by Chelsea Hale
Chapter 20
Callie spent time curling her hair the next morning. Why? Because she’d kissed the new employee more than once and she’d enjoyed it. Ugh. She was pathetic. She couldn’t be the one falling for him. She and certainly should not be the one who was moving first in this … whatever this was. It’s not like they were in a relationship. They were friends. Or people who’d only met this week.
She stared herself down in the mirror. They’d only met this week. Warning bells went off in her head. Why was she acting so stupid? She’d been cautious for six months while working at this resort, and suddenly a brand-new employee, who she really knew nothing about except that he resort-hopped enough to not have a permanent place, was spinning her head in circles.
Yes, Liam talked big about her dreams, but Michael had done that too. And she’d fallen for all of Michael’s charm and wit. If she wasn’t careful she was going to be headed down the same path.
She shook her head, the movement sending her forehead into the curling iron that was heating her hair, burning it. She jumped back, letting go of the curling iron, which dangled mid-air, still caught in her hair. She yelped, finally freeing the singed strands and examined her forehead. The burn was turning white. Grabbing a washcloth, Callie ran it under cold water and applied it to her forehead. It burned even under the cool cloth. As she tended to it, she tried to figure out a way that she could cover the burn with her hair. The burn felt like a wake-up call to her. She needed to be more careful. She didn’t know much about Liam, or his background. They’d spent most of their time talking about her and her problems. There was a danger in this situation.
Sure, she’d kissed him. But that didn’t mean she was going to kiss him again. In fact, she wouldn’t until she learned more about him. She couldn’t put her heart out there only to have it be squashed again. Her heart wanted to believe that Liam was totally different from Michael—that he was genuine, and nice, and honest. But it was her head that needed to take the lead this time.
She couldn’t get glassy-eyed just because he’d brought her out of her funk and helped her realize that she needed to make her purses part of her current life, not just a dream for her future life. She’d thank him for that, but if he really bounced around from resort to resort, she didn’t want to lose her heart to him. She couldn’t. It would be too painful, and she didn’t think it could take that all over again. No, it was better to be safe. Better to keep hold on her heart. She had to protect herself because if she didn’t, she’d be where she’d been six months ago, and that was a place she never wanted to be again.
She brushed out the curls she’d so carefully worked on, making them look like a frizzy mess and swooped her hair across her forehead making a low side ponytail. It wasn’t the amazing hairdo she’d imagined, but then this whole thing with Liam wasn’t really the amazing thing she’d imagined either. She needed to keep herself in check, and she wasn’t going to spend an hour doing her hair for work anymore.
* * *
Callie emerged from her room to find Liam leaning against the railing outside her door.
“Good morning,” he said, his voice full of the excitement that had literally been burned out of her this morning.
“Hi,” she said, trying to keep her focus on his eyes, but knowing that her gaze wandered down to his lips at least twice.
His lips twitched, and she immediately locked her eyes on his, forcing herself not to look away or down again.
“I’ve got something I want to tell you,” he said.
She gulped. Oh no. She’d just talked herself out of this situation, and she needed to be strong. “I’ve got something to tell you too.”
His smile grew larger. “Ladies first,” he said as they went down the stairs towards breakfast.
Her heart felt like it was spasming around her chest, like it was not okay with what she was about to do. That was okay though; she was protecting it from the inevitable heartbreak that would come again if she didn’t nip this thing in the bud.
“I don’t want things to be weird between us at work, you know because we kissed.” She leaned in to say the last word but then pulled back when she realized that her body would betray her by kissing him again.
“I feel exactly the same way. It’s not going to be weird.” His eyes seemed to melt hers, but she had to stay strong. She wasn’t going to be here forever, and he loved the resort life.
“Good, because that would be weird if it was weird while we worked together. I mean, we need to be professional. I’m glad it won’t be weird. I think we probably should give this thing between us some space.”
Except this conversation was feeling weird and oh so uncomfortable. Still she needed to keep a cool head about this whole thing. Inside her heart screamed at her to take it back, to figure out a way, but she knew she needed to be strong.
He looked like she’d slapped him in the face. She couldn’t read all of his emotions, but pain was there with other ones. “What if we didn’t work together?” he asked. “Would you still feel the same?”
Her heart began to break at the idea that he would entertain the idea of not working here, just to be with her. Her heart squeezed into her throat, and for a moment, she couldn’t breathe or think straight. It would certainly solve the problem of them being professional at work. But she mentally shook the thought away.
That wasn’t the only problem. “There was a sunset, and the sound of the waves, and I got carried away. You’re great, but I can’t do this right now. I’ve got one dream and it got away from me before. I shouldn’t have kissed you. We work together and it would be really complicated. I have a plan now, and I need to work my double shifts.”
Yes, she found him attractive, and kind, and thoughtful, and a good kisser, and a hundred other things. That’s why she had to cut it off now, before she was completely underwater in the ocean of love. She had to keep her head above the emotional waves lapping around her. She couldn’t swim through them like this resort life might be the one for her.
He was looking at her with intense dark green eyes, and for a moment she wanted to admit that if they didn’t work together, that she could feel differently. She liked him. There. She could admit it to herself, but she wasn’t going to admit it to him. Liam had given her the gift of her dreams back, and she wasn’t going to let go of that. This was for the best.
“I just don’t think that it can work between us.”
He pursed his lips together. “Why? You’ve barely given us a chance.”
“But I know where I want to go now. And yesterday you showed me that I can go after my dreams right now. I have to stay focused on that dream. I need to give my dream my all right now. Even though I’ve come to love this place, my dreams will soon be too big for it. And then what? We’d have to say goodbye eventually.” She choked the words out, and she wished she could recall them back.
He nodded. “It’s because of my job then?”
“Not your job, but you said it yourself when we first met, that resorts are your life. And this work,” she said, pointing down to her uniform and gesturing around the resort, “this isn’t what I want to do. I have to chase after my dream harder now. If I get distracted with anything else, even something good like a relationship, my dream will suffer.”
“So it’s not the resort.”
“Any resort will always remind me of this time in my life. The time where I was stuck and trying to dig myself out. Once I get out, I don’t want to look back—unless I’m a guest or unless I’m dropping off my designer purses.”
“And you think this is what I want? That this work is all I’m capable of?” he asked. “This isn’t me.”
She shook her head. He’d already admitted as much to her, that this life was the life he had been in. But just to be sure she asked, “How many years have you been working with resorts?”
“In this capacity?” he asked.
“In any capacity.”
“That’s hardly a fair question—”
He threw up his hands. “Since before I graduated college, but if you’d just let me explain—”
“Since college,” she whispered. “It’s your life. You don’t need to explain, because it’s okay. I’m not judging you for your choices. I’m saying it’s not something that works for me long-term.”
His eyes seemed to plead with hers, and she forced herself to ignore it.
“I can do something else. I’ve done other things besides this job.”
She smiled. “It’s okay that you like resorts.” She looked up at the building. “You know, you helped me with my purses when you talked about the remodel of this place. I caught what you were saying as you went through that exercise.”
His eyes widened. “You did?”
She smiled. “Of course, it’s what made me realize that I need to look beyond the exterior and focus on what can be changed. My life needs that transformation right now. It needs to not stay here like this.”
He nodded slowly. “I’m glad you got something out of it,” he said with almost no emotion.
“I knew this was going to be weird,” she said under her breath.
“Will you answer a final question?” he asked.
Tingles rushed from her fingers to her toes. Why was she going all weak in the knees at a question asking permission? She really did like him, that’s why. And with that came the realization that she was going to be okay. She’d had her time to heal from the past, and she could move on from it in a new way. She could allow herself to feel again. But she couldn’t get distracted by it, not even for someone she was attracted to. She’d allowed herself to think about what life would be like with Liam, and all of it felt wonderful. But it was a dream for after her purse dream. There were now possibilities.
“Sure,” she said, trying to keep the one syllable answer steady.
“If I wasn’t … I mean, if we’d just met somewhere that wasn’t this resort, could things have worked between us?”
His eyes were drawing her in, beckoning her to give him a chance. But how could she? How could she go down this path? Suddenly, her convictions felt weak. She couldn’t rush into something. Kissing so soon after meeting him had been a mistake. She wouldn’t repeat another relationship like Michael. She needed more than just attraction.
She cleared her throat, trying to come up with the words. “I … it’s hard to say. I don’t think it’s you, it’s just probably me right now.”
He didn’t seem convinced. “You know that’s what people say when it is the other person, and not them, right?”
“Hypotheticals don’t really do much good, do they? That’s what you taught me, when you were thinking about redoing a resort that you have no control over. They’re only helpful when they are something you can relate to, like my purses. I’ve left those dreams to fall to pieces like this resort, and at the first mention of you saying to tear the whole thing down, I realized that I don’t want to tear those dreams down, and leave them in a rubbled heap. They just need an updated approach, like the way we were talking about the resort.”
He gave her a half smile, but the gesture still looked sad, defeated. “I’m glad I was able to help.”
She blurted out. “This doesn’t have to be weird between us. We can still play the hypothetical game.”
“I do my best thinking on the beach. It’s one of the reasons I enjoy resorts. But I don’t … well, anyway. Like you said, we each choose our path.” He kissed her on the cheek. “It doesn’t have to be weird between us, but I will miss what we could have had.”
He walked away, passing the breakfast area and clocking in to work thirty minutes early. And Callie was left to think of their entire conversation and how she was the stupidest girl she knew at that exact moment.
Chapter 21
“You’re not smiling. What’s going on?” Sayler’s voice wafted into Liam’s stream of consciousness as he took a shift folding towels on the opposite side of the pool from Callie.
“Nothing,” he said. He was supposed to go on three excursions this afternoon with Callie, but it seemed like too much now.
“Cut to the bottom line, Liam. I don’t have time to drag it out of you. I can’t be seen chatting so long with an employee.”
“That makes two females in my life,” he grumbled.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Sayler asked. “I just don’t want you getting in trouble for supposedly hitting on the attractive guests.” She laughed.
Her teasing lightened his mood. “I mean, trying to get someone to like the non-billionaire version of me sucks. Callie doesn’t see me as driven or hard-working. She sees me as someone who floats—floats!—from one resort to the next, making it my ‘lifestyle’ to just enjoy the employees’ beaches. Can you believe that?” He refolded the same towel that he’d been working on since Sayler came up to talk to him. He wasn’t cut out for this, not really. And trying to not think about Callie was muddling his brain even more.
Sayler opened her mouth like she’d say something and then closed it again.
“What?” he said.
She picked up the towel he just folded and tucked it under her arm. “I’m sorry. I guess I didn’t realize the extent to which you liked her.”
“I don’t know what to do. Even in the hypothetical of us not working together at a resort, she sees herself as driven and working toward success and me not. I’ve never had to defend myself before.”
Sayler smiled. “You’ve also never gone undercover before. Your reputation always precedes you.”
“You think I should have told her before now?”
Sayler shrugged. “You know you wouldn’t have broken the promise to keep these two weeks confidential. That speaks volumes about you. But … she liked you enough to kiss you. Maybe it’s really not about you, and maybe it’s about where she is in her life right now. Billionaire or not, she just might need to have her focus on something else.”
Okay, so Callie had talked about her own dreams and not getting distracted. But couldn’t she realize that he could help her achieve her dreams? He didn’t have to be a distraction. “Would she have liked me if she would have just met the billionaire to begin with?”
“Maybe. Or maybe she would have had the same opinions.”
“I like her, Sayler. A lot. She isn’t afraid to be herself. She makes me laugh. She has these designs for purses and lofty goals for them, and I find myself wishing I could help her succeed and that she would help me. She’s the reason why I’m not tearing this place down, but I can’t tell her that.”
“How interesting that the first thing you admire about her is that she isn’t afraid to be herself, and yet because of the will you haven’t been able to be yourself.”
“I just don’t only want people in my life who are interested in my money.”
“I know. And that’s where you have to give others a little credit and trust that that isn’t what changes their opinions about you.”
He nodded.
“You are going to keep it though? For sure? You looked at the reports on the profitability of this place?”
“It’s low right now but that will make the remodeling easier. I’m actually scheduled to meet with the hotel manager all afternoon.” He wished he was still going on the planned excursions with Callie all afternoon … but no, it was better this way.
“All afternoon? What about your job here?”
“My uncle wanted me to find the magic here, and I have.” He shrugged, glancing over at the retreating form of Callie across the pool from him. “If Richard agrees to it, I want to switch my position here and get an earlier start on the remodel. I’m still not sure how this fits into the Summers Resorts Line, but I’m willing to give it a chance. Besides, I don’t think I can continue being trained anymore. It’s going to be even more painful if I draw it out any longer.”
Sayler turned her gaze in the direction Liam looked. “I suppose that makes sense. But won’t she … I mean,
if you’re trying to show some stability, wouldn’t you want to stay longer?”
“She’s not going to change her mind. And only a fool keeps asking a question, hoping that she’ll magically change her mind and give a different answer.”
Sayler nodded. “Won’t most employees be suspicious of the change when they meet you and remember you?”
“All the more reason for me to cut out early. With any luck, I’ll only be here a few more weeks and then handle the rest of the remodel remotely.”
“And your speech will just be held at the reopening?” she asked.
He nodded. “Yes, when I’ve grown my goatee back and I’m feeling ready to see this place again.” He kept his eyes on where Callie had been, though she was probably down by the beach now.
Sayler put a hand on his forearm as he folded his last towel. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
“I will be.”
“I’ll leave you to it then, I’ve probably been standing here long enough.”
“I’ll keep you posted after my meeting today, but plan to start work this week in an air-conditioned office.”
“I won’t say I’m not disappointed to cut my working vacation short, but I could use the lumbar support of a good office chair.” She smiled at him and then went back to her lounge chair.
Lumbar support. Air conditioning. And no more cheap sunglasses that left black marks on his nose. He was ready to be back to his work—his real work and passion. He wished he could have helped Callie see past this facade. It was too late now. She’d made her choice. He wondered if the billionaire version of himself could have held a candle to her designer purse dream. He shook his head, wishing he didn’t have to make it about his money or his holdings or his anything. But the reality was, he wasn’t cutting it as Liam Allen, and it was time to be Liam Summers again.