I wake with a start. Something’s not right. When I open my eyes, I know immediately what it is.

Lucas is propped up with his back against the headboard and he’s looking down at me with an amused expression. I blink a couple of times, thinking I’m seeing things, but then the memories of last night slam into me.

Oh holy cow, I slept with my boss and he’s still in my bed. Naked. Crap.

“Good morning, beautiful.”

“Oh my God,” I whisper before diving under the covers. I can’t believe I’ve done this. I should never be allowed to drink wine ever again. I’m naked, in bed, with my boss. I mean, could I screw this whole situation up any more? I was just meant to be cleaning his room, and now look. I was more than happy when I thought he was a smooth-talking businessman, but now I’ve seen that’s only one side of him. Last night, he was anything but. I’m in trouble. Serious trouble.

“Lilly?”

I feel the duvet being tugged and hold tighter as I try to come up with a plan.

“Lilly, for fuck’s sake, come out.”

I let go of the duvet at his demand and sit up. I keep it clutched to my chest and focus on my chest of drawers at the other side of the room. I’m scared to look at him. I’m scared for a couple of reasons. One, because all that bad boy in the bedroom that I’m remembering might have just been a good dream, and two, if I see him naked when I’m sober, I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to look at him the same again. Every time I do, his suits will melt away and I’ll be seeing his tanned skin.

When I pluck up the courage to say something, it’s definitely the wrong thing. “Shouldn’t you be at work or something?”

“I’ve cleared my schedule. I thought we could spend the morning together, get breakfast or something.” The hurt in his voice surprises me.

“I’ve got to go to work, Lucas” I snap a little harshly.

“Ring in sick. I’m sure your boss won’t mind.”

“I can’t. I can’t just blow off work to hang out with you. I need that job, the money. Just because I made the stupid decision to go out with you—and sleep with you—last night, doesn’t mean I don’t have to do my job.”

Lucas is silent for a minute and I almost apologise because it did come out a little harshly. I won’t allow him to give me special treatment though, just because I slept with him.

“Fine,” he states. “I was only suggesting it for this morning. I’ve got more important things to be doing anyway.” With that, he flings the duvet back and gets out of bed. His sudden movement makes me look his way and I wish I hadn’t, because he’s perfect.

We both stare at each other for a few seconds, me admiring his perfection and he, I guess, waiting for me to change my mind. It’s right there on the edge of my tongue, but it’s wrong. I won’t do it.

When he breaks eye contact with me, I feel like bursting into tears. I don’t want to admit to myself how much I would like to spend the morning with him. Instead, I focus on what I should be doing, on what is right. That is, until he turns and I get a full view of the tattoo I only caught glimpses of last night. His entire back is cover with a stunning black and grey phoenix. The artwork is incredible. My breath catches when I see it, and his body pauses when he hears my reaction. He soon rights himself though, and starts pulling on his suit.

Then he’s gone without so much as a goodbye. Did I just play that all wrong?

“Oh my God,” I groan when I get out of bed. I can’t believe how much everything hurts. My muscles pull and ache as I grab my dressing gown from the back of my door and pull it around me. I’ve always been pretty agile with all the yoga, but I never went back to classes after I was given the all clear. I couldn’t bear to go out in public in my usual crop top and leggings, so I’ve stuck with doing the odd bit in the flat every now and then. I hadn’t realised how out of practice I am.

I hobble my way to the bathroom for a hot shower. I lean back against the bathroom door and breathe a sigh of relief that I made it without bumping into Taylor on the way. No doubt he’ll have a million and one questions for me. His bedroom might be the other end of the flat, but I know for a fact that noise travels pretty well in this place, so there will be no denying what went on last night.

“Lilly, get your skinny arse out here now!” Taylor shouts through the door as soon as I turn the shower off. He bangs on it a crazy number of times—just in case I didn’t hear, I guess.

“Really?” I mutter under my breath. I was hoping to escape the flat without an inquisition. I should really know better.

I pull the door open to find Taylor stood there with his hands on his hips, looking impatient.

“I want all the details.”

“Don’t you have uni?”

“Don’t change the subject.”

I get dragged to the sofa and questioned about the first part of the evening. Where he took me, what we ate and drank, what I found out about him, how much he spent. The questions get much harder to answer when he moves on to what happened here. I don’t know why he bothers asking, because it’s clear he heard everything. He’s had enough experience to picture what we were up to.

“I’ve never heard you come before,” Taylor says, making me turn beetroot red. I’ve never really been one to share the details of my love life. I’ve preferred to keep it inside the bedroom, hence he’s never heard anything before. I wish I could say the same for him. “It was seriously hot, Lil. I’d only just got laid but I was in my room knocking one out after the other listening to you guys.”

“Ew, really, Tay? I don’t need to know this,” I say, getting up to get ready for work. I’ve already annoyed Lucas this morning; I’d better not be late as well.

Unfortunately, Taylor follows me and continues to question me about every intimate detail of my night, as well as demanding to know why I sent him away this morning if he was good enough to make me scream. Taylor looks about as confused as Lucas did first thing this morning when I explain my reasons. Apparently, he thinks I should have blown off work as well. I don’t mention that one of the reasons I refused was because, in a round about way, Lucas would basically be paying me to spend time with me, and that didn’t sit well with me. I knew Taylor would tell me I’m being stupid, and I probably am, but that doesn’t stop me feeling that way.

I eventually get out of the flat only thirty minutes later than usual. Thankfully, my rust bucket of a car starts first time and I’m rushing through reception to dump my stuff in my locker in no time.

I burst through Lucas’ hotel room door with my cleaning supplies in hand. I instantly look around for him and I can’t help feeling disappointed that he isn’t here. What was I expecting though, after this morning?

I let out a huge sigh and crack on, trying to put all memories of last night and this morning behind me. Obsessing over them will not help me in the slightest.

It’s a shame my little pep talk doesn’t hhelp, because I’m totally lost to the feeling of his lips on my body when a throat clearing behind me makes me jump. I drop the bathroom cleaner and sponge I had in my hands in fright. I spin around and gasp at the sight. My heart starts racing and my temperature instantly increases.

Lucas is stood in the doorway wearing a black hoodie with the hood up over his head, and a pair of grey jogging bottoms. The hood comes down to his eyebrows and the shadow it causes makes his eyes look even angrier.

I swallow down a lump that’s formed in my throat. He looks dangerous, like he could seriously hurt someone. Weirdly, I have no fear. I know he won’t hurt me. This shocks me, because after everything I’ve been through, I’d have thought this would set me on edge.

“I need to use the shower,” he states coldly.

“Uh…right…yeah.”

I gather up my stuff and get out. I can’t stop myself from turning back to look at him as I walk away, and of course he catches me. And just to torture me further, he pulls his hoodie off, exposing that stunning tattoo to me. Frustratingly, he doesn’t shut the bathroom door, so as I go about dusting the bedroom, all I can picture is the water running over his hard muscles.

I need to get a grip.

It’s only a few minutes before he appears with a towel wrapped around his waist and water droplets running down his chest.

“Lucas, can we talk a minute?”

“No, I’m busy. Just do your job, Lilly. It’s what I pay you for.”

His vicious words cut me. They actually hurt.

“I thought you took the morning off,” I say with as much strength as I can muster, because I don’t want him to see that he’s affecting me.

The look I receive has me cowering away. Now that’s the Mr. Dalton I knew of before I started working up here: a ruthless and powerful arsehole. As much as it hurts that he’s reverted to that when he’s never been anything but kind to me, it actually grounds me a little. This is what I was expecting; this is how it should be.

After I spend the night with a woman, I usually spend the following days—fuck, even weeks sometimes—trying to get rid of them. So why is that Lilly kicking me out this morning hurt? I would like to think it was only my ego, but unfortunately, it’s more than that.

I knew she’d be here when I got back from my run. If I’m honest, I wanted her to be. A part of me hoped she might have changed her mind. The second I saw her though, I was pissed off again. My relaxing run was long forgotten. I saw how she was with me last night—how sweet, how responsive, how forward she was. I was not expecting this today. I shake my head at my thoughts, because how she is acting right now is all I’ve ever wanted. Why is it that I’ve found her, yet I want the exact opposite of what I have before? I want more time.

After cancelling my meetings this morning, I haven’t really got anything to do, but a quick call to my designer gets me a meeting with her to see how everything is progressing with the refit. I know Dad wants to be involved as much as he can with this, so I arrange for the meeting to be at their house.

“Good morning, Luc,” my mum greets when I walk into their kitchen.

“Morning,” I mutter before giving her a kiss on the cheek.

“Son, how’s it going?” Dad calls out as he walks towards me.

“It’s good,” I say, but I don’t put much enthusiasm behind the statement, which earns me a concerned look from my mum. I can’t hide anything from her. Coming here was probably a mistake.

The designer is the same middle-aged woman Dad has worked with for years. Her designs are good, don’t get me wrong, but they’re so safe. I’m trying to make our hotels something a little different to the competition—safe isn’t going to do that. Dad loves it though; he sees all the standard fittings, the same decoration in each room, the same bedding, and thinks it’s all great. I’m sure I could convince him otherwise, and most days I do, but I just haven’t got it in me this time. So I sign off on the designs and put an end to the meeting.

Dad almost immediately disappears to his greenhouse, leaving me alone with Mum. Fuck knows what he’s doing in there in February.

“What’s going on, Luc? You look stressed. Is everything okay at the hotels?”

“Yeah, everything’s fine. Occupancy rates are higher than ever. I’m actually on the look-out for a new one. I know we’ve only had Cheltenham a few months, but I really want to push on. Now I’ve got the right staff and systems in place, it’s practically running itself. There’s no real need for me to be there.”

“You work too hard. Why don’t you have some time off? Go travelling or something, blow off some steam for a while.”

I hate that when my mum mentions blowing off steam, the only image that pops up in my head is one of Lilly in bed last night. Fuck’s sake.

“Lucas?” she prompts. “You’re worrying me.”

“It’s nothing, Mum. I’m fine.”

“Oh my goodness,” she gasps. “It’s a woman, isn’t it?”

“No, Mum,” I lie. She sees it though, because I can’t meet her gaze.

“Oh, at last! Do you have any idea how long I’ve been waiting for this?”

“Yes, I have an idea,” I mutter, thinking of all the times it’s been brought up. How she wants me to find someone to settle down with, get married, have babies. I’ve even seen pictures of possible hats before now.

“Oh, tell me all about her. I bet she’s beautiful, and smart. Oh, I just can’t wait to meet her.”

I just about manage to hold in my groan at her excitement. “Mum…” I start, not really sure where I’m going with this. “Yes, okay, maybe I met someone, but I’ve already fucked it up, so calm down. I’ve told you before that none of that stuff is going to be happening, and you know why.”

“Oh Lucas, you can fix it. Whatever it is you’ve done. If she means enough to you that she’s affected you, then she’s worth it. And watch your language, young man.”

I can’t help but smile at her. How she’s not used to my foul mouth by now, God only knows.

I apologise as I always do, and make my excuses about being busy.

I don’t go back to the hotel until I know Lilly’s gone. I think it’s best for both of us if we stay out of each other’s way. I’m too drawn to her, and she seems too intent on running in the opposite direction.