CHAPTER 7
Amanda reached out her hand to push the door open reluctantly. Knowing that she needed to end things and doing it was two different things. She wanted to be brave and bold but no matter how much she willed it she was still the quiet and timid Amanda. With a sigh she started to push the door open when she felt him put his hand on her arm to stop her. Looking up at him questioningly her eyes fluttered shut as he lowered his head to hers. If he kissed her like he did in the bar there was no way she was going to be strong enough to resist him. She wondered fleetingly what he would do if she grabbed the front of his shirt and dragged him into her room. She wanted to beg him to take her inside and make love to her, she wanted to throw caution to the wind and for once not have a plan, to just react to her feelings, but there was no way she could.
She was still painfully aware of what happened to her the last time she let her guard down. Hurt and betrayal like that wasn’t something that she could just ignore, but as she felt Russ’ lips press gently against hers she consoled herself with the thought that she could, and she would, throw caution to the wind just this once. No more thoughts of cheating fiancés, no thoughts of Janice, just the feel of Russ’ lips pressed against hers. She relaxed her face against the palm that lay against her cheek.
It seemed to be becoming a habit of his to hold her face in his hands as he kissed her. She felt his reluctance to end the kiss as he slowly withdrew his lips from hers and she savored the tingling sensation of her lips. The smell of his cologne filled her nostrils and she couldn’t remember a time that a man had ever smelt so good. Dreamily she watched as he took a step away from her and smiled down into her upturned face.
“Until tomorrow then.” Was all he said as he turned from her and walked toward the elevator. Part of her was glad that he didn’t turn around. If he did she wasn’t sure that she would have been able to stop from reaching out to him. As soon as the elevator doors closed blocking him from view she pushed on the door only to find that it had closed without her hearing it during their kiss.
Chucking quietly to herself she took her key back out and reopened the door. Sitting everything down on the table she walked toward to mini bar and grabbed a bottle of water. She couldn’t get the kiss off of her mind. It replayed on a loop. She took her water and walked toward the balcony and leaned against the rail looking out over the darkened water. When was the last time she had done something just for herself? Something that didn’t benefit anyone else or the company? It had been so long she couldn’t remember.
Disgusted with herself she walked back into the room and got ready for bed. Amanda flicked on the TV and channel surfed for a few minutes hoping something would hold her attention long enough to relax, but she was not in the mood for news, it always bummed her out, and sitcoms were not distracting enough to keep thoughts of Russ from her mind. The kiss they shared was seared on her brain. She turned the TV off and grabbed the romance book she had packed. She loved to read when her life started to stress her out, but she found herself imagining Russ as the leading man. Inserting his name where the heroes should be. Imagining herself as the woman who could reform the rake, fall in love and live happily ever after.
Frustrated she tossed the book on the nightstand and turned off the light. She was being silly. Maybe if she laid in the dark long enough sleep would take her. It didn’t, she found herself staring at the darkened ceiling listening to the ticking of the bedside clock. This was never going to work.
Frustrated Amanda threw the covers off and padded over to the dresser. Grabbing her swimsuit, she quickly changed and headed toward the pool, maybe if she did some mindless laps it would help her figure out her tangled thoughts.
The pool deck was dark, only illuminated by the lighting in the gently swaying palm trees that surrounded the deck. The submerged lights in the pool gave the water a sparkling tranquility and she prayed the tranquility would rub off on her. Laying her towel on a deck chair she unwrapped her sarong, and mentally braced herself for the pool to feel cold, but when she stepped into it, it felt more like the temperature of bathwater. She submerged herself and then started toward the other end in long strokes.
Her thoughts drifted back to drinks with Russ and the stranger that had sat down beside her. Russ hadn’t hesitated to come to her rescue. He didn’t push when she said that it would end at her door, even though she could tell that he wanted to. It gave her a thrill to find out that he wanted her. For a moment she wondered if maybe it was the alcohol that had them reacting to each other like lust filled teenagers but for her she knew the alcohol didn’t have anything to do with it and it didn’t feel like Russ was suffering the effects from only a few beers. It felt like he had truly wanted her.
She could lie to herself all she wanted and pretend that she didn’t want to see him again but deep down she knew that she would spend whatever time she could with him. He made her feel things that she hadn’t felt before. Not even with her ex-fiancé Richard. She was a grown woman, she could handle a short-term affair she assured herself. When the time came for her to pack up and return to her real life she would have the memories of Russ and their time together. There would be no regrets.
Smiling at the thought that she would be able to tell Stacy all about the hot hunk of a man that turned Janice down just to spend time with her, Amanda pushed off the side of the pool to do another lap.
Russ felt his hand tighten around his computer mouse, he must have looked at this set of numbers a dozen times but for the life of him, he couldn’t focus. The numbers swam on the computer monitor and looked like gibberish to his sluggish mind. The deadline to have these numbers correct and emailed over to his accountant was way overdue. Okay, so he wasn’t a numbers person, he had used any excuse he could to get out of doing the accounting but today was different. He wasn’t putting the numbers off intentionally. A beautiful blonde had captured his attention and he couldn’t see or think about anything but her.
Pushing away from his desk Russ leaned back in his chair and folded his arms behind his head. He sat staring at the ceiling unfocused as thoughts of Amanda invaded his mind. When he had seen her in the bar he felt that same instant attraction from that afternoon at the pool. The instant spark of awareness drew him to her and he had to wonder if she had felt that tug also. Wondered if the power of their meeting had turned her on like it had him. Had she thought about him before seeing him in the bar tonight.
His mind drifted from their meeting in the bar to wondering what she was doing. Was it possible she was looking forward to their date tomorrow? Maybe she was lying awake in anticipation of seeing him again? It still surprised him that she had agreed to have dinner with him so quickly after making it clear that she wasn’t interested in a fling. He would have kept asking her and finding ways to see her until she relented and went out with him, but he was glad she had agreed.
The thought of their goodnight kiss brought a smile to his face. When was the last time he had been satisfied with a simple kiss goodnight? Leaving the bar, he had wanted to pull her into his arms and kiss her until she agreed to spend the night with him but as they walked to her room it hit him that he wanted more with her, something more than a one-night stand. He couldn’t put his finger on what that more was but that nameless feeling had him asking her to dinner and then giving her an all too brief good night kiss.
It fascinated him that he didn’t just want her for her body. He was interested in getting to know what made her tick and he especially wanted to know why she ducked her head at the thought that he was using her to get to her sister. The feeling that it had happened to her enough times to make her shy angered him. It made him want to pull her close and protect her from the slights life had obviously dealt her. After only knowing her less than a day he could tell just how special she was, and he was determined to show her just how special he was starting to find her.
Something in him had shifted when he met her. Suddenly everything about her brought a smile to his face. Like how she blushed every time she became embarrassed. How her laugh was so infectious that the men all turned in their direction in the bar. He loved the laugh, just not the male attention she had gotten. He shook his head, hell when had he gotten so possessive? He loved to show his dates off, making it clear to everyone that they were with him, but with Amanda it was different. He was different when he was with her and it shocked him.
The thought of being with Amanda, of spending time with her made Russ want to shift all his priorities around. He didn’t want to be tied up in planning meetings tomorrow. He didn’t want to have a hand in running his hotel right now, he wanted to be able to hand everything over to the managers. He wanted to find her and have some fun for the first time in a long time. The thought that the hotel was not his priority shocked him. When he was with her he felt slightly out of control and one thing Russ never was, was out of control. His hotels ran like clockwork and that was how he liked it.
He had a timeline for everything and thoughts of Amanda were throwing everything off. He couldn’t just put all he had worked for on the back burner until she left but damn he wanted to. He wanted to make sure that she had his undivided attention, but he had everything mapped out to the day for this hotel. He wanted this hotel launched yesterday and maybe he was feeling out of control because this hotel was just taking a little longer than he thought necessary. Maybe it had nothing to do with Amanda but his own feelings of control slipping through his fingers.
Russ leaned back over the keyboard, stared at the numbers on his computer and tapped his pen. Fuck, I give up, he thought as he tossed the pen on his desk. This was getting him nowhere, thinking about the new ad campaigns and the financials had kept his mind off Amanda for a few minutes but he had to burn off some of the restless energy that he had. Pushing back from his desk he decided to call it a night, maybe he would hit the gym for a while then turn in. With any luck, a hard workout would help him sleep tonight.