Chapter 26
Adriana
With the wedding schedule now packed significantly tighter, I felt as if the pressure I was under had increased exponentially.
But, after talking to Reggie two days earlier, I didn’t doubt that I could pull it off.
All I had to do was to throw absolutely everything I had at it, and I was going to be just fine.
“Adriana!” Someone yelled my name in a sheer panic as I was rushing down the halls to tend to a problem with the silverware for the wedding.
I swung on my heels. The VIP schedules had been fully booked for the next two weeks, and I was only just keeping on top of everything. I couldn’t stop for even five minutes, or everything would fall apart. Anything that went wrong would need to be fixed fast.
A porter was standing around the next corner, breathing heavily as if he’d just completed a marathon. “The Greenwoods, they’ve— the wife’s shoe snapped, and they’re supposed to be going into town in half an hour.”
“Oh,” I laughed, thinking that there would have been a far bigger issue. “I’ll get her a new set. Louboutin, right?”
“Yeah,” the porter breathed. “She’s screaming, crying a little. Very upset.”
“She’ll have them in twenty minutes,” I answered, already rapidly tapping out texts to sort it out. “Please let her know.”
He nodded, and disappeared, running back the way he had come.
I checked my watch after shooting out all of the necessary messages.
One minute, thirty seconds to figure out a solution.
I frowned. I wanted to up my speed even more.
Focusing on improving that had already pushed the men to the far back of my mind.
I was convinced that I could do this now.
There were several more problems that popped up throughout the morning, but I dealt with each one with near-surgical precision. As soon as I realized I could, I simply did it all. In between, I rushed between wedding vendors, getting everything ready for Dahlia’s big day.
“There’s a problem!” Louisa ran at me about forty minutes before lunch as I stood in the ballroom organizing tables. This time, it caught me slightly off guard; she never panicked about anything.
This must have been a real emergency.
“What’s going on?”
“Tomlinson was in an accident,” Louisa answered tearily. “He’s injured and everything. Out of commission.”
I searched my mind for the name. There were two things I knew about him; first, Louisa had been crushing on him for as long as she’d worked at the hotel. Second, he was the best guide that we had for the redwood grove hikes.
“The group is already in the lobby, waiting for transport,” Louisa continued as I handed over table duty to the nearest assistant and followed her. “They’re not going to budge on this trip.”
“That’s fine,” I answered, making calculations in my head. “I can get it done. You should take a break. Have the trainee take over. She’s been doing fine.”
“I suppose I should,” Louisa said, still keeping up with my march. “Will you be able to handle the group?”
“Don’t worry,” I insisted, smiling over my shoulder at her. “It’s my job.”
She fell behind, and I headed straight for the lobby, where a group of six people dressed like the cover of the New York Times stood tapping their feet on the floor.
“Good afternoon, everyone,” I said as I approached them. “I do apologize for the delay. Unfortunately, our usual guide will not be able to join you.”
“We’re still going, right?” One woman asked, completely brushing over my announcement. “I paid a lot for this.”
“Of course,” I answered without skipping a beat. “I will be joining you myself, and will have another guide ready upon our arrival. Transport for the trip has already been arranged.”
“Hey, is that Bryant Thatcher? Buddy!” Another guest called out. I caught Bryant in my periphery. At the same time, Landon appeared from the elevator with a purposeful march. He’d clearly heard about the accident. My heart started hammering as both of them approached the tour group.
“Jonathan!” Bryant said as he shook the guest’s hand who had called him over. “Haven’t seen you since Wall Street.”
“Two months,” Jonathan answered. “You’ve been slacking. Come with us, man. Good exercise.”
“Fitness is still your passion, then?” Bryant laughed, before glancing at me, then Landon, who had just arrived and was analyzing the situation, though it seemed more like he was glaring at Bryant. “I guess it couldn’t hurt to get out for a day. I’m in.”
“I believe our concierge has informed you of our guide’s inability to join us,” Landon said before I could try to continue my little professional speech.
“Luckily, I am quite well versed in the redwood grove myself. As such, allow me to offer to personally escort you there, alongside the lovely Adriana.”
Bryant peered at him, but couldn’t exactly say no in front of the other guests. Neither could I.
I was going to be stuck with the two of them out in the wilderness all day. That was dangerous, but I had no choice. I’d made up my mind to throw everything into my work, and I couldn’t avoid them forever. I’d have to do this.
“If you’ll follow me, our transport is already outside,” Landon announced, and the guests, Bryant, and I walked after him.
Nobody else seemed to notice the sheer tension building between the three of us.
Maybe neither Bryant nor Landon realized it, either.
But for me, it was overwhelming. I had to use every ounce of my strength just to keep moving.
I couldn’t mess up this trip. I needed to get my head in the game. I could do that.
As we got in the car, I took the front seat beside the driver. All I had to do was keep space between myself and them.
I checked the glove compartment for hiking shoes, which I’d arranged in case of a shoe emergency similar to the one that had happened that morning.
Swiftly, I swapped my heels for them, wondering if I would need to arrange a second and third pair for Landon and Bryant.
I couldn’t imagine Landon wearing them, and Bryant was wearing loafers, which could work if we chose an easier path.
When we reached the parking lot near the trail entrance, Landon was the one who did most of the talking.
“Redwoods are the world’s tallest trees,” he started explaining, and some of the guests began taking pictures while he spoke.
Jonathan seemed interested only in talking to Bryant about finances, while another of the guests looked completely bored.
Landon ignored all of that, keeping up his speech about the grove and its hiking trails as if he had an audience of millions. Given that another of the guests was now filming him, that made sense.
I stayed at the back of the group, pretending that I was making sure nobody lagged behind. The real goal was to create distance between Bryant, Landon, and I. If there was an entire group of people between us, there was no chance that we’d end up alone together.
“Here we have the perfect spot for a break,” Landon announced when we came across a set of particularly tall trees with a small patch of open space between them.
Some of the guests immediately took the opportunity to take photos with the trees, while others sat down as if they’d had enough exercise for the year.
I stood close to one of the trees, watching as Bryant’s Wall Street buddy roped him into talking about crypto.
“Adriana,” Landon’s voice beside me made me jump. For some reason, I hadn’t seen him walking up to me. “Please come with me.”
This was exactly what I had been afraid of. I wanted to pretend that someone had called me over, but instead I found myself following Landon a few trees away into the grove. Even though the others were still close, it felt as if we were completely alone in the world.
“Landon, I… I can’t do this,” I said, holding one arm with the other, still trying to keep a distance between us even though my heart was pulling me toward him.
“I’ve been miserable,” Landon answered, capturing my eyes with his. “Without you, every day is just… It sucks.”
“Eloquent,” I joked as I let out a dry laugh, and he lifted one corner of his mouth in a small smile.
“But… I feel the same way. The trouble is, I don’t only feel that way about you.
I feel that way about Nolan and Bryant, too.
And that’s the problem. I can’t do this.
I have to focus on my work. I can’t afford to lose my career over this. ”
“You were never going to lose your job,” Landon replied, sounding surprised that I would even think that. “You’re excellent at what you do, and The Pacific would lose a lot without you.”
“I’m sorry,” I insisted. “I can’t force myself to choose.”
Before Landon could answer, one of the guests appeared from behind a tree.
“Uh, they said there aren’t any bathrooms here,” she said, seeming disgusted. “I can’t deal with that. Why wouldn’t you build a bathroom in a tourist area?”
“I can arrange for the driver to meet you on the way back up the trail,” Landon answered, as he began walking back to where the group had been. “He will take you to the nearest acceptable restrooms.”
“So I have to walk all the way back?” she complained with a sigh. “This really is roughing it, huh?”
“The full experience,” Landon said as he started typing on his phone.
Soon enough, the hike started up again. The bathroom guest was left behind, though Landon had me check my phone to make sure the driver knew where she was. Bryant stole a few glances in my direction as we walked, and gave Landon several suspicious looks.
Once again, I pretended that I didn’t notice anything, and that I hadn’t done anything. Avoiding it all probably wasn’t the best plan, but it was the only way to keep my head on straight.
I barely listened to Landon’s descriptions of the redwoods and all of the little interesting things about the grove.
I spent most of the hike staring straight ahead and wondering why I didn’t stay behind at the hotel.
I could tell that Bryant was looking for his own opportunity to pull me to the side, and I didn’t think I could handle that.
Unfortunately, when we reached the last lookout point before turning back, where the planned lunch was to occur, Bryant found a way.
He lagged back to where I was, and grabbed me by my arm, pulling me away into the silence.
The biggest problem was that I didn’t argue or rip my arm loose or insist that I couldn’t go with him.
I simply let him lead me away, unable to resist the desire and curiosity that was quickly grabbing hold of my soul.
“Right, so,” Bryant said once we were well and truly on our own, surrounded by magnificent trees and the sounds of nature. “Why won’t you talk to me? Honestly, I’ve been in hell waiting to get the chance to reach you again.”
It was a bit more dramatic than Landon’s description of the past few days, but I could see that he was being sincere.
“I’m sorry,” I answered, a sense of deja vu settling over me. “It’s been hard for me, too, but this is how it has to be. Can’t you understand that?”
“How could I?” Bryant replied. His voice was frustrated and hurt simultaneously.
“I accepted the situation from the beginning. I’ve told you that I want to be with you anyway.
Isn’t that what you want? I promise, if you’re still afraid of what it will do to your career, you don’t have to be. You will not lose your job.”
“What if I decide never to be with any of you? Or choose the wrong one?” I snapped back, wondering if they’d ever thought about that. “What if there’s a nasty fallout?”
“None of that has anything to do with your ability to be a concierge,” Bryant insisted, taking a step closer to me.
“You are one of the best, and that’s not going to change because of one bad breakup.
Or even three. But you know what, I don’t think that’s going to happen.
There is something here, and you can’t deny it. ”
My pulse quickened as he continued to approach me. I couldn’t walk away. He was magnetic, like something was dragging me back into the desire that I’d had from the beginning.
“They’ll notice,” I whispered, but the words disappeared on the wind as Bryant leaned in to kiss me.
He tasted like sandalwood and citrus, like the world’s best wine in the desert. All of my resolve to keep my distance completely disappeared into nothing, and I leaned into him, letting go of my innate need to control.
“Oh, this is where you are,” Landon’s voice suddenly broke through the haze and I stepped back from Bryant.
But Landon was smiling. “Is there room for one more?”