Chapter 12
Chapter Twelve
J ade read the name on the brass plaque in front of her: Jeremy Scott, Guest Services Manager. Then she sucked in a deep breath, checked she wasn’t showing too much cleavage, and knocked on the door.
‘Come on in.’
‘Hi, I’m Jade Taylor.’ She smiled at the guy behind the desk. Direct blue eyes, red hair, and a face that looked familiar. ‘Oh, we’ve met before. You were talking to Liam… er, Mr Haven, yesterday when I kind of barged in on you.’
‘I remember.’
His tone was dry, his expression warm, friendly, but also speculative. She tried not to think what conclusions he’d drawn about why she’d pushed her way into the resort owner’s office. And called him by his first name. ‘I run… er, I was employed by Flo to run the Little Bay Book Shack, you know, the place on the wharf. Or at least that’s what I was supposed to come here to do, what I was really looking forward to doing, before she sold it to Liam… Mr Haven…’ God, what was she doing? She’d rehearsed this on the way over and now she was making a total pig’s ear of it. Ignoring Jeremy’s amused look, she ploughed on. ‘Anyway, I’ve been told the bookstore is going to be shut down, which is a totally misguided decision… in my opinion, obviously. I want to prove to Mr Haven?—’
‘My boss?’
Oh, shit, she’d kind of assumed from what Flo had told her, that Jeremy would be on her side. ‘Um, yes. I want to show him that the bookstore could be a really valuable addition to the resort. I mean, surely I can’t be the only one who thinks it’s nuts to get rid of it and have a waterfront of boring new builds instead.’
Jeremy burst out laughing and continued to laugh, at one point wiping at his eyes, before slowly his guffaws turned to chuckles and finally to an amused shake of his head. ‘I’m sorry, totally unprofessional of me. I just couldn’t help wondering what the boss would think of you calling his exclusive luxury cottages boring .’
This was not going as planned. But she’d signed a contract to sell books for three months and she was not going give up without a fight. Drawing in a breath, she gave Jeremy her best flirty smile. ‘You won’t tell on me, will you?’
He looked amused. ‘No. I value my job too much.’ Jeremy stretched out his legs and regarded her. ‘So what did you want from me?’
Giving him another smile, she nodded towards the chair. ‘Do you mind if I sit?’
‘Of course, my bad.’
She settled on the chair, crossing her legs in a way that showed them off to their best advantage. They weren’t long or elegantly slender, but regular Pilates had given them definition. ‘So, um, I wondered if there was any way we could work together to our mutual advantage.’ Oh, crap, did that sound like a come-on? Gentle flirting was one thing, but she didn’t want to come off as desperate. ‘I mean, you’re in charge of keeping guests happy, yes? And books have to be one of the best ways of doing that, especially in a swanky place like this, where doing anything more than lifting a hand to turn over a page seems way too much effort.’
A smile hovered around his mouth. ‘Keep going.’
Feeling more confident, she leant forward and was about to go into her sales pitch when there was a loud rap on the door.
She almost fell off the chair when Liam strode into the office, his tall imposing, annoyingly attractive frame making the place feel suddenly cramped. ‘Why the fuck have we ordered fifty stuffed flamingos?’ His gaze swept the room, and when it collided with hers, he visibly jolted. ‘What are you doing here?’
She swallowed and glanced pleadingly at Jeremy, who looked like he was about to burst into another fit of laughter.
‘Jade is here to discuss winding down the bookstore,’ Jeremy replied smoothly. ‘She thought I might be able to help.’
Liam raised a brow and studied his guest-services manager through narrowed eyes before turning his attention back to her. Her skin prickled as his eyes travelled down, skimming over her cleavage and making her very conscious of how it looked, her pushing out her breasts to the man opposite. Self-consciously she sat back.
Liam slid a hand into his pocket and regarded Jeremy. ‘Has she met Leroy yet?’
Confused by his question, she turned to Jeremy, who seemed unsure whether to laugh or tell his boss to piss off. ‘No, though I’m sure she will at some point.’ With a casualness Jade could only admire, Jeremy leant back and threaded his hands behind his head. ‘Do you want to discuss the flamingos now? And for the sake of accuracy, I should point out they’re not stuffed, that would imply the birds were once alive. These are handmade resin sculptures. The type a bride might want as decorations for her island wedding.’
‘Jesus.’ Liam shook his head, like he couldn’t contemplate the idea of anyone getting married, never mind in front of resin flamingos. Finally, his eyes found hers again, lingering a beat longer than was polite. ‘I’ll leave you both to it.’
Jade’s skin heated under his perusal. She really had to give her body a strict talking to tonight. Remind it that Liam was the enemy.
Jeremy’s sharp gaze swivelled between the pair of them, but thankfully he didn’t comment on what she felt sure was the deafening crackle of charged molecules now bouncing through the air. ‘So, where were we?’ he asked as the door finally clicked shut behind Liam.
‘I was trying to persuade you to help me prove the bookstore is an asset worth saving.’
‘Ah yes.’ He lifted his eyebrows. ‘You were asking me to go behind my boss’s back.’
Jade flushed. ‘That’s not, well not technically… bollocks, that’s exactly what I was doing, wasn’t it?’ She let out a deep sigh ‘Sorry, asking for your help was a stupid idea, of course you can’t do anything to upset him.’
A slow smile crossed Jeremy’s face. ‘Lucky for you, upsetting the boss is something I do on a regular basis, providing the reason is justified.’
Shoots of hope began to take root. ‘Obviously, I think it is, but as a fan of all things books, and someone who really wanted to manage this bookstore, I’m totally biased.’
‘I’m also a fan of books, though not as much as my fiancé.’ He gave her a look filled with humour. ‘Leroy.’
Holy cow, she’d been flirting with an engaged man. Who was gay. Heat scalded her cheeks and Jade groaned. ‘You must think I’m the most ridiculous person you’ve ever met.’ No wonder Liam had asked if she’d met Leroy.
‘On the contrary.’ Jeremy’s voice interrupted her spiralling thoughts. ‘Anyone prepared to go up against the undeniably sexy but also distinctly surly Mr Liam Haven has my full admiration.’
Ignoring the ‘sexy’ remark– she could spot a fishing expedition when she saw it– Jade gave Jeremy a hopeful smile. ‘Does that mean you’ll help me? Obviously, I’ll do all the work, but just to have another brain on the job would be amazing.’ Especially as she wasn’t totally confident how useful her own would prove.
‘Oh, you won’t just get my brain, you’ll get Leroy’s, too.’ Jeremy picked up his phone and tapped on it for a few seconds before grinning back at her. ‘Come to the beach bar tonight and we’ll pool some ideas.’
‘Oh, my God, that’s awesome, thank you so much.’ She was gushing, but it was hard not to when, for the first time since Liam had crushed her dream and then insulted her with an offer of consolation sex, she saw a sliver of hope.
Jeremy laughed. ‘It’s me who should be doing the thanking. I think I’m going to enjoy watching you and Liam lock horns.’ He angled his head. ‘What do you think of flamingos?’
Jade winked. ‘I have flamingo wallpaper on my bedroom wall at home. Only a person with no soul wouldn’t like flamingos.’
* * *
It had been another brutal day. The sooner he found a new resort manager to replace Ashley, the sooner he could get back to the job he loved. The one that didn’t involve conducting staff meetings, or pacifying entitled guests. Liam relished hard work– aside from his grandma, work was his life– but the stuff he loved to do, negotiating terms, agreeing contracts, sourcing new land to purchase, he did alone, away from people. People were a fucking headache. Employees who needed handholding, customers who wanted special treatment. Guest-services managers who took delight in winding him up, he added sourly.
Bookstore temps who flashed their cleavage at said manager but wanted nothing more to do with him .
Scowling, Liam ignored the path to the wharf and headed towards the beach. He’d work off some of his angst by taking the long way back to the yacht. No, he hadn’t decided to stay on the boat instead of reclaiming his suite at the resort because the sheets still smelt of Jade. And he definitely wasn’t now on the lookout for a woman with long blonde hair and curves he’d spent far too much of last night thinking about.
He came to an abrupt halt as his gaze cut to three figures sitting at one of the beach-bar tables. It was as if she was deliberately haunting him.
Without thinking, he marched up to the table. ‘Jeremy. Leroy.’ He nodded in their direction before his gaze found hers. ‘Jade.’
She looked defiantly back at him, but the way those big blue eyes then skirted away from his? Yeah, she was up to something. And the silence that followed his greeting added to the whole they-were-talking-about-him vibe.
‘Well, if it isn’t the big boss.’ Jeremy saluted him with his beer bottle. ‘What’s gone wrong now? Or, wait, maybe you’ve actually come to be sociable and join us for a drink?’
The man not only knew which buttons to press, he took delight in pressing them with great regularity. Now he was left awkwardly making something up and walking away, or awkwardly accepting the offer. Why the fuck hadn’t he ignored them?
Because you can’t ignore her .
Resigned to an uncomfortable half hour, he caught the eye of Carlos at the bar and nodded to indicate his usual, before pulling up a spare stool and easing onto it. ‘I didn’t mean to interrupt.’ He gave them all a pointed look. ‘Please carry on with whatever you were discussing.’
They all looked at each other. Jade appeared embarrassed, Leroy gave an indifferent shrug, and Jeremy’s face held the expression of a man holding back a tidal wave of laughter.
Carlos slipped a glass of Macallan onto the table in front of him and Liam slowly raised it to his lips and took a sip. ‘To save you making up an elaborate lie, I’m well aware I was the subject.’
Jade covered her face with her hands and let out a low moan, which had the unfortunate effect of reminding him of the way he’d made her moan the other night.
‘Technically, the subject wasn’t you, but the bookstore,’ Jeremy answered. ‘Don’t want you thinking we spend all our evenings gossiping about you.’
‘No?’ He arched a brow. ‘What’s the latest theory on why Ashley left?’
Leroy gave him a half smile. ‘She’s pregnant with your baby.’
He grimaced, feeling a flare of anger on Ashley’s behalf.
‘And being the son of a bitch everyone knows you to be, you sacked her and sent her packing,’ Jeremy added cheerfully. ‘I should add the more discerning staff don’t buy into this rumour because they know Ashley was too smart to have sex with you.’
And that was when he found out that Jade was a terrible actor. Neither Jeremy or Leroy could have missed the way she stiffened and sucked in a breath. Ignoring the very speculative glances his employees were now giving him, Liam took another measured sip of whisky. ‘What about the bookstore, then?’
Finally Jade turned to look at him, and prickles darted across his skin as her gaze met his head on. ‘You said nothing was going to happen with it for two weeks, so instead of using the time to wind it down, I’m going to use it to show you what an asset it is to your resort.’
‘I thought we’d already had this conversation.’
‘We have.’ She tilted her chin in his direction. ‘But you gave me two weeks and I’m going to use them how I see fit.’
Irritation vied with a grudging respect. He wasn’t used to people ignoring his orders, yet technically he had given her two weeks. ‘Fine, but it’s a waste of time. The bookstore will never be able to give me what the cottages can.’
‘Money.’ She gave him a look that he’d not seen since the nurse at boarding school had patched him up after yet another one-sided fight. Pity.
‘How else do you think I bought my grandma that house?’ Her eyes widened and he felt a jolt of surprise. Why had he reminded them both of the night he’d opened up to her?
‘Well, it’s my time I’m wasting,’ she said finally. ‘So I don’t believe you have a say.’
A humming silence followed their exchange and he knew, without looking at them, that Jeremy and Leroy were bursting with questions he had no intention of ever answering.
Jeremy cleared his throat. ‘Jade has been going through some of the ideas she’s had to increase business. They’re good. You should hear them.’
Liam glared back at Jeremy but the man shrugged, like he hadn’t just turned traitor and firmly planted his flag on the side of Jade and the damned bookstore.
To Liam’s horror, Jeremy then climbed to his feet and smiled over at Jade. ‘Excuse us sweetheart, but I’m going to drag my fiancé off for an evening dip. Let’s chat again tomorrow about how we can help you put some of those ideas into action.’
He slid Liam a final glance, mouth twitching in a smirk he made no attempt to hide. Leroy let out a resigned sigh, swallowed down the rest of his drink and rose to his feet. ‘Guess I’m about to get wet.’ He inclined his head in Liam’s direction before shooting Jade a wink. A fucking wink, like he was Mr Playful when Liam had only ever seen the man in serious mode. ‘See you around, Jade.’
Jade gave him a little wave and the pair of turncoats proceeded to walk off hand in hand across the sand, which looked golden in the glow of the setting sun, and towards the sea.
‘Isn’t that romantic.’
He turned to her, expecting to see a wistful expression, but instead she simply looked happy for Jeremy and Leroy. As he had no wish to talk about the men who’d so easily chosen Jade’s side, he picked the slightly less irritating conversation. ‘So, these ideas you’ve had.’
She huffed, the softness disappearing from her face. ‘You don’t have to listen to them.’
He glanced down at his glass before locking eyes with her. ‘I still have to finish my drink.’
She let out a snort of laughter. ‘I could swig that down in one gulp.’
‘You don’t swig Macallan.’ Her cheeks flushed and too late he realised he’d sounded condescending, when he’d been trying for dryly amused.
‘Fine, I’ll rattle through what I’m going to be wasting my time doing over the next two weeks while you,’ she waved down at this drink, ‘take your teeny tiny sips.’
He forced a tight smile. And cursed himself for not taking the direct route back to the yacht.