by AJ Riley
CHAPTER 4
After learning Amanda’s name, he felt the tightness that had taken up residence in his chest when she had walked away start to ease. He had to find out what she was doing to him. He didn’t normally chase women, but he found himself hustling back toward the entrance of the hotel hoping that Amanda hadn’t gone far. Maybe she was sitting inside. He felt a smile tug at his lips at the thought of walking in and finding her so easily, but the smile slipped when his eyes adjusted to the darker interior of the hotel and she wasn’t sitting in any of the overstuffed chairs.
He scanned the lobby for any trace of her, but she wasn’t there. As he glanced toward the reception desk he was tempted to ask for a guest list of all the single guests registered under the first name Amanda but decided against it. The staff was still too new, and not above gossiping about his strange request.
He would have to put finding her on the back burner and it did nothing to help his raising temper. He was still pissed off that Janice had the nerve to call his hotel boring. If she had wanted a place packed with activities she should have visited one of his other properties. Then maybe he would have been able to have a conversation with Amanda without her running off. It hadn’t been lost on him that Janice had been glaring at her since the moment he walked up to them.
His eyes roamed back over the people the looking out over the ocean. Were these people sitting inside because they couldn’t find anything outside to entertain them? Shaking off that train of thought, his eyes slid over the registration desk. Feeling some of his tension over the decision to remove activities ease as his eyes swept the check in line he consoled himself with the fact that there would not be that many people checking in if they hadn’t found something to hold their interest here at the hotel.
With his confidence in his decision slightly bolstered he mentally ran through the laundry list of things he needed to accomplish today since he had to put finding Amanda off till this evening. He immediately put checking on his new bartender at the top of his list. Justifying the shift in priorities by acknowledging she was new and he needed something cold to drink after walking the beach. As his footsteps moved him in the direction of the bar he admitted to himself the real reason he moved it to the top of the list, he was going in there to look for Amanda.
He couldn’t put looking for off for too long, he would go crazy now that he knew she was staying there. Maybe she had wanted a quiet place to sit after being on the pool deck this morning, he could only hope. As his feet carried him closer to the bar, across the gleaming tile lobby he could hear the merriment before he pushed through the bar doors.
So much for finding a quiet place to sit if the volume of laughter and banter were any indication. There were always men that hung out in the bar because they didn’t want to be on the beach or their wives were off on one of the excursions but today there seemed to be more men than usual and he knew the reason why, it was his new bartender. Chuckling softly, he shook his head, it didn’t surprise him that she had already made an impression on the male guests. Her bubbly personality was only one of the reasons that he had hired her.
Secure in the knowledge that Stephanie could handle herself behind the bar and handle whatever the customers threw at her he was still protective of her. Making sure that she didn’t need him had become a regular occurrence much to her annoyance. He held up a hand to get Steph’s attention and smiled as she turned toward him with a sassy smile. She finished pouring a beer for the customer then turned and walked toward him. A triumphant grin replaced the smirk she had given him moments ago and he did his best not to let on how proud he was of her.
He knew she needed to prove to herself that she could handle the bar and while he had his reservations he knew better than to doubt her. Anything she had ever set her mind to she had accomplished, well almost everything.
“Hey wait your turn.” A man in an obnoxious Hawaiian shirt called out from the other end of the bar staring daggers at Russ.
Russ couldn’t suppress his smile as he watched Steph turn to the man and placed an overly sweet smile on her face in an attempt to take the bite out of her words, “Hey, that's the boss. Let’s show him a little respect. I’ll be with you in a moment.”
She may look like a pixie, but she could hold her own. At 5’3 with spiky platinum blonde hair, and a personality bigger than she was, people tended to under estimate her fierceness. If he was honest he tended to forget that she was a big girl now. He kept picturing her running around with his little sister getting into scrapes he had to bail them out of.
“What’s up boss?” she asked leaning an elbow on the bar still smiling.
“Just thought I’d stop by and check on you. First time you’ve had the whole bar to yourself. Are you doing ok?” Even though he directed the question to her his eyes scanned the bar looking for Amanda. He hoped that maybe he hadn’t seen her on his first glance around. If he could find her on his own, then he wouldn’t have to ask Steph for this favor. Then she wouldn’t know and best of all she wouldn’t be able to hold it over him.
“I'm just fine and you know it, so what reason did you cook up to come check on me this time?”
Out of the corner of his eye he noticed her straighten up and start to glance around the bar as if she knew what he was looking for. As the perplexed look crossed her face he knew he was going to have to ask her for help.
“Are you expecting trouble?”
“Why, do I look like I’m expecting trouble? As the owner I must make sure that everything runs smoothly, you know that.”
“Yes your high and mighty I know that, but your eyes keep scanning the bar as if you expect a fight to break out any minute. I told you I have this covered. There is nothing to worry about.”
Oh, there was plenty to worry about and the biggest was that he was going to have to ask her for a favor. He hated to ask her but the need to find Amanda was greater than his fear that she would go running to his sister and make his life a nightmare. He hoped that as her boss she would keep this between them, she wasn’t normally one to gossip with co-workers, but there was no way she wouldn’t be calling his sister later. He was under no illusions about that. “No, nothing like that. I know you can handle whatever the bar dishes out, but can you do me a favor?” he asked hesitantly “I’m looking for someone.”
“Lots of someone’s in the bar.” She replied with a smirk.
He resisted the urge to ruffle her hair like he had when she was little because he knew it would piss her off and he needed to ask her to do something for him. “Smartass. She’s about yeah high” he held up his hand to indicate nose height. “Blonde hair, didn’t see much of her face. She had on huge sunglasses.”
Steph shook her head and laughed “That’s not much to go on. You know how many people fit that description. Did you at least get a name?” she asked in disbelief.
Embarrassed he replied, “Amanda. No last name.”
“You know it’s a good thing I like you or I’d think you were crazy. Ok I’ll keep a look out for Amanda no last name, but I should get back to work. Don’t want the boss to think I can’t handle the bar.” With a wink and a wave, she walked away.
Making certain that no one was going to give her any trouble he headed to his office to try and get some work done. When he purchased this hotel, he knew from the beginning that he wanted it to stand out from his other properties. He wanted a place that was peaceful and not over scheduled, but before he could make his vision a reality he had a lot of work to put in. One of the first things that he had to do was revamp the rooms and the employees.
His hard work was slowly paying off and hopefully soon he would be able to hand over the day to day operations to his manager. All that needed to be finished was the reconstruction of the private villas on the other side of the hotel. Russ pulled the construction timeline up on the computer and started to run the numbers.
Satisfied that everything was running on schedule and on budget he closed his laptop and leaned back in h
is chair. Wondering for a moment what he would do when he wasn’t trying to launch this hotel, when he was done with the rebranding, when he wasn’t worrying about repair schedules, or profits.
Ok the worrying about profits wouldn’t stop, that was his nature but when this was handed over to his management team maybe he would stay and take an actual vacation, spend more time on the beach, or just lay around without a plan for once. If he gave himself the time for a vacation maybe he could convince someone to stay and keep him company.
If he could find Amanda maybe he would be able to convince her to stay with him. He thought back to seeing her this morning and wondered again why she ran off like that. What could he have said to scare her? Thoughts of her departure lead him to thoughts about her bikini clad body and just the mental image of her had him growing hard.
He jumped guiltily as the phone rang and tried to get his body under control.
“Bassett.” He barked.
“No name just got a drink.” Steph snickered into the phone like a twelve-year-old.
“You sure?” he asked trying to keep the excitement from his voice.
“Well she’s blonde, has a few inches on me, and her credit card said Amanda.”
Russ cleared his throat. “Ok thanks.” He tried to play it cool but knew he failed when a quiet chuckle was all he heard in response before the phone went dead in his ear.
Quickly glancing at the clock on the wall he figured if he got up and rushed over there, Steph would never let him live it down. So, he would sit there for a moment and collect himself, he needed that few minutes anyways to get his body under control.
As he watched time seemed to slow down, he waited five of the longest minutes of his life. With every tick of the second hand, he prayed that she didn’t leave. That she would sip her drink, take her time, and he hoped more than anything that she was alone.
CHAPTER 5
Amanda stood on her balcony staring out over the ocean. Why was she wasting time hiding in her room? She was a grown woman who should be able to tell her sister to get lost and give her some space but unfortunately, she had never been that good at standing up for herself. Disgusted she grabbed her room key off the dresser and headed toward the bar. She was trading one hiding place for another but maybe she would be able to recapture the peace that she had started to feel as she was laying by the pool.
Approaching the bar, it crossed her mind that maybe this wasn’t such a good idea. The bar was noisy, crowded, and not her normal place to relax but maybe she need to shake things up. Her career it seemed was on a downward spiral and her love life was severely lacking. Hell, who was she kidding she didn’t have a love life, she was committed to her job. Suddenly the weight of trying to be the perfect employee, granddaughter, and sister felt like it could crush her at any moment. She had to break out of the rut that she was in.
As her eyes adjusted to dim interior of the bar Amanda took a deep breath and looked around. Her gaze landed on an empty table in the back where she could see the entrance but would still be hidden by the rush of people, exhaling she made a bee line for it. Hopefully a drink would help to get her out of the sudden funk she found herself in.
Walking quickly to the table she slid onto the bar height chair and laid her hat and sunglasses on the table. As she continued to glance around the room Amanda noticed the amount of men mulling around the bar. It was only midafternoon, but it still seemed ridiculous that there were this many people sitting inside when it was such a beautiful day out. She shrugged, they must have their reason just as she had hers.
With her mind made up to enjoy herself she shimmied her way to the bar, the moment she was close enough to spot the bartender the sea of men made sense. The bartender was stunning, and Amanda could tell the men were drawn to her even though she didn’t seem to be overly flirtatious with any of them.
She envied women that had that confidence when it came to men. Amanda always seemed to become tongue tied and awkward. Her brain to mouth filter seemed to malfunction and she blurted out what ever came to mind. She had always wanted to be one of those graceful women like Janice, but she never failed to embarrass herself.
Shaking off her run-away thoughts she raised her hand to get the bartenders attention.
“Hi, there what can I get for you?”
“Can I get a whiskey and coke please?”
“Sure thing, coming up.”
As she filled the cup they exchanged small talk about the amount of people in the bar. As soon as the drink was filled Amanda pulled out her credit card. As she handed it over the woman seemed to look at the card and then back at Amanda.
“What?” Amanda asked shyly.
“Sorry, nothing, just not typical.” She replied with a shake of her head and a smile.
She assumed that the woman meant her drink order, “I know I get that a lot. I’m usually told I look more like a wine or champagne girl.” She babbled and then smiled shyly trying to dispel the sudden awkwardness. Even though she dealt with clients all the time she was still excruciatingly shy underneath all her bravado.
Chuckling the bartender handed her the credit card and her drink without another word.
Amanda weaved a path back to her table praying it was still there, trying not to spill her drink on some poor person as she shimmied between customers. She slid back onto her chair and took a sip of her drink. As the liquor slid down her throat she felt the tension in her neck and shoulders start to relax. Letting her eyes roam the room taking in the different groups of people, she suppressed a giggle, even though it was still early afternoon there were several people in the bar already tipsy. Some of the guests had huge drinks with enough fruit hanging from the rim of the glass to make a decent fruit salad, while some people like her were just enjoying people watching somewhere cool.
As Amanda’s eyes perused the people in the bar her gaze locked on the man standing at the entrance to the bar. Oh lord it was Russ. What was he doing there and more importantly was Janice with him? It was childish, but she really wanted him to be different from the other men she knew. She wanted him to be immune to Janice’s charm and outrageous good looks. She quickly scanned the people milling around him and let out a breath she hadn’t realized she had been holding. Janice was not anywhere to be found. Her little hiding spot was still safe, for now. Her gaze tracked his movements to the bar where he started talking to the bartender. A prickle of awareness raced down her spine as she watched the beautiful bartender point in her direction.
Was it possible the man was looking for her? If so why? She hadn’t even introduced herself earlier, even though she would have liked to. Maybe he was looking for her sister. Amanda felt her face scrunch in distaste but even the thought that he was looking for Janice didn’t have her attention waning from him.
Russ tried to keep himself from rushing into the bar like a mad man. He hoped that she was still here, that he wasn’t too late. He wanted to find the mystery woman and find out why she wouldn’t give him her name earlier. He had to know if this was a game to her. He prayed that she wasn’t like every other woman that came through his resorts. His gaze roamed the bar, but he didn’t see her. Russ tried to act casual as he strode toward the bar and locked eyes with Stephanie.
“Steph?” Russ asked without even needing to finish the question. She knew why he was there and he was feeling impatient. His hopes at finding her had plummeted when he didn’t immediately spot her and unfortunately for Steph she was getting the brunt of his gruffness.
“Is that her?” Steph asked not seeming to take offense at his tone.
Russ looked to where Steph was pointing and felt the air leave his lungs. When he hadn’t spotted her when he first entered the bar he thought he might never be able to find her. He could feel her gaze on him and it made him want to grab her by the hand and pull her out of the bar, take her some where they could be alone and get to know each other.
He wanted to find out all there was to know about her, he didn’t want to scare her o
ff by rushing over there, but dammit he couldn’t help himself from walking straight toward her. He hadn’t even bothered to tell Steph if she was right or not. It didn’t matter, all that mattered was getting to Amanda’s table and convincing himself that the spark he had felt earlier was real.
Russ moved through the crowd and grew increasingly impatient every time someone stepped in his path or blocked her from his view. On any other day having the bar this crowded would have pleased him but today he found each of them an annoyance. They were standing between him and something he wanted. There was no way these people were going to deter him from getting to her. He was so intent on keeping Amanda in his view that he bumped into a man causing him to splash his drink down the front of his shirt. Russ frowned as the man grabbed his arm.
Russ glanced down at the man’s hand on his arm and then slowly raised his eyes to meet the mans heated glare. Turning the full force of his displeasure toward the man caused him to remove his hand and take a few steps back.
“Sorry, tell the bartender Russ sent you and the rest of your drinks are on my tab.” He growled, not giving the man a chance to respond, and continued determinedly toward Amanda.
Russ watched perplexed as a man slid onto the chair next to her. Was she there with someone? The thought stopped him. What the hell? He couldn’t stomach the idea that she was there with another man. The thought that she was his flashed through his mind and took him off guard. He was not normally possessive of the women he dated, and it made him wonder, not for the first time what it was about this woman that held him.
He noticed the startled look that crossed her face as the man sat next to her and that was all he needed to see to put his feet back into motion. She obviously didn’t know the guy and was not happy that he had just sat down. Picking up his pace he reached her in a few strides. The nerve of the man, just sitting next to a woman without an invitation. Okay, he had done it himself, but this was different, she was his even if she didn’t know it yet.