As Danielle entered the hotel on Monday morning she braced herself for the inevitable encounter with Shane Tanner that she knew the day would bring. She decided to make herself scarce and keep a low profile as much as possible. But as lunchtime approached she realized she had yet to see hide nor hair of him. Paolo popped his head in her doorway shortly before noon to inquire about her lunch plans.

“Hey stranger. You haven’t come out of your cave all morning. In case you were hiding from you know who, you don’t have to worry, he won’t be in today. He’s on Lanai looking at property over there.”

Paolo was harboring a twinge of guilt over a flurry of negative emails he had received in the past week from some local environmental groups concerned about the hotel’s new ownership. Shane Tanner had directed him not to share the info with anyone, including Danielle, and it wasn’t setting well with his ethics. He was able to rationalize his actions only because he was reasonably sure that with her being a member of several activist groups there was a very good chance she was already aware of the conflict of interest.

“For your information Paolo, I’m not hiding at all,” she said with her head ducked behind her computer. “I believe the correct word for it is cowering.”

“Margie and I were wondering if you would like to join us for lunch? Or do you have a hot date with Earl?” Paolo snickered and a moment later Margie appeared in the doorway with him.

“Ha ha very funny. Hi Margie. I brought my lunch today so you two go ahead. Can I take a rain check you guys?” asked Dani.

“Sure. We’ll see you a little later then,” Paolo blew her a kiss.

“We’re going to try that new ahi poke taco place that just opened on Front Street. Sure you don’t want anything?” Margie asked.

“I’m good. Thanks though. Enjoy,” said Danielle.

She waved them on, intent on resuming her work but Margie quickly ran over to her desk and whispered, “Danielle, from one woman to another I thought I should warn you…….the things you’ve probably heard during your life about most powerful men..…. are doubly true of Shane Tanner.” Before Dani could even process what was just said to her, Margie turned and scurried out the door to catch up with Paolo.

Miss Grummond’s words stayed with her all day causing a major mental distraction, as if she didn’t have enough on her mind. But before she knew it, it was time to go home. She closed her office door for the day and turned around to lock it. The sound of Shane Tanner’s voice behind her caught her off guard and sent a warm quiver to her nether region.

“I’m so glad I caught you before you left Danielle.”

The next thing she knew, his strong hands were on her shoulders caressing them as his lips gently kissed the side of her neck.

Dani just stood there frozen for a moment, deeply inhaling his outrageously sexy scent into her nose with her heartbeat racing once again. Finally she turned around to address him face to face.

“I didn’t expect to see you here today Shane. I heard you were on Lanai?”

“I can’t tell if you’re disappointed or pleased, but I can honestly say that every single day of mine is made wildly better by seeing you.” Shane eyed her hungrily from head to toe. He could almost feel his own pupils dilate with arousal. “Goddamn you look so fucking hot in those shorts woman. You’re legs are truly a work of art you know that? Note to self – do NOT change the current hotel uniform.”

This was the exact type of interaction Dani was afraid of. It was clear she was going to have to make up her mind and soon. She hadn’t made it clear that their relationship ended years ago, and he was taking too many liberties.

But the bigger problem was that she was enjoying the attention…

That meant she either needed to find herself a new job elsewhere or risk doing god knows what with this man, the latter being completely against her better judgment.

“Is there something that you want before I leave?” Dani knew that was absolutely the wrong thing to say to him as soon as the words left her lips, but it was too late.

“Well now that you mentioned it,” he said as he pulled her tight up against him. “You know exactly what I want Danielle and this whole thing would be a hell of a lot easier if you just admitted you wanted it too. We both know that if not for that untimely interruption the other night we would have had a lovely fuck under the stars.”

“Don’t flatter yourself. I’m sure you have plenty of women throwing themselves at you but I don’t happen to be one of them. Now if you have no actual business to discuss with me, I’ll be on my way.” She pulled herself away from him and headed down the hallway.

“Wait! Please Danielle don’t run off like that. I really do have something I need you to do for me. Seriously, come back so I can talk to you.”

Dani stopped in her tracks, sighed and walked back over to him. “Shane I’m tired. What is it? This better be work related.”

“It definitely is, I promise. I need you to work up some creative ideas for me regarding maximizing this hotel’s occupancy. That is your expertise isn’t it?”

Danielle became immediately receptive by that surprising request. She had been trying to do that the entire time she worked at the hotel but the Artemis Group was apathetic. Corporate never showed the slightest interest in her marketing ideas, making her feel like her skills and talent were being wasted.

“Absolutely that’s my field of expertise and I have a wealth of ideas I can’t wait to show you. When would you like the proposal?” she said excitedly.

“Can you have a formal presentation ready for me in three days? And please make sure it includes some form of a Tanner hotel loyalty program since we’ll be expanding our brand here in the islands.”

“Of course. Certainly.” Danielle was beaming and her creative juices were already flowing. She was actually already looking forward to coming into work the next day. She suddenly felt optimistic about working for Tanner and wondered if perhaps her job could turn out to be so rewarding it would be worth staying there after all.

“Shane thank you very much for this opportunity. I can’t tell you how thrilled I am to finally be given a chance to turn this hotel into something extraordinary. I’m so excited about it.”

In response to her thankfulness he looked intently at her and smiled, “I can’t begin to tell you how thrilled and I excited I am, Danielle.”