“I do,” he said. “What time?”
“How about we meet for breakfast at the bakery?” They turned down the hall to wait for their elevator, and Olympia put both of her hands on his chest. A thrill ran through Chet’s whole body, and he looked down at her, trying to decide how open she’d be to him kissing her good-night.
The night had been nearly perfect, with great music, good food, great conversation. A sexy woman at his side. His feelings for her kept multiplying and tangling, and Chet worried he was already in too deep with her to escape unscathed.
“Sure,” he said. “You’re the one with the schedule.”
“Ten,” she said. “Then you can get your beauty sleep.” She grinned at him as the elevator chimed and the doors opened. She took his fingers in hers and led him into the car.
“Olympia,” he said, his voice throaty and weak at the same time.
She looked at him with pure desire in her eyes, and Chet backed her against the wall, placing one hand on that delicious hip and the other beside her face. “I want to kiss you good-night,” he whispered, tracing his lips down the side of her face. “Tell me what you think of that.”
She shivered against him, and he couldn’t tell if she was nervous or excited. “It’s been a long time for me,” she whispered, her hands coming up around his neck.
So she was nervous. “You think you’ve forgotten how?” Because she hadn’t forgotten anything. She knew how to dress to catch a man’s attention. What to do with her hair, her hands, all of it.
“No,” she said. “I think…I don’t know what I think.”
The elevator dinged again, and it certainly hadn’t been slow getting them to the twentieth floor this time. He stepped off of it first, glad when Olympia pressed right into his side as they walked the short distance to their doors.
He’d only known her for a few days. She hadn’t liked him when he’d shown up, spewing criticisms about her elevators and programs. But he didn’t feel like she was using him anymore, and that was good.
“Tonight was nice,” she said. “I need to get out of the inn more often.”
“What’s your weekend like?” he asked. “We could go do something.”
She tiptoed her fingertips up his chest again, reaching the bare skin on his chest soon enough. He pulled in a breath, his heartbeat going wild with her feminine touch. “What did you have in mind?”
“I’ll look something up,” he said, his voice hardly his own. “Parasailing or something out on the ocean. Do you like the ocean, Olympia?”
“Yes,” she whispered.
“And you can wear that bikini you teased me with the other night.” He dipped his head and pressed his lips to her throat, a sigh coming out of her mouth as she balanced herself in his arms.
Her skin was smooth and soft, and he kissed his way up to her ear. “Can I kiss you, Olympia?”
“Yes,” she breathed, and Chet didn’t waste his time. He touched his mouth to hers in a sweet kiss that sent showers of sparks through his mouth and down his throat. His hands tightened along her waist, drawing her flush against him.
She kissed him back, and wow, she had not forgotten how. Her lips were full and tasted like lemonade, and he simply couldn’t get enough of her. He deepened the kiss, and Olympia went with him, her fingers trailing up into his hair.
He finally gained control of himself and pulled away, his breath coming quick, quicker now. “Mm,” he hummed. “Tonight was perfect. Thanks for inviting me to the bonfire.”
She exhaled and grinned up at him. “See you tomorrow.” She swiped her keycard and her door unlatched with a loud click. She pushed it open and stepped inside, turning back to give him another coy smile. “Night, Chet.”
He touched his fingertips to his lips and said, “Good-night, Olympia.”
She let the door come softly closed between them, and Chet turned to his own door at the same time a muffled squeal came from inside her room.
He laughed and said, “I heard that,” as he opened his own door and went inside his penthouse. He felt the same way, though. All keyed up with nowhere to go. He felt like he’d been attached to an electric source, and there was no way he could go to sleep now, not with the taste of that woman on his lips and the feel of her fingers along his jaw.
Chet collapsed on the couch, his phone lighting up from where he’d dropped it on the coffee table. He grabbed it, hoping it would be Olympia, but it was from an unknown number.
Mister Chadwick, this is Lars Ginnsberg at the Kipton Monoco on the island of Carter’s Cove. I’m sorry to hear about your situation at The Atlanta Grand America. We have an immediate opening for someone with your skills. Call me?
His blood ran cold at the same time his pulse pounced. No, he did not want to go back to the insane work schedule he’d had at The Grand America. But it was nice to think not everyone believed he was a crook, and he did need something to do.
“Not that,” he said as he tapped out a polite declining message. What would Olympia think if he suddenly announced he’d taken a job with one of those chain hotels she hated? He shook his head and sent the message.
Very well, Lars said. Do keep us in mind should you find yourself ready to return to the hotel industry.
Chet sighed as he looked up from his phone. He’d loved his college work and his job at The Grand America, for the most part. But he didn’t want to return to it, not in the same capacity.
Just the face that Lars was texting him at close to midnight spoke of how much the man worked. Chet didn’t want that life again. Just watching Olympia live it tired him out, and he got up and went into his bedroom.
His thoughts flew down the road he and Olympia were on. If things got serious between them, could he be the one up here in her penthouse, waiting for her to finally finish working and come home?
He sighed as he changed into a pair of basketball shorts and fell into bed. She definitely had strings attached to his heart already, and he didn’t mind. He’d never been the flingy type of man to begin with, and while he’d only known her a few days, it also felt like he was closer to her than anyone else in his life.
With that sad thought in his mind, he determined he’d reach out to his family the next day—right after his breakfast date with Olympia.
“So it’s just nine days of work,” she said the next morning, all business, right down to the pair of sexy glasses she’d perched on the end of her nose as she reviewed the paperwork with him. “You start on Sunday, and you’ll work with Steven and Gwen in the kitchen to go over the five menu items we’ve settled on. The competition begins late Monday afternoon, and then you’re on through the following Sunday night.” She slid the packet toward him, and he barely glanced at it.
“You’re sexy when you’re talking business,” he said.
“Stop it,” she said with a smile. A flush worked its way up her neck and settled in her cheeks. “I put an extra day on there so you’ll get paid to debrief with Steven, Gwen and me. Okay?”
“How much are you paying me?”
“Twenty an hour.”
“How many hours am I working?” He picked up the packet, his eyes sliding over the black and white of it.
“Ten hours per day, two of them at an overtime rate of time-and-a-half.” She handed him a pen. “Sign it, Chet, and you’ll be a member of The Heartwood Inn family.”
He kept his attention on the paperwork so she wouldn’t see how much that actually pleased him. “How did your meeting with Alissa go this morning?”
“Just fine. She’s definitely the nosiest of my sisters.” Olympia giggled, and Chet handed everything back to her, the deed done.
“Did you tell her about us?”
“Nope,” she said. “I mean, I said you’d be working with us. I didn’t detail anything else.”
He nodded, glad she wasn’t the type to kiss and then gossip about it with her sisters. “Maybe you can knock off early tonight, too,” he said. “Let’s go to dinner or something—outside the
inn.”
“I have Friday Night Wine until seven,” she said. “It’s a private event our guests pay for, and I have a brand-new connoisseur, so I said I’d be there to support her.”
“After that then,” he said, pressing her and he knew it.
She grinned at him and leaned forward in the booth. He kissed her quickly, and she said, “Come down to my office about seven, and we’ll see where I am, okay?”
“Okay,” he said, leaning back in the booth.
“What are you going to do today?”
“I don’t know,” he said, though he’d had some ideas a few days ago. “Maybe I’ll just hang around here.”
“There are tennis lessons I know aren’t full,” she said. “We rent racquets.”
Chet nodded. “Maybe I’ll do that.” But he didn’t want to. He put a smile on his face anyway, and watched Olympia slide out of the booth and head toward the door that led back into the kitchens.
He stayed at the table, though his food was long gone. Eli hated talking on the phone if he didn’t have to, so Chet texted his brother. Just a quick, Hey, how are you?
He did the same to Lynn, and his phone rang with his sister’s name appearing on the screen a moment later. “Chet,” she said, her Southern drawl twice as pronounced as his. “Where are you?”
“Carter’s Cove,” he said with a sigh. The fact that she was asking meant she knew he wasn’t in Atlanta anymore.
“What are you doing there?”
“Working at an inn,” he said, glad he could say that instead of saying he was doing nothing. Sure, he liked a museum as much as the next person, but after four days of playing tourist, he was done. Ready to go home.
But his home was a penthouse in an inn.
“Charles heard about what happened at The Grand America.”
“I’m sure he did.” Her husband had connections Chet couldn’t even fathom.
“I told him it wasn’t true.”
“It’s not.” After all, if he’d laundered hundreds of thousands of dollars through a bank in the Grand Caymans, he’d be there and not in South Carolina.
“Charles had someone look into it. We’re just so glad to hear from you.”
Chet smiled, though it annoyed him when Lynn spoke in plurals. “I’m doing fine,” he said. “Mother gave me some money to tide me over. I’m thinking I’ll stay here on the island. It’s nice here.”
“That’s nice,” Lynn said. “I have some news I wanted to share with you, but I wasn’t sure if you were ready for me to reach out to you.”
“Lynn, you’re my sister,” he said. “You can call me anytime.” He thought of the easy way Olympia had hugged and spoken to her sisters last night. That was the complete opposite of his relationship with his. He’d give her a kiss on each cheek, holding onto her shoulders as he did. Then he’d ask her how her husband was and what charity groups she was involved in.
“We’re having baby,” she said, pure delight in her voice. “I’m due in November.”
“That’s fantastic,” he said, a slip of surprise moving through him. He honestly didn’t think Lynn even liked Charles most of the time. She liked what he brought to the table, how he paid for everything, and all the rich lunches she got to attend. She’d probably have someone else raise the baby, just like his mother had employed servants and nannies for him and his siblings.
“I want to have a party with everyone at the plantation,” she said. “Will you come?”
“When is it?” he asked, knowing it would be next week and he wouldn’t have a conflict.
“I’m planning for October,” she said.
Three months. Chet didn’t even know where he’d be living, but he said, “I should be able to make it. Just let me know all the details.”
“I will.”
He told his sister he loved her, and he hung up, his eyes moving to the bright sunlight outside, the blue sky, the gently waving branches on the trees. He did not want to attend a party at the Chadwick family plantation. Certainly not one that took three months to plan.
But if he and Olympia were still together, it might be the perfect opportunity for her to meet his mother and grandmother….
And at the moment, he couldn’t think of a single reason why he and Olympia wouldn’t still be together in three months. This time he had no heart palpitations about having another woman in his life.
It just felt…right.
Chapter Eleven
Olympia had just poured her balsamic vinaigrette over her greens when her office door opened. If Chet had brought her another heavy lunch, Olympia wasn’t sure what she would do.
But it was Sheryl.
“Oh, hey,” she said, mixing in her pine nuts, goat cheese, and cherry tomatoes. “What’s up?”
“I wanted to talk to you for a minute.” Sheryl sighed as she sat in the chair across from Olympia.
“How was the bonfire last night?” Olympia asked, putting a big bite of salad in her mouth afterward. She watched Sheryl, who wore a worried look on her face.
“It was fun.”
Olympia swallowed and pierced her sister with her knowing, older-sister look. “I saw you holding Gage’s hand.”
“Yeah, well.” Sheryl shrugged, a flush crawling up her neck. “He thinks it’ll keep Ricky further away, but it doesn’t seem to be working.”
“No? I think it’s working with something, Sher.” She lifted her eyebrows, a wicked grin forming on her face.
“He’s my bodyguard, not my boyfriend.”
“Yeah, maybe you should practice saying that with more conviction,” Olympia teased. “And maybe tell him, so he stops holding your hand in public.” She took another bite of her salad as Sheryl started laughing.
“He’s kind of…overbearing,” she said.
Olympia set her salad aside for now. “But you still like him.” She wasn’t asking.
“Maybe,” Sheryl said. “I don’t know.”
“Where’d you find him?”
“He came highly recommended,” Sheryl said. “He’s worked private security for events on the island for a couple of years. I called him, and he was available in the evenings.”
“I bet he was. Did you send him your picture before he accepted the job.”
Sheryl rolled her eyes. “No, I did not.”
“Did you get his picture? Because I bet you think he’s gorgeous.” She knew Sheryl like she knew herself, and her sister lifted one shoulder.
“Maybe.”
“Oh, but he’s your bodyguard,” Olympia teased. “And he’s kind of annoying.” Wow, he sounded a lot like Chet. Gorgeous. A little irritating. But gorgeous, and kind, and the man could make her feel like a queen with a simple look and the way he reached for her hand.
“He’s been taking me home for a couple of nights,” Sheryl said. “I barely know him.”
“Does he stay over?”
“No,” Sheryl said. “Ricky’s sort of backed off.”
“Tell me about this Ricky. We employed him?”
“For a few weeks,” Sheryl said. “His name is Ricky—Rick—Richard Van Nuy. He said he was working on a water main for the Oscarson’s. That was why he was parked outside my cottage.”
Olympia frowned and picked a nut off her salad. “But they live quite a bit down the road.”
“I know. He said the water line was right on the edge of our property.”
“And is it?”
“I don’t know. I didn’t see it, and Gage said Ricky didn’t know what he was doing.” Sheryl sat back in her chair. “Anyway, I just came to update you on that. And to ask you about Chet. Did you figure out what you are?”
Olympia lost herself inside the memory of that kiss last night. Oh, that kiss.
“Not really,” she said, but Sheryl started laughing.
“I can see it in your face, sis,” she said. “You kissed him.”
“Maybe.”
“Good for you. It’s been way too long since you’ve been out with someone.”
“And you get to kiss him good-night,” Sheryl said. “Sounds like a sweet set-up.”
“Yeah.” Olympia pulled her lunch back in front of her and glanced at her laptop. She’d been planning to go through her inbox and organize her emails, get caught up, and then figure out how she could be done with work by five so she could spend the evening with Chet.
“Okay, well, I’m going to go home,” she said. “Gage should be here any minute. He works the ferry in the morning.”
“Oh, wow. Those start running at six.”
“Yeah, he’s ex-military. Says he doesn’t need as much sleep as normal humans.” Sheryl laughed, and Olympia smiled at her sister.
She got up and gave her a hug. “If you like him, honey, he could be your bodyguard and your boyfriend.”
“Jury’s still out,” she said, her phone chiming. As she checked it, her eyes hardened. “See? Look at this text. What am I supposed to get from that?”
Gage had said, Are you ready? I’ve been here for five minutes and don’t see you. Want to go to lunch?
“Is he annoyed with me?” she asked. “Because I’m not standing on the curb the moment he pulls up? Like, I don’t need that in my life.”
Sheryl was bright but soft-spoken, and she sometimes connected more to plants than people. She liked a strong man, sure, but she didn’t want to be bossed around. Olympia knew the feeling, and she’d seen Sheryl go out with more jerks than she deserved.
“I think he’s asking you to lunch?” Olympia handed the phone back. “Maybe he’s just saying he’s here, and he’s been watching for you, and he wants to take you to lunch.”
“Maybe.” Sheryl headed for the door. “I’ll text you later.” She opened the door and said, “Oh, Gage. I’m coming.”
He looked over her shoulder and into the office, and Olympia raised her hand in a wave. “Just me,” she said.
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