Randa felt the heat rush into her cheeks and wanted desperately to say something flirty. This was the persona she wanted: sexy, confident, quick with encouragement or denial as required. But those words, coming from Tony, had short-circuited her brain. This was her game. And she was losing. Worse, he could tell. And even if he wasn’t laughing out loud, she could read the amusement on his face.
“On the right woman, glasses just make her that much hotter,” Tony said with a small smile. He grabbed all the bags before he slid out of the truck. Before she could do the same, he was opening her door. If Randa had to guess, she’d say he was muttering curse words all the way around.
“Are you mad?” Randa had no idea why she cared, but Tony didn’t look like a guy thinking seduction now.
“Only at myself.” He shook his head. “You’re too tempting. I say mean things to push you away, but before I know it, it’s all I can do to keep from kissing you again.” He looked down at the ground and mumbled, “I’m sorry for hurting your feelings earlier, with the comment about living on your own money.”
Randa had to squash down the crazy happiness that made her want to fling herself at him. An apology? From a man? That never happened in her world. More than anything she wanted to kiss his frown away. “Then why don’t you kiss me again?”
“It’s not a good idea.” And the look on his face as he said it was serious. Determined.
He waited for her to slide out then slammed the door. Randa savored the feeling of plastic, cushioned flip-flops and carried her outrageously expensive heels in her hands while she tried to figure out how to get happy, teasing Tony back. He had as good a bullshit meter as she did apparently. Honest Randa was pulling heartstrings with the world’s worst poor-me story. Flirty Randa got quiet curses and the cold shoulder. It wasn’t hard to figure out which way to go, even if honesty was dangerous.
Tony waved at Michelle and the young man behind the front desk and followed Randa down the hall to pause in front of her room. Randa fumbled in her tiny pocket and managed to pull out her room key. When she got the door open and flipped on the light, Tony held out her bags.
She took them and set them on the table beside the door before she said, “So, I should say again how much I appreciate you showing me your place. It’s a wonderful store and I had a great time.” She pointed down at her feet and wiggled her toes. “You’ll be seeing a lot of these over the next few days.” And then she’d have to get rid of them. Her mother would not be amused. As she watched the flower petals shake, she decided she didn’t even care what her mother thought. She liked them. Her mother’s face might freeze in a permanent pucker the first time she wore them to breakfast, but that’s what they made Botox for. As of today Randa didn’t care anymore.
The idea of pitching a battle over discount-store shoes was ridiculous. But freeing too.
Tony clenched his own book bag in his hand. The crinkle and crunch of plastic was loud in the quiet hallway. “Glad you enjoyed it.” He glanced down the hall at Viva Las Vegas. “Should have asked if you’d like to pick something up while we were out. The restaurant’s great but every day’s a bit much.”
Randa shifted her weight from one foot to the other. If she was as smart as she’d always believed, she’d take full advantage of this opportunity to pick his brain. Except when she started to push, he pulled. And it was dangerous to spend any more time with him. But the way she felt about him was barely under control at this point. Finding out one more thing, whatever it might be, that made her melty inside would be all it took. She’d trick, entice, coerce, or beg him to kiss her again and that would be the beginning of the end. Because she’d be lying to him. And that felt wrong.
But then again, she’d had a better time with him than she could ever remember having with a man so she said, “Are you kidding me? I skipped lunch just so I could have one of those burgers again tonight. Besides, I promised you dinner, right? Join me or don’t, but my next stop is the bar.”
She took his bag and set it down on the table. As she joined him in the hallway and pulled the door closed, he said, “You do realize you’re still wearing the green glasses, don’t you?”
“Ack!” Randa shoved open the door. She nearly tripped over her cheery flip-flops before she dropped her glasses on the table. She smoothed down her short skirt and smiled as she listened to his rusty laughter in the hallway.
TONY HAD NO idea how he’d wound up sitting next to her at the bar again. He’d had every intention of doing his good deed for a fellow reader, a guest at the hotel no matter her ulterior motives, and dropping her back at her room before he nuked a frozen dinner and got ready for his shift. He’d rested and he was feeling pretty upbeat about a quiet night running the front desk. He’d knock out some paperwork, make sure the new guy got a good, solid idea of the boredom that came with running the desk at night, and brainstorm some staffing ideas. They only had to survive one more day without Willodean. And it wasn’t that he doubted his own capabilities. The staff missed her. Guests missed her even if they’d never met her because she gave the hotel an entirely different feeling when she was around. The place felt warmer, more comfortable, and there was always the sizzle of positive expectations. He didn’t really understand how she did it—how she made people feel like something great was about to happen—but he’d watched it for a while. He’d thought himself immune to it, but now… well, he missed her. He’d be glad when she got back home even if he would miss Misty’s twenty-four-hours-a-day shadow. When he’d first kept Misty, he’d done his best not to get attached. Losing her was inevitable. But the truth was, she’d made his life so much better it had been impossible not to fall in love with the floppy eared bath rug.
Feelings had been dangerous, especially early on in his Rock’n’Rolla assimilation. The place really did feel like family and one thing he’d learned was that family made a man vulnerable. Because like returning Misty to her owner, that loss was inevitable. Sometimes it was desertion or changing schools or graduating or leaving boot camp or… sometimes it was a camouflaged bomb on the side of the road. Life meant loss. Pulling back meant he didn’t get too attached, didn’t have to face that.
But first there was Willodean. And Misty. And Laura. And now even KT was starting to feel like the brother he never wanted.
The numbness that meant survival was fading. He was happy about it but scared to lose the protection too.
Randa Whitmore made him think of possibilities and futures and choices and things he’d always wanted but had been afraid to hope for a long time. She might be even more dangerous than Willodean. They both held out hope, but in very different ways. If only the person she pretended to be was who she really was. It would be easy to stay away. But she wasn’t. He was uncomfortable with how much he liked the real Randa.
Sitting here at the bar, eating a burger and fries, wiping the dribbled dipping sauce off her chin and wiggling her toes to make the flower on her foot dance in time to the Elvis song playing in the bar, she looked like a normal girl. Somebody who liked the same things he did. Maybe she even wanted the same things he did. And, God, that was a dangerous thought.
“What? Did I miss some?” She pulled up a napkin and dabbed at her chin. “You’re appalled at my table manners, aren’t you? It’s okay. You should be. Thank God the lights are too bright for me to see clearly in the mirror.”
She smiled at him then took a drink of the sweet tea. “I should really order one of these and take it back to my room so I can love it in super-secret darkness, wantonly, and as I wish.”
Tony shook his head. “Just a good thing you aren’t wearing glasses or something. That would really turn my stomach.” When she wrinkled her nose at him in answer to his teasing, he smiled. Cute Randa was hard to resist.
Randa pushed her plate back. “I’ve spent a long time being hungry. I like being stuffed better.” Then she let out a happy sigh and stared up at the ceiling. “What a fabulous day.”
Tony did his best to ignore the thrill of satisfaction
that raced up from his gut. He couldn’t argue with her. She was absolutely right.
“And now, thanks to you, I have books to make it a truly rocking night.”
Tony choked on the water he was drinking because an image of the two of them rocking . . . naked… spread out across a bed immediately flashed across his mind.
She thumped him on the back and added, “And because I am in such a fabulous mood, I am going to say thank you in the best way you could imagine.”
Tony coughed and would have choked again if he’d been able to get any air in the first place. He held up a finger and forced himself to take deep breaths while ignoring the desperate hopeful shouting of his body. Finally he took two slow drinks of water and said, “What did you have in mind?”
She signed the ticket Cat placed in front of her with a flourish and said, “I am going to help you with your housekeeping shortage.”
This was going to be good. It wasn’t that hard to see through the generosity of the offer to the real reason behind it. For some reason, she wanted to see the other rooms. She’d already hinted once at the pool. This was one way to do it. He couldn’t imagine how letting her see the other rooms would hurt the hotel, and an extra pair of hands, even if they were Randa’s, would be helpful. “Oh, yeah? How?”
She pulled over a napkin and took the pen Cat had left to number one through five. “Did you forget that I am a management consultant? Normally, companies pay big bucks for advice like mine. You did me a huge favor, so I am going to give you five easy suggestions on how to get more good employees in the door and how to keep them beyond the first six months.” She arched a brow. “Are you ready for this?”
So she hadn’t quite worked through it in her mind. He felt a flash of satisfaction at being more than one step ahead of her. Maybe it was just the idea of actually cleaning toilets had never occurred to her. Seduction, yes. A little hard work, not so much.
Tony sighed. “Well, I do appreciate that, but you know, my biggest problem is tomorrow. Elvis Week is one of the biggest weeks of the year. Under normal circumstances, we manage. It’s just tomorrow, when we’re at full capacity, that we’re really needing help.”
Randa deflated slowly. “Oh, well, I just thought you might like some ideas.”
Tony shrugged and pulled out his wallet. “Could really use an extra pair of hands.”
Randa stared off into space as she thought about that. She didn’t look particularly worried or revolted and he thought he could see the realization spread across her face. She turned to him and said, “Tell me where and when. I’ll be there with rubber gloves on.” She shrugged and it took everything in him not to watch the bounce of her breasts. “Well, not really. I mean, unless you’re providing rubber gloves.”
“How about ten? In the laundry room right behind the elevator on the second floor.” He watched her nod and decided he’d be her partner. The staff usually worked in teams of two or three. Since they were shorthanded, he was going to pair up an experienced maid with a temp, but he wanted to watch Randa work. For more than one reason.
They slid off the stools and made a stop by Misty’s palm frond in the lobby so that Randa could murmur sweet nothings in her floppy ears and Tony could do his best to ignore how damned cute she was in her neon shoes and puppy love. He shook hands with the new night guy, Leon, and told him he’d be on duty in a few hours.
Randa finally stood with a sigh when Misty licked her lips and stretched back out on the cool floor. He said, “Maybe you ought to get a dog.”
Randa smiled up at him but it didn’t reach her eyes. “I’d have to make some really big changes to do that. Other than all the travel I do.”
“Wouldn’t the staff at Daddy’s house help out?”
Randa’s smile slipped and Tony realized he’d just done it again. Throwing up her father’s money reminded them both of their differences, and it made him feel like an ass. “Possibly, but only if Mommy moved out first. Dogs do not fit the décor.”
“Not even for the baby girl?” To him, that was the way it should be. He’d seen it more than once. Baby girls got away with murder. He hoped he had a chance someday to carry on that tradition.
“Nope, nothing trumps the décor.” Randa tried to smile. “Someday, maybe, the rules will be different at my place. I just have to settle down somewhere first.”
Tony reached for her hand and squeezed it as they turned down the hallway to her room and the staff apartments. “Maybe a dog would make the changes worth it.”
Randa blinked and said, “Yeah, maybe.”
She opened her door and he stepped in to grab his books off the table. Then they stared at each other. Now he could hear very faint strains of guitar from the restaurant. And his breathing. He wanted to kiss her but the idea of putting his hands on her without stripping her naked seemed impossible.
So he raised his hand in an awkward wave and said, “See you in the morning, then.”
Randa nodded and put one hand on the doorknob. She was so close. He could have his lips on hers just like that.
But he was strong. And he had to go to work. In an hour or two.
He was manning up to do the right thing and had almost convinced himself to step back out into the hallway when she inched closer, raised up on her tiptoes, and pressed her lips to his. The crinkle of the bag in his hand was loud when he wrapped his arms around her waist and tugged her tighter against his body. It was impossible to ignore how well she fit his arms. Pressed against him like this, he could feel her breasts on his chest and her hips rested against his like she was the lock to his key.
She started the kiss but he took it over. Sweet turned into hot and a little rough as he claimed her mouth. He had a tight grip on her hips and was about two seconds from pushing her back into the room and closing the door behind him. But he pulled back to look in her eyes. They were bright and her cheeks were flushed and he wanted to put the better-than-sex look from the bar back on her face. He glanced over at the bed and saw her laptop set up like she was ready to sit down and go right back to work. That was all he needed to get a little more control. One more day. Then Willodean would be back.
As much as he wanted to demand answers right now, he could hear Laura’s voice telling him to wait. The only thing he cared about more than doing his job to protect the hotel was pleasing Willodean. And the place was hers. The Whitmores were rich enough to cause trouble if he didn’t like Randa’s answer, not that Willodean would worry much about that. So far all Randa had done was… exactly nothing. So he’d wait, even though it rubbed him the wrong way, and talk to Willodean. Then he’d confront Randa to ask what she was really doing there and do his damnedest to convince her not to leave without seeing where this explosive attraction would go. He knew it was a mistake. But he expected the payoff to be so worth any suffering he experienced when she headed back to Chicago.
He blew out a frustrated breath and then kissed her hard once on the lips before he stepped back. “See you in the morning.”
He forced himself to step back out in the hallway and to take one step right after the other until he reached the door to the pool and the staff apartments. He paused there to look back to see her standing in the pool of light of her doorway. She didn’t look any happier than he felt. And even if it was cold consolation, he was relieved as he stepped out into the muggy Memphis evening.
Chapter Seven
* * *
RANDA HAD NO trouble finding the laundry room on the second floor. As soon as she stepped off the elevator, she could hear someone whistling like he was one of the seven dwarves headed to work. Maybe Dopey. And she knew without a doubt that it could not be Tony. The whistler was a cheerful, happy soul without a care in the world. She also knew that if Tony was around, he was seconds from ordering the whistler far, far away.
She raised her hand to knock on the door and heard Tony say, “Okay, Masters, we get it. You’re happy to be here. The rest of us don’t whistle until at least three o’clock. Have some respect
.”
Happy she could hear what almost sounded like a smile in his voice, she rapped twice and opened the door just as KT Masters answered, “Sure thing, Tony. The luckiest man in the world can take pity on the less fortunate. Just take my advice, man. Get a woman. The right one will bring a happy song to your lips.”
Tony rolled his eyes and Randa did her best not to let her smile slip when their eyes locked across the crowded laundry room. She also did her best not to blush or replay the memory of that last kiss in her mind. She’d been doing it all night between worthy attempts to lose herself in one of her new books. The grooves were so well worn at this point that her mind slipped back into them easily. His lips on hers. The heat of his hands in the small of her back. The hard press of his chest against hers.
She’d lost track of the conversation. She could tell because everyone the room was staring at her. Or, to be honest, most of them were dividing their time between goggling at Tony and then back at her.
KT Masters, former child star, current television producer, and man in love with Laura, recovered first. He let out a sharp wolf whistle and held out his hand to Randa. “Well, maybe you already know what I’m talking about then.” KT wagged his eyebrows at Tony. Tony’s lips tightened and he sniffed. KT blinked. “Did you just sniff at me? Like, in disdain or something? Weird. When did you become an old lady?”
When he turned back to Randa, she shook his hand and said, “It’s very nice to meet you, Mr. Masters. I’m Randa.”
KT Masters had the look of a man who was on top of the world and determined to make sure everyone was having as good a time as he was. He wrapped an arm around her shoulder and Randa would have sworn the temperature in the room dropped ten degrees. She shot a look at Tony. As always his face was hard to read. But his eyes… they seemed a little clearer. At his cold glare, KT laughed. “Call me KT. Everyone in the Rock’n’Rolla does. And if there’s one way to become family around here, it’s to give up a vacation day to scrub toilets. Welcome, Randa.”
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