Christian could have immersed himself in them. They walked convivially together and back into the elevator. Only the two of them were inside and he could smell her perfume, a sweet flowery fragrance that played with his senses.
This is ridiculous, Christian thought. She was his “boss” to begin with and he had no intention of getting fired his first day on the job. Secondly, the last thing he needed was an entanglement with someone who—whether she knew it or not—was actually his employee. They rode silently back to the ground floor, and parted ways amicably in the lobby.
“Be early tomorrow. We’re a stickler for punctuality here,” Raina said. She smiled at him and again he found himself mesmerized watching her lips part. She licked them and he almost heard himself groan audibly.
He took a deep breath. “Yes, ma’am. I look forward to seeing you tomorrow.”
She gave him a wave and he lingered a little longer just so he could watch her walk away.
Staying on schedule was not an issue for Christian. Besides, he intended to spend as much time as possible in the hotel. As he walked under the crystal and gold chandelier hanging from the middle of the lobby, his mind was at work, weighing what he had seen today. The standards of the hotel were on par with the strict standards of the rest of the resorts and the staff appeared happy enough.
Christian strode in long steps, unaware of the figure he cut with his easy confidence and quiet magnetism. Despite the clothes, people were drawn to him and turned to stare as he walked by. It felt good to be out of the hotel and himself again. He would feel better once he was out of the uncomfortable shirt and cap.
He spied his black Bugatti waiting for him, parked three blocks away, with his driver—who was also his bodyguard—behind the wheel. Before he slid in, Christian looked behind him to make sure that no one who worked at the hotel was behind him. The chances were slim, but it had never hurt him in the past to be careful.
“Hello Jim.”
“Hey boss,” Jim said with a wide grin. “If I hadn’t seen you two hours ago, I wouldn’t have recognized you.”
“I don’t recognize myself either,” Christian said and grinned back at his long time employee.
Jim eased the car out of the parking lot and headed toward the main drag. Thirty minutes later Christian hopped out at the entrance of his condo building, and, with a wave to the doorman, took the elevator up to the fifteenth floor. Though he didn’t live there, the entire building belonged to him. The penthouse apartment had been vacant and he thought it a convenient place to set himself up for the next few months.
As soon as he walked through the front door to his expansive living room, Christian began shedding off his disguise. He tossed away the cap first and placed it on a glass table as he walked across the living room to his bedroom.
He had gotten the cap from Jim, who asked no questions. Christian liked his driver for his discretion. Jim knew that if Christian wanted him to know something, he would tell him, thus Jim never asked a thing, which suited Christian just fine.
Next, Christian went to the adjoining bathroom and slipped off his contact lenses and stripped out of the clothes. Only after he had taken a shower did Christian feel at ease and like himself again. His hair still looked terrible, but he could find someone to fix that in a few months.
He sank into a deep, comfortable chair and looked around approvingly. His assistant had done a good job furnishing the place on such short notice.
His mind drifted to his interview with Raina. One thing was for sure; despite his irritation at Roger for bungling the management of his properties, the next month or two would be interesting. He wondered how he would keep his desire for her in check as they worked together.
Fortunately, it was likely their paths would not cross too often.
Or is that “Unfortunately”? His subconscious chided him.
Christian surprised himself with that thought. His last relationship had ended so poorly he had sworn off relationships completely. The last thing he needed was to start wanting to get close to a woman.
Women invariably disappointed him. Most wanted him for his money and the power his name held. After the last girlfriend, who’d turned out to be just another gold-digger, he had given up on finding a woman who would like him for himself.
He couldn’t blame them though, he acknowledged wryly. His name opened up doors to all the swankiest parties of the year. But women often got a shock when Christian refused to attend those types of events, preferring to spend the evening ordering in, or at a quaint private restaurant. All his relationships—if you could call them that, ended when both parties realized that they could not get what they wanted from the other.
Women wanted a prize and Christian wanted honesty.
While Christian was generous with his money, he was less so with his time, and he couldn’t be bothered to deal with the trivial frivolity and trappings that came with wealth, which appealed strongly to most women.
Or, at least the women I’ve met. The thought appeared out of nowhere. He wondered if that type of life would appeal to Raina. For some reason, he doubted it.
He realized fleetingly that his position as a maintenance man would give him a chance to meet normal, women like Raina and Kelly. Women who, like himself, had charted their own paths in life and worked for everything they had.
Yes, Christian thought with a rueful smile, he would enjoy getting to know Ms. Raina McMillan.
3
Raina’s brow was creased in concentration. Absentmindedly, she ran her fingers through her hair. She glanced at the two files in front of her. There were two new suppliers with whom she was not familiar, but she knew that before a company supplied the hotel, they were vigorously vetted, with information such as their business licenses and sales tax numbers recorded.
Besides, the list of approved suppliers came from the highest levels of the company. She just gave a cursory glance at the supplier names, signed at the bottom, and added them to the pile behind her. She pulled out another supplier’s record and started running through the numbers.
The phone by her side rang and Raina, lost deep in thought, jumped. She glared at it, deciding not to answer. It was half an hour past her scheduled working hours, but she was working late again as usual. Whoever it was could just leave a message.
She turned her attention back to the papers in front of her. Something was not right with the figures. The actual delivery schedule of supplies had decreased, yet the files showed that the soaps they were already running out of should have lasted for another two months. Raina sighed. A computer system would have sorted out all these problems, yet, every time she pointed this to Roger, he just waved her concerns away and said it would cost too much to implement something like that.
The pone kept ringing, making it unable for her to concentrate. With a sigh, she grabbed it. “Hello,” she said onto the phone distractedly.
Raina murmured in response, and then ended the conversation, approving the Human Resources Manager’s decision to put Christopher’s office in a small room, off the housekeeping department. She had forgotten all about Christopher, with so much on her mind. She hadn’t seen him in the last couple of days—she probably ought to check up on him and see how he was getting on with things.
Returning to scrutinizing the documents, Raina looked up abruptly, after an eerie feeling that someone was watching her. Hers was an open door policy and she did her best to adhere to that at all times. Her mouth went dry when she saw Roger Del Mar, leaning against the frame, staring at her intently.