FOUR
“That’s a pretty impressive hotel. Is that what you do for a living, own hotels?” She moved her hands out of the way so her plate of French toast could be placed in front of her and waited for him to answer.
“More or less. I’ve been around for so long, I’ve had several businesses, but real estate seems to be my favorite. Especially when it’s all over the world. The scenery makes me happy.”
She nodded and waited until his food was delivered to him before finally starting to eat. “I’ve always wanted to see the world, but other things have stopped me from being able to do it.”
“Like what?”
“My mother has Alzheimer's and I share a house with her. She lives downstairs and I live upstairs. But she’s alone most of the day. If I had the money, I’d put her in one of those awesome communities where she is taken care of all the time and I don’t have to worry she’ll leave the house and get lost.” She glanced up at him from her plate, “She’s done that a few times. It scares the crap out of me.”
“Why not get her someone to come to the house and help out?”
She grinned. “I’d love to, except it’s not really something her insurance covers and well, I just can’t afford it. I pay a lot of her bills and my own so it’s pay everything or travel the world.” She scrunched her nose. “I sleep better every night knowing I did the best I could by her.”
He ate some of his French toast and looked up at her with surprise. “This is really good.”
She laughed. “I told you. Don’t try the pancakes, though. You’ll do yourself a disservice. If you ever want really good ones, I’ll tell you of a place.”
They ate and made small talk. Then he put his fork and knife down and stared deeply into her eyes. “Come work at The Lair.”
She grinned and shook her head. “Nah. It’s fine. You’re only offering because of the douche bag who came on to me. You don’t know if I’m good enough for the job.”
“I do think you’re good enough for any job in the hotel, but I like your attitude. It would be a welcomed addition.”
She knew he wasn’t lying and appreciated that he had come to that conclusion from their informal conversation. “Thanks, but I don’t know.”
“One of the benefits our employees have is that they have one hundred percent medical coverage for themselves and anyone in their household.”
She frowned. “That’s impossible. Nobody does that. I don’t even think the president has that.”
He grinned. “It’s true. All our employees have it. Takes three months before it one hundred percent becomes effective, but to start, you are at eighty percent coverage.” He raised his brows. “You’d be able to get your mother that care she needs without spending a dime.”
“Are you insane? Who does that? Nobody in their right mind offers that to employees,” she gasped.
“My hotels and businesses have a very low turnover rate. The reasons are simple. I pay people for their hard work, I offer the best benefits and I demand hard work and professionalism. What you saw earlier tonight was a fluke. You will not find anyone else working for me who does that and trust me, after tonight, he will be held accountable for his behavior.”
Holy crap. She didn’t know what to say. With her brother deployed, she was the only one who could help take care of their mom. If what Jae said was true, and she knew it was from her gift, this would solve her caretaker issues with her mother and get her a better paying job.
“Hang on a sec, Jae.” She pushed her now empty plate to the side. “What’s the catch? Why would you do this for me? I know about your hotel. The number of people who apply to work there every day is sick. I mean, you have to know someone to even be able to drop off an application. And your website stopped taking them. I know, I tried.”
He shrugged those big shoulders and she had to remind herself they were having a business discussion. This could make her life better. She had to stop sexualizing the poor man. Thinking of him stripping on the table like some character in Magic Mike wasn’t the way to conduct herself. Still, the idea wouldn’t leave her and now all she thought of was shoving dollar bills down his G-string. And more importantly, did he have a G-string?
“The low turnover rate makes it so that we don’t need to hire people often, but I need someone.” He pinned her with his flaming blue eyes. “I need you.”
Good god. Her heart pounded hard in her chest. “I…I really need to think about this.”
What the hell was wrong with her? She should say yes and thank her lucky stars but she’d never felt the wave of desire coursing her body for him at that moment for any man in her life. It scared her a little.
He nodded and reached into his jacket pocket, pulling out a card with his name on it. “Here’s my cell phone. Call me when you decide.”
She licked her lips and drank the rest of her lukewarm coffee. “I have to wash my hands really quick. I’ll be right back.”
She made it to the ladies’ room in seconds and stared at her flushed face on the mirror. Her hands shook as she washed them and pressed cold paper towels to her cheeks. Fire heated her face. She wiped her lips and tossed the paper towels out. After several deep breaths, she went back to the booth, but he wasn’t there anymore. Doreen came to the table with a massive grin on her face.
“I didn’t realize you had a boyfriend. He’s so handsome. And so polite. He asked me to make sure to watch your stuff while you were in the bathroom and told me to tell you he had to handle some business.”
Her enthusiasm deflated. “Oh, okay.”
She’d been enjoying her impromptu dinner with the stranger. She pulled her wallet out but Doreen shook her head. “Nope. He paid for both your meals and gave me a tip that will put this entire month’s salary to shame.”