“Good question. She had your name, I’m sure she found out where you worked and assumed. No clue how she got my room number. Probably slipped someone money.”
“That’s a problem,” she said. “A big problem I’m going to have to deal with.”
“Oh boy. I just gave you a problem from my problem.”
“Arik, we pride ourselves on privacy here. Somehow she found out your room and I’ll have to get to the bottom of it.”
“She won’t confess.” His mother would take privileged information, regardless of how she acquired it, to the grave with her.
Natalie huffed out a breath. “I’ll deal with it on Monday. She’s here and she wants to spend time with you, right?”
“She wanted to have Easter dinner with me and I told her no. I had plans I wasn’t changing. She offered dinner tonight. I told her I had plans.”
“We don’t. Not specific ones.”
“But we are spending it together and I was going to stay at your place.”
He didn’t last night despite how much he craved holding her in his arms all night. This time knowing it was allowed and not just an accidental action they’d done in their sleep then woken up mortified over.
Not him. His body was only telling him what his heart had been screaming for weeks.
“You still can.”
“She wants to meet you. Dinner tonight. Anywhere we want to go because I’m positive you don’t want to eat here. You spend enough time here during the week.”
“I’d rather not eat there,” she said. “Though Hunter knows we are dating and you’re staying there, I’d prefer the rest of the employees aren’t privy to my business.”
“Agreed. I don’t need to walk through the lobby getting looks.”
“Oh, you get looks,” she said. “It’s hard not to look at you.”
“Are you flirting with me?” he teased, a grin tugging at his lips. “Do you think your boyfriend’s sexy?”
“I think my boyfriend isverysexy. And flirting is good for the soul. Don’t you know that?”
“We’ll have to keep it up after dinner tonight if you’re agreeable to it.”
“I wouldn’t say no,” she said. “Just let me know the time and place. I’ve got a few more things to finish up today, but then I’ll be ready.”
“I’ll be in touch,” he said and hung the phone up. He texted his mother that he needed to talk to her.
Thirty minutes went by before she replied and then told him her room number.
One floor up.
He approached the stairs with the heavy steps of someone heading to the electric chair, every movement weighed down by dread.
It was the last thing he wanted to do or deal with, but it was best to get this over with. If she didn’t play by his rules, it wasn’t happening.
She was right. He wouldn’t let her win, so that meant not acting the way he was feeling.
He knocked on the door, and his mother opened it with a smile on her face. She was still dressed as if she were spending a casual day in the office rather than being on an island for a brief vacation.
Did his mother ever wear a pair of jeans? Yeah, she had to have, years ago.
Now it was all about image.
The guy sitting on the couch stood up. He had no problem with his faded ripped jeans, snug black T-shirt, and slicked back hair resting on his shoulders.
