Page 19 of Room Service

7

Trent

I turned my back to Jessi and walked away, it was the last thing I wanted to do, but seeing her like that, there was no way I could have stayed and kept my composure. My smirk fell away and changed into a look of relief once I was out of their sight.

That was too close.

I was impressed that she’d had the courage to speak up to me when she’d usually just cowed or ran away before. It had taken all I had not to let my eyes drop to her luscious body. I vividly remembered feeling her pressed up against me, even for that short moment when she’d run into me. I’d wanted to close the space between us, reach for her and hold her to me again, only longer.

Shit.

“Don’t lose your head now, Trent,” I said to myself, pausing when a maid walked past me with a giggle.

I’d slowed down without realizing it, then speed-walked out of there with my chin held high.

Why had I even bothered to go to the staff area? I was taking over the higher management of the hotel, but I could always leave the little things to the hotel manager. My meticulous nature just wouldn’t let me. I hadn't gotten as far as I had in my career by letting other people do jobs for me.

When can I go back to that again? I thought wistfully about the past, and how I just wanted to get back to my own business as quickly as possible.

Then I remembered what Jessi looked like as she told me off: her blonde-brown hair was tied back in a ponytail with wisps falling around her face, her cheeks were lit up a light-pink, and there’d been this small furrow in her brow as she scowled at me. I, of course, found the picture completely endearing because I was a masochist.

Don’t even think about it!

I growled the thought silently to myself, feeling more relaxed as I walked into the elevator for it to take me up. “She is not the woman for you. You decided that long before you left.”

I hadn't been nice about it either.

No matter how rude I’d been to her—was still being, in fact—I’d always liked her. Back before I left, when I was dealing with a lot of family shit, she would always seem to be there when I turned around, no matter how much I kept telling her to leave me alone. Something about her just bugged me.

Her sweet eyes… Her light-brown eyes that always looked at me with so much understanding made me uncomfortable as a teenager when I was more than ready to push away anything and everything in my hurry to get away. Even before she confessed that she wanted me just as much as I wanted her. It wasn’t a surprise. I’d known, just from the look in her eye. It had always made me uncomfortable that she might expect something like that from me.

I knew I wasn’t the loving kind, so when she finally plucked some courage and told me, I had been cruel to her to get her to stop. Fucking, definitely, but loving? I didn’t believe in that shit, and I’d known I couldn’t give her what she wanted.

Love only ever ended badly as far as I’d seen or cared. I had a dad who was absent more often than not and yet complained that I wasn’t there for the family, one I wanted no part of. There was my stepmother, who I couldn’t stand, yet was so eager to please Dad that she’d try to get along with me even as I rebuffed her. I’d known the moment Dad brought her home I wasn’t going to give her a chance to be my stepmother, but that fact didn’t matter.

I hated her, and that was it. There was no reason to think it over; no matter how many times both of them insisted I did.

“Stop being such an arrogant pig!”

The whole thing was driving me fucking insane. I was having conversations with myself in public, and I didn’t even realize it as the elevator doors opened.

“I’m sorry?”

The woman who worked as my dad’s secretary stood on the other side with a shocked expression on her face. I quickly cleared my throat and to stop her thinking that I’d gone insane, I changed the subject.

“Is there any news from my father?” I asked, stepping out of the elevator, and she fell into step beside me as I headed for the office.

“Not yet, sir. He’s still refusing to see you.”

I frowned because it wasn’t what I wanted to hear. I was hoping that there’d been some change, but it was clear that there was none.

“Did you at least get a reason as to why?”

She shook her head. “I’m sorry. Were you talking to me?”

Fuck!

I need to get my thoughts back to the business and nothing else. Otherwise, I will go fucking insane.