Paradise Falls: A Bassett Hotels Novel

by AJ Riley

  He couldn’t let this go on. He didn’t give a shit about the advertising campaign, or that he caught her in Greg’s arms, even if it was all innocent. He had to tell her now, he had to tell her everything including the fact that he loved her, and nothing happened with Janice. He still didn’t know why he hadn’t told her that day in the bar. He should have come clean and saved them both all of thisagony. His only excuse was he let his pride and his ego lead him.“I think I need to clear up something about your meeting. You’re meeting with me. I own this hotel.”

  He had expected her say something. He didn’t know what just something, instead she walked to the opposite side of the table. She wouldn’t meet his eyes. He kept trying to catch her gaze as she appeared to collect her thoughts. When she finally met his eyes, he couldn’t believe the defeat he saw written across her face.

  Defeat was the last thing he wanted her to be feeling right now. “What? What’s wrong?”

  “Russ, you own this hotel?” at his nod, she continued. “So, let me see if I have this straight. You’re behind all the ad changes. The timeline changes? The urgent meetings?” He waited for her to get to her point. Hadn’t he just said that he owned the hotel? He was confused, where was she going with all of this?

  Apparently, he still looked blank because she continued. “You know the urgent meeting that forced me to leave in the middle of the night. The one that had me running off, so I only had time to leave you a note. A note you conveniently say you never got? The meeting that you forced me to take.”

  Holy shit he had walked into that one. Wasn’t this the same conversation that he had with Greg? He hadn’t known then who she was. He was quickly losing control of this situation. “No, you don’t understand I didn’t know…” he stammered as she came back around the table and got in his face.

  “Did you do it on purpose? Did you force that urgent meeting, that way you wouldn’t have to deal with me while you slept with Janice? So, you could place all the blame on me and give yourself an excuse to sleep with her? Hell, if you wanted her why didn’t you just man up and tell me? Was it her all along? Then why pretend there was something between us?”

  Russ was at a loss. How could he have been so stupid? He walked right into that. He reached out and lightly gripped her arms. When she lifted her eyes to his he could tell she was fighting back the tears. He had to tell her. Had to make her see that this was all a misunderstanding.

  “Amanda” he said in almost a whisper. The words wouldn’t come. He had to tell her how much he loved her and that he had been a mess without her. He wanted to beg for forgiveness, but his mind and his mouth couldn’t get the words out. For the first time in his life he was speechless. He didn’t have a clue how to make her understand but he had to try.

  He released her as she started to walk toward the conference room doors. Russ wanted to reach out and comfort her. Take her in his arms and promise that everything would be ok. That they could work through anything, as long as they loved each other. “Amanda listen, please just let me explain. I didn’t know who you were when I made Greg arrange that meeting. Had I known I’d never have let you leave. No, it wasn’t just a fling. I swear. Tell me what I can do to fix this?”

  He had never felt so helpless before. He needed her like he needed his next breath. He couldn’t let her leave like this. He had to get her to promise to stay and work this out. “Please just stay so we can work this out. Please.” He had never begged anyone for anything, but he would beg her. If he had to get down on his knees and beg, he would. She was that important to him.

  “I remember going to the bar for a drink. I was upset that you would just leave. Especially after the amazing day that we had. I was mad and frustrated and if it helps, my ego was crushed. I just wanted to get drunk and I prayed with every minute that passed you would come back through that door. Like it was just some misunderstanding.”

  Russ pulled the note out of his back pocket and held it up for her to see. “I found this on my desk after you left. I’m sorry that I didn’t get it sooner. Please just tell me what to say to make this better.” As she went to step around Russ, he caught her arm again. “Amanda, I love you. Can you at least tell me where you stand with that? Do you love me? Have I destroyed all hope for us? I can’t just let you walk of here without something. I’ve been going crazy here without you.”

  “Of course, I love you. I always will but I can’t do this right now. This has all been too much for one day.”

  Russ could see the fear written on her face. He wanted to push her for answers. Want to push her stay and give him another chance but he was afraid too. Afraid that if he pushed to hard she would run. He just stood there as she leaned up on her tip toes and kissed his cheek.

  “Russ, I need some time to process all of this. I think we need to take the business side off the table. I’ll be heading back and transferring your business to another associate. I’ll call you and let you know who will be handling your account and make sure I keep Greg in the loop as well. I think we need a clean break before we can figure out our personal problems. I do want to work this out, but I just can’t right now.”

  With those final words he watched his whole world walk out of the door.

  CHAPTER 26

  God dammit. He paced around the room trying to get his temper under control. She loved him, but she still walked out what the hell was that about? If she loved him then why not stay and fight for what they had together before he screwed it up. He tried to tell her the truth, but he froze the moment she told him she loved him. His heart wanted to burst with happiness but was shattered when she said she couldn’t stay.

  Why didn’t he tell her nothing happened with Janice? He remembered walking through the door and Janice saying something and he walked to the bed and fell on it. The next thing he knew he woke up to hands all over him trying to undress him but the minute his brain registered that they were not Amanda’s he bolted for the door.

  He wanted to forget Janice and her need to hurt Amanda, which he still didn’t understand, forget everything but the way Amanda made him feel. While he wanted to forget everything, he knew that he would never forget the look on Amanda’s face when they came face to face in the hallway.

  He didn’t deserve her forgiveness, but he wanted it. He shouldn’t have put either of them in this situation and for that he didn’t know if he could forgive himself.

  He wanted her and a life together. As he paced around the conference room he knew that there was no way he was letting Amanda leave again. No way could he go through the waiting any longer. He had to have her answer now about them. He wanted to give her the time that she needed but he couldn’t, he needed to have her answer now.

  Running to the elevator he punched the button for her floor, tapping his foot impatiently he waited while the elevator silently ascended the floors. As soon as the doors opened, he ran down the hallway to her door.

  Banging on her door, he shouted her name. “Amanda, open up. We need to talk. I can’t wait.” When there was no immediate reply he pounded harder. “Amanda come on, open the damn door.” Again, no answer. He knew it was wrong, but he grabbed his master key card and slid it into the lock.

  He slowly pushed the door open, quietly calling her name, it was a long shot that she raced back up to her room, but he didn’t know where else to look. “Amanda” he called but still didn’t receive a response. As he walked around the room he noticed that there was no luggage in the room. She had bolted.

  Defeated he headed back down stairs and to the bar. Maybe Steph would take pity on him and show him some compassion. He doubted it, but it was worth a shot. He sat at the end of the bar and waited for her to notice him. He watched as she poured a shot and sat it in front of him.

  “Isn’t this the reason you’re in his mess? Are you sure you want a drink? Greg and I thought you would be over the moon now that Amanda is back. I don’t understand why you look so down.” Steph nodded in Greg’s direction. Russ glanced in the direction
Steph nodded and noticed Greg walking toward him. As he waited for his friend to take a seat he downed the shot then held the empty glass in his hands and stared into it.

  In a serious tone, Greg asked, “Why aren’t you happy? We thought you would be overjoyed with the news.”

  Were they crazy? Happy that she was leaving? Sure, she had said that she loved him, but she didn’t seem to love him enough and wasn’t that the problem. Or should he be happy because she is going to give his account to someone else at her company so that way they didn’t have to deal with each other any longer? This was not how he had planned the day to end. They had lost their minds if they thought he had anything to be happy about.

  “Are you guys crazy? Why would I be happy about anything she had to say? You know she is just going to get rid of it, hand it over for someone else to deal with. You know I think she may be right that we need a clean slate, so we can concentrate on our lives. Just scrap the whole idea, start over, you know. She’s supposed to call me when it’s done and introduce me to the woman who is going to be taking it over.” Russ watched as Steph turned ashen and then looked at Greg.

  He held up a hand to ward off the lecture he could feel coming from Greg. Greg had put a lot of time and effort into the new ad campaign, but he needed to learn when to cut his losses. Going with another associate wouldn’t be the worst thing. He could keep what was already done and just move forward. He didn’t care what Greg did as long as Amanda was true to her word and would give them a chance.

  He stared into his empty glass. He couldn’t image going on like this waiting for her to call him. No, he would give her a day, two at the most until he showed up on her door step and forced her to listen to him. Hell, he should have gotten down on one knee and begged her to marry him, but he had frozen.

  It was so unlike him not to have a plan. He reached one hand down and laid it against his thigh and felt the lump in his pocket. He should have done what he had planned but it had caught him off guard when he had walked in on her in Greg’s embrace. No, he said he would give her time, so he would.

  Looking at Greg he noticed how red his face had gotten and tried to explain it to him. “Look she gave me an easy out. She left the resort again, but at least I got a goodbye this time. A promise to call me sometime but that’s the best that came from the conversation.” He didn’t have a chance to tell them that he was going to go after her because Greg stood up so fast he knocked the bar stool over and grabbed Russ by the front of his shirt.

  Greg had his free hand fisted as if he was going to take a swing at Russ. “You know you are more than my boss. You are my best friend, but I swear that I could kill you right now.” He said seething. “An easy out? What the hell man? Are you really going to let her go like that? You’re not even interested in raising your own child? You’re just going to let her hand your kid over to some other woman to raise. What the fuck are you thinking?”

  He didn’t know what shocked him more, Greg’s outburst or the fact that his best friend had him by the shirt and was acting like he was going to deck him. He looked between Greg and Steph while Greg’s words started to sink in. A child? What child? What the hell was Greg talking about? “Say that again?”

  Greg let go of Russ and bent down to pick up his stool. Greg sat back down looking at Steph for help. He put his head in his hands and rubbed his face. “Oh man. She didn’t tell you. She’s pregnant. Steph and I figured it out and she all but admitted it earlier to me. I’m sorry I thought you knew.”

  “Hell no, I didn’t know. If I did she never would have left the conference room let alone the damn hotel.”

  “Then what’s with the easy out and starting fresh with someone else?” Steph asked.

  “She is going to give my account to another associate, so she and I can start fresh. When we talk through all of this, the business aspect will not be hanging over our heads.” He explained.

  Russ looked at them and pulled out his cell phone. No way was he letting her go now. He listened to the ringing before a woman answered. “Garret and Son’s how may I direct your call.”

  CHAPTER 27

  It had only been two days since she last saw Russ and she still hadn’t come to terms with the fact that he told her he loved her. It thrilled her and scared her. Would that change when he found out she had lied to him, a lie by omission was still a lie. Watching the waves slide up and down the beach held her enthralled. Her mind spun on the different things she could have and should have said.

  She should have to told him that it didn’t matter if he did or didn’t sleep with Janice. She could forgive that eventually. She shouldn’t have run out like she had, she could see that now but at the time escape had been at the forefront of her mind. Self-preservation was one of the things she did best, and she hated confrontation. He and Janice had both pushed her past her breaking point these last weeks, but she found out something about herself.

  She didn’t always have to give in. She didn’t always have to be the one to make the sacrifices for the ones she loved. Sometimes what she needed to do was have a backbone and some faith that things would work out. She was starting to feel that faith in the future. She picked up her phone out of her beach bag and looked at it. No messages, no emails, no missed calls. Either she had entered the Bermuda Triangle of cell reception or her Grandfather had blocked all calls from the office to her. She wouldn't put it past him. She dropped the phone back in her bag and laid back against the soft cushion.

  This afternoon she would book a flight back to Russ. She had to tell him everything and see where they could go from here. They needed to say everything and have a clean slate. She couldn’t waste the energy being afraid of the future any longer. She had to have a plan, but she also had to leave some wiggle room for the times that things did not go as planned, but for today she would relax on this beach, listen to the waves and pretend she was sitting on a different beach listening to different waves.

  The feeling that she was no longer alone had her surfacing from a deep sleep. She wouldn’t be surprised if she was still dreaming because when she cracked her eyes enough to notice the person sitting next to her it looked like Russ. She had dreamed of him every night, how he would take her into his arms and tell her everything would be ok. This must be one of those dreams. She reached out lazily expecting to meet the soft cushion of the chair next her but instead she felt firm thigh muscles.

  The feeling had her coming fully awake and she swung into a sitting position, her eyes glued to the man sitting next to her. Her heart was pounding so fast she thought she was going to have a heart attack. "Oh my God Russ what are you doing here? How did you find me?"

  Russ just wanted to look at her. He couldn’t believe that he was sitting here with her. She looked amazing, he was half afraid that if he blinked she would disappear. It had taken all his considerable negotiating skills to find out where she had run off to when she left him. After finally getting through to her assistant who wouldn’t tell him anything, he had demanded to speak to her grandfather. When he had explained who he was, her grandfather had been standoffish. When Russ had finally gotten him to listen to what he wanted, he had become a lot more helpful.

  He listened to her grandfather go on about stubborn women and just smiled through the phone. He could hear the smile in Bryce's voice when he spoke of his granddaughter and it made Russ respect the man even more.

  She looked so good. He could have sat there and stared at her forever. He took her hand in his and slid down next to the chaise onto one knee.

  “You’re at one of my resorts, shouldn’t I be asking what you’re doing here?”

  Amanda chuckled, once again her grandfather had taken care of the arraignments for her vacation. She shouldn’t have been surprised.

  “Amanda, I know that we have had our problems. Most of them have been my fault. I’m so very sorry that I hurt you and I didn’t tell you right from the start who I was. I’m sure that you can relate to wanting to protect yourself from people only
after our money. I can assure you that I loved you long before I knew who you really were.” Russ shook his head. This was not coming out like he had planned but he kept going before she could say anything.

  “I love you. I think I’ve loved you since that first day you wouldn’t give me your name. I love how genuinely nice you are. So nice, you would let your stepsister tag along on your vacation. I love that even after everything you had been through you still came back to the hotel because a client had asked you to.”

  Amanda interrupted at that. “You mean the client forced me to.”

  Russ held up this hand. He saw her lips twitch and knew she was trying not to smile. He felt his own smile and continued when she didn't go on. “Forced is such a harsh word. Let’s say persuaded.” He took her chuckle as a good sign. “I can’t imagine my life without you. I was going crazy on the island when you weren’t there. Say you will keep me from doing crazy stupid things by becoming my wife?” He pulled a black box out of his pocket and opened it.

  Sitting in the velvet-lined box was the most beautiful cushion cut diamond ring she had ever seen. She felt her eyes get misty as she looked from the ring into Russ’ eyes.

  “I have to tell you something first. I should have told you before I left but I was afraid you would reject me, and I couldn’t handle that. You’re going to be a father.” She said and lowered her eyes to her lap.

  Russ placed a finger under her chin and lift her eyes to meet his. “I know, but I was going to ask you to marry me before you even left the hotel. I couldn’t be happier about the baby, but I want you to understand I’m not asking you to marry me because of the baby. I’m asking you to marry me because I love you and I’ll love our little girl just as much.”