“Exactly. And when I’m running a hotel like this, I’m going to get one just like it.”
“I have no doubt you will.” He looked around speculatively. “Yep, I can see you in an office like this. Running things. Setting up systems and shaking things up. And all the porters and ski instructors and cooks dying to get a glimpse of you every time you walk through the lobby in your five-inch heels.”
I giggled. “I don’t think I’m going to conquer the hospitality industry in five-inch heels.”
“You’ll break a lot of hearts though,” he said. He sat down, leaned back, and stretched his feet out in front of him. “I’m here in my official capacity as advisor. I’ve been deputized to talk to you about the final exam.”
Excitement flickered through me, and my pulse sped up as I leaned forward. “Do I get to have one?” It had taken all my courage to broach the idea of the four of us having one last magical evening together. The final exam would help me apply everything I’d used from all my lessons… and not just with one man at a time, either. It was an idea that scared me as much as it turned me on. But then to my surprise, they’d been hesitant. Well, two out of three had been. Kai was always up for anything.
“Yes, we’re going to give you a final exam, but there are conditions,” Landon said.
I frowned. “Exams don’t have conditions.”
“Some do, actually. Like the SAT or ACT. You have to pay to take those, right?”
“Yes, but do I really have to pay for a final exam with you three?” I was grateful for the back-and-forth negotiations with him… it disguised the fact that I must be crazy to want this with them, but I did.
“Yes, you do, though not with money.” He studied me, looking calm and relaxed, but I thought I heard an edge of tension in his voice.
“What’s the price?”
“Honesty,” he said simply.
That wasn’t what I’d expected him to say. “You think I’ve been lying to you?”
“No, but you haven’t been very forthcoming about how you feel.”
I slumped back in the chair. “This again?”
“Yes, this again,” he said.
“We said from the start, this is just about me gaining experience and all of us having fun. And it has been fun, hasn’t it?”
“Yes, it has.” Landon’s voice was even and measured.
“So what more is there than that?” I asked. It was the same thing I’d probably asked three weeks ago. I’d truly believed it back then. Now? I wasn’t quite so sure.
“All you have to do is to be honest about your feelings about us.”
“We’re friends,” I said quickly.
“Yes, we are, but it doesn’t preclude feelings. Do you feel the same way about your best friend from high school as you do about the woman you chat with before your organic chemistry class?”
My lip twitched upward. “Um, you do know I’m a hospitality major, right?”
“You know what I mean,” he said. “Honesty is all we’re asking. We’re not expecting anything except the truth. So if you’re developing feelings for us, you’ve gotto think of a way to be brave enough to say that. But if you’re not, just say that too. If you’re honest, then you’ll get a final exam you’ll remember for the rest of your life.”
Whoa. The thought of sharing my feelings with them made me panic. I wasn’t even sure I understood them. But that last part hit hard.
His voice had gone lower and rumbly, and that got to me, as did the raised eyebrow. Why did that always look so sexy on a man?
“Honesty,” I repeated slowly. “So you’re bribing me into saying I like you three?”
“Not at all,” Landon said, not taking the bait. “And I think you know that. All we’re asking for is a real conversation with no sidestepping or pretending. And then, no matter what you say as long as it’s the truth, we get to the fun stuff.”
“I like that part of it,” I said.
Landon grinned. “Me too. And speaking of fun stuff, I’ve been deputized to give you another lesson, if you’d like.”
