She saw what she thought might be respect, possibly approval, flit across his face. ‘Did one or both of your parents die?’
Their deaths would have been so much easier to explain than Joelle’s deep selfishness and lack of responsibility. The traffic light turned green, Lex accelerated and slammed on the brakes when a passenger bus cut in front of her, far too close for comfort. She hit her horn, the bus accelerated away and a brief wave was the only apology she got.
‘Cape Town drivers are the worst,’ she told Cole, seeing the stone gates for the Vane Hotel up ahead. ‘But we are nearly there.’
‘Pity,’ Cole murmured.
And what, Lex wondered as she steered the car through the gates to the Vane, did he mean by that cryptic statement?
CHAPTER THREE
LEXDROVEUPthe winding drive to the Vane Hotel and Cole immediately noticed the city’s famous mountain behind the sprawling hotel, now understanding why it was said the Vane had the best views of Table Mountain. Despite Thorpe Industries owning a boutique hotel on the Waterfront, Jude Fisher, who was a friend of the owners, had recommended this hotel to him, saying that, in a city that boasted incredible hotels such as the Silo and Mount Nelson, the Vane was the best of the best, boasting six-star elegance and facilities, and staying there was an experience not be missed.
Lex pulled up under the portico and Cole released the catch to his seatbelt and pushed a hand through his hair. He was about to exit the car when Lex hit the button to drop her window and asked the valet to give her a minute. The valet hesitated, nodded and stepped back.
Lex turned round in her seat and her extraordinary eyes slammed into his. ‘Are you intending to go to Thorpe Industries today? Shall I wait, or when should I return?’
He shook his head, recalling her question. ‘My assistant has organised a hire car for me. I prefer to drive myself,’ he told her, desperately trying to ignore the prickle of attraction flying up and down his spine. Maybe he could cancel the car and get Lex to drive him round Cape Town. He loathed not being behind the wheel but wouldn’t mind spending more time looking at her unusual but gorgeous face.
It was an idea...
It was an asinine one. He’d long held the belief that having a driver was both pretentious and a waste of money since he could drive himself wherever he needed to go. And being in the close confines of a car with someone he wanted more than he needed to breathe was a recipe for disaster.
She was his employee, for goodness’ sake. He didn’t cross that line—ever. That was asking for complications he didn’t need or have time for. But the thought of not seeing her again while he was in Cape Town was a knife through his temple, a kick to his head.
He wanted to know why she was raising her sisters, and how that had come to be. He wanted to taste the skin on her neck, kiss his way down her spine and hook her naked thigh over his hip. He wanted...
Seriously, Thorpe?Cole took the opportunity to run his hands up and down his face, trying to wake up his brain cells. What was wrong with him? And what was it about this woman that fascinated him so? He’d known many beautiful, stunning women, and had slept with quite a few of them, but none of them made him feel as if he were sixteen again, disconcerted and enthralled.
She’s just another woman...
He could repeat that mantra until the sun rose in the morning, but it wouldn’t make a jot of difference. There was, as they said, something about her that called to him on a deep and dark—scary—level.
And that, more than anything, was why he had to stay away from her. ‘So you won’t need me to drive you anywhere?’
‘No.’ Unfortunately.
He thought he saw disappointment flash in her eyes, possibly panic, and was tempted to change his mind, to put up with the frustration of being driven simply to see her again. Maybe the time difference and jet lag were messing with his mind and his emotions. Then Cole silently cursed when he remembered that he’d got a solid six hours of sleep last night as the plane had flown south and that there was only a two-hour time difference between London and Cape Town.
But those eyes in that face, and her raspy, deep voice, enthralled him. He could look at her, listen to her, for the longest time.
A porter and a car valet approached them and Cole exited the vehicle, with Lex half a second behind him. He saw a well-dressed woman exit from the lobby and knew she was his personal concierge. He was about to thank and dismiss Lex when his phone rang, the call coming in being from one of his biggest investor clients. She wasn’t someone whose call he could ignore.
He looked at Lex and nodded to the concierge. ‘Tell her who I am and grab my laptop bag from the boot and take it up to my room. Wait with it until I get there.’ His state-of-the-art laptop was his life and he never let it out of his sight. It held all his personal, business and client information, yet he instinctively trusted Lex to transport it to his room.
Of course, he could’ve just held it while he took his call. It wasn’t as if it was heavy. Not wanting to interrogate that thought, he turned away and answered his call.
Ten minutes later he stepped into the impressive art deco style lobby, the concierge approached him and offered to show him to his room. He took his hotel card, asked for directions to the penthouse suite and declined her company. It was a hotel suite, not interstellar travel.
On the top floor, in the east corner, he stepped into a hallway and saw Lex standing in the open door to his suite, his laptop bag over her shoulder. On hearing his footsteps, the porter appeared in the doorway, a polite smile on his face. ‘Would you like me to unpack for you, Mr Thorpe?’
Cole slipped him a tip and told him that he’d manage. When the porter was out of sight, Cole looked at Lex and stepped inside the hallway to his suite, his eyes drifting over the sophisticated lounge to the massive windows dominating the space. His room was high up, so he looked over old oak trees directly at Table Mountain.
‘That’s got to be the best view in Cape Town.’
He turned to see Lex standing next to him in the hall, her eyes on the view. He’d never been to the city before, but he thought she might be right. It would be hard to beat.
After another minute of silence, with both of them looking at the incredible view, he turned back to face Lex. She’d transferred his laptop bag to her hand, and he reached for it, their fingers brushing. Cole couldn’t believe that such a small touch could hold so much power, and he tensed, unable to pull his eyes off her truly lovely face. Her green eyes darkened and underneath the freckles he saw a pink flush, some distinct heat in her cheeks. The tip of her pink tongue touched her upper lip and she rocked on her feet...