Temptation (The Temptation Series) (9 page)

CHAPTER
EIGHT

I pressed level 2 and headed
for what felt like my sanctuary in this place, to my disappointment the sundeck
was so busy, too busy to clear my head. That being the case I thought I would
go and check out the Aquarium, the Aquarium was built like a cylinder 2 stories
high, it was surrounded by a spiral staircase that went from level 1 to level
2. I peered into the it, swimming around were lots of different tropical fish,
I didn’t know what species they were, except for Nemo, the sharks and the sting
ray. My mind was swimming around just like these fish, I felt terribly guilty,
if Rick found out what just happened he’d be furious but more importantly hurt.
Rick had become close to a family friend once and although it never ended in a
passionate embrace, or so he said, it still hurt terribly that he let himself
get in that situation in the first place and here I was in the same position
and it happened so easily. I knew I wanted to stay, l loved it here, but I had
to be stronger, I couldn’t let this happen again.

I stopped on the landing in
between the two levels, I was watching Nemo swim back and forth, he was looking
at me, I swear he twitched his fin at me.
Don’t judge Nemo, I really am a
good person.
He swam off, probably in disgust. I peered deeper into the
tank and noticed a person looking back at me, it scared the shit out of me at first,
but then I realised it was Gareth and he was around the other side of the tank
on the stairs. He smiled, waved and started to climb the steps towards me.

“Alexis, nice to see you
again, so how have you settled in?” Gareth was attractive, he wasn’t as tall as
Bryce, his hair was light brown and short. He gave me the creeps, I don’t know
what it was about him, he was pleasant enough, he just gave me the heebee
jeebeez.

“Hi Gareth, I’ve settled in
just fine, although, I’ll be without my teacher now.”

“Oh?” He looked at me
quizzically.

“Lucy gave birth this
morning.” He had no idea.
Shit did I just put my foot in it?

“Lovely, what did she have a
boy or girl?” Again he had no idea, I didn’t want to share any more
information, it wasn’t mine to share.

“Um, I’m not too sure, listen
I hate to be rude but I have to be somewhere, it was nice to see you again.” I
smiled and climbed the stairs to level 2, I could feel his eyes pierce deep
into my back and it gave me a chill.

I made my way to the hotel kitchen,
I was starving and felt quite ill from the encounter with Gareth, I grabbed
myself a salad sandwich and a much needed cup of tea. Abigail walked in as I
was about to head back up to my desk.

“Alexis, how are you Love,
how’s Lucy doing, did she have the baby?”

“Yes, Abigail she did, she
did a wonderful job, I’m hoping to go and see her tomorrow.”

“Oh, wonderful, so how is
your new position going?”

“Great, Bryce is a lovely
person and very easy to work for.”
He is also incredibly irresistible and
tempting and I was lip locked with him over an hour ago.

“That’s great Alexis, I’m glad
you are enjoying the change. If you do see Lucy tomorrow please pass on my
congratulations, babies are such wonderful gifts.” I knew only too well what
she meant, my babies were the greatest gifts I’d ever received and I missed
them so much, I needed to do something special with them this weekend. Maybe I
could bring them in to see where I work and see the baby, I know Charlotte
would enjoy that.

“Yes, they are the greatest
gifts of all. I must be off Abigail, I’ve been summoned to a meeting with Bryce
to brainstorm ideas for the new family friendly rooms in the Promenade.” She
raised her eyebrows.

“Really? Hhhhm quite
impressive Alexis.” She smiled and let me pass.

I made my way to the
elevator, drink and sandwich in hand.
Impressive what did she mean by
impressive? The fact that Promenade is being renovated or that I’m helping with
ideas, or something else entirely?
I felt there was so much more going on
around here, more than I was aware of. The elevator doors opened and Bryce was
standing there with a sophisticated red head who was dressed in a grey feminine
business suit, her hair was up and she had glasses perched on the end of her
nose.
Who is this toffee-nosed carrot top?
He placed his hand across the
elevator door for ‘Miss Carrot Top’ and smiled looking somewhat relieved when I
stepped out.

“Thank you Jessica, I will
see you next month.”
Of course, Jessica. Ok maybe I was a bit quick to label
her ‘Miss Carrot Top’.
She tilted her head down just a little so she could
see me over the frame of her glasses.
Is she sizing me up?

“Yes Bryce, you will.” She
stepped into the elevator and pushed her glasses right up to her eyes.

“Afternoon Mrs Summers.” I
couldn’t bring myself to smile at her as I sensed a bit of hostility on her
part.

“Afternoon.” The doors closed
behind me and Bryce’s smile had turned to irritation, which I’m assuming was
directed at Jessica.

“Alexis, you came back?” He
leaned up against the glass window.

“I thought you might decide
to leave.”

“I told you I’m not going
anywhere. What happened was my fault and I won’t let it happen again.” I
continued on to my desk.

“Have you eaten anything?”

“Yes, I ordered afternoon tea
during my appointment with Jessica.”

“Ah, Jessica, who is she
exactly? She obviously knows who I am.”

“Alexis, are you telling me
your creepy research did not extend to Jessica?”

“Ok Bryce, let’s not play
dumb, you told your therapist about me. She obviously knows something because I
now have frost bite after her icy reception.” He put his hands down on my desk.

“Not bad! I may need to
employ your creepy research services in future!” I looked up at him.

“I doubt that, you are very
well equipped with those skills yourself.” Changing the subject, I thought I would
get some information on exactly what this meeting would be about and what was
required of me so that I don’t look like a deer in headlights.

“Who are we talking with at
this meeting and what do you need from me?” I started to bite into my sandwich.
Oh thank goodness, I didn’t need my stomach gurgling any louder than it had
only minutes ago.
I sipped my tea, Bryce was ‘smirking’ at me again.

“You really need to stop
doing that.” I mumbled with a full mouth.

“What?” The ‘smirk’ grew
bigger. I glared at him.

“We are meeting with my head
designer Patrick, I want you to give him ideas of what you would expect in a
hotel room labelled ‘family friendly’.” That doesn’t seem too daunting, I took
another bite of my sandwich.

“He will be here in about 15
minutes, so finish your lunch and bring him in when he arrives. Ok?” He smiled
weakly and headed into his office.

Patrick arrived promptly, I
introduced myself and escorted him into Bryce’s office. He laid out some sketch
boards on the coffee table and pulled out his iPad.

“Well, Mr Clark, as you can
see from the sketches the transformation is not diabolical, adding some extra
walls here and there, and taking some out. I’d like to change the colour
palette to neutral, contemporary doesn’t suit the demographic. Furniture
changes like bunk beds and sofa beds.” Patrick rambled on a little longer.
I
was almost certain this dude had no kids.

“Patrick, Alexis is a mother
of two and I think her thoughts and expectations on what should constitute a
‘family friendly’ room are paramount in deciding the design changes.” Patrick
sat back and rested the iPad on his lap.

“I see.” He looked at me in
expectation.
Oh that’s my cue.
I cleared my throat.

“Ok, um, alright. If I was
sitting at home behind my lap top looking up hotel rooms to book for a family
holiday and came across a hotel advertising and promoting ‘family friendly’
rooms, I would expect safety as a given. It wouldn’t be a selling point, it
would be expected. Firstly, I’m not sure what levels you are thinking of renovating
but high rise levels would freak parents out. None of us really want to be 10,
15, 20 stories high with kids, so levels closer to the ground would be better. Secondly,
rooms with accessible balconies, again, freak parents out, so either no
exterior doors or doors that are key locked with the locks being at the top of
the door and the parents having the choice to acquire a key or not.” Bryce sat
back, relaxed and put his arm on the head rest of the couch, I remembered how
much I liked seeing him like this, he smiled at me so I continued.

“If you’re promoting ‘family
friendly’ you need to accommodate for families with children from infants to
teenagers. If you can configure the walls in the rooms to give you 2 or 3
bedroom apartments that would definitely be a selling point. Rooms with microwaves
and dishwashers are great selling points too, as mums don’t want to be doing
dishes on their holiday and washing machines/dryers are great incentives also,
as it means you would need to pack less luggage. In terms of furniture, nothing
with sharp pointy edges, TV’s braced to walls, high chairs, porta pots and heavy
duty and easily cleaned carpets as children are ferrals. Bunk beds yes, but not
in all rooms, families with children ages between 1 and 5 will find them a
nuisance and dangerous, so a variety of sleeping and bed configurations would
be great. I think neutral colours predominantly yes, but kids love colour,
colour plays on mood, a good mood equals a good holiday. Have things like
Nintendo Wiis and maybe big coloured dots on the carpet to resemble a Twister
Game and those wall play centres you find in family feeding rooms in shopping
centres.” I was starting to go and on and the more I thought about it, the more
came to mind.

“I’m sorry, I’ve babbled on
too much.” I sat in the chair and twiddled my fingers, looking up I noticed
Patrick was taking notes, he smiled.

“Twister Carpet, I love it! That’s
a lot of useful information, there are certainly many things we can implement, that
would definitely fall within budget.” Patrick seemed impressed.

“Great, work with the
information Alexis just gave you and get back to me with new sketches, designs
and figures and we’ll go from there. Alexis, I’ll also need you to organise a
meeting with Chris from Marketing.” Patrick packed up his things, stood and
extended a hand to me.

“It was pleasure meeting you
Alexis, I’m sure we will be seeing more of each other in the near future. Mr Clark,
thank you for your time.” He shook Bryce’s hand then exited the room.

“You really are a piece of
work, Alexis.”

“I’m sorry?” He was smirking
the smirkiest ‘smirk’ to date, I laughed even that smirk was hard to ignore.

“Why? Did I Hijack your
meeting? I’m sorry, it’s just when I thought about what you were trying to
achieve the ideas and expectations just tumbled out.”

“Exactly, you really are the
perfect person to work with in terms of these renovations.” I was over whelmed,
he was thrilled with my input, so much so that I think I am now a vital part of
the project.

“Well I’m glad I lived up to
your expectations.”

“You surpass them Alexis.” The
tension was starting to creep back in between us.
Nip it in the bud, Alexis.
I looked at my watch it was 7pm.

“If that is all you need from
me tonight, I should head home.”

“Actually if you don’t mind
staying a little longer there is something I want to show you.” He looked like
Nate when he had seen a Lego Set in Target and just couldn’t live without it.
Please
Mum!

“Sure, what is it?” He jumped
up with such enthusiasm.

“Follow me, Ms Summers.” He
extended his hand.
Oh my goodness his hands are glorious, strong, masculine
and big. You know what they say about men with big hands? Alexis, you need to
slap yourself.
He led me into the apartment and to his private elevator.

“In you go.” He placed his
hand on the small of my back and gently moved me into the elevator, he hit the
button titled Ob.
Ob? Oh of course Observatory. Ooooh how exciting.
The
doors opened into a small dome shaped room, it really was very cosy. Hit
flicked a switch on the wall and the dome roof started to open. OMG, the stars
looked enormous, I don’t know if it’s because there was not a cloud in sight or
if it was because we were so high in the air.

“Wow, this is amazing.” I had
my head arched all the way back and performed a pirouette.

“You have seen nothing yet, here,
take my hand.” He helped me onto a step ladder which led to an enormous
telescope, there were only a few rungs on the ladder but he felt he needed to
stand right behind me. His body was hard against my back, my breathing
quickened.
You shouldn’t have agreed to this Alexis, this is what gets you
in trouble.

“Look in here.” I leant down
to look into the eye piece Bryce was pointing too, he basically hugged me in
order to reach a few knobs on the telescope to adjust.