by Jill Sanders
“Did you know that Jerry is gone for a week?” he asked.
“Yes, he’s gone to LA to start the movie project for Crescent Creek.”
He snapped his fingers. “Won that bet,” he joked.
“What bet?”
“Nothing, just a few of us on the ferry ride over were making wagers on which book would be made into a movie first.” He smiled. “I guessed right.”
She smiled. “Is there any question? I mean, all of his books are amazing, but Crescent Creek.” She shook her head. “It gave my goose bumps goose bumps,” she joked. “Have you stopped off in the kitchen yet?”
“No, I will on my way out. Actually, I was going to see if I could enlist someone to help out today, seeing as the big group is leaving soon and we only have a smaller group coming in.”
She nodded. “I think we can spare a few people, if you need more help.”
“No, just one. I was thinking of taking Rob.”
She leaned closer to him. “I think he and Heather are…”
His chuckle stopped her. “Yes, they are.”
Her eyebrows spiked up. “How do you…” She shook her head. “Never mind. I don’t want to know. Go, get what you need, just as long as you stay within this budget.” She handed him a printed piece of paper of the list he’d emailed to her yesterday.
“I’ll try,” he joked, then he walked over and gave her another kiss that had his entire body shaking with desire.
“Go,” she said hoarsely, “before someone walks in.”
“Would it be such a bad thing?” He sighed, then took a step back. “Will I see you for dinner?”
“I’m counting on it.” She smiled as he walked out.
Chapter Seventeen
After Adam left, it took her almost ten minutes to get her mind back in gear. She sat around daydreaming about making love to him on Sarah’s desk. Which did nothing to help her get the stack of orders placed. She shook her head clear and tackled her work.
She was finding the job easier and easier as time went by. Managing the employees was the hardest task, but since she and Adam were now getting along, things were going very smoothly.
By lunchtime, she felt like she’d jinxed herself. An hour before the Robinsons and other guests were scheduled to disembark, she found two of the housemaids actually fighting in the hallway.
The women were pulling each other’s hair and there were red scratch marks down one of their faces, while the other had a fat and bloody lip.
She quickly pulled the two young women into her office and took the next fifteen minutes to listen to them explain that they were sisters and one of them had cheated with the other’s boyfriend.
In the end, Lilith threatened to fire them both if they couldn’t keep their private lives out of the guest quarters. Both women swore they could control themselves, and Lilith gave them a week off without pay to settle their differences.
She walked downstairs to make sure that the Robinsons were happily on their way and almost bumped into Tristen, whose hands came up to her shoulders to steady her.
“Sorry,” she mumbled and took a step backwards, only to be irritated when he moved with her and kept his hands on her.
“I was hoping we’d bump into one another,” he said in a low tone. “I know we’re heading out soon, but I wanted to thank you for everything you did for my family.”
She smiled politely. “I’m just doing my job. I’m happy we could accommodate your family.”
He took a step closer. “I know I asked before, but I was hoping you’d change your mind. If you’re ever in New York…”
Her chin came up. “Thank you, but I’m seeing—”
“Yes, I understand, but that doesn’t mean you can’t come visit for some fun.” He rubbed his hand up her arm.
She quickly stepped back, breaking the contact. “I appreciate the offer, but…”
She heard a high-pitched growl, then felt the wind knocked out of her as she was pushed forward violently.
A body slammed into her, causing her to fall on all fours as her hair was ripped backwards, causing her neck to jerk back.
“You bitch!” she heard Kaleen growl in her hear.
As soon as it happened, the woman was yanked off of her. Lilith glanced around and saw Tristen holding Kaleen back. The woman’s perfectly groomed hair was flying everyone as she spat and kicked at him.
“You bastard. I told you to stay away from that bitch!” she hissed as she scratched at him.
Lilith got up from the ground and assessed the damage. Her slacks were ruined on both knees. She was bleeding slightly from her left knee and felt a pinch in her neck when she tried to turn.
“What the hell?” someone said from down the hallway. “Are you okay, Kaleen? Take your hands off of her.” The woman rushed forward.
“She attacked Lilith,” Tristen supplied. “I’m not letting her go until she calms down.” He held onto the woman tighter.
“Remove your hands now, young man, or I shall call your family into this matter,” the woman snapped at him. At this point, Kaleen had calmed down and was just glaring at her.
Lilith took a step back when Tristen’s arms dropped.
“I want this woman fired,” Kaleen barked out.
“You’re lucky if she doesn’t sue your family and get every dime of your trust fund,” Tristen added, crossing his arms over his chest.
“What’s going on?” Someone else joined the mix. “Oh, you’re bleeding.” Tristen’s mother rushed to her side. “Oh, you poor girl. Did you fall?”
“Kaleen attacked her. We were just talking. I was telling Miss Brown how much I appreciate all she’s done for our family’s stay and psycho here rushed over and attacked her from behind.”
Kaleen turned and glared at Tristen, then moved towards him. His eyebrows shot up. “Go ahead, why don’t you tell your mother what else you’ve been up to.” He nodded towards Lilith.
“I don’t know what you mean.” She glared at him and crossed her own arms.
“Locking Lilith in the attic? I saw you coming out of the attic.” He turned to her. “I swear I didn’t know you were in there, locked in the closet, otherwise I would have helped. But I put two and two together after they found you.”
She nodded, rubbing her hands together to try and relieve the ache.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about?” Kaleen glared at Tristen even more. She turned to her mother. “I was at dinner with you. Remember? I couldn’t have locked her in a closet or anywhere for that matter.” She turned to Lilith and glared.
“I know what I saw,” Tristen said. He nodded to Kaleen. “I saw you leaving that room”—he nodded towards the attic door a few feet away— “after dinner the night Lilith went missing.”
Everyone turned to Kaleen. The woman looked around the group, then growled. “Fine, I went in there to talk to her, to tell her to stay away from you.” She shrugged. “I saw her go into the closet and I shut the door behind her.” She smiled. “No biggie. I mean, she could have left at any time.”
“Someone moved the wardrobe in front of the door,” Lilith said softly.
Everyone turned back to Kaleen, who glanced around, then rolled her eyes. “Okay fine, I might have nudged the thing back.”
Kaleen’s mother turned immediately to Lilith. “I’m so sorry for all the trouble my daughter has caused you.”
Kaleen snorted. “Don’t apologize to that… maid. She’s nothing.” Kaleen’s eyes ran over her. “I mean, just look at her. What are those? Knock off Dolce & Gabbana’s?” She chuckled.
“They were, yes,” Lilith said proudly, then glanced down at the ruined slacks. “One’s that I spent a whole week’s salary on.” She glared at the woman.
Kaleen waved her away. “Mother will cut you a check.” Her mother’s chin dropped slightly. Kaleen turned to walk away, then stopped. “Tristen, are you coming? I’m bored with all this.” She waved around the group.
He laughed and shook his head
. “Not on my life.” He turned to his mother. “I don’t care how much you think it would benefit the family, I won’t pair myself with this”—his eyes moved over Kaleen— “woman. It wouldn’t do anything but harm the Robinson name.”
“I quite agree with you,” his mother added. “Now, I think we should help…” She looked towards her.
“Lilith.” She supplied her name again.
“I think we should help Lilith clean up. Don’t you?” She turned to her son, who nodded. “I wouldn’t be surprised if you hear from Miss Brown’s lawyer,” she added as they walked down the hallway towards Sarah’s office. Lilith looked back and saw Kaleen’s mother grip her by the arm and pull her back into their room.
She walked in and hobbled over to sit behind the desk. “I’m okay. Really.” She pulled out some napkins and dabbed at her leg through her ruined pants.
“Nonsense. I insist we call a doctor here to have him look at you.” Tristen’s mother moved to pick up the phone.
“No, really. I’m fine. I’ll just run to my room and clean myself up and change.” She stood up.
Tristen’s mother put a hand on her arm. “I was wrong about you,” she said softly. Then she sighed. “It appears I was wrong about a lot of things.” She glanced towards the door. “If you want, I know the name of several very thorough lawyers.”
“That won’t be necessary.” She sighed, then turned to Tristen. “Do you know anything about Kaleen writing me notes?”
He’d been leaning against the doorjamb of the office, but stood up straight now. “Notes? What kind of notes?” He frowned.
“Threatening ones.” She shivered remembering the one from this morning.
He shook his head slowly. “No, but I can ask.” Before she could say anything more, he had disappeared down the hallway.
“Someone’s been threatening you?” Mrs. Robinson sat down across from her. “What on earth for?”
She shrugged. “I thought it was because she was jealous that Tristen was showing me attention.”
“Tristen shows a lot of women attention.” His mother waved the comment away.
She shrugged. “So I gather,” she said dryly.
A few minutes later, Tristen came back in. “Unless she’s lying, she had nothing to do with any notes you’ve found.”
Lilith felt her stomach roll. She’d been hoping they had solved everything. Well, except the initial break-in to her room, since that had happened before the Robinson’s had arrived at the resort.
“Thank you,” she said, standing up. “If you’ll excuse me, I’ll just go and clean up now.”
Her knees were started to swell and her wrists and neck were hurting more and more. She planned to swallow several aspirin before heading back to work.
“If you need anything…” Tristen’s mother added. Then she turned to her son. “Come, we still have some packing to do.”
They left the office, and Lilith rested her head back against the chair. Suddenly she was very tired and wished Sarah was around. She would know how to handle this.
After a moment, she got up and made her way slowly towards her room. Sitting on the edge of her tub, she peeled off her ruined clothes and dabbed some peroxide on the cuts. Then she lathered on some Neosporin. It took a few bandages to cover the cuts and she doubted she would be able to bend her knees without most of them falling off. She downed an aspirin and looked at herself in the mirror.
Her hair was a mess, her shirt had blood on it, and she looked like she’d just had a night with no sleep. It took her a few more minutes to freshen up to where she looked halfway decent.
She pulled on another pair of slacks, this time a pair from Sarah’s old clothes, and a crisp white blouse and slipped on flats instead of the heels she’d been wearing earlier. She doubted she could take the double pain of heels with her knees swollen and bruised.
When she walked out, she bumped solidly into Adam.
“Someone said they saw you come up here.” His eyes moved over her, then he was pulling her into the room quickly. “What’s wrong?”
“It’s…” She shook her head, feeling the tears that she’d been holding in break loose. He held her until the crying stopped.
“It was Kaleen. She locked me in the attic” she said between sobs. “She didn’t leave the notes or break in to my room, but she locked me in there and…” She leaned back. “She attacked me.”
She felt Adam tense. “She attacked you? When?”
“About half an hour ago. She pushed me down and…” He took her hands and cursed under his breath when he saw the raw marks.
“Where else?” he said, slowly touching her. When his hand rubbed on the outside of her slacks, she moaned softly.
“Both knees are pretty bad.” He reached to remove her slacks. “No, later. I have to…”
“To hell with work,” he growled and started gently removing her pants.
“Adam.” She took his hands. “I’m okay. I guess I just let it build up.” She closed her eyes. “I’m better now.”
He waited until she moved her hands then slowly pulled her pants down her legs, removing each shoe as he went. When her bruised and skinned knees were exposed, he gasped softly.
“Have you seen a doctor?” he asked, rubbing his fingers gently around the red marks.
“No, I’m fine, really. I used to scrape my legs up worse than this.”
“Why did she do this?” he asked, looking up at her.
“I guess she was jealous and a little crazy,” she added with a chuckle.
“Have you called the police?”
She blinked. “No, of course not.”
“Lilly,” he started but she stopped him.
“Her family, the Bauers, may not be as powerful as the Robinsons but they are pretty damn close. If I did call them and they hauled her into jail, she would be out before they could even fingerprint her.” She shook her head. “There’s no reason.”
“The woman has to pay for what she’s done.”
“From the look in her mother’s eyes as she followed her daughter down the stairs, I guarantee Kaleen will pay.”
***
Adam watched Lilly walk back into the main building and cursed once more under his breath. He’d done everything he could to try and talk her into taking the rest of the day off, but she was too stubborn, something he’d instantly liked about her but now was finding quite annoying.
She’d talked him out of marching into the building and handling the situation with Kaleen’s family himself. His temper was still spiked, so he chose to expend the energy plowing up the land and digging the posts for his new greenhouse.
The materials wouldn’t be delivered until early next week, but he figured he could at least get most of the hard work out of the way now, especially since he had the time and energy.
The sun had come back out full force and he’d even had to remove his shirt as he worked. He watched the Robinson clan depart and glared towards Kaleen. She was being dragged behind what he could only assume were her parents.
The docks sat empty now and he knew that most of the new guests wouldn’t arrive for a few more hours, allowing the resort employees plenty of time to turn over the rooms and clean the place from top to bottom.
When he’d finally worked off most of the anger, he went in and showered off, then went to find Lilly before the dinner break.
He found her up in the attic. The room had turned out better than even he could have imagined. The floors shined with the new polyurethane coat.
“Aren’t you supposed to stay off this for a few days?” he asked from the doorway.
She turned and shook her head, smiling.
“They said twenty-four hours. It’s been close to thirty.” She waved him in. “Isn’t it perfect?” She spun around slowly. He could see that her knees bothered her, so he moved to her side and took her in his arms.
“I’ll wait until tomorrow to move the furniture in.” She smiled. “The bar will go over there.” She nodd
ed towards the wall with the closet on it. “That way the wait staff can bring the food out through the closet.” He felt her shiver. “Then we’ll have tables lined up around the entire room and leave the middle open for dancing.” She sighed. “I can just imagine our first wedding party up here.” She glanced around the room dreamily.
“I think Sarah will be impressed with what you’ve done.”
She turned to him, wrapping her arms around his shoulders. “I hope so. I was watching you work outside.” Her eyes moved down to his chest. “All sweaty with your shirt off.” He watched her tongue slowly move over her bottom lip and felt himself grow hard with desire.
“And?” His eyes were glued to those sexy lips of hers.
“And I can’t believe how much it turned me on to watch you with a shovel.”
He smiled. “Not as much as it’s turning me on knowing you liked it.” His hands slowly made circles across her back as she pressed herself closer to him.
“I was thinking…” She bit her bottom lip and he released a low growl.
“About?” It came out as a whisper.
“Us on a hard wood surface.” She smiled and took his hand, then slowly started walking towards the door.
“Wait,” he stopped her. “What’s wrong with this surface?”
She smiled and shook her head. “I was thinking more like the desk in Sarah’s office.”
He felt his body begin to boil. Taking her hand, they quickly made their way towards the office. He pulled her in and pushed her up against the door, claiming her mouth in a searing kiss that shook him to the soles of his shoes.
His hands pulled and tugged her clothing off and she let out a soft cry as he tried to tug her slacks down her legs. He’d forgotten about her bruises and cuts.
Slowly, he dropped to his knees and gently removed her slacks, then kissed each knee.
“Adam.” She pulled on him until he was pushing against her again. “Don’t slow down,” she muttered then gasped when his fingers found her.
“No,” he growled, “this will be anything but slow.”
He was right—the speed matched that of his desire for her. His fingers were tangled in her hair, holding her mouth to his as he laid claim to her. Her body reacted with each touch, each nip of his teeth on her skin.