by Krista Lakes
He found that they really could just talk for hours, or that they could simply sit in comfortable silence. Just being near her felt right, like a missing part of him had been found. She completed him just by being near.
However, he knew he couldn't stay here indefinitely. City life wore at him. He chafed at the constant leash of security. The sounds of the city outside grated on him and he found himself missing the serenity of the beach more and more.
If he could have gone outside like an average person, he might have felt differently. But, his face was on every phone screen. The appeal of a long-lost billionaire bachelor with a possible love interest that was an ordinary woman from their town had Phoenix in a frenzy. Everyone wanted a piece of them.
After two horrible failures to go eat out, they stayed in their apartment and just sent Maria out for food. Despite the circumstances, Wyatt found that the three days they were stuck in his apartment, trapped by the paparazzi, were three of the best days of his life.
He loved her. He was sure of it now. You couldn't spend three days alone with someone and not know how you felt about them. Even though it was fast, he knew he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her.
He didn't mean to propose anytime soon. They could take the actual steps slowly and comfortably, but he knew the outcome. He could feel it in his bones that this was the woman he was supposed to spend the rest of his life with. She was someone who could be his friend, his partner, his confidant, and lover.
Tonight was the charity ball. He'd already arranged for her to have an amazing day of pampering, hair and makeup, and a dress that would make Cinderella jealous. He planned to ask her to move back with him to the islands after the ball.
She knew who he was now. She knew he could provide for her. That they could live a life of luxury and spend every day like they'd spent the last three. He knew she'd be leaving behind her life here, but he hoped she would take the chance to be with him, just as he'd taken the chance to be with her.
He sat at the breakfast table, sipping his coffee and going over his plans. The ball would be elegant. It would be romantic. They could then slip away on a private jet and disappear back into obscurity in the safety of a small island.
“Good morning,” Cassie greeted him, coming out of the bedroom.
Her dark hair hung loosely around her shoulders, and the thin white men's t-shirt did nothing to hide her curves. She stretched, and the shirt rode up, exposing the bottom hints of pale pink lacy underwear. Wyatt's upper brain stopped functioning as blood rushed south.
Cassie didn't seem to notice the effect she had on him. She walked into the kitchen and poured a cup of coffee, joining him at the small table.
“The ball's tonight. I'm really looking forward to it,” she said, taking a sip of coffee. With her bottom half hidden beneath the table, Wyatt could almost control himself. Mostly.
He smiled and nodded, not quite able to form coherent sentences yet.
Cassie frowned as her phone rang from the living room. She'd turned it to do not disturb mode, so at least now the only calls that came through were from select friends or her work. She stood up from the table and walked to the living room, and once again, all of Wyatt's blood rushed south at the sight of her barely covered ass.
“Oh, it's Janessa.” Cassie grinned and hit the answer button. “Hey, Janessa. What's up?”
She frowned, looking down at the phone.
“Huh. Must be a bad connection. She hung up.” Cassie shrugged, and came back to the table, setting the phone down so she could sip her coffee. “If it's important, she'll call back.”
“I actually have a surprise for you,” Wyatt announced, forcing some of the blood to come back up to his thinking brain. It helped that she was sitting again.
“Yeah?” She grinned at him, her face lighting up. “What?”
“I have a spa day arranged for you. And a dress for tonight.” He held his breath, waiting to see her reaction.
“You didn't have to do that.” She looked surprised but pleased.
“It's your first ball. I thought you should have a Cinderella experience.”
She grinned. “Does that mean you'll be my Prince Charming? And dance with me all night long?”
“You and only you,” he promised. “And I got the upgraded package where you don't turn into a pumpkin at midnight. You get to stay Cinderella as long as you want.”
She leaned across the small table and kissed his cheek. “Thank you. I wasn't sure what I should wear tonight, and this makes it a lot more fun.”
“Good. Tonight is about fun. For both of us,” he replied. If she had fun, then he hoped she would be more likely to say yes to coming back to the island with him.
“Do you want some breakfast?” she asked, standing up. “I'll make scrambled eggs.”
“Eggs sound delicious,” he replied, trying not to stare at the hem of her shirt as she walked past him. She saw him looking and wiggled her hips once she was past, subtly arching her back, so the shirt rode up. She knew precisely the effect she was having on him.
Cassie turned on the stove and began cracking eggs into the pan. Wyatt could get used to this. A half-naked woman making him breakfast was a beautiful thing.
Cassie's phone began to ring on the table.
“Will you get that for me?” Cassie asked. “I've got egg all over my hands.”
Wyatt hit the green answer button. “Cassie's phone. She's currently unavailable. May I take a message?”
Cassie giggled from the kitchen.
“Hi, Wyatt. I knew there was something special about you. I was right about you all along.”
The voice on the other end was not Janessa.
“Lorna?” Wyatt nearly dropped the phone. He checked the caller ID to see Janessa's name.
“You remember my name,” she cooed. “I knew you liked me.”
“What do you want?” Wyatt put the phone on speaker. Cassie came over from the kitchen, hands on hips.
“You, silly,” Lorna replied with a giggle. “I'm such a better match for you. If you want, you can come to the country club. I've heard you've been trapped in your apartment all week. The country club is made for people like us. No one will hassle you there.”
“He's not coming, Lorna,” Cassie growled. “Back off. He's mine!”
The line immediately went dead. Lorna ended the call.
“Seriously?” Cassie vibrated with anger next to him. “The nerve of that... that bitch!”
Wyatt hadn't heard Cassie use any rough language the entire time he'd known her. Her use of the word bitch was more intense than if she'd dropped a hundred f-bombs.
“Did you mean it?” he asked softly, staring at the phone. She'd said he was hers.
“What? That's she's a bitch? Hell yes.” Cassie practically panted with anger.
“No, that I'm yours.”
Her body went still, and she turned slowly to face him. “I guess I did,” she said after a moment. She shrugged and offered a smile. “I guess three days of awesome sex will do that to a girl.”
Wyatt's heart soared. His confidence for the evening grew higher. He was sure she would say yes now. He was sure they could make this work. They could go back to the island and things could go back to normal.
Cassie went back to the kitchen, stirring the eggs with a spatula and muttering angrily under her breath about Lorna's nerve. She no longer paid any attention to the hem of her shirt, and it kept riding up with her every motion.
It was all Wyatt could do to stay in his seat and not carry her off to the bedroom. He wanted her but knew he needed to wait until she was out of the kitchen. She took her egg cooking very seriously.
“I never asked, but I'm curious,” Cassie said after a moment. She glanced over at him, her face no longer angry. “What happened to your old job? The bartending one? Did you just quit? I'm kind of imagining you telling your boss who you were and doing a mike-drop.”
He chuckled at the image of him dropping the microphone aft
er telling James off. It definitely would have been satisfying.
“I actually was fired.”
Her eyes went big. “What? Why? You were great!”
He shrugged. “An anonymous guest reported that I was at the wedding,” he explained. “It was against policy to date guests.”
Cassie paused mid-push of her eggs. “You didn't tell me that. You didn't tell me you risked your job to be my date. I mean, I thought it might, but you never said anything. I thought you were okay to come to the wedding.”
He shrugged. “It's not like I needed the job.”
“But you liked it.” She smiled softly. She left her eggs and came over to kiss his cheek. “You must really like me or something.”
“Or something,” he agreed.
“Wait, anonymous guest?” Cassie scoffed and rolled her eyes. “F-ing Lorna.”
“You know you can use real curse words,” Wyatt offered. She stuck her tongue out at him.
“Corporate says no foul language,” she replied.
“Corporate's not here,” he reminded her.
“It had to have been her,” Cassie said, ignoring his point. “She would have been the only woman in that entire wedding that would have ratted you out. Everyone else thought you were wonderful.”
“Aunt Suzette did say she liked me,” Wyatt agreed. “Your eggs are burning, by the way.”
“F-ing Lorna,” Cassie repeated, making Wyatt laugh as she rushed back to the kitchen to rescue the scrambled eggs.
“Does she do this often? Lorna, I mean, not the eggs,” Wyatt asked, twisting in his seat to watch Cassie in the kitchen.
“All the time,” Cassie confirmed. “It's basically how she found husband number two. It only lasted a couple of years before he realized what he'd gotten into with her. The eggs are fine, by the way.”
Cassie pushed the eggs out onto two plates and returned to the kitchen table. Cassie made the best scrambled eggs. Her eggs were one of the reasons that he hoped she'd come with him to the island.
“I don't want to talk about Lorna,” Cassie said, sitting down in her chair. “I can't believe she called like that.”
Wyatt shrugged. “I get it a lot.”
“Seriously?” Cassie paused with a fork-full of eggs halfway to her mouth.
“I'm a billionaire. Women look at me and see all their dreams coming true,” he told her.
Cassie set her eggs back down. “I don't see you that way.”
“You mean you don't want me to make your dreams come true?” he teased, liking the way she blushed.
“No, I mean... I like you,” she explained. “I like the way you think about things. You see things differently than I do, and I like the way you see the world. I mean, the money's nice, and I am completely in love with Maria, but that's not why I'm here. I like you. Just Wyatt. Not necessarily billionaire Wyatt.”
Cassie flushed a little and went back to eating her eggs.
Wyatt's chest felt like he was filled with helium. He could have floated to the ceiling he was so happy. His request tonight was looking better and better.
Cassie's phone began to ring again. She looked at it with narrowed, suspicious eyes.
“Oh, it's work.” She picked it up with a smile. “This is Cassie.”
Her smile started to fade. She said several "yes, sir"s and a couple of "I understand"s as well as some "of course"s. With every phrase, her expression fell a little and her voice became softer. Finally, she said goodbye and hung up.
“What's wrong?” Wyatt asked, reaching out to take her hand.
She blinked back tears that she pretended weren't there. “Work. They don't want me back.”
“What do you mean? They fired you?” Anger flared up in Wyatt's chest on her behalf.
“No, not fired. Just administrative leave. Indefinitely.” She shrugged and looked down at her eggs without touching them.
“Oh, Cassie. I'm so sorry,” Wyatt said softly. Guilt tugged at him.
“Apparently the hotel is still swarmed with press and guests that want to have a chance meeting the billionaire,” she explained. “They had to hire someone to deal with all the phone calls.”
Wyatt's guilt doubled. He had come in like a wrecking ball to try and be with her. Her job was her life. She loved working at the hotel. And he'd taken it from her.
“At least I'm still getting paid,” she said, trying to smile. “And it means I can spend more time with you.”
“I'm so sorry, Cassie.” Wyatt wracked his brain, trying to think of a way he could fix this. The best solution he had was for her to come with him back into the island's obscurity. Was now the right time to ask? Would she say yes with this phone call heavy on her mind?
“It'll be fine,” Cassie said, picking up her fork and taking a bite of eggs. “I'm sure this will all blow over soon. Besides, it's a great vacation for me. They didn't fire me, so I still have my job. It's actually a good thing.”
She looked up at him and smiled. He couldn't decide if she was faking her smile or if she actually meant it. He decided to wait to ask her. Stick with the plan and ask her tonight at the ball.
The plan was the way to go. Cassie liked plans. Plans worked.
Still, he could barely wait for the ball tonight to follow through on the plan.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Cassie
“Have fun,” Wyatt said as the SUV came to a halt. “I'll see you at the ball.”
Cassie nodded, kissed him on the cheek, and got out of the car.
In front of her was the most expensive salon in the state. She'd heard amazing things about the services, but she'd never even tried to book anything. She couldn't seem to justify spending that much money on just a haircut. Since her hair was usually pulled back for work, it never seemed to matter who cut it.
She swallowed hard and stepped inside. Tranquility washed over her like water, just by stepping through the door. The soft sound of water, the smell of clean linens, and welcoming, comfortable-looking furniture all greeted her.
“Ms. Turner?” the woman at the front desk asked. She smiled when Cassie nodded. “We're so glad you're here. If you follow me, I'll take you to your private room."
Cassie had never heard of a private room for a haircut before, but she happily followed the woman into a beautiful room with hardwood floors. A single comfortable looking chair sat in the center of the room. The sound of water and the soft scent from the lobby still filled the air.
“You must be Ms. Turner,” a man said, coming to greet her. He was slender and moved with elegance. His posture was amazing. “I'm Cesar.”
“It's nice to meet you,” Cassie replied. She held out her hand, and Cesar gave her a gentle handshake.
“Please come and sit,” he told her, motioning to the comfortable chair.
And thus began the best haircut of Cassie's life.
If someone had told her that it was possible to feel this pampered and relaxed from a haircut, she never would have believed them. The price suddenly made much more sense. Cesar washed her hair, giving her a luxurious scalp massage. She had cucumbers over her eyes and paraffin wax on her hands as he worked her hair into a lather.
She could feel her shoulders coming down from by her ears as Cesar worked out tension she didn't even know she had.
Then came the haircut itself. Cesar worked quickly and efficiently, cutting her hair and then styling it up. He worked with curls and braids, twists and pins, all the while keeping Cassie comfortable with easy conversation.
When he was done, she looked like something out of a magazine.
Her long hair swept up to a sparkling pin that dazzled against a dark braid. Curls cascaded down her back. Cassie couldn’t ever get curls like this, but Cesar had made them look effortless. She looked ready for a photo shoot.
And that was just the hair. Cesar left, and a woman named Katrina came in. Katrina transformed Cassie's face into something smooth and feminine without looking like she wore any makeup at all. Katrina used th
e same effortless grace as Cesar to create something stunning.
When they were done, Cassie stared at the woman looking back at her in the mirror. She was stunning. Gorgeous.
She looked worthy of dating a billionaire. She looked worthy of a magazine spread, and she was still wearing just jeans and a t-shirt.
Cesar came back in when Katrina finished.
“Do you like the results?” he asked her, a smile saying he already knew the answer.
“Very much,” Cassie replied. “Now I just need someone to do this for me every day!”
She meant it as a joke, but Cesar looked thoughtful.
“I could probably work you into my schedule,” he mused. “Not the full up-do, but at least the cut. I'm not sure of Katrina's schedule.”
Cassie wasn't sure what to say. The idea of having this kind of lavish treatment every day seemed almost absurd.
“But, there is time for scheduling later,” Cesar said, waving his hand. “We must get you in your dress. Come with me.”
He brought her to a small, intimate room. There were no windows and candlelight flickered from the corners.
“This is usually one of the massage rooms,” Cesar explained. “But, it will work as a changing room for today. Your dress is here.”
Cesar motioned to a hook on the wall at the most beautiful dress Cassie had ever seen.
Stunning dark red lace covered the bust and made thin sleeves. It then cascaded down into a full and sweeping skirt. Just hanging on the wall, the silhouette was beautiful. Cassie hoped it looked as good on her as it did hanging.
Cesar left her to try on the dress. At first, Cassie was almost afraid to touch it. It was akin to art, and she wasn't sure how to put it on. Slowly, she found her courage and slipped the satin and lace skirt over her head. She then realized she should have stepped into it the moment she had to protect her hair.
She managed to get the zipper most of the way up her back, but she couldn't get the last few inches. But, the dress fit. It clung to her curves, and she loved the soft satin sound the skirts made when she walked.