Escape With Me: A Midlife Love Story (Love With Me Book 1)

by Krista Lakes

  He sighed and swung his feet onto the floor. Usually, the sound of the ocean waves outside soothed him. Today, it sounded noisy. He considered going back to bed, but he knew it wouldn't solve anything.

  He looked at the map of the Caribbean hanging on his bedroom wall. There were still dozens of islands for him to explore. He was a good bartender. Life could go on. But, he found it difficult to pick the next island.

  The truth was, he didn't want the next island. He wanted Cassie.

  He wanted her more than he'd wanted anything in his entire life.

  He wanted her enough to go get her.

  He wanted her enough to be a billionaire again.

  He picked up his phone and called his assistant in New York. He needed to book a hotel room at the StarTree hotel in Phoenix, Arizona.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Cassie

  The first day back at work felt surreal. Home didn't feel like home anymore after her trip to the Caribbean. The sky was the wrong color, the air too dry, and the heat different. Despite living the majority of her life in the desert, she now felt out of place without the sound of the ocean.

  Or maybe, it was that she felt out of place without Wyatt.

  She shook her head, trying to remove the thought as she looked over the previous week's sales reports. The hotel had survived her trip. There was a lot of things that she had to make up for, but there wasn't anything out of the ordinary.

  Cassie walked out to the main lobby and looked around at her hotel. It was clean and spacious. She tugged on her suit jacket and felt a little bit of pride. She'd worked hard to become the manager. There were a lot of things she wished she could change policy on, but overall she was happy to do the work here.

  She heard her email ping on her phone. The message said that a StarTree executive would be coming by for a surprise inspection today. Lenny Patton, a StarTree regional executive, would be arriving this afternoon to look over the hotel and make sure it was up to corporate standards.

  Cassie frowned but wasn't worried. Even with her recent absence, she knew the hotel could pass any inspection. She tucked her phone back into her pocket, mentally making lists of things that needed to be checked before Lenny arrived. The timing could have been better, but she could handle it. She just needed to get some lunch first.

  The front doors opened, and Cassie couldn't help but grin.

  Brianna walked in with a brown bag full of fast food. She still had on her traveling clothes, but Cassie knew the hotel was on the way to Brianna's apartment from the airport.

  “Lunch?” Brianna asked, holding up the bag as she crossed the lobby.

  “Yes, please,” Cassie told her. “We can eat in my office.”

  Cassie led the way to her office in the back. She cleared off a stack of paperwork and files from her desk, trying her best to keep the stacks somewhat organized. Brianna set the bag down and then flopped into her chair.

  “How was your flight this morning?” Cassie asked, settling more delicately into her own chair.

  Brianna shrugged. “Totally normal,” she replied. “I'll be glad to be back in my own bed, though. Janessa snores.”

  “You didn't sleep with Janessa last night,” Cassie replied, opening up the paper bag. The scent of greasy cheeseburgers and fries hit her nose, and she smiled. Brianna always got the good stuff.

  “Julia snores even louder,” Brianna informed her. She held out a hand for a cheeseburger from the bag. Cassie handed her one and took one for herself. She wasn't on a bridesmaid dress diet anymore.

  “Sorry to hear that,” Cassie replied. “It's probably the pillows. They had the super fluffy ones, but they aren't good for neck support. They really should put firmer pillows in for their guests.”

  Brianna chewed on her burger but raised a single eyebrow at Cassie. “Thanks, Ms. Hotel.”

  Cassie ignored her and bit into her cheeseburger. The greasy goodness combined with the sweetness of the bread and the sour of the pickles perfectly. She let out a happy little moan.

  “How was your flight?” Brianna asked. “I thought you had today off since you were supposed to be on my flight.”

  Cassie shrugged. “The flight was fine. I couldn't sleep this morning, so I came in to work on things.”

  Brianna nodded, chewing carefully.

  “What?” Cassie asked.

  “You doing okay? I mean, with Wyatt and everything?”

  Cassie carefully set her burger down on the wax paper. “I'm fine.”

  “He came by after you left. He even brought flowers.”

  Cassie stared at her food. Her heart ached for Wyatt. She'd cried nearly the entire trip home, which she hated. She never cried. She actually came into work this morning just to have something to distract her. She didn't want to be alone in her apartment with thoughts of Wyatt and the life she could have had.

  Better to stick to the life she knew. The life she liked.

  “Well, it wouldn't have worked out anyway,” Cassie said, picking up her food again. “He was a bartender on a tropical island. What about kids? What about a house?” She shook her head. “There was no future there.”

  “You're right.” Brianna nodded. A wistful smile crossed her face. “He was hot, though.”

  Cassie grinned. “He sure was. And sweet. And smart. And...” The smile faded. “And totally not what I need in my life right now. I did the right thing coming back early.”

  “Are you trying to convince you or me of that?” Brianna asked.

  “Neither. We both know it was the right thing to do.”

  Brianna crumpled up the wrapper from her burger and leaned back in her chair. She glanced around the office, looking at the stacks of paper and piled up extra uniforms.

  “You going to be okay?” Brianna asked after a moment.

  Cassie took a breath. “Yeah. I'll be fine. Just have to get used to being back in real life again.”

  “I get that. I needed that vacation. The ocean was good for my soul,” Brianna told her. She checked her watch and stood up. “Well, I have to get home. Ian will be home in a few hours and I want a shower before he gets there.”

  “Say hi to him for me,” Cassie told her. She knew Brianna was ready to see her son. “And thank you for lunch. This is way better than the PB&J sandwich I had planned.”

  “PB&J?” Brianna frowned. “Seriously? I didn't know you were taking culinary tips from Ian.”

  “I don't have any groceries yet.” Cassie shrugged as she stood up to walk Brianna out to the lobby.

  Brianna gave Cassie a hug and a wave before leaving Cassie back at the front desk. Cassie glanced around. Nothing had changed in the past twenty minutes. Nothing ever seemed to change here. The hotel was constant.

  Corporate Rule Twelve: All StarTree hotels shall have the same consistency. Guests should feel as though they are always staying in the same place, every time, at every location.

  Cassie sighed, feeling the lack of sleep from the night before starting to catch up with her. She was seriously considering leaving a little early. No one would mind since she'd come in on her day off anyway.

  “Cassie, there you are. I've been looking all over for you,” Lenny Patton said, crossing the lobby and coming to her side. He fussed with his suit jacket, barely stretching it over his ample belly.

  Cassie kept the snide reply in check. She'd literally been in her office. He hadn't looked at all. She kept quiet, though as she wanted to stay on her boss's good side.

  “It's good to see you, Lenny.” Cassie held out her hand for a handshake.

  “Do you have the penthouse suite made up?” Lenny asked, ignoring her hand.

  “Of course. Housekeeping did a double check on it the morning after Mr. Gustav left,” Cassie explained. “Everything is at corporate standards.”

  Lenny swallowed hard. “It needs to be better than corporate standards,” he informed her. “I don't know how you did it, but you have a huge guest arriving. He should be here any minute.”

  C
assie frowned, shaking her head. “A huge guest? What are you talking about?”

  Lenny patted nervously at his gray comb-over, making sure it was in place. “Landers. Landers is staying with you. Did you not read the email?”

  “What email?” Cassie asked, frustration rising. If an important guest was arriving, she needed to know about it. “I haven't gotten any notifications.”

  “You probably just missed it while you were gallivanting around the beach,” Lenny scolded her. “You have Wyatt Landers coming to stay at your hotel.”

  Wyatt... it couldn't possibly be him, though. He was a beach bum bartender, not a penthouse suite who made hotel executives nervous. Wyatt was a common enough name.

  “Who is Wyatt Landers?” Cassie asked, straightening up the pens on the check-in desk. “And why is he so important?”

  “You seriously don't know?” Lenny scoffed. He shook his head and rolled his eyes. “The Landers family owns the 'Lands INC,' you know, the biggest home goods store in the world. Wyatt Landers is the current owner. He's a multi-billionaire.”

  “Wow. A real-life billionaire is staying here?” Cassie's brain started doubling up on the needed lists.

  “Oh, not just any billionaire.” Lenny shook his head. “Wyatt hasn't been seen in years. He just up and vanished one day. Said he didn't want to run the business anymore. He kept his money but left the company to board of directors. How have you not heard about this?”

  “I don't read gossip columns?” Cassie suggested.

  Lenny's mouth pursed. “Anyway, he's the prodigal son returned. And we're hosting him.”

  “Why is a billionaire staying here?” Cassie asked. “I mean, I know it's a nice hotel, but it's not billionaire nice. The majority of our guests are business travelers or conference attendees. Not billionaires. He should be staying at the Ritz or something.”

  “Don't look a gift horse in the mouth,” Lenny advised her. “Maybe his fortunes have fallen. Maybe he wants to try and stay under the radar.”

  “It's still weird,” Cassie told him, crossing her arms.

  Lenny was about to say something when his eyes went to the door. He swallowed hard and went just a little more pasty than usual.

  “Here he comes,” Lenny said, straightening up and tugging on his tight jacket.

  Cassie followed his gaze to see two big black SUVs parked outside. She smoothed her skirt and put on a pleasant smile. This wasn't exactly what she'd expected when she came to work today. It was a good thing she'd left the island early. What if she'd not been at work today?

  The SUV doors opened, and Cassie's heart faltered and then failed.

  Wyatt Landers walked into her hotel with a security team.

  Only, it was her Wyatt. From the island.

  Apparently, he was a lot more than just a bartender.

  Chapter Twenty

  Cassie

  Cassie stared in absolute shock at the handsome billionaire standing in front of her.

  It was Wyatt. Her Wyatt, only in a suit that cost more than her car and with two bodyguards that probably competed in WWE wrestling competitions.

  He smiled as he came in, his body language calm and collected. He looked at absolute ease walking into her hotel. He wore a dark suit that highlighted the soft golds in his slicked-back hair and made the green of his eyes stand out.

  Cassie, on the other hand, felt like having a panic attack. Not only was the man she'd fallen in love with at her hotel, but he was also a freaking billionaire. Half of her wanted to run into his arms and kiss him, and the other half wanted to run screaming out to the parking lot.

  She did neither as her boss was standing beside her. That, and she wasn't sure she was going to be able to make her legs work. They seemed rooted to the floor in shock. Her mouth hung open, but no words seemed to be coming out.

  “Mr. Patton. Ms. Turner,” Wyatt greeted them. His smile was warm for Cassie, and his eyes sparkled.

  She wanted to smack him. He was enjoying this.

  “Mr. Landers, we'd like to thank you for choosing Phoenix StarTree as your hotel,” Lenny said, stepping forward. “We have your room ready for you.”

  “If you'll lead the way, Ms. Turner,” Wyatt said, motioning toward the elevator.

  “Ms. Turner can stay here.” Lenny let out a nervous laugh, purposefully stepping in front of Cassie.

  “No. I'd like her to show me the room. That's not a problem, is it Mr. Patton?” Wyatt's smile was cold and calculated as he looked at Lenny.

  “No, no, of course not,” Lenny stammered. “Cassie, if you will.”

  Cassie gave herself a small shake. “Right. Follow me, please.”

  She tried to walk confidently to the elevator, but her knees were shaking. She was having a hard time breathing, and her palms were drenched with sweat. She missed the elevator button on the first attempt but managed to hit it on the second.

  “We have a pool and gym on the third floor. There is a free continental breakfast from six to ten in the lobby. Checkout is noon,” she said, using her usual script to give her something to say. The words were a habit ingrained her after years of practice, yet she still stumbled over them as she tried and failed not to stare at Wyatt. She knew he didn't care about the continental breakfast, but she wasn't sure what else to say.

  “Thank you, Ms. Turner,” Wyatt said. He leaned against the back of the elevator, looking cool as a cucumber as the doors shut and the elevator brought them to the top floor. “I'll be sure to check the pool out.”

  Cassie stumbled out of the elevator with Lenny right behind her. Wyatt and his two massive bodyguards followed.

  “You have our penthouse suite,” Cassie said, fumbling with the key card. She nearly dropped it but managed to get it into the door without looking like a complete idiot. She pushed open the heavy hotel room door and motioned inside. “If there's anything we can do to make your stay more comfortable, please let us know.”

  “Oh, I will.” Wyatt smiled at her, his green eyes sparkling.

  She had so many questions. They all bounced around in her chest, fighting to come out yet staying trapped. She didn't want to ask them with Lenny standing right there.

  “Thank you for choosing the StarTree line, Mr. Landers,” Lenny said, giving Cassie a slight glare. It was the last line of the corporate script when renting out the penthouse suite. Cassie had forgotten to say it.

  “Yes, thank you, Mr. Landers,” Cassie quickly added. It felt strange to call him that after shouting out his name in bed just days earlier.

  “Ms. Turner, let's leave Mr. Landers to settle into his room.” Lenny took Cassie's arm and practically dragged her into the hallway. They both waited until the firm click of the hotel door was heard.

  “I can't believe he's here,” Cassie whispered.

  “I can't believe you almost screwed that up,” Lenny hissed. “You didn't tell him about the laundry service or the rewards program.”

  Cassie blinked twice.

  “It's fine,” Lenny assured her. “I'm not angry about it.”

  “Okay.” Cassie wasn't sure what to do now. Usually, she'd just go back down to her office and finish up paperwork, but it was Wyatt. She wanted Lenny to leave so that she could talk to him in private.

  Instead, Lenny took her arm and guided her to the elevator. “I can't tell you how big this is for StarTree,” he said, jamming his finger against the button. “Don't screw this up. Corporate is very impressed that he chose your hotel, but don't let it go to your head. Just keep doing what you're supposed to. Don't improvise.”

  Cassie crossed her arms and bit her tongue. Don't improvise? She had a freaking billionaire with bodyguards staying at her hotel. There was no corporate policy for this. There was no script or manual for how to do this. No Corporate Rule number worked here.

  Especially when the billionaire was here to seduce the general manager of the hotel.

  The elevator chimed, and they both got out. Lenny made a big show of smiling at the various employees befo
re talking loudly about his expensive dinner reservations. Cassie left him and went to her office, her brain and heart scrambled.

  “What is he doing here?” she asked to the empty room, collapsing into her chair. She leaned the back of her head on the backrest of the chair, staring at the ceiling. “And what am I going to do about it?”

  She had no idea. She wasn't even sure who he was anymore. She lifted her head and typed his name into her computer. Dozens of pictures and articles came up. She scanned them all, trying to get a grip on the situation.

  He had taken over his father's company at a young age. Every article said that he was a hard worker and had helped make the company into the billion-dollar corporation that it was. Then suddenly, not long after the death of his father, he vanished. He went from being at all the fancy rich-people events to dropping off the face of the earth.

  Of course, the media loved him for this. There were hundreds of articles and people that thought they'd seen him in Paris or Amsterdam. No one mentioned the handsome bartender in the Caribbean. Everyone was sure he was living it up in Ibiza or London, spending ridiculous amounts of money, not slinging drinks to tourists.

  Already, news of his arrival was spreading. In just the past hour there were three new reports on the appearance of Wyatt back in the States. Speculation as to where he'd been and why he was back was rampant. So far, no one had connected him to the StarTree hotel, or to her.

  It was days like these she wished she had whiskey in her desk drawer. But that was against corporate policy number twenty-two.

  Her phone buzzed, and she picked it up. “This is Cassie Turner.”

  “Cassie, the guest in the penthouse wants to speak with you. Personally. In the penthouse.” The front desk girl's voice quivered slightly. “Do you want me to call Mr. Patton?”

  “No, don't call Lenny,” Cassie quickly said. “I'll be right up. Thank you.”

  She hung up the phone and felt her heart skip a beat. What was she going to say to him? What was he going to say to her?

  She didn't have any good answers. This was too far out of the norm. For once, she wished there was a corporate slogan or script to follow, but she was on her own.