The Pregnancy Proposition. Andrea Laurence
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it wasn’t busy at the moment, he also wondered if he could take advantage of his concierge’s eyes. He was curious about his new guest, Paige. “Did you happen to see the young woman that got off the elevator with me?”
“Briefly, sir. I didn’t get a good look at her.”
It amazed Mano sometimes how those with sight spent most of their time not taking full advantage of it. “What of her did you see?”
“Just a basic impression because I noticed her speaking with you. She was tall for a woman; with long, straight brown hair. Pale. Very thin. I didn’t really see her face since she was turned toward you.”
Mano nodded. That could’ve described a thousand women at the hotel, easily. It was a start, though. “Okay, thank you. Let me know if you have any issues. I’ll be in my office.”
“Yes, sir.”
Mano and Hōkū continued down a hallway and through the area where hotel management worked to keep things flowing smoothly. They went down another hallway and turned to enter his office. He flipped on the light and made his way to his desk. Neither he nor Hōkū needed the light, but he’d discovered that his employees found it strange that he would sit in a dark office and would think he didn’t want to be disturbed.
Mano settled into his chair and Hōkū curled up to sleep at his feet. His dog always laid his head on his shoe, so Mano knew he was there. He leaned down to pat the dog on the head, hit a few keys on the keyboard to wake up his computer and slipped the headset he used to control it over his free ear. It allowed his system to read emails and files to him, and he could control it with voice commands. He wished he could tell his high school keyboarding teacher that no, he wouldn’t need that skill in the future.
As he checked his email, his attention was drawn to his other earpiece that was connected to the hotel security system. Mano knew everything that happened at his hotel even if he couldn’t see it occur. It had been a quiet day with a lot of idle chatter. That would change as the sun went down. The weekends got a little wilder at the resort with nightly luaus, fireworks shows and plenty of mai tais to go around.
At the moment, two members of his team were trying to determine if a gentleman at the outdoor bar needed to be cut off. He was getting loud. Mano didn’t worry about those kinds of issues. His staff could handle them easily.
A soft tap sounded at his door. Mano looked up expectantly toward the sound. “Yes?”
“Good evening, Mr. Bishop.”
Mano recognized the voice as his head of operations, Chuck. They had grown up together and had been friends in school since second grade. “Evening, Chuck. Anything of note happen while I went upstairs?”
“No, sir.”
“Good. Listen, did you happen to be around when our Aolani VIP checked in this afternoon?”
“I was not, but Wendy was at the desk around that time. I can check with her if you need something.”
Mano shook his head. He felt a little silly even asking, but it wasn’t as though he could find out otherwise. “Don’t trouble her, no. But if you happen to see Miss Edwards, let me know what you think. She seemed...different. She piqued my curiosity.”
“Hmm...” Chuck said in a tone that Mano didn’t like. “If she’s caught your interest, I want to get an eyeful for myself. It’s been a long time since you allowed yourself a little companionship. Could she be your latest lucky selection?”
Mano sighed. Chuck would likely torture him mercilessly now. He was a lot like his older brother, Kal, in that way. It was his own fault for telling his friend about his unusual dating habits, but it was the only thing that kept people from trying to fix him up all the time. “I don’t know about that. I just wanted your opinion before I ask her to dinner tomorrow evening.”
“So you are asking her out to dinner?” Chuck asked.
“Not on a date,” Mano corrected. “I was going to ask her to join me at the owner’s table.” It was a tradition his grandfather started at the hotel, and he had carried it on when he took over. It was just the first time it involved a young woman traveling on her own. “I was curious about her being here by herself.”
Chuck was right to a point, although Mano wouldn’t tell him so. He was interested in Paige. He didn’t like dating guests at the hotel, but considering he almost never left the property, it was that or celibacy. From time to time, if he found a woman who interested him, he’d propose that she spend a week with him. No strings, no emotions, just a few days of fantasy before she returned home to her regular life. That’s all he was willing to offer a woman. At least since Jenna.
His personal experiences had taught him that a short-term fantasy was the best thing he had to offer. His disability always seemed like the third wheel of every relationship. He may have adjusted to being blind, but he hated to ask someone else to deal with it long-term. He did his best not to be a burden on his family, but it would be harder to shield a woman in his life from it. He didn’t want to be a burden on the woman he loved.
“I’ll look into it, sir.”
Chuck disappeared, leaving Mano to return to his work. He started to give a voice command, but he stopped. He wasn’t really interested in reading any more emails tonight. Mano was far more intrigued by the idea of going down to Lani and finding out more about this mysterious Paige. He wanted to sit and listen to her speak a while longer. He wanted to draw in more of her scent and find out exactly what bizarre combination she was wearing. He wanted to know why her hands were so rough and why she was staying all alone in such a huge suite in such a romantic location.
He considered it for a moment, then dismissed the idea as foolish. It was her first night in Hawaii. Certainly she had better things to do with her evening than to tell her life story to the blind, lonely owner of the hotel. Yes, she’d intrigued him, and yes, her mere touch had lit all the nerve endings in his body, but she didn’t necessarily have the same reaction to him. He was handsome enough, or at least he was the last time he’d seen his own reflection. But there was no overlooking his disability.
Pushing the thought and sensation of her touch aside, he barked out another command to his computer and continued to work.
But perhaps he’d get his answers tomorrow night.
Holy jet lag, Batman.
Paige found herself wide awake the next morning before the sunrise. It was only a three-hour time difference from San Diego, but she hadn’t been able to sleep that night. A long stint on nights before her vacation had her clock all turned around. But with a return to sleep eluding her, she decided to stop fighting it. She got dressed and headed downstairs with her camera in the hopes that she could catch some nice pictures of the sunrise.
The hotel was quiet and mostly dark. The occasional employee walked by as they readied the hotel for morning, but she was the only guest in sight. Even the coffee shop was still closed. It was just as well, she supposed. Coffee was on the no-no list her doctor had given her. She was limited in how much caffeine she could have, and she’d rather get it from chocolate. At least when she wasn’t awake at 5:00 a.m. Later today, she might feel differently.
Recently, Paige wished she could drink something a little stronger than coffee. Her grandfather’s death was just the latest news to upend her world. Before that, she’d gotten wrapped up in an unexpectedly passionate relationship with a man named Wyatt. He was a landscaper working for her grandfather, and they’d met while she’d been there taking care of Papa. She’d never expected such a handsome man to pay any attention to a woman like her. He had shaggy blond hair, a deep tan and strong hands. His dark blue eyes focusing on her was a welcome change after years of being looked over in favor of her pretty and popular older sister, Piper.
Paige knew she wasn’t what most men wanted. It wasn’t so much a matter of self-esteem as it was fact. She was thin without any