you want, you can get anywhere.” I accuse.
“Do you think I haven’t tried? Believe me, I’ve tried. Two years of cold showers and sleepless nights. Every time I left here I promised myself I’d take the first woman who looked my way. Only none of them, none of them looked at me like you do. As if I was everything they wanted but couldn’t have, with hunger making your soft brown eyes go almost black. None of them smelled like you, none of them had the soft curves that trembled when I came near. None of them made me want them the way I want you. Kissing them, I wondered what you tasted like. Holding them against me, I knew they didn’t fit me as well as you would. Two years, of apologies as my dick wouldn’t get hard because they weren’t you.”
His words hurt, the idea of him with other women. I tried not to think of him away from the hotel. It didn’t mean I succeeded; in bed when I was alone, I thought of him. I wondered who he was with, what they looked like. Then I heard what he was really saying. I’m shaking my head, no. This can’t happen, no matter how badly I want him. He’s blunt, he’s demanding and he doesn’t care about the rules because rules didn’t pertain to men like Drake Hawthorne. He’d take what he wanted and when he had his fill, he’d move on. Then I’d be left jobless and broken-hearted. If it were just me, then maybe I would take the chance. It’s not an option though, I have Justin to think of and I can’t, I just can’t.
I’m still shaking my head when his hands come down on my hips and he pulls me to him. I barely have time to take in the feel of him against me when his lips come down on mine. His beautiful full and thick lips are as soft as I always knew they would be. One taste, I promise myself, and open my lips to him. The velvet slide of his tongue is a welcome invasion and I’m as hungry to learn the taste of him as he is of me. In seconds, hunger becomes devouring and we both go up in flames. My arms are up around his neck and he pulls me tighter, as if he can’t get enough. I feel like my whole body has been lit on fire and only he can soothe the burn. Deeper, more, I need more. I’m fighting for air when he finally pulls away, his eyes have gone sapphire dark.
His voice is deep and husky, “Marry me.” It’s a command, he’s not asking.