Holiday Hookup

by Jamie K. Schmidt

  “You think?”

  “I’ll be disappointed in you, if you don’t.”

  Selena and Mikelina exchanged grins.

  “Hi,” Blaine said, slightly out of breath. He looked a little manic.

  “Are you all right?” Selena asked.

  “Mr. Stephens, I’m glad to meet you. I’m Mikelina Presley, your concierge.” She held out her hand and Blaine shook it. “Was there something wrong with your surfing lessons?”

  “Yeah, no Wi-Fi. I don’t suppose you can get me something or somewhere, where I can connect to the internet?”

  Mikelina shot her a look. “I’m sorry, sir.”

  He held up his hand. “I get it. It’s against the rules.” Blaine turned those ice-blue eyes on Selena and she caught her breath. “Can we talk?”

  “Sure,” she said.

  “See you later,” Mikelina said, and then behind Blaine’s back gave her two thumbs up.

  Blaine’s fingers were warm on her upper arm and Selena resisted the urge to move closer hoping he would accidentally brush the side of her breast. God, she was pathetic. “What are you doing here?” Had he followed her to convince her to spend the day with him doing more interesting things than cooking and yoga?

  “There’s got to be an internet café around here somewhere.”

  Selena deflated. Of course. “Not around here. They want you shopping, not taking up space for a paying customer.”

  “I’m a paying customer. Please, you’ve got to point me in the right direction. I still don’t have cell service. I just want to check my email and see how work is coming along.”

  “It’s been what? Forty-eight hours? I think they’re good.”

  “Are you going to help me or not?” Blaine said.

  She sighed. “Fine. I think I’m enabling your workaholic tendencies, but I’m also not a fan of the cold-turkey method of dealing with addiction.”

  “I’m not an addict.”

  Selena looked at him up and down. “You’re one shake away from coming apart.”

  Blaine straightened. “I am not.”

  “Come on.” She started walking back to her scooter. “I know an internet café a few blocks away.”

  “Thanks,” he said, following her. “I owe you.”’

  “I have to ask, did you even notice the banyan tree?” She gestured to the large tree above them. It was covered in white lights for the holiday. At night it was magical.

  “It’s hard to miss. It takes up the whole block.”

  “Don’t you want to know more about it? Can’t you appreciate the beauty?”

  “I read the brochure in the car.”

  She shook her head. “Did you even take the time to admire the beautiful view of the ocean? You know if you go out past that channel, you might see humpback whales?”

  “Yeah, it’s nice.”

  “I can’t believe you. Most people would kill to be here in Maui away from work and all their responsibilities for two weeks.”

  “Most people don’t have a make-or-break product launch in February. Most people’s projects haven’t gone viral in the world’s most embarrassing video.”

  “It wouldn’t have gotten so popular if you hadn’t decked your head engineer.”

  He stopped in his tracks. “You saw the video?”

  “It has like five million views. Everyone saw the video.”

  “Would you buy the car?” he said.

  The thread of dejection in his voice got through to her. “What car?”

  “What do you mean, what car? The one that hit all the obstacles.”

  Selena shrugged. “It was a video of a car. We didn’t see the prototype. If the prototype did that, I’d say you’ve got something to worry about. That was just good publicity.”

  “You have a funny idea about good PR,” he said, but he resumed walking and he didn’t look as desperate anymore.

  “Get on,” she said, throwing her leg over her Vespa.

  “You want me to ride bitch on a scooter?” he said.

  “I’m going to forgive you for that sexist remark because you’re obviously starting with the DT’s.” She gave him a challenging stare.

  After looking around, he must have realized he didn’t have much of a choice. He got on the back and wrapped his arms around her.

  Oh my.

  “Go fast,” he said in her ear. “Speed turns me on.”

  She choked on her laugh and carefully and slowly pulled out into the street. His arms made her think of more private things they could be doing, but the feel of his solid body against her felt right. Selena wanted him to turn her on and had a sinking suspicion that it wouldn’t take much.

  “How did you get here?” she asked.

  “I took a three-hour tour of downtown Lahaina and tipped the driver a hundred dollars to go away until it was time to pick me up.”

  “You’re incredible.”

  “Incredible is that general manager of your resort. He’s got a hard-on something fierce for rules and regulations.”

  “Yeah, Titus is a special type of control freak. He runs the wellness center with an iron fist. Fortunately, I’m a contractor, so while he’s technically my supervisor, I only have to deal with him in small doses. I just have to put up with him for the next two weeks and then I don’t have to see him again until I’m assigned back here for the next rich internet junkie who needs a personal chef.”

  She wondered if he was even interested in her or if he was just looking for a hookup and he’d be putting the moves on anyone, Mikelina, Kelli Ann. Was she just convenient?

  He squeezed her tight. “You’re going to be the best thing about these two weeks.”

  “You’re just saying that because I’m giving you internet.” She parked in front of the café. “You owe me a bubble tea.”

  “Anything you want, it’s yours,” he said, helping her off the scooter.

  She decided to take him up on that and ordered a macadamia-nut brownie with her bubble tea. Blaine just got a black coffee. As she waited for her tea, she watched him walk to the bank of computers and pick one out. He wore his T-shirt tight and fitted. Selena could admire the strong muscles of his back and shoulders. Damn, but she wanted him. To hell with the rules. She was already breaking one by bringing him here. What were a few more? She wanted to eat dinner with him and join him in the hot tub. She hadn’t felt this way about a guy in a long time. She wanted some fun. Blaine wasn’t the only workaholic here. How many times had she come here and worked in her journal daydreaming about her restaurant? She was sick and tired of waiting for her life to start. She wanted an adventure and Blaine seemed more than willing to indulge her.

  “What would Titus think of that?” he said, pointing to the brownie when she sat next to him.

  “He’d hate it. But not as much as he’d hate this.”

  Taking a deep breath for courage, she leaned forward and planted a kiss on Blaine’s mouth. Shock held him still for a moment. Then his arm went around her, and he deepened the kiss. Her body thrummed in pleasure. She wanted to feel his body slide against hers. Yeah, she didn’t care if Titus found out about this. The worst he could do was remove her from the property and complain to Kirk Diamonte. It wouldn’t be a great thing to happen, but she was willing to take the risk.

  She was melting from the sweet feel of his mouth when he broke it off.

  “Want to surf the internet that badly?” she asked, disappointed. Her lips felt puffy and the rest of her was restless.

  “No. I just don’t like the audience.”

  Blushing, she looked around to see that everyone in the café was staring at them. Clearing her throat, she shifted away from him. “All right then.”

  “But this is to be continued. You can bet your very sweet ass on that.”

  She leaned in and whispered in his
ear. “I told Mikelina to put condoms and lube in your room.”

  Blaine choked on his coffee. He reached down and grabbed her hand. “Let’s go.”

  Tugging free, Selena went back to her brownie. “You still have an hour or so until your babysitter comes back for you. Get it out of your system.”

  “I’m having a hard time concentrating.”

  She put her hand on his leg and squeezed. “Good.”

  Blaine kissed her again, sending shivers through her body. Yeah, this was one of her better decisions. When he reluctantly turned to the computer, she bit into her brownie with relish. She even shared a bit with him while he took turns muttering and scowling into the screen. After pulling out her own notebook, she jotted down menu items for her restaurant. She was so engrossed she didn’t know that Blaine was watching her, until he pushed a strand of hair over her ear.

  “I was able to access my email, but I can’t log on to Stephens-Miller from anywhere but my laptop.”

  “Oh well, I guess you’ll have to go surfing and snorkeling for two weeks.” Selena patted his cheek. “You poor thing.”

  “I had a few extra minutes, so I looked up Anton Koslov.”

  She made a face. “You should have surfed porn instead. It would have been more pleasant.”

  “You worked with him?”

  “Unfortunately.”

  “He never went to Cordon Bleu.”

  Selena drank from her bubble tea, then chewed on the tapioca pearls. “Your point?”

  “My point is, you don’t work for him anymore. You’ve got a dream job. You’re an excellent chef. Why are you letting this dickhead still get to you?”

  Straightening her shoulders, she said, “I prefer to think of it as motivation.”

  “So you want to graduate from Cordon Bleu to spite him? Honey, I got news for you. He wouldn’t care less. In fact, I’m betting he doesn’t even remember you.”

  Selena hated talking about Anton. It made her feel inadequate.

  “What you should be doing is saving up for that restaurant of yours.”

  “Thanks for mansplaining my life to me.” Rolling her eyes, she stood up and put her trash in the garbage and walked out. Blaine must have had to rush to close out of what he was doing in order to catch her just as she started up the scooter.

  “I didn’t mean to make you upset. I’m trying to help.”

  “Help?” she scoffed. “Blaine, we met yesterday. Just because you read my journal doesn’t mean you know me.”

  “I’d like to know you,” he said.

  “Then, let’s just take this day by day.”

  “And night by night?” he asked.

  Selena hesitated. Did she really want to do this? Jump into a two-week stand? Looking him up and down, she knew that she did by the way her heart pounded and the way her nipples tightened when he looked at her.

  “I’ll see you back in the penthouse for lunch,” she said.

  “Just tell me one thing.” He jammed his hands into the pockets of his shorts. “Did I blow it big time?”

  “You almost did, but not quite.”

  The smile he gave her sent her hormones into overdrive.

  Yeah, totally worth risking getting busted by Titus.

  CHAPTER SIX

  BLAINE STILL COULDN’T get a freakin’ cell signal. It was like the universe was conspiring against him. And yet, he had a date with his personal chef that was making him want to run back to the wellness center instead of waiting for his driver to pick him up. He should have brought his laptop with him. Although, the corporate firewall would have probably freaked out on him and denied him access when they saw the ISP address of the café.

  He had to admit, the weather was perfect. Detroit had over a foot of snow and here he was sitting on a stone wall, looking at green-blue waves crashing into a frothy white surf. It was mesmerizing. Being forced to do nothing didn’t suck as much as he thought it would, especially when he had Selena to look forward to.

  It had been fun to read her journal, even though the decent part of him knew it was an invasion of privacy. It had given him an intimate look at her hopes and dreams and he really should return the favor to even the score between them. But he was an open book. Hell, she saw what he was all about on YouTube. It bothered him that she couldn’t see that going to Cordon Bleu was a waste of time and money. She could get her MBA much cheaper stateside. Or to hell with the MBA, get real-life experience in running her own business.

  Her restaurant idea had franchise possibility written all over it. After going into one of the shops, he bought a leather journal with a tortoise on the cover and a trashy pen that had a picture of a lady in a bikini, whose bikini faded away when you tipped the pen. While he waited for his ride, he did some calculations for a first-year budget for Selena’s restaurant. He was so engrossed with what he was doing, when his driver came up to him, Blaine was startled to realize it was lunchtime.

  “Ready to go, Mr. Stephens?” the driver said.

  “Yeah.” Blaine stretched and walked back to the car. It had felt nice to have the sun on his back and to hear the crash of the waves. And while he still wasn’t satisfied with the lack of information in his inbox about the Pilot Project, he wasn’t about to give up on finding out what was happening with his company. But for now, he was content to wait out the two weeks.

  When they got back to the wellness center, a man was waiting to greet him. He seemed as tightly wound as his muscles, which were displayed with a rash guard and matching shorts. Blaine really hoped Mikelina hadn’t set him up with an exercise program with this douchebag.

  “Mr. Stephens? I’m Titus Dukes.” He held out his hand.

  Blaine tried not to smirk that he pronounced his first name like tight ass.

  “How was your shopping experience?”

  “Life changing,” Blaine drawled and pushed past him.

  “You have a phone message.”

  Blaine frowned.

  “It came through an hour ago. It wasn’t urgent, but your mother wanted to speak to you once you were back from your excursion.”

  “Why didn’t she call my cell?” he asked.

  “Guests of the Maui Wellness Center are unable to make calls in or out on their personal units.”

  “You’ve got a cell blocker on my phone?” Blaine took a threatening step forward, but then the cell phone beeped.

  “As you agreed when you signed our liability paperwork.”

  That served Blaine right for not reading it. He should have realized his brother Mitchell was up to something by the way he had smirked.

  Titus handed him a cell phone. “If you press five, you’ll be able to hear the message. I can allow you a ten-minute call.”

  “That’s generous of you.” Blaine pressed five and his mother’s voice came on asking him to call her. He looked at the phone. It appeared to be Tight Ass’s personal cell. “If you’ll excuse me?” Blaine said.

  “Of course.” Titus went behind a desk and shuffled some papers, but he didn’t go away too far.

  Blaine walked through the lobby and took a seat on a bench facing the beach. Titus followed at a discreet distance, like he had expected Blaine to take off running with the phone. Calling his mother’s number, Blaine stared off into the waves. Maybe he should have gone surfing after all.

  “Hello?” his mother picked up.

  “Hello from Maui,” Blaine said, forcing a cheerful tone into his voice.

  “Blaine! I’m so glad to hear from you. How do you like the resort?”

  “It’s all right,” he said.

  “Just all right?” her voice fell.

  Blaine cursed himself. She paid a lot of money for this. He didn’t have to be such a bastard about it. “I’m still shaking off the jet lag. I took a tour of Lahaina today and did yoga.”

  “Yoga?”
she said. “You did yoga?”

  “Yeah, and I’ve got a personal chef who’s making all my meals. So they’re taking good care of me, Mom.”

  “I’m so happy. I just want you to relax a little. All that stress you’re under is no good for you.”

  “Well, I sat out in the sun by the water today and I’m heading back to my room for a good meal and a nap.” After what he hoped was earthshaking sex.

  “I wish I was there.”

  Blaine winced, glad she wasn’t privy to his thoughts. “I think you and Dad would like it here. You should book a trip. Is it snowing?”

  “Ugh,” she groaned. “Worse. It’s icy sleet and absolutely frigid.”

  “It’s about eighty-five, but there is a strong breeze coming in from the west.”

  “Rub it in,” she said. “You better enjoy it while you can. It’s going to be a quick two weeks.”

  “Yeah, it’ll be over before I know it.” Strangely, that didn’t fill him with the relief that he thought it would.

  “And don’t worry about the Pilot Project. Mitchell and Paul have completely scrapped the camera-sensor programming and are starting fresh.”

  “They what?” he said, jerking to his feet.

  “Alice!” Blaine heard his father yell in the background. “You’re not supposed to talk with him about work.”

  “What do you mean, they’re starting fresh? There’s nothing wrong with my code.”

  She gave a nervous giggle. “Oh, I must have heard it wrong then. Don’t mind me. You go out there and do something fun and enjoy that beautiful weather. I’ve got to go.”

  “Mom.” Blaine saw Titus coming over to him.

  “Love you!” She hung up.

  “Love you too,” he muttered, and handed the phone to Titus before he could ask for it back.

  “Is there anything else we can do for you today?” Titus said.

  All of a sudden, he wanted to punch the smirk off of Titus’s face. “No.” He headed for the elevators, his mother’s words still clanging around in his brain. He forced his fists to unclench.