Brooks squeezed my hand. “I run my own business. I promise you, all this shit will be waiting when you get back.”
“That’s what I’m worried about.”
Warmth squirmed around in my stomach as Brooks rubbed his thumb over the back of my hand. “So, you’re worried.”
I hissed out a breath through my teeth and yanked my hand away. “No. I—yes?”
He reached for me again, and in spite of myself, I met him halfway, fumbling my fingers back into his. “I had an idea of what I might like to do with you tonight,” he said, and I shivered at the huskiness in his voice. “But I thought maybe you don’t get to choose often. What do you normally do on dates?”
My mind blanked while he focused in my direction, patiently waiting. The lobby seemed to shrink in around me, all the noises louder than usual. Laughter from the bar startled me as two women cracked up at something Romeo said while he draped his arms around both of them. Bliss sat on a stool, gesturing as if he was trying to get Romeo to go away.
“Darcy?”
Lemonade cocked her head at me, and I fought to remain stoic, as usual. What I really wanted to do was fall to the floor on my knees and bury my face against his hard abs.
“No, I’m sorry. I can’t.” I dropped his hand and made my way back to the kitchen with my gut roiling. I glanced over my shoulder, and he stood there as if he thought I would be right back, but there was no way I could indulge him. I had too much to do, too many responsibilities, and there wasn’t a chance in hell anything in this place would take care of itself. I was always—day or night—on call. I wasn’t even sure I knewhowto relax anymore.
Several hours later I emerged from the kitchen after we’d finally gotten two of our other staff members to come in and help them out of the weeds, and by the time I made it back to the lobby, Brooks was, of course, gone. My stomach churned as I went to check on the bar and make sure Fen would be okay for the night.
Had Brooks gone home or had he found someone to accommodate his needs?
It hurt that he would go from my bed to someone else’s, and that pain, more than anything, let me know I was in trouble. I wasn’t cut out for this nonsense—these emotions. I had no idea how to handle them, and it was silly, besides, to think a man would feel any sort of loyalty to me after a single night. Hell, it wasn’t even fair to expect that of him. I should be happy if he’d chosen to spend his money on one of our professionals.
I worked hard all night long, no more than usual, but problems were nonstop, one after the other. I sighed as midnight approached and tiredly dragged myself one leg at a time back up the grand central staircase toward my rooms. I was halfway up the steps when it occurred to me I could have taken the elevator, but by then it was just as far back down as the rest of the way to the top.
In the hallway I passed Ephraim dressed as a pirate, of all things, which was ridiculous with his clean-cut looks. The outfit was a fancy one with real leather boots and an actual sword. He snickered as he passed me, and I could only shake my head slowly as he sent me a smirk and stomped off to whatever room his client waited in.
When I finally got back to the suite, Mother was perched in a simple white cotton nightdress on her favorite white couch, which was supported by delicately curved legs I always worried would give out when I sat down. She flipped pages in a massive book by a woman with an utterly unpronounceable name, nodding along to whatever she was reading. In the corner of the room Mother’s potted violet hibiscus was in full bloom and sweetness tinged the air.
“This is a good one,” she said. She sent me a long, censuring look, and I was sure it wasn’t because I had zero interest in her latest romance novel.
“Don’t say a word about him.” I flopped down onto the couch beside her. The purple-framed mirrors hung on the walls between the windows reflected my sour expression back at me.
She nodded and flicked her attention back to the book, but her gaze was on me again less than a moment later. Her mouth thinned and her shoulders shook, and it was painfully clear she had quite a bit to say on the subject of Brooks Sutherland and me leaving him standing at the front desk.
“Did you talk to him?” I rested my head back on the couch and shifted around to face her.
Her smile slithered across her face and bloomed into an evil grin.
“Mother.”
“You said not to say a word.” She patted my head like the harpy she was and kept reading.
Worry settled into the pit of my stomach and was awful. This was precisely why I didn’t ever try to have a life. “I couldn’t go with him.”
“Why?”
I glared at her. “Do you know what went on in this hotel today?”
“Yes, I was here.” She smiled and set her book in her lap. “You didn’t ask me to help with anything.”
“I didn’t need it.”
She drew her legs up underneath herself and turned in my direction, laying aside her book on the end table. “You also didn’t go out, baby boy.”
We had a stare-off. She won. I glanced down at my watch—12:07 a.m. What a horrible way to start another day. “You’ve always said it’s not safe to be out in New Gothenburg alone.”
She flicked my ear, and I glared at her while I rubbed away the sting. “I trust Brooks to plan for your safety, or I never would have allowed him to bid on you.”
