Chapter 14
Oh, God. Where wasCharlotte?
Sam stood inside his casita and pressed a shaking hand to his forehead.
He’d checked with everybody, and he’d checked everywhere. The villa was only so big. Where could she be?
He pulled out his cell for the hundredth time. Still no signal.
Chad had seen her hours ago when he and the ground staff were securing lounge chairs, tables and other moveable objects. Then all the guests had seen her when she’d visited their rooms. She’d spent more than a few moments talking to Kelly before the wind and rain picked up.
The pretty blonde had glared at him when he’d knocked on her door. Then she’d started to panic.
“You looked everywhere?” she asked, stepping out of her casita to glance around. “It’s starting to rain hard. Where could she be?”
“I don’t know,” Sam mumbled, his heart sinking.
“I don’t think she left.” Kelly leveled those angry eyes at him again. “She’s the type who gets busy when she’s upset. She wouldn’t try to leave, especially with a hurricane approaching.”
“You think she was upset?” he asked. Charlotte had seemed quiet earlier but not upset.
“Sam, are you kidding?” Kelly’s face tightened, then she burst out, “She thought you two were becoming more than work friends. And you blew her off.”
“I...I didn’t blow her off.” He’d never do that to Charlotte. “We didn’t talk long this afternoon. I was distracted, having a work problem, a work disaster.”
“Did you tell her that?”
“No, not really. I...” He’d told her he needed quiet and sent her off to check on the guests.
Kelly placed her hands on her hips and shot lasers from her eyes this time. “And what did you say to her when you saw her very sexy blue bikini hanging up earlier today?” She pronounced each word slowly and succinctly.
The muscles around his heart clenched as he pictured the blue bikini in his room. Charlotte had looked happy, excited when he’d entered the casita. Because he was in a piss poor mood, he’d grumped at her when he’d seen her dresses and that little swimsuit. Are those your things? What are they doing here?
What kind of asshole was he?
He turned to Kelly with only one thing on his mind. “I really screwed this up.”
“Yeah, you did,” Kelly agreed, then stuck her hand into the air. She reached past the heavy awning covering the doorway of her casita, and her hand came back drenched. “But you better get back to your place. It’s getting worse outside.”
“I need to find her.”
“You can’t do anything right now. The hurricane’s almost here.”
***
How many hours haveI been stuck in here?
Charlotte pushed her spine up against the hard wall of the storage room, adjusting a pile of kitchen towels behind her back and head. She’d been lucky to find a bit of wall space not covered with shelves as well as three huge boxes of various kitchen towels. Normally, she might question the crazy amount of towels, but not now.
A dozen times, she’d closed her eyes and tried to fall asleep. The door to the room was so heavy, it blocked out almost all sound. She’d stopped opening the door to check on the hurricane. It would be over when it was over.
Then she could figure out what she wanted to do about Sam.
Did she want to go back to being just colleagues and friends? Could she go back?
The money he paid her was crazy good, but she had other choices. She’d simply never wanted to consider them.
She took a deep breath and wiped at her eyes. If he didn’t want her, it had to be okay. That was life.
She glanced at her cell phone. No bars but it still kept the time. Had she really been in here for only eight hours? Hurricanes didn’t last forever, but it sure felt that way. She’d found a plastic bucket to take care of nature’s call, and there were bags of pretzels, chips and little rice cakes if she’d felt the need to snack. On top of that, the room had enough water bottles to help her float away without the assistance of a hurricane.
If only she could get out of here. If only Sam could feel...
Suddenly, her cell phone text notifications pinged...and kept pinging. She glanced down at her screen.
Sam: Where are you?
Sam: Where are you?
The “Where are you?” messages continued as she scrolled.
Then,
Sam: I’m so sorry. I screwed up. Where are you?
Charlotte quickly tapped on her phone.
Charlotte: I’m stuck in the rear kitchen storage room.
Sam: Are you okay? Please say you’re okay.
Charlotte: I’m fine, but I’m stuck in the rear kitchen storage room.
Sam: I checked there twice.
Charlotte: You probably checked the main kitchen storage area. I’m stuck in the room behind it. There’s this column blocking the door.
Sam: Oh, hell. I’ll be right there.
Charlotte moved from her scrunched position on the floor and rushed to the door to crack it open. The gentle tropical breeze was back.
“Charlotte! Charlotte!” Sam called out a few minutes later, his voice sounding frantic and far away.
“I’m in here,” she cried out and slapped her palm on the door.
“Hey.” He poked his nose through the crack. “Give me a sec, and I’ll get you out of there.”
Sam moved to the end of the column and lifted it up. A moment later, she was free.
“There’s something I need to show you.” Charlotte dashed back into the supply room and found the envelope, then handed it to him. “This was shoved under the shelves.”
“I gather this says $2,000. Can you help with the rest?”
She met his gaze and nodded. “It says ‘Damage the drains and the retaining walls. Make it look like hurricane damage. Do it Sunday night during the dinner and dancing’. It’s in George’s handwriting, isn’t it?”
Sam swallowed hard and stared at the envelope before facing Charlotte again. “Yeah, it’s George’s handwriting. I spoke to Stephanie before the big storm hit, and she said she never sent the mariachi band or the cigar roller. Remember those extra workmen who were walking around during the first night the Fantasy folks arrived? I bet they were here to mess with the property, and George wanted the place extra busy so we might not realize what was happening.”
“Why would he do this?”
“I don’t know. I tried to find him earlier today, and he’s gone.”
Sam’s phone pinged, and he looked at the screen. He shook his head as he scrolled through a long email, a look of disgust on his face. “I got a call from one of my main contacts with the European investment group I partner with on projects. He said they were pulling out of our next big projects—ones I’ve already heavily invested in—because of cost issues with this project in Sayulita. And they got the cost information from George.”
“What? Your property manager was going behind your back and talking to your investors?”
Sam tapped at the email. “I went a little crazy as you know.” He gave her a meaningful look. “I got in touch with another member of the investor group and asked him to do a little digging. According to this email, it turns out another part of the investor team has a buyer for this property and the ones we’re set to develop, and that buyer is willing to pay a good deal more. A member of that group reached out to George and asked him to make me look bad.”
“I can’t believe George would do that.”
“Me neither, but he did. I’m firing him, of course, and the European investment group has fired the employees involved in this, and our deals are back on. They don’t like bad business.” Sam heaved a sigh. “I’m still stunned George would be involved in something like this.”
They nodded in agreement—George had to be nuts—then they stood there, staring at each other. Seconds quickly turned into a minute.
Was he going to say something?
Sam leaned back on his heels then stepped closer to her. “I know feeling crazed is no excuse for what I said to you earlier and how I said it. I didn’t mean it, Charlotte. I’m so sorry.”
“You made me feel like I didn’t belong.”
“That’s not what I think.”
Her heart pounded against her ribs. While sitting in that storage room, she’d played back that hurtful conversation in her head a million times. Are those your things? What are they doing here? “I spent the past two nights in your room. With the hurricane coming, I thought it made sense to...”
“Of course it did.”
Charlotte lifted her chin and met his gaze. “I’ve always felt like an outsider looking in. I was afraid of falling, of making a mistake, and I was so grateful you let me into your world. While I’ll always be grateful for the opportunities you’ve given me, I want to be happy too. I deserve to be happy.”
“Charlotte, I...”
“I don’t want to feel insecure in my own skin anymore. I’ve been afraid to expand the bakery, but I’m going to do it. And I’m going to grow my personal chef client base too. It doesn’t make sense to have a single client, even one who pays me like you do. I can’t go back to the way things were.”
“What do you want to do?” He reached for her arm as his whole body tensed.
“I want a new normal for us. Because the truth is”—she closed her eyes and held her breath. These were the scariest words she’d ever said, but she needed to say them—”I’m in love with you. And I’ve been in love with you for a long time. But if you don’t feel the same way...”
“Thank God.”
“What?”
“I’m in love with you too, sweetheart.”
“Sam...”
He clasped her shoulders. “I don’t want anybody but you—ever. In my heart, in my head and in my bed.”
“You really feel that way?”
“Oh sweetheart. You’re all that I want.” His fingers pressed into her skin. “I want you to grow your cake business and expand your personal chef base. And I want to help all that I can. I want you to have it all, Charlotte.” He paused and his deep voice faltered. “But I hope you’ll want to have it all with me. I want a new normal with you too.”
Charlotte stared into Sam’s handsome face, taking in the earnest look in his eyes. He’d make mistakes and so would she, but if they loved each other they could make it work. “I won’t be able to manage your schedule anymore, and I probably won’t be able to make as many meals.”
“I’ll manage. And if work goes nuts, I’ll talk to you. What I can’t manage is not having you in my life.”
“I want that too—all of it.” Because it sounded right to her.
Sam closed the gap between them and wrapped her in his arms. “I love you, Charlotte.” His eyes gleamed.
She tipped her chin up and kissed his lips. “I love you too.”
Sam sighed as his body relaxed, and he led her back to the pavilion. “We’re going to need a real vacation after all this. Stephanie is grateful for our help. We have an open invitation to any Fantasy club or resort—anytime, anyplace.”
Charlotte stopped moving. “I’m not getting naked in front of a lot of people.”
Sam laughed and leaned down and kissed her again. “That’s good because it’s going to be only you and me.”
* * *
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