A Baby for the Boss (5 page)

“It’ll be a lot of work,” Jenny said thoughtfully.

“It will.”

She turned and flashed him a quick smile. “But it’s gonna be great.”

“Damn straight.”

His gaze locked with hers and for one bright, amazing moment, Jenny felt like they were a team. In this together. And in that impossibly fast heartbeat of time, she really wished it were true.

* * *

They were making the most of their two days in Nevada.

Mike spent hours with his contractor, Jacob Schmitt, going over the plans for the River Haunt. The two of them walked the hotel, checking out the rooms and talking to the skeleton staff who remained on-site.

Mike appreciated good work and loyalty, so when he was given the opportunity to keep on some of the hotel employees, he did. He wasn’t a soft touch, though, so in interviews with the hotel manager, and the heads of the other departments, he’d quickly weeded out the people who were simply dead weight.

Maybe the previous owner’s standards had been lax, but Mike had no intention of paying people to do nothing. But he was also ready to pay top money for the right kind of employee. Which was why he’d fired the previous manager and promoted that man’s assistant, Teresa Graves.

Teresa was a middle-aged woman with a no-nonsense attitude and an unerring ability to cut through the bull and get the best out of the people who worked for her. With his new manager’s help, Mike wanted to keep the skeleton crew in place during the transition. He didn’t want the hotel sitting empty and deserted while it was being rehabbed. It seemed like too much of an invitation to vandals and or thieves.

Having people there was important enough that he was offering bonuses to the workers who were willing to actually
live
in the hotel so that someone besides the security people he’d hired were around 24/7. With a working kitchen, a pool and plenty of guest rooms to choose from, it was no hardship for those who chose to stay. Plus, they were paid enough that they didn’t have to look for another job while waiting for the hotel to reopen.

“I figure we’ll do the pool last,” Jacob said as they walked through the main lobby and out onto the sun-splashed deck. “Leave it as is so your people can use it while we work. And this way, with all the construction going on, we don’t risk breaking up the new tiles you wanted in the pool surround.”

Mike studied the architect’s line drawings for a long moment.

“That’s a good idea,” he said finally. “Pool’s going to be the last thing we need done anyway.”

“Yeah, and these tiles we’ll be laying in the deck and surround aren’t something we want scratched up.” Jacob yanked his battered blue ball cap with a faded Dodgers patch off his head and rubbed the wild scrub of gray hair that sprung up as if freed from prison. “Just like you wanted, the tiles actually look like rough wood—gives the feel of the forest floor.”

Mike glanced at the man and smiled. “You know the ‘River Haunt’ game?”

“I should,” the other man said. “My son plays the damn thing every chance he gets.” Chuckling, he added, “I swear, I hear banshees wailing in my dreams.”

“That’s good to hear, too,” Mike said, and gave the other man a friendly slap to the shoulder.

“I’ll bet.” Jacob Schmitt turned slowly to take a look around the property. “This is a perfect spot for what you’re wanting. My opinion, the last owner didn’t make enough of what he had. But his loss—your gain.”

“That’s what I think, too.”

“You know, my son’s already nagging at me to bring him to the hotel for a long weekend.”

Mike followed the other man’s gaze and realized that he was anxious to get this hotel up and running, too. He couldn’t wait to see how it all came out. “Tell you what,” Mike said. “You bring the job in on time and on budget, you and your family can stay a week, on us.”

The older man’s bushy gray brows shot high on his forehead as he gave a wide smile. “My son will think I’m a god.”

Mike laughed. “Anything I can do.”

Eager now, Jacob pointed to the sketch of the pool area. “You can see this wall behind the pool will be a series of ledges, each of them planted with flowering plants that will trail down to the edge of the pool itself.”

Mike listened as he looked at the ink drawings, bringing it all to life in his mind. He had a good imagination and used it to mentally change the plain, kidney-shaped pool into the fantasy spot he wanted.

He could almost see it. A waterfall would cascade at one end of the pool and behind that waterfall would be a swim-up bar where guests could be served as they hid behind a froth of water. There would be lounge chairs in deep forest green and tables that looked like the twisted limbs of ancient trees. The flowering vines Jacob described would be a curtain of green in the desert heat. It was a very good representation of the kind of scenery found in the “River Haunt” game.

Hell, Mike thought he could practically hear the groaning zombies approaching. He’d like to show the sketches to Jenny, get her opinion. After all, she was here to work, he reminded himself. But she was inside, scouting out the right places for the murals she would design and paint.

“I’ve expanded the dock,” the contractor said, getting Mike’s attention again, “so you’ll have room for both of the boats you’re planning for.”

“That’s good. We want to offer late-night cruises as part of the experience.”

“It’s pretty out here at night,” the contractor said with a nod as he lifted his gaze to look around. “Far enough away from hotel row, you can see the stars like you never would in the city.”

“Yeah?” It had been a long time since Mike had even taken the time to look up at a night sky. But it was part of the whole experience his guests would have. “What did you think of the idea for the animatronics?”

Jacob chuckled and tugged his hat back into place. “I think it’s gonna scare the hell out of your guests,” he said. “But I suppose that’s why they’re coming here, isn’t it?”

“It is.” Mike nodded to himself and glanced toward the riverbank that stretched along the front of their property. Plenty of thick, high bushes and trees to hide the mechanics of the banshees and river specters who would be made to move in and out of the shadows as the gamers drifted by on the water. He could practically see how it would play out and he was anxious to get it all going.

“We’re working with the engineers to make the housings for the creatures to move on as well as the shells they’ll retreat to so they’re protected from the elements,” Jacob said.

“You can hide the housings well enough they won’t be seen?”

“Absolutely.”

It all sounded good. Hell, perfect. With any luck at all, the hotel would be finished and ready to welcome guests by summer. Hot desert nights, dark skies, perfect for scaring the hell out of people.

“I’ve got the best crew in Nevada,” Jacob assured him. “We’ll get it all done just the way you want it.”

Nodding, Mike said, “I’ll be making trips out to check on things, but Ms. Graves, the new manager, will be the point person on this. You go to her with any issues if you can’t get hold of me. She’ll make sure I’m kept up to date.”

“I’ll do that, and don’t worry, it’s going to be something special when it’s done.”

“Agreed,” Mike told him, then turned back to the hotel. “Let’s go through the kitchen work that needs doing. I want to hear about any potential problems.”

“Well,” Jacob said as he fell into step beside him, “we’ve got a few of those, too. But nothing to be worried about.”

Mike only half listened as they headed inside. He had researched every aspect of this rehab. He knew Jacob Schmitt would deliver good work done at a fair price. He knew Teresa Graves could be trusted to keep on top of the day-to-day issues that were bound to crop up. And he was sure that the security company he’d hired would protect his property.

Of course, the only thing he wasn’t sure of in all this was Jenny. He hadn’t seen her since the conversation on the dock hours ago. Probably best to keep a distance between them, but damned if he didn’t want to go find her. Talk to her. Look at her.

And more.

Yeah,
not going there.

“Right, Jacob. Let’s get back to work.”

Five

J
enny’s imagination was in overdrive. She’d brought her ideas for murals with her and she’d spent the past two hours walking the halls and the big rooms on the main floor, plotting just where she’d put them.

The restaurant was perfect for a wide mural on the back wall. She would paint it as if there was a path leading from the room into the forest itself. Sort of a trompe l’oeil, giving the guests in the room the feeling that they could simply step into the painting. Of course, being gamers, they would know what lurked in that forest, she thought with a smile, so maybe they wouldn’t want to follow the path.

On the opposite wall, there were tall windows, displaying the view of the tree-laden yard and the river beyond. Those she would surround with deep green vines, twining down the wall to pool on the floor.

She took a deep breath and simply sighed at the pleasure of having so many blank canvases just waiting to be turned into fantasies. Her hands actually itched to take hold of her brushes. God knew, she loved her job, but having the opportunity to paint rather than generating images on a computer was just...fun.

Grinning, she left the dining room and walked into the lobby. She had a great idea for the main entrance to the hotel and knew that it was only because she’d been here to see it in person that the thought had occurred to her. She wanted this painting to make a statement. To show the gamers and other guests that from the moment they walked into the hotel, they were stepping into another realm.

The lobby area was another big, gorgeous space that only needed some attention to really wake it up and make it special. And Jenny was just the artist to do it. There were a few crewmen in the room already, tearing out the old reception desk. It was white and sterile and too contemporary-looking for what the Ryans had in mind, so it had to go.

“Excuse me,” she said and waited until one of the men turned to look at her to ask, “who do I speak to about the color of paint I want on this entry wall?”

“Oh, that’d be Jacob.” A guy in his thirties with big brown eyes, a heavy mustache and deeply tanned skin smiled at her, touching off a dimple in one cheek. “I think he’s in the kitchen with the boss.”

“Okay, thanks.” She started that way, but stopped when the man spoke again.

“You’re the artist, right? Jenny?”

Jenny turned to face him. “That’s right.”

“Nice to meet you. I’m Rick.”

He really was cute and that dimple was disarming. His jeans were worn and faded, and his white T-shirt strained over a build that was truly impressive. And Jenny was pretty sure Rick knew exactly how good he looked. There was something in his stance—as if he were posing for her admiration—and in the knowing gleam in his eyes that told Jenny he was used to women curling up at his feet and staring up at him adoringly.

Hard to blame them.

“Hi, Rick,” she said. “Good to meet you, too. I’m going to be doing the murals for the new hotel. Well,” she hedged, “not me all on my lonesome. It would take me ten years to do all of them myself.

“But I’m doing the designs and supervising the artists we’ll bring in to finish the job.”

He nodded as if he cared and she knew he didn’t. Please. Were most of her gender really so easily manipulated by a gorgeous face and the appearance of interest in what they were saying?

“So what color do you want for that wall?” he asked.

She glanced at the wall in question. It was the first thing you saw when you walked into the hotel. Right now, it was cream colored, with sun stains from where framed paintings had once hung. But when Jenny was finished with it, it was going to be...mystical.

When she spoke, she wasn’t really talking to Rick-With-Dimples. Instead, she was describing her vision to herself, sort of putting it out into the universe.

“Deep purple,” she said, tipping her head to stare at the blank space as if she could see the wall changing color as she spoke. “I want it the color of twilight just before darkness falls. There will be stars, just barely appearing in the sky, with dark clouds streaming past a full moon, making them shine like silver.” She sighed and continued, “There’ll be a forest beneath the stars and moonlight threading through the trees. And in the shadows, there will be the hint of yellow eyes, red eyes, staring out at you, and you won’t be sure if you see them or not.

“But the night will draw you in, make promises, and you’ll dream about that forest and the eyes that follow you as you walk.”

She fell silent and was still staring at the blank wall when she heard Rick say, “Damn, lady, you’re a little spooky, you know that?”

She laughed, until Mike’s voice came from right behind her.

“You have no idea.”

Whipping around, she looked up into Mike’s eyes and noticed the all-too-familiar flare of anger. Well, for heaven’s sake, what had she done
now
?

“Don’t you have work to do?” Jacob asked Rick and he immediately left, doing his best to look busy.

“Thanks for the tour, Jacob,” Mike was saying. “We’ll meet up here again tomorrow.”

“I’ll be here,” the older man said, with a nod acknowledging Jenny. “You make a note on the paint colors you want where, miss, and I’ll make sure the painters get the message.”

“Thank you. I’ll have them for you tomorrow, then.”

“That’s good.” Jacob looked back at Mike. “The crew starts on the main floor in the morning. You and I can look at the upper floors and talk about what you want.”

“See you then.” Mike took Jenny’s elbow and began steering her toward the front door.

She pulled free though, because A, she wasn’t going to be dragged around like a dog on a leash. And B, she needed her purse.

“Just wait a minute,” she snapped and marched across the front room like a soldier striding across a battlefield. Snatching up her black leather bag, she slung it over her shoulder and stomped right back to Mike. “
Now
I’m ready.”

He gritted his teeth. She could see the muscle in his jaw twitching and she almost enjoyed knowing she had the ability to irritate him so easily. Of course, she’d enjoy it even more if she knew what exactly she’d done to make him walk as if there were a steel spike between his shoulder blades.

Without waiting for him, Jenny walked out the front door, down the overgrown walk and stopped at the passenger door of the shiny red rental car to wait.

He looked at her over the roof of the car and demanded, “What the hell were you doing?”

“My
job
,” she shot back, then threw the door open and slid inside.

He did the same, slammed the key home and fired the engine. Neither of them spoke again on the short drive to the hotel where they’d be spending the night.

When they got there, Mike turned the car over to the valet and Jenny was inside the hotel before he caught up to her. Again, he took hold of her elbow and pulled her to a stop.

“Will you quit doing that?” Her gaze shot from his hand on her arm up to his eyes.

“Quit walking away from me.”

“Quit being a jerk and I’ll quit walking away.”

“You make me nuts,” he grumbled.

“I think you were born that way,” she said, “but Sean seems perfectly reasonable, so it’s probably not hereditary.”

All around them, tourists swarmed through the lobby and into the casino. Bells, whistles and loud bursts of laughter played backdrop to their hurried, angry whispers.

“I’m not having this conversation here.”

Jenny flinched at the cold, sharp edge of his voice. “I’m not having it at all.”

“Yeah you are. We’ll talk about it upstairs. Your room or mine?”

“Ha!” She laughed shortly. “Despite that charming invitation, I think I’ll pass.”

“We talk privately,” he said, lowering his voice until it was a hush, “or we do it right here in the middle of the damn hotel.”

“Fine. Upstairs. My room because I want to be able to tell you to leave.”

He snorted, took her elbow in a grip firm enough she couldn’t shake him off and steered her to the bank of elevators. One of them opened instantly as soon as Mike stabbed the call button. The two of them stepped into the open car as soon as it emptied and were joined by a half-dozen other people.

The elevator was crowded and the piped-in music was straight out of the 1980s. Mirrors on the walls made it seem as if there were fifty people crammed together, but the only person Jenny really looked at was Mike. He was at least a head taller than anyone else and in the mirror, his gaze shifted to hers and held. The car stopped, people got off, got on, and then they were moving again. Conversations rippled around them, but Jenny hardly heard them. All she could focus on was the glint in Mike’s eyes and the grim slash of his mouth. Finally, though, they hit the eleventh floor. Jenny stepped off and Mike followed after.

The hallway was dimly lit and narrow, and with Mike right behind her, felt even tighter. She reached her door, slid the card key through the slot and opened it. Jenny’d left her drapes open, so afternoon sunlight swamped the room as she walked to the bed and tossed her purse down on it.

Mike closed the door and was walking toward her when she turned to face him.

“What the hell was that all about?”

“What was what about?” Jenny threw both hands high and then let them fall.

“You and the carpenter.” Mike bit the words off. “When I walked into the lobby, you were flirting and he was drooling, so I ask again, what the hell was that about?”

Sincerely stunned, Jenny gaped at him for a second or two. “Flirting?” she repeated as anger bubbled and churned in the pit of her stomach. “I was talking about
paint.
About the mural I want on the wall in the lobby.”

“Yeah, I heard the end of the performance.” Mike cut her off with a wave of his hand. “Deep, breathy voice going all dreamy and soft. Hell, you had that carpenter standing there with his mouth open and his eyes bugging out.”

“Dreamy? Soft?” Had she really sounded like that, she wondered, then shook her head to dismiss the question. Didn’t matter if she had, Jenny thought. She hadn’t been flirting, she’d been sort of lost in her own vision.

Mike inhaled sharply and said, “You sounded just like you did when you woke up in my arms.”

Now it was her turn to drag a deep breath into her lungs. Reminding her of their most recent night together wasn’t playing fair. “You’re wrong.”

He took a step closer, grabbed her upper arms and pulled her up against him. Jenny’s heart leaped into a gallop and as he was holding her so tightly to him, she felt his heart raging in the same rhythm.

“I know what I heard,” he said, staring down into her eyes. “What I saw.”

She fought the natural impulse to wrap her arms around his waist and hold on. To go up on her toes and kiss him. To feel that rush of incredible sensations one more time. Instead, she reminded herself just how little he really thought of her. Of the fact that he didn’t want her—it was only desire driving his reactions.

“I wasn’t flirting,” she told him. “But even if I had been, what business is that of yours? You’re my boss, Mike, not my boyfriend.”

“I am your boss,” he agreed. “And I don’t want you playing with the crew. I want them focused on the work, not you.”

Stunned all over again, Jenny demanded, “Can you hear yourself? Do you even realize when you’re being insulting? I mean, is it just instinct or is it deliberate?”

“Insulting? I walk into a room in my new hotel and find you practically salivating over some guy with a tool belt and a set of dimples, and I’m insulting?”

“You are, and what’s worse is you don’t see it,” Jenny said and slapped both hands against his hard chest to shove her way free. He let her go. Taking a few steps away from him just because she
really
needed the distance right now, she faced him and said, “I’m here to do my job, Mike. You’re my boss, not my lover.”

“I remember it differently.”

She flushed.
Damn it.
Jenny could actually feel heat race into her cheeks and could only hope that with the sunlight behind her, her face was in shadow enough that he wouldn’t notice. “A couple of nights together doesn’t make you my lover. It makes you...”

“Yeah?”

“A mistake,” she finished. “Isn’t that what you yourself called that first night? Oh,
and
the last one we spent together?”

He shoved both hands into his pockets and stared at her with an intensity she could feel. “I did. It was. That doesn’t mean I enjoy standing by, watching you work some other poor guy into a frenzy.”

“I had no idea I had so much power,” Jenny said, shaking her head in disbelief. “Didn’t realize I was so oblivious, either. I didn’t see Rick—”

“Hmm. First-name basis already, huh?”

She ignored that and punched home what she most wanted to say. “I didn’t see Rick in a frenzy—but you surely were.”

“I was angry, not in a frenzy.”

Was he jealous? Was it possible that Mike Ryan had seen her talking to Rick and had felt territorial over her? If he had, what did that mean? “Really. Angry that I was ‘flirting’ with someone other than you?”

“That you were flirting on the job, that’s all,” he said, and pulled both hands from his pockets to fold his arms across his chest. “Don’t read more into this than there is.”

“I don’t think I am,” Jenny said, moving close to him again. This was the weirdest conversation she’d ever had. Just a week or so ago, she’d pledged that she wouldn’t be sleeping with Mike again. She already knew that this was a ticket to disaster. That the man had believed her to be a thief. Maybe he still did, she couldn’t be sure. And yet, here she was, surrendering to the very need and hunger that had led her to his bed in the first place.

No.
She couldn’t. Not again. She would not allow herself to willingly walk right into more pain. With that thought firmly in place, she stopped where she was, looked up at Mike and said, “We’re not going to do this again. I won’t go to bed with you again.”

“I didn’t ask you to.”

Now she smiled sadly. “Yeah, you did. In everything but words.”

“Now you’re a mind reader?”