I walked across the wide expanse of floor between the front door and the reception desk of the hotel. It seemed like a ridiculous waste of space. It was all very grand and remarkably affordable. Expensive, but affordable. We’d been saving all year with this trip in mind. Now that it was finally happening, I couldn’t believe it.
“Sade, come on,” Julia said, turning to look back at me.
“I can’t help it,” I said with total amazement. “Look at this place.”
“I know. It’s gorgeous, but we’re here to see the lake, not the lobby. Come on.” Julia stomped her foot, her sandals clicking against the hard floor.
I picked up the pace, joining Julia and Khloe at the counter. I stared at the receptionist, smiling brightly until Julia elbowed me.
“Oh, uh, we—I mean I—I have the suite reserved under Sade Jones,” I said, remembering Julia had used my name with only me on the reservation.
The woman leaned forward. “We don’t charge extra for people in the suite,” she said in a low voice, winking and laughing.
I breathed a sigh of relief. I hated the idea of lying. “Oh, thank god. Thank you. Does that mean we can get three keys?”
She giggled. “Yes, I can do that.”
“Thank you,” I said, sliding my credit card over to put on file for incidentals.
With our keycards in hand, we walked to the center of the lobby. A bellhop rushed toward us to relieve us of our bags. We followed him to the elevator, giddy with excitement about our coming week.
“This is going to be amazing,” Khloe cooed. “It’s our one last hurrah before we have to go out and be adults. We’re going to party like we’re twenty-one!”
Julia, always quick to be accurate, rolled her eyes. “We’re twenty-four. Twenty-one wasn’t that long ago.”
I groaned. “It feels like twenty years ago, with our class load the last two years.”
“True,” Julia agreed.
The elevator stopped, and we were taken down a hall with plush beige carpet that was remarkably clean. The bellhop stopped in front of a door. I quickly used my key to open it. He gestured for the three of us to go in. We all squealed when we saw the amazing room. I barely remembered to give him a tip before he left us because I was taking in the sight of our shared suite.
“I feel like a movie star,” I exclaimed, taking in the living room area that overlooked the gorgeous lake below.
“Look at the pool!” Julia squealed.
We all rushed to the windows overlooking the crystal-clear pool with lounge chairs surrounding it. The southern edge of Lake Tahoe was just beyond. I shook my head with wonderment. Every extra hour I had put in serving coffee was officially worth it.
“I cannot wait to get a drink and chill by that pool,” I said reverently.
“Come on, ladies,” Khloe said. “Ditch those bags and let’s get this celebration started!”
Five minutes later, after some quick touch-ups to our makeup, we were headed downstairs to the restaurant and lounge in the hotel. The place had great reviews and was voted the best hotel in South Lake Tahoe last year.
The hotel had been offering a hell of a deal at the end of last summer. Khloe had come up with the idea for all of us to enjoy a vacation once we successfully graduated with our masters. We had done it, and now we were ready to reward ourselves for all the hard work we had put in over the years.
“Three please,” Khloe told the young woman standing at a tall podium just outside the restaurant.
“Right this way.” She smiled and led us to a table in the center of a busy lounge area.
We ordered cocktails and cobb salads and settled in. I sipped on the Blue Hawaiian, my eyes scanning the room. They landed on something so utterly beautiful, I gasped aloud.
“What’s wrong?” Khloe asked, her head twisting around to look behind me.
“Don’t look,” I hissed.
It was too late. Julia’s blonde hair was spinning out as she turned her head so fast, I worried it would twist right off. They both turned around to look back at me, grinning like fools.
“He’s hot,” Julia commented.
I scowled at her. “Why don’t you shout it?”
My eyes drifted back to the man who’d caught my attention. He was gorgeous. He put Brad Pitt, Ryan Reynolds, and every other hot celebrity out there to shame. He was the total package. Tall, dark, and handsome had to have been created just for him. I couldn’t stop looking at him. He was talking with another man, also handsome, but not his kind of handsome.
The man I had eyes for had a mega-watt smile that tickled me to the very tips of my toes. He was wearing a suit, but I could see the thickness of his arms and legs and knew he was in excellent shape. I wanted to see his eyes, just a glimpse. Of course, if I saw his eyes, he would see me staring, and that wouldn’t do.
And then he did. Shit. How embarrassing.
I quickly looked away, but not before I got a chance to look into the stunning baby blues. I could have melted in my seat.
The dark brows, combined with the enviable long dark eyelashes, made the blue of his eyes stand out even more. The color reminded me of the blue cobalt bottles I worked with in the lab. They were that blue.
“He’s coming,” I hissed beneath my breath.
Sade“Who’s coming?” Julia asked.“Him,” I whispered, glancing up to see if he’d changed course.He hadn’t. He was weaving around tables and shaking hands with guests as he made his way toward our table. I noticed he had a slight limp but didn’t get the chance to think much more about it. He stopped behind Julia and Khloe, a hand on the backs of each of their chairs and his eyes on me.I was melting. I was absolutely melting into a mushy pile of goo under the gaze of the prettiest eyes I had ever seen. He smiled, and the perfectly straight white teeth practically blinded me, looking whiter against his tanned skin.“Good afternoon, ladies,” he said in a voice as smooth as honey.Yep. Died. Melted and died.I couldn’t speak. I could only stare. I felt so ridiculous, but my brain and mouth had a total disconnect, and words failed me.“Hi,” Julia said in her typical upbeat voice. She really worked the blonde thing and was almost always perky.“Hello,” he said, his eyes still on mine.“Hi,
TrentI hadn’t been able to stop smiling since I’d first laid eyes on the beautiful young woman who’d been unable to stop staring at me. I had the same problem, except I had a little more self-awareness and realized I was openly staring at her, so I pulled my eyes away. Briefly, but away all the same.She was stunning. There was something about her that drew me in. It was like a magnetic pull that I was helpless to ignore.I found myself standing at her table, openly gazing at her before I remembered who I was and where I was. I couldn’t remember ever seeing a woman that I was that attracted to. Her friends were pretty in the traditional sense, but the woman who’d caught my eye was my kind of pretty.She had a natural beauty to her that matched the natural curves. She was radiant and glowing, and I wished like hell I could have seen her standing up. I was imagining round hips to go with the round breasts. I imagined she’d have the classic hourglass figure that men drooled over back in
TrentI held up my hand, stopping Richie’s boasting about his bedroom habits before he could get started. “Linens. Are they ordered?”“Yes.”“Good. Are we set for the happy hour tomorrow?”He nodded again. “Yes. We have extra servers on hand and a shitload of champagne. I hope this extra expense is worth it. You’ll see the invoice for the champagne in that stack. I suggest you be sitting down when you look at it.”“It’s okay,” I said. “You have to spend money to make money. I want people to feel like they are getting luxury treatment. I want them to feel like their hard-earned money is appreciated and we’re not only a reasonably priced hotel, but we also have all the little extras that the five-star places offer.”He didn’t look convinced. “We’re not exactly running a dive here. We’re right up there with the five-star places.”“Yes, but we’re not there. My goal is to be at the top. I want people waiting to get into this place. I want them settling for the others. Right now, we’re prob
SadeI rolled over in the bed that I swore was made from clouds, and I looked into the sleeping face of Julia. She and I had agreed to take the room with the two queen beds, giving Khloe the master bedroom in the suite.I didn’t feel like we had settled at all. The beds were comfortable and inviting. It kind of felt like a sleepover with my best gal pal. Julia and I had been friends since we were in third grade. Friends from a distance—a very long distance sometimes, with my family bouncing all over the world.She’d gone to a different school, but we had kept in touch. We had managed to make plenty of time to hang out on the weekends, and the three of us had all become the best of friends. They were my family. They were my real support system, and I didn’t think I could have ever made it through the grueling years without them pushing me and encouraging me to keep moving forward.“I don’t want to get out of bed,” Julia moaned.“Me either, but I think that would completely ruin the pur
SadeI rolled my eyes. “Easier said than done. I’m a dork. I sound like a dork, and I look like a dork. That man is way out of my league. He was only being nice. He probably dates Victoria’s Secret models.”“I don’t know,” Khloe commented. “He looked like he wanted to eat you for dinner. It was kind of awkward. The tension was thick.”“Stop. It was not. You guys are completely exaggerating.” I felt my cheeks flush.“Oh, she’s blushing!” Julia squealed.“Stop, I am not,” I argued, knowing I was.“I think we need to see if we can find him,” Khloe suggested. “He could be your summer fling.” I gasped in horror. “No! You’re crazy. I’m not going to have a fling.”“I think you should,” Julia said. “You need to let your hair down and get wild. You’ve been buttoned up for too long. Take a walk on the wild side.” I shook my head. “My wild side is buying a movie I haven’t seen.”Khloe nodded. “This is true.”“There’s something to be said for being a good girl,” I said, lifting my chin.“Yes, i
TrentShe looked nervous. I could tell I was flustering her. Her cheeks were a pretty shade of red, and it had nothing to do with the sun.I liked that she was shy. She had a very innocent quality about her, which was new to me. Since my recent rise in financial status, it wasn’t often I encountered a woman who truly intrigued me. They were usually very obvious in their attraction, and most were very skilled at the art of flirting. Not her.I wanted to talk to her more. I wanted to ask her to have a drink with me. My ringing phone pretty much destroyed that plan.I looked at the number on my phone and saw it was the front house manager. “I have to take this. I’m going to see you again.” I looked directly at her, letting her know I found her very attractive.“Okay,” she replied, her voice so low I barely heard her.I nodded, answering the call as I walked away. “Trent here.” “Sir, I’m sorry to bother you, but we’ve got a situation here, and you said to call if there were any problems,
Trent“You’re late,” he commented.“I had some issues to deal with,” I replied.“I like when you’re late—it gives me good reason to speed,” he said with a laugh.“You speed regardless,” I said.“But now I have a good reason to,” he answered.I arrived at the lawyer’s office about ten minutes late for my appointment. I’d be charged for those minutes, so I wasn’t all that worried about running behind. I was taken right in.“Trent, it’s good to see you!” Lance Avery said, extending one of his pudgy hands toward me.I shook his hand and took my seat. “Sorry, I’m late. Business.” “No problem. I’ve got the proposal drawn up and just need you to review it.” He picked up a file and slid it across the desk to me.“You spoke with him directly?” I asked.He nodded. “I did. Nice man.”“And why is he wanting to sell?” I asked, not trusting anyone at face value. “And if he does want to sell, why isn’t it more widely known? And why sell it to me?”“In a nutshell, he’s tired of the game. He’s ready
SadeBreakfast had been amazing. We had decided to actually get out of bed and join the living downstairs in the restaurant instead of dining on room service. It had been worth the hassle of getting dressed and presentable. I had never enjoyed such delicious crepes in all my life. I could have eaten so much more, but that would have been a little cliché—the big girl eating four helpings while her skinny friends stuck to one.We took a different path, wanting to check out the grounds of the hotel, and went out a side door. We walked along a path with both sides of it surrounded by a perfectly manicured lawn with rose bushes blooming and little benches placed under shade trees. It was a beautiful garden space that I planned to visit again soon.Out of nowhere, a slobbering, short-haired beast rubbed against my legs. I looked down, initially horrified until I saw the prettiest dog in the world, attempting to wrap its body around me, all while looking up at me with the biggest smile on it