Weekend in Vegas!. Jackie Braun
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mind.”
“That I might go through some rough patches the first few days?”
He studied her, his expression unreadable. “That you know CPR. And that you didn’t hesitate to help.” He held her gaze to make his point. There was something fierce and commanding about the man. Heat seemed to radiate off him, despite the fact that he seemed so outwardly cool.
Disregarding her warnings to behave, Alex’s heart-rate sped up. Warmth spread through her. She tried to ignore it, even though the man had eyes that could make a woman forget to be smart. “Well…” Somehow she managed to find her voice. “As embarrassing as it was, I’d do it again. But for now I’d better start learning the ropes if we’re going to win that award. I’ll just read the reference material that Randy tells me is in the cabinets, and surf the Internet for interesting factoids about Las Vegas.”
“Wyatt, there you are! I’ve been looking everywhere.”
The husky female voice came from Alex’s right, and she turned to see a gorgeous blonde woman moving toward them. She wore a sand-colored sheath dress that fit her perfectly. Her bare legs and arms were smoothly toned and tanned, and her megawatt smile was focused on Wyatt.
Alex instinctively took a step back. The woman knew Wyatt, and Wyatt was Alex’s boss, not her friend.
Wyatt, however, drew her forward. “Katrina, this is Alexandra, my new concierge. Alex, Katrina owns Gendarmes, a restaurant down the street.”
“Ah, one of your colleagues,” Alex said with a smile.
The woman’s smile dimmed. “Oh, yes,” she said, her tone clear. Alex didn’t rank. “We both have a shared interest in Las Vegas and…other things. Come on, Wyatt, we’re going to be late.”
A frown line appeared between his brows. “Alex, I’ll be at a meeting of some of the local hoteliers and restaurants most of the rest of the day. We’re coordinating some functions and we’ll be at Gendarmes, but if there’s an emergency I can be interrupted.”
Alex almost thought she heard Katrina hiss.
“Thank you, but I’m not expecting any emergencies,” Alex said.
Still, after the two of them had gone Alex admitted that she’d felt the telling sting of jealousy when Katrina had walked away with Wyatt at her side. Allowing herself to feel that way would rank as an emergency. Not to mention how incredibly stupid it would be. Developing an infatuation for one’s boss was such a cliché and just…wrong. Besides, while she’d pursued love with reckless abandon and lost before, she’d at least had good reason to expect success in those cases. Wyatt McKendrick was a sure ticket to heartbreak. She just couldn’t allow herself to fall for someone incapable of loving her. Never again.
Love, Alex had discovered, was a lethal weapon in the hands of the wrong person. She was the wrong person and always had been. Her current dreams were within reach, and she wouldn’t cheapen them by setting them aside to covet the impossible. Fantasizing about Wyatt wasn’t allowed, and she was just going to have to nip that trip to Jealous Town in the bud.
So she devoted herself to learning the ropes. She read everything on the desk, thumbing through pamphlets and cruising Internet travel sites. She answered basic questions, made reservations for people and directed them to where they wanted to go. In a slow moment she wandered over to Randy’s desk and picked his brain.
He looked at her suspiciously, but then told her what she needed to know. “You’re really throwing yourself into this, aren’t you?” he asked.
“I agreed to take the job. I’m going to do it right.”
“Could I give you a word of advice?”
“Yes.”
“Don’t do it to please Wyatt. Women always fall in love with him, but he’s a guy who likes his personal space. He doesn’t get close to anyone, male or female. And while he occasionally escorts a woman for both business and…other obvious reasons, he doesn’t stay.”
“Grr.”
“Don’t tell me you’ve already fallen?”
“No, but you must be the tenth person who’s told me that. So, for the tenth time, I’m never going to fall in love with Wyatt. I’m safe.”
“You say that as if you’re trying to convince yourself, but I’ve seen it happen before.”
“I’ll be fine.”
“Good. But if the unexpected should happen and your ‘never ever’ turns to ‘maybe’, will Wyatt be fine?”
She blinked.
“Look, none of us know Wyatt that well. He keeps his personal life to himself. But he treats his employees well, even if he asks a lot in return. I know that better than anyone. I’m here today because Wyatt caught me trying to pick his pocket when my mother died and left me and my younger brother destitute. He grabbed me by my shirt, lectured me, and then gave me a job with the understanding that I would keep out of trouble. Because he’s fair, those of us who work for him pay attention, and what we’ve seen is that he takes everything that concerns McKendrick’s seriously. If he chose you to work here and you somehow got hurt, he would brood over that.
“The truth is that whenever a woman shows up here with stars in her eyes, and he has to tell her no, he retreats into himself even more than usual. His past’s a secret, but something must have happened, because even if he’d never admit it, hurting people seems to affect him almost as much as it does them. Unless they deserve it, of course. Then he can be ruthless.”
“So you want me to protect Wyatt’s psyche by agreeing not to fall in love with him?”
“It sounds stupid, but, yes, something like that.”
“Not a problem. You’ve got it.” She hoped her voice didn’t wobble with uncertainty when she said that.
“Good, because people are already taking bets on how long it will be before you go down for the count.”
“Randy!”
“I’m just saying…”
“Well, stop saying. I’m here to do a good job. That’s all.”
With that, Alex returned to her desk, more prepared than ever to keep a safe distance from Wyatt. And that meant concentrating harder on her job.
She dug out more of the guides from Belinda’s desk and began to study them. She had to. Unlike someone who’d lived in the city, she didn’t know anything about the layout other than the world famous Las Vegas Strip. That would have to change, something that became clear when several people asked her questions she didn’t know the answers to. Fortunately they were nice enough to wait while she quizzed Randy. But Randy had his own duties, and her stalling techniques wouldn’t bode well for McKendrick’s if a reviewer for the competition showed up.
For two seconds Alex allowed self-doubt to creep in, but she battled it back. She had the ability to do this job, didn’t she? Or if she didn’t have it yet, she would. Knowledge was king in this position, but there had to be a better way to educate herself than sitting around reading tour guides. As soon as she got off work she planned to do her homework. The Alex way.
But for now…
“The elevators to the karaoke bar are that way,” she told one young man, and, “The shuttle to the airport will be here in ten minutes,” she told another.
She was searching through a drawer she hadn’t had time to explore yet when she looked up and saw Mr. Toliver coming in through the main doors. Automatically she glanced up at his hair, which…mostly wasn’t there.
Okay, this is so not what I expected, she thought. His hair looked nothing like Seth’s sweeping blond mane. Still, she had sent him to the stylist; it was only right to follow up.
“Mr.