I see his face pinch at that, but he doesn’t interrupt.
“I come in and tell you you’re doing everything wrong. I insist you do everything my way even though you clearly know how to run hotels better than me. I make you undo all the work you’ve done and redo it. How do you think you’d feel about that?”
He lets out a long breath. “I’m not saying that I know better than you how to throw a party. Clearly, that is all you. I have absolutely no idea how to get the things we need, which is why I hired you, but I do know exactly what I want. I don’t see anything wrong with that. Do you?”
I can’t exactly argue with him there. It’s never a bad thing to know what you want but demanding it from someone else is where things start to go bad. “Knowing what you want isn’t bad. Having a fit over a white tablecloth that isn’t white enough is crazy though. You have to see that.”
Mr. Billings laughs. “I know these small details probably don’t seem like a big deal to others, but the details are what sets us apart. It’s what got me to where I am today.”
Damn. He just has an excuse for everything. He’s making me feel like I’m just being a bitch because I’m not getting my way or because I don’t want to do the extra work. Maybe I judged him too quickly.
“Alright. You win. I’m guessing you’re used to that, too.”
He laughs. “I’m not trying to win, Destiny. I’m not trying to cause you any grief or give you a hard time. I’m just trying to open a hotel and make some friends along the way. So, what do you say? Can we put this last week behind us?” He holds out his hand.
I look from his hand, to his icy blue eyes that cause shivers to run up my spine, and back. “Okay, fine. We can put this week behind us and start over.” I slap my hand into his and he shakes it.
“Good. Now, how would you feel about a date?”
I bust out laughing as I’m lifting my beer to my lips. “How can you even think of asking me out after the week we’ve had?”
“That’s behind us,” he says with a smirk.
I smile and shake my head. “You’re good. You planned that, didn’t you?”
He shrugs as he takes a drink. “Life is like a game of chess. You want to plan your moves and play the long game, not for instant gratification.”
Lilly places my food in front of me and after the drinks and conversation, I completely forgot I ordered. “Oh, thank you,” I tell her as she hands over a sleeve of silverware.
“That looks delicious,” Shepard says.
“You wanna bite? It’s really good. Medium rare, perfectly cooked,” I tell him, cutting into my steak.
He waves down the bartender. “I’d like the same please,” he says, motioning toward my plate.
She nods and goes off to put the order in.
“Don’t like to share food?” I ask, chewing my bite.
He laughs. “I learned long ago not to take food from a woman.”
I laugh. “What happened? Did she stab you?”
He laughs. “Almost.”
As time goes on, the day crowd takes off and the night crowd moves in. We’ve both eaten and are enjoying our third drink while talking. The jukebox comes on and Shepard looks over at me. “Let’s dance.”
“What?” I ask, feeling put on the spot.
“Come on. You’re all dressed up to dance. Let’s put those shoes to the test.” He grabs my hand and leads me out to the dance floor. He spins me around and my chest lands against his while one of his hands finds my hip. I look up and get lost in his eyes. The air left my lungs in a rush when our chest hit together and now I’m frozen in his gaze.
I’m going to have to watch myself with him. It would be way too easy to lose myself in those eyes. His hands feel entirely too good on my body. They’re big and strong and have just the right amount of roughness to them. Every place he’s touching me tingles and burns, his warm breath blows against my neck, and causes goosebumps. How is it possible to feel so hot and cold at the same time?
Chapter Eight
SHEPARD
“I’m sorry for snapping at you this week,” I tell her as we slow dance.
