Chapter 17
Haven and Skylar
Whenever Haven spent time with Skylar, she felt as if she was living in a wonderland, where anything was possible.
After enjoying a delicious brunch at one of the restaurants at his resorts, Ricco drove them to an area where they embarked on a private tour of the Sedona Red Rocks.
Then they continued the tour by jeep to Native American ruins.
Skylar suggested continuing the tour next weekend by horseback. When she told him that she couldn’t ride a horse, he merely smiled and said that he looked forward to teaching her to ride himself at his horse ranch in Southern California before the end of the year.
The magnitude of Skylar’s wealth no longer surprised her.
After all, he was the man who had flown her from Arizona to California for a date.
However, what made her feel warm inside was that he was talking about them seeing each other after her conference was over.
Could their relationship mean as much to him as it did to her?
“Welcome back, Mr. Kingston and Ms. McGuire,” the doorman said hours later when they returned to the hotel.
“Thanks,” Skylar and Haven said simultaneously.
When the man was about to open the door for them, Skylar said, “Don’t bother, Bob. We’ll use the private elevator.”
“Yes, sir.”
Taking her hand, Skylar walked toward another set of tinted glass doors and, using his passkey, those doors slid open, revealing a semi-darkened hall with an elevator. “I never noticed that door before.”
He nodded. “This is my private elevator. I can go to every floor but no one can get on it without my personal passkey. Usually, I use it to bypass all the other floors and go straight up to my penthouse suite. You probably don’t remember, but we used these elevators last night.
You were asleep, and I didn’t want to draw anyone’s attention as I carried you to your room. ”
“Oh. Thank you.” She appreciated how far he’d gone to protect her reputation.
Although the number of inquiries about their relationship had decreased, she knew there were people who were still watching them, trying to figure things out.
She had an awful feeling that some of them were waiting for him to drop her like a hot potato when her stay at the hotel ended.
“I’m taking you up to my room. We need to talk.”
They did? She had noticed that he’d become rather quiet after making that comment about teaching her how to ride a horse. Did he regret saying it and now wanted to take it back?
The elevator quickly reached his floor, although, it wasn’t just his floor. The elevator opened to his entire suite. The moment she stepped out into what appeared to be a massive living room, she turned to him. “I’m curious. What do we need to talk about, Skylar?”
“Will you share a glass of wine with me while we talk?”
She’d rather just get the bad news over with, but she nodded anyway. “Okay.”
When he left the room, she went to go sit on the sofa, but a huge painting on the wall caught her eye.
She crossed the room to get a closer look.
It was a beautiful seaside painting by the artist Bristol.
A few years ago, it had been revealed that Bristol was the daughter of the famous artist, Randall Lockett.
Her paintings were now as popular as his.
Haven was about to turn when she noticed a packet on the table beneath the painting. It had her name on it. Picking it up, she frowned when she saw it was an investigative report…on her.
“Now we’re ready to talk,” Skylar said, coming back into the room carrying two glasses of wine.
“Is this what you want to talk about, Skylar? The fact you had me checked out?”
Skylar glanced at the packet in her hand, then placed the wine glasses on the table. He walked over to her. “No, but we can include that in the discussion. Come, let’s sit on the sofa.”
A part of her wanted to leave, but then another part of her felt she should give him a chance to explain himself. “Fine.” She placed the packet back on the table, but when he reached for her hand, she refused to give it to him. Instead, she moved closer to the sofa.
He remained where he’d stood and picked up the packet. “First of all, I did not order an investigation on you, per se. Because of who I am, Dante ordered one for my protection.”
“Dante?”
“Yes. In addition to serving as the general manager of my hotels and resorts, Dante is also responsible for overseeing my security team. For him, it’s standard procedure to order an investigative report on anyone I associate with.
That morning, when we accidentally bumped into each other, it was imperative for me to know who you were. ”
“Why?” she asked.
“I don’t think you truly need to ask me that, Haven. We both know that the contact left us shaken. We connected in a way that defied logic, and I desperately wanted to see you again. To get to know you.”
She frowned at him. “But wasn’t this ‘getting to know me’ all a pretense? After all, you’d learned all you needed to know from that report.” Her voice was flat, lifeless, because at the moment, that was how she felt.
“No. The report only gave me the basics. I much preferred listening to you tell me all about yourself.”
He paused for a moment. “Trust me. Had Dante found anything damning in that report, you wouldn’t be sitting here now.
He promised my father that he’d protect me, and he takes his job seriously.
But Dante likes you. In fact, he said you were different, like a breath of fresh air. He said you had personality.”
She was confused. “None of the other women you dated had any of those qualities?”
“Dante claimed that they lacked common decency and manners. That’s why he likes you so much.”
“Whoa.” She had read somewhere that it wasn’t uncommon for successful businessmen to investigate people before they signed any contracts with them. And in a way, she couldn’t blame them. There were a lot of unscrupulous people in the world.
“The reason I wanted to talk to you tonight is because I feel I owe you an apology. But not for that report because like I said, it’s standard security procedure.”
“If not for the report, then what?”
“I think I did the one thing I swore I would not do.”
She tilted her head and met his gaze. “Which was?”
“Rush you. We agreed to get to know each other. Yet earlier, when I mentioned teaching you to ride at my ranch, I couldn’t help but notice that you became quiet afterward. I now realize it was pretty damn presumptuous of me to assume you would want to continue to see me after your conference ends.”
Haven turned to face him. “You read me wrong, Skylar. The reason I got quiet is that your words gave me hope, but I was too afraid to believe it.
“Hope?”
“Yes. This is only our second week together, and until you said what you did, I hadn’t known you would want to continue to see me after the conference ends.”
A confused look settled on his face. “Why wouldn’t I want to see you?”
“I told you the other night. Because I’m just an ordinary girl.”
“I remember you saying that, and I also recall what my response was. I told you that there’s nothing ordinary about you. I think you’re beautiful, charming, and definitely in a league of your own. You’re special, and simply amazing.”
“Yes, I remember you saying that, but…”
“But what?”
She had been prepared to simply enjoy her time with him and find a way to hold herself together when it was time to say goodbye.
But now that he was letting her know that he wanted to continue to see her…
That changed things. “A couple of the other medical researchers ─ Janice and Carolyn ─ have appointed themselves my ‘big sisters.’ And they’ve warned me about you. ”
“What? What did they say?”
“They said I shouldn’t expect to hear from you after our four-week stay here ends.”
He took her hand in his. “All I have to say is, although Janice and Carolyn’s intentions might be good in trying to look out for you, they are wrong.
They don’t know me. The only way I won’t want to see you again is if you tell me that it’s over.
And I am really hoping that you don’t want to do that. ”
He took a deep breath. “I know what I want, Haven, and that is for us to continue to see each other, even after your stay here ends. I believe there’s a reason we felt a connection to each other so quickly and intensely.
It’s as if we were meant to be. I believe it, and want you to believe it as well.
It’s important to me that you believe that my intentions toward you are honorable. ”
Skylar was letting her set the pace, and she appreciated that. Although the issue of her sexual experience never came up, she was certain he suspected she had never shared a man’s bed. In all her twenty-four years, she’d never been tempted. But she was now.
On Saturday night, when they danced to those slow songs, she knew he had been aroused.
She had felt it. He had wanted her. And how easy would it have been for him to talk her into sleeping with him last night, when he had carried her to her hotel room?
But he hadn’t. Nor had he tried to convince her to stay overnight at his home in San Francisco.
There had been plenty of times when their kisses had almost surged out of control.
He hadn’t let them. “I believe your intentions are honorable, Skylar.”
He nodded, and she saw the relief in his eyes.
“I suggest the next time we’re together, we discuss what we want beyond our time here.
You live in the Midwest, and I live on the West Coast, but I have no qualms about flying out to see you in Chicago or sending my jet to bring you to me. Does that sound okay to you?” he asked.
She nodded. “I’m happy with that.”
“Good. Even here in Sedona, I want to spend time with you whenever I can. Although I’m leaving in the morning for San Francisco, I plan to return Friday night. I’d love to take you on a tour of the Grand Canyon on Saturday and Sunday. We can make a weekend of it.”
She couldn’t help her excitement. “I would love to do that.”
He stood and gently pulled her up with him. “Now that we have cleared the air, I’ll walk you to your room.”
“You don’t have to do that, Skylar.”
“Yes, I do, my golden girl. You are very important to me. I value you immensely.”
His words touched her. She blushed.
He reached out and caressed her chin. “I missed you last week, and I will miss you this coming week even more,” he said.
She wrapped her arms around his neck. “And I will miss you even more, too.”
When he lowered his mouth toward hers, she leaned into him, eagerly accepting the kiss she so desperately wanted.