The Undercover Resort Billionaire

by Chelsea Hale

  Liam looked at her for a minute. “I suppose they didn’t all have views like this.”

  Callie smiled like she’d won something. “The newer suites are really well done. I’ve helped clean them before and they’re gorgeous.”

  Liam nodded. “I happened to see them the first day I was here, and they were impressive. I guess I just thought that all of the rooms looked like that.”

  “But this place is more than just the ugly wallpaper and the worn-down carpets. It’s a place where a regular family can come.” She pointed down the beach where they could see a glimpse of guest beaches. “Regular families can enjoy this place together, and they do. Not only that, but they come back here, even when it looks like this. They come for the experience. Not everyone can afford a Summers resort, or any big luxury place, but here at The Hideaway, families can enjoy a luxurious view for a fraction of the price. It’s pretty wonderful to see families come together to enjoy their vacation in a way that they wouldn’t if it cost more.”

  Liam’s face turned contemplative. “The Hideaway room … and the magic that it brings to people who return.”

  “Exactly. It’s all dreaming, of course, but I’d imagine that it would be less time and money to just remodel them all. They could use brighter lights, maybe some tile in the bathrooms instead of the peeling linoleum that most of them have. With new carpet and updated bedding, it could really be nice.”

  “What about the exterior?” He seemed to be soaking in everything she was saying.

  She looked behind her at the starkly white building. Some of the angles looked like the building was trying too hard to be modern but failed dismally. “You do have a point,” she said.

  He nodded. “Better to tear something like this down.”

  “No. I don’t think so. The outdoor landscaping is beautiful. The grounds are well taken care of. It could use some nice pillars on the front.”

  “Pillars?” He looked at her like she was insane, but he was the one playing this silly game. Maybe this was something that he always did at all the resorts.

  “You know, like where some of the modern pieces hang out over the valet area. There could be columns holding it up and making it look less … extreme. And then the rest of the building could have pillars and arches put on the outside just as a facade. I don’t know… it has some potential.”

  “What about the main lobby?” he asked.

  “The stonework in the entryway was redone when I came here six months ago. But with the columns outside, that would be an easy theme to keep through the entryway.”

  “You’re very smart,” he said. “It’s like this place is already looking better with your vision.”

  She blushed. He must always need to make things look better in his head than they were in front of him. “I started college as an architecture major, but turns out I didn’t really like the drafting part of it, only the creative side. So I went into interior design, and I enjoyed the design part more than the interior part.”

  “Hence the purse line?”

  “The dream of it anyway.”

  “What would you do with the shops inside the hotel?”

  “If this were mine?” She closed her eyes and smiled. She knew exactly what she would do. “That part is easy. I’d change the whole marquis and put my name up in lights, at least in one of the small shops. And I’d have every shop feel the same.”

  “What do you mean ‘feel the same?’” he asked the question like he really wanted to know.

  “I’d focus on the products instead of the stores. Nice clean lines, white walls and floors, so that the color would come only from the products, to help them really stand out.”

  “Like your purses?” He seemed to study her more closely with that question, but she tried not to let it get to her.

  For a moment she allowed herself to get lost in his question. The intense way he looked at her seemed to open her possibilities, like telling him her dreams could actually make them come true. “Yes, I mean, you said if I’m dreaming big, and if this place is mine, then yes. Yes, I would have my purses here, and they would be front and center and … they’ll finally be a reality.”

  He stood up helping her out of her lounge chair too, and they walked along the beach. The sun hung low in the sky, but was still above the horizon. The waves crashed against the shore and swirled around their ankles.

  He clapped his hands together, startling her out of the dream she was getting lost in. “This was exactly what I needed.”

  What did he mean by that? Maybe she was supposed to take the hint. Maybe this was what he was trying to get her to do all along yesterday, to get outside herself and allow herself to fully soak in the true vision of her dream. He knew that what she really wanted was to get her purses into a higher-end resort line like the Summers Resorts. And what had he just done? He’d helped her mentally transform her surroundings into what she wanted.

  This whole conversation wasn’t about tearing down the resort, it was about seeing past the ugly exterior and the shabby rooms and creating for herself the ideal environment for her designer purses to find a happy place to call home. He was clever.

  “Thank you,” she said, elation running over her at the mental block that he pushed her through.

  She could do this. And maybe her dream wasn’t as far away as she continued to push it. Maybe it could happen sooner. She could talk to someone or get an investor, or at least talk over her options with a hotel resort to see if her dream could be a reality inside a resort like this. She didn’t need to start with the Summers Resorts, she could start right here, right where she was.

  She’d make an appointment with the hotel manager in the next week or two and just put the idea out there. What was the worst that could happen? He would say no. But this wasn’t a chain resort. So, if it was a no here, it wasn’t going to affect her chances everywhere. And if she could get one resort to take a chance on her, chances were she could find others, and someday soon, she’d figure out how to approach the Summers Resorts too.

  She stumbled over a few of the rocks buried in the sand that were hidden under the waves, and just like that Liam grabbed her elbow, keeping her upright instead of falling into the water.

  “Thank you,” she said again, noticing that his hand stayed on her elbow for a few more steps, and then it slipped down her arm to find her hand. She glanced down at their entwined fingers, savoring the giddiness as it spread through her, and wondering what she should do.

  Before she could come up with a solution of either letting his hand go or continuing to hold it, he spoke. “I understand the second thank you, but I’m confused on the first.”

  She went back through her mental hum over the last few minutes. “Thank you for helping me with my dreams, with my purses, I mean. This whole conversation has helped me realize that I can start now. I don’t have to wait.”

  He smiled, squeezing her hand lightly as they continued walking to edge of the resort property. They sat on a rock watching the waves and taking in the sunset, neither of them speaking for several heartbeats. “It was a conversation that helped us both. Some things are worth restoring instead of tearing down.”

  And in that moment, he had described her situation perfectly. She needed to restore her dreams, remodel them a bit, but she didn’t need to tear them down and she didn’t need to keep the mock-ups gathering dust on a closet shelf either. It was time to do something.

  “Exactly. I can’t imagine what I’d do if I’d just decided to tear it all down,” she said, thinking of her dreams. It was time to build them back up again. “This is a place where a regular family can get a taste of magic.” And maybe that magic was exactly what could inspire her to start off smaller with her purses. This was where she felt at home.

  “You’ve helped me see that,” he said. He picked up a small handful of sand and let the grains slowly fall back into the rest of the beach. “I need to tell you something.”

  Callie wanted to hear what he was going to sa
y, but his voice trailed quietly even as the ocean waves seemed to increase in volume with every crash against the rocks around them. “You can tell me anything,” she said, leaning closer until there was hardly space between them.

  “I—I …”

  “Yes?” she asked leaning closer one more time, and before he could say another word, she leaned in until her lips brushed across his. Her heart picked up speed, enjoying the thrill of being so close to Liam. The kiss was light at first, and then she realized the mistake it could be to kiss a coworker and she was about to pull away when his lips responded to hers and all her thoughts fled like the receding waves to be swallowed up in the next tide.

  Chapter 19

  Liam couldn’t believe that Callie kissed him—correction—was kissing him. He’d thought about it a lot since meeting her, and yet, he couldn’t kiss her, even as kissable as those lips were, because he knew how gun-shy her ex had made her of trusting guys in general, and he wasn’t going to lead her on. He was only here another week, had been planning on putting her out of a job by knocking down the resort she worked at, and then he stopped. She was the one kissing him. And he was doing nothing about it.

  Slowly he lifted his hand to cup the side of her cheek. She hesitated like she might move away from him, but he poured all of his emotion into the kiss, and she stayed in his arms. She pulled him closer, and he wasn’t sure how he’d recover from this kiss. There was no going back from it. No pretending that it didn’t happen. He wanted to stay in this moment longer, drinking in the sweet taste of her lips. He slowly pulled away, knowing that if he didn’t break the kiss first, he’d be in danger.

  She inhaled a breath, her heavy breathing matching his own. Her eyelids fluttered open, and he was lost in the mesmerizing color of them as the sunset highlighted the little golden flecks in her brown eyes.

  “You were saying something?” she finally whispered.

  Yeah, he had been saying something. He had been ready to allude to as much as he could about his current situation in not so many words. How was he going to get across to her that he was a billionaire and now the owner of this resort and that she had single-handedly saved the entire thing from destruction with the vision she’d painted for him? She wasn’t oblivious to the flaws of the building and that had given her opinions credit. She could see the potential in this place, and he’d wanted to tell her that saving this place was going to be a major ordeal and he wanted her help to do it.

  But then she’d kissed him. How could he tell her all of this now? He needed to find the right moment. He thought he was creating that by going to the edge of the resort property out of earshot from the last of the lingering employees on the beach. This hadn’t been what he’d planned. And he wasn’t supposed to tell anyone. He’d been so close to breaking his word. He couldn’t do that, not even for her. He had an obligation to fulfill.

  “I … I don’t really remember,” he lied, hoping that she’d move on from the subject. He couldn’t bring it up to her, not right after they’d just kissed.

  There was a spark between them. The electricity was noticeable, and he was glad they’d kissed before he ever mentioned who he really was, otherwise he’d always wonder if money colored her opinions of him.

  “I don’t suppose another kiss would jog your memory?” Her words came out playful and flirtatious.

  He was playing with fire and he was going to get burned, but he gave in anyway. “There’s only one way to find out.” He gave her a smile and kissed her again.

  * * *

  Liam paced the two steps he could in his small room. After walking Callie to her room and giving her a final good night kiss, he’d wandered for another hour. What had he been thinking? There were so many ways that pursuing a relationship with Callie could blow up in his face, and he was scared about all of them.

  He needed to get his head on straight. He wasn’t here long, and he’d need luck and a lot of expertise if he was going to attempt any of Callie’s ideas to restore this resort. He still wasn’t sure if it had the ability to be part of the Summers line, but he knew he wanted to try … for Callie.

  He shook his head. This was crazy. He never, ever, made rash emotional business decisions. All of them were based on sound principles, on things he could actually prove. All of his resorts were successful because he’d done his homework before and because he had a team of lawyers making sure that he was making good decisions. He couldn’t get emotional about a property, or he could end up making a foolish decision.

  He picked up his cell off the painfully uncomfortable bed. If he had already made his decision to save this place, then he needed to be swift about it. He didn’t want to sleep more nights in this uncomfortable bed than he had to. Surely after almost a week he had enough information, right?

  He dialed Sayler and she picked up in two rings. “Hey, boss.” She used that matter-of-fact tone when she had everything under control. That was good, because he was far from in control.

  He pulled at his shirt collar though he had no tie to loosen. “The status on my request about the wrecking company…” he began.

  “Is already in your email awaiting approval. Wreckers are on stand-by and can be here whenever you’d like. Just say the word,” Sayler said. Liam liked that she was practically able to read his mind, but this time, she didn’t know that he wanted to cancel the request.

  “I need it canceled. I won’t be needing their services. After talking to one of the employees, I think I can make it fiscally profitable to remodel sections of the hotel at a time to keep guests returning during the remodel. We can make some major improvements to the aesthetics of the place.”

  It didn’t make much sense to him, but Callie had said that the families that came here returned, and that meant they wouldn’t mind being in the same rooms they’d always been in, at least until they were remodeled. The whole place wouldn’t need to be shut down.

  “In that case, the email with the blue flag next to it is the one you’ll want to read. It has all of your local options for remodeling both interior and exterior, along with several pictures of other bedspread, flooring, and lighting options to upgrade the rooms. I threw in all the ones I like, but most of them you’ll notice are carried in various Summers Resorts, since I know how much you like those ones.” It was like he could hear her smiling on the other end, like she really had known from the beginning of the call exactly which choice he’d end up on. He was amazed that she could do that, but still wondered how.

  “Sayler, I never told you that I wanted to remodel. In fact, I told you firmly multiple times that I was going to tear the whole thing down.”

  “True,” she said.

  The not knowing the way she guessed made him even more curious. “Then how did you know to prepare both?”

  She laughed. “I didn’t just start working for you yesterday. Yes, you told me that you wanted this place torn down immediately, but then you kept going back to work here, for a full week. How was I supposed to take that? Maybe it’s your crush on Callie. Or maybe you just see in this building something worth saving. Or maybe it’s the rest of the employees. I don’t know. But the way you kept saying ‘tear it down’ made it sound like you were trying to convince yourself that it was the right answer.”

  “You’re brilliant, Sayler. Thank you.”

  “I’ll be sure to add that to my Christmas card along with my extra bonus,” she said in a teasing tone.

  He laughed. “I’m okay with that.”

  “You’re being extra generous. Why? What happened?”

  Liam couldn’t help but smile, but he wasn’t going to tell Sayler anything. Sayler had been like a sister to him since she had started working for him, but that didn’t mean that he was going to kiss and tell. “Nothing happened.”

  “No way. You kissed her? Why would you do that? That is not a smart idea.”

  “Technically, I only kissed her after she kissed me first.” The words were out of his mouth before he could recall them.

>   Sayler whistled into the phone, and he moved the phone away from his ear. “Wow. Okay, so she kissed you, which means she likes you. Be careful, or before you know it, you’ll be spilling all of your secrets, and you’ll give yourself a massive headache if you go against your uncle’s will.”

  “That’s smart thinking, Sayler. I almost told Callie tonight before we kissed, but she kissed me right as I was going to tell her, and I just couldn’t find the right words after that.”

  Sayler laughed. “I don’t think I can believe that. You at a loss for words? Callie must be really special.”

  “She is. She really is.”

  “Don’t wait too long to tell her.”

  “That she’s special? I won’t,” he said, unable to keep a grin from his face.

  After Sayler pointed out a few more emails that needed his attention, they said their goodbyes, and the rest of the night Liam thought of exactly how he was going to tell Callie who he really was, once he was done playing this part.

  She was going to be so thrilled to learn that her purse dream would become a reality soon. He’d call his guys over merchandising and make sure they had a place for her purses right away in whichever resorts she wanted to start with. She’d love the surprise, and maybe he’d be able to convince her that truly not everyone was like her ex.

  Giddiness washed over him at the thought of seeing her again the next morning. He wished he’d gotten her number. There hadn’t been much of a reason before now since they saw each other every day at work, but he wanted to talk to her tonight.

  He would leave early again and wait outside her room until she was up. Then they could have breakfast together. Maybe he’d take her off-site for breakfast. Scratch that. She hated the idea of him spending money on food when they could get food for free. Maybe there would be enough time before breakfast to explain everything to her.

  It was long into the night before he finally felt sleep takeover his brain. He’d thought of nothing else but Callie since getting off the phone with Sayler. Callie was going to be so happy to know that it was because of her that the resort really would be saved.