AstonWhen I looked up from the computer, I saw Blake crossing the lobby. He’d taken off his waistcoat, jacket and tie and rolled his sleeves up to his elbows. If I were in a cartoon, my tongue probably would have rolled out of my head.It was unfair for one person to be that beautiful. The crisp white shirt was unbuttoned at the collar and, now uninterrupted by the blue tie and black suit, contrasted perfectly with his tanned skin and pitch black hair.I watched him walk up to us, admiring his perfect bone structure, angular jaw and the precisely measured way in which he moved. His gait was long but graceful, and his eyes, while seemingly focused on mine, still seemed alert to everything going on around him.Whatever the man did for work, I doubted he ever missed a trick. The corners of his lips turned up into a smile when he got to the desk. “I was wondering if I could take you up on that offer of telling me where I could go grab a bite to eat.”Despite his intimidatingly good looks
BLAKESifting through thousands of unanswered emails, I waited for the conference call from my father and my brother to come in. It was a beautiful, typical California day outside with clear blue skies and warm weather. I, however, was cooped up in my hotel room waiting for our weekly briefing to begin.It was day four of my weekly hostage situation, aka Thursday. I worked almost every weekend, but I was looking forward to taking this weekend off. Danny and I had been at loggerheads more often than not this week and I needed some space away from him, or away from my computer rather—which is where it seemed he lived when I wasn’t physically close by.The call came through when it was supposed to, almost to the minute. My father was nothing if not punctual. His face popped up on my screen first, followed shortly by Danny’s, in its own window. As far as I knew, my brother was in Arizona this week.“Blake. How’s California?” My father asked.“Still standing. The hotel is doing well, but I
BlakeDad nodded, smiling like a professor who appreciated a question from a student. “Yes, we have everything handled on our end. But you have an excellent network of people on the ground level you can reach out to. I want you to help us gauge how the branches are reacting.”Technically, this wasn’t part of my job description. But hey, it was our company and I often had to do things outside of my regular duties. “Fine, I’ll make a couple of calls and send through reports as I get them.”“Fantastic. I want to know how people are responding to this.” My father liked having his ear on the ground. He was a respected CEO not only because of his business sense, but also for the way that he treated his employees.His eyes slid to Danny’s screen on his computer. “Blake and I need to talk about a few more things, Dan. You’re excused. I’m sure you have a lot of preparation to do before the conference this afternoon. Keep me in the loop.”“Fine, we’ll talk later. Bye Dad. Cheers Blake, try not
ASTONTiffany and I gathered in front of the TV. Blake came to stand next to us. A handsome man appeared on the screen and most of us in the lounge went quiet. Tiffany gasped. “Oh my God, that’s Danny McAllen, the big boss’s son.”I frowned, wondering what could be so important that one of the McAllen’s themselves would be making the announcement. I didn’t follow society gossip much and I hadn’t met any of the family in person since I started working for the McAllen group. “Have you met him?”Tiffany shook her head. “Can’t say that I wouldn’t like to. He’s damn good-looking isn’t he? And can you imagine how rich he is?”I suddenly became very aware of Blake standing right next to me. He probably hadn’t known who Danny McAllen was either, but he still didn’t need to hear Tiffany make those kinds of comments about the guy. “Tiffany!”She glanced at Blake, but shrugged. “What? I bet he’s loaded. I would sleep with him for a portion of his money, even if it was just a small portion.”Seri
AstonWe turned our attention back to the TV just as Danny started talking again. “This is an exciting time for the McAllen Group. We urge all our employees to join us in celebrating these new developments and we hope to be seeing you all in a McAllen Hotel someday soon.”When he started taking questions from the reporters at the press conference, Tiffany stuck out her lower lip. “I take back what I said. I wouldn’t sleep with him for all the money he has.”“Really? If Danny McAllen were to walk through our doors right now, you wouldn’t be interested if he offered you say, a million dollars?” My teasing question was out before I could stop it.Horrified to have spoken that way in front of a guest, I turned my head to apologize, but when I saw Blake chuckling into his drink, I decided it was okay to have slipped just this once.Tiffany feigned a shocked expression, letting her mouth hang open and bringing four of her fingers up to cover it.“Me? Sleep with someone for money? Never. I’m
BLAKEGoing to dinner with the managers of our hotels was something I did quite often. It was one of the tools I used to gauge how they really felt about the company. But this was the first time I’d found myself trying on my third shirt before heading out.Getting dressed for dinner with Aston felt different than it usually did when I was grabbing dinner with a manager. That felt like work, this felt like a date.One of the girls I’d dated once told me blue shirts made my eyes ‘pop.’ Looking in the full-length mirror in my walk-in closet, I decided I agreed with her. The color of my shirt did bring out my eyes.And you sound like a fucking girl.Fuck it, I decided. I was wearing the shirt. The other two looked just fine too, actually. I didn’t even know why I cared. I shouldn’t have cared.This was a business dinner. Aston was coming to the restaurant after her shift. She might not know it was business for me too, but that hardly mattered. I wasn’t lying to her, and I wasn’t interview
Blake“I’ve only been in my current position for a few months. I’m doing really well at it, I think. I’m happy and challenged. I don’t know if I’m ready for another change yet,” she admitted. “Enough about me. Tell me about you. Do you enjoy quality assurance and finance?”“Does anyone enjoy finance?” I grinned.She bounced her head from side to side. “Probably not. I enjoy having finances, if that helps.”“That’s the only part anyone enjoys, I think.” I told her honestly. I was good at numbers, I always had been. It didn’t mean I particularly enjoyed them. “The quality assurance part of my job isn’t so bad. I enjoy that.”“Really?” She leaned forward, nodding when a waiter appeared and offered her water. We ordered our drinks and the man left to get them. Scotch for me and white wine for her.When he was gone, she turned her focus back to me. “What exactly does quality assurance entail? I’m sorry if that’s a stupid question, but I just don’t really know. I’ve never met anyone in that
ASTONBlake followed me out the back entrance of the hotel with no questions asked. I appreciated his trust, but I was confused by it. Despite having asked him why he really asked me to dinner, his answer didn’t make sense to me.He just wanted to get to know me? Why?I was hoping that showing him my happy place would make him open up a bit more. Though we talked all through dinner, I got the feeling he hadn’t really wanted to talk about himself. I didn’t get any bad vibes from him and I didn’t think he was lying to me, but I suspected there was more to it than just wanting to get to know a hotel manager in a city he was skipping out of in a couple of days.Traffic was light on this side of town after sunset, but we could hear horns blaring and cars racing by on the main street in front of the hotel. Soundlessly, we made our way up the path that led through the hotel’s gardens and to the trail leading up the hill beside it.The path and trail were lit by domes of light on knee high st