A Gentleman's Affair (4 page)

“I don’t want to hurt you…but I will. Now,
I’m going to let go. I suggest that you take your wife and walk the
fuck away.” Furious, I look over at Gina, my eyes filled with rage.
Fucking bitch!

I let the asshole go, and as Gina walks
away, he grabs her and shouts, “If I see you near her again, I’ll
fucking kill you. Got it?” 

“Richard, stop. I told you that it was over
two weeks ago,” Gina shouts back at him as she pushes him away
before running to her car.

I shake my head, happy to have dodged that
bullet. I get into my Hummer, screech out of the parking lot, and
pull onto the road. I can hear the happy couple shouting as I drive
away.

I turn the volume up loud on my CD player,
roll down the window for some fresh air to cool off my fuming red
face…and forget that I ever met that fucking whack job.

Chapter Three

~Enter, Scarlett~

Monday always seems to come too fast, but,
Gina aside, the short weekend away was perfect. My brain needed
time away from the non-stop madness that comes with owning a
hotel. 

This morning I meet with Scarlett
Montgomery, the interior decorator and owner of Elite Interiors. I
hope that she has what it takes to redecorate a hotel of this size:
it will be quite an undertaking. 

I look around my office to see what might
need sprucing up in here. The furniture is old, as it is what Dad
had put in here way back in 1985 when he and Mom first opened La
Fuga. When I took over seven years ago, I either didn’t have the
heart to change any of it…or didn’t have the time—maybe a little
bit of both. I had always hoped that Dad would change his mind and
come back, but that never happened. In any case, I think the room
could use an overhaul. It’s time. 

The old wooden desk that I sit behind is
pretty worn, displaying carvings that I had done as a child and a
lot of wear and tear from the years. Dad would bring me here on the
weekends when he worked, and to keep me occupied, he would give me
his old dull pocket knife to create my masterpieces on his desk. I
seemed to like to draw boats back then: boats and cows. The boats I
understand, as I was brought up in the Marina on a forty-five foot
yacht home that my parents bought after I was born, but the cows I
don’t get. I was a weird kid. In any case, I’ll give Dad a call
later and see if he wants to have it moved to his house. I can’t
see just letting this old desk just get tossed. It’s full of too
many memories.

My assistant buzzes in on the intercom to
let me know that Miss Montgomery has arrived. I tell her to go
ahead and escort her into my office and to bring me another cup of
coffee. I rise from behind my desk as they enter, smoothing down my
tie with my hand as they enter. Patrice sets my coffee on the desk
as she announces, “Miss Montgomery to see you, sir,” and with
her bright friendly smile, she quickly leaves us to our
business.

“Miss Montgomery, I’m Donovan Hart.” She
moves toward me as I extend my hand to meet hers. “It’s a pleasure
to finally meet you. Please, have a seat.” I motion to a chair as I
sit back down behind my desk, trying to ignore the fact that she’s
extremely attractive. Her long chestnut hair is curled around her
face, falling past her shoulders. Her eyes are big and
innocent, a beautiful shade of dark brown. She is wearing a black
pencil skirt and matching jacket, just a hint of a light pink
blouse showing underneath the jacket. She’s younger than I had
expected—twenty-seven, twenty-eight maybe. I am really trying to
ignore the fact that this girl is fucking hot. Donovan…focus! Keep
your head in the game, I tell myself.

“Thank you, sir…and it’s Scarlett, please.”
She takes a seat in the oversized chair on the other side of my
desk, quickly pulling a black notebook from her briefcase. She
clears her throat, preparing to begin her pitch.

I take a sip of coffee as I watch her
closely and out of her briefcase comes notebook number two, then
three. I was under the impression that she was new to the
decorating business and has done very few jobs to date…but it seems
that she has much to share by the look of all of these
notebooks. 

“You have come quite prepared, Scarlett.” I
chuckle as I lean back in my chair.

“Well, this is a wonderful opportunity for
Elite Interiors, and I’m going to do my best to win you over, sir,”
she responds with a sincere smile. She places notebook number one
on my desk and opens it to the first page. “I have some pictures of
past jobs as you can see, and I’ve taken the liberty to put
together some color schemes, as seen by the swatches here.” She
points to a collection of swatches all arranged in rows: some for
the suites, some for the lobby, some for the restaurant.
Impressive.

“I like what you’ve done with The Connelly’s
house—the dining area to be exact.” I point to the second page of
the notebook filled with pictures of their dining room. It’s all
done with deep burgundy tones and touches of black. “This is the
exact color scheme that I had in mind for the restaurant here…it’s
bold, yet very understated at the same time. Very nice work,
Scarlett.” I nod as I continue flipping through the notebook to see
what else she’s done in her short time in the business, thinking to
myself that this color scheme would also work nicely in another
part of the hotel…the part that I won’t be mentioning to her just
yet. 

“Thank you very much, sir. I’ll let you look
through the rest of my work, and then I can show you the rest of my
ideas for the hotel.” She sits back trying to appear relaxed,
confident. But I can see that she is anything but. 

“That won’t be necessary. I’ve seen all that
I need for now. I’m very impressed with your work, Scarlett. Would
you like a tour of the hotel while I have Patrice draw up a quick
business contract?” I rise from my chair and walk around to the
front of the desk as she stands, smiling widely as she has just
realized that I have indeed, hired her for the redecorating of La
Fuga.

“I’d love that, of course. Thank you.” She
quickly gathers up the notebooks and carefully places them back
into her briefcase before grabbing the handle then following me to
the door.

“Why don’t you leave your briefcase here?
We’ll be coming back to my office to look over the contract.
There’s no need to carry it around.” I take the case from her,
setting it on top of my desk. “Shall we, Scarlett?”

I step aside allowing Scarlett to leave my
office before me, asking her to wait in the corridor as I speak to
my assistant, Patrice. “Prepare the contract for the overhaul of
the interior of the hotel based on the figures that I’ve given you.
I’m just going to give Miss Montgomery a tour. I’d rather not be
interrupted unless it’s an emergency.” I thank her before joining
Scarlett in the corridor. 

“All set.” I give her a knowing nod and we
begin to walk down the corridor that leads out to the lobby of the
hotel. We discuss everything from paint to furniture before
proceeding to the restaurant that is located on the main floor as
well.

“This is already a beautiful space, Mr.
Hart. What specifically are you looking to change in here?” She
begins to walk slowly through the restaurant observing everything
from the wallpaper to the linens, the furniture and the lighting
fixtures, then the artwork on the walls followed by the carpet.

“Well, to begin with, the carpet. It reminds
me of something that you’d see in a cheap Las Vegas hotel.” I
chuckle as I lead her through the dining area back to the
hostess/waiting area. “You can see how worn it is here in the
entryway. My father replaced it in 2001, just a few years before I
took over in 2005.”

“Yes, I see that. How do you feel about
hardwood floors? I think they would really compliment the room.” As
she awaits my answer, I can see that she’s nervous, yet confident,
about her suggestion. I can also see that she is trying very hard
to please me.

“I have to agree with you, Scarlett. You
have a very good eye.” We make our way back through the dining area
and she takes a small camera from her purse, taking pictures of the
room.

“It’s my job, sir.” She smiles at me then
puts her camera back into her purse.

“If you have everything that you need down
here, let’s move on to the suites next.” I smile back, leading her
down the corridor to the elevators. “And, it’s Donovan.” The
elevator doors open and I step aside, letting her enter before
me.

“Okay then, Donovan. Do you know what you
want to do with the suites?” The doors open up to the first floor,
we exit and I lead her to a vacant room about ten feet down the
corridor.

“I’m not an expert in this area Scarlett.
I’d much rather hear your thoughts.” I slide the master key card
through the slot and push the door open. 

As we enter the suite, I can see the wheels
turning inside of her head. Everything inside of these rooms, aside
from the beds and night tables, is extremely outdated and in dire
need of some major assistance.

“Okay, well…It could use a fresh coat of
paint, new window treatments and duvets. Other than that, I don’t
see much else wrong with the suite. It’s cozy in here.” She smiles,
seemingly pleased with her assessment of the room. Again, she takes
out her camera and begins to shoot the room.

“I have to agree with you on that. We can go
over the color schemes for the suites when we return to my office.”
I lead her out of the room, down the corridor and into the
elevator.

“I trust that you looked over the list of
rooms that I had Patrice fax to you last week?” She nods as the
doors open and I lead her to a room with two large double doors.
“The last room that I showed you is what we call the Superior
Suites. Those are our lowest-priced rooms, starting at $325 per
night, and they occupy four of the eight floors here at the
hotel.”

I slide the master card through the slot and
open one of the two large doors, letting her enter ahead of me once
again. “This room, as well as the suites on the next three floors,
are the Presidential Suites, and as you can see, they are much
larger. They all have their own private Jacuzzi, two bathrooms, a
large living room with flat screen TVs. The works. These run $500
per night and up.”

“This is so nice, Donovan.” She walks across
the room, opening the large glass French doors that lead to the
small terrace over looking the ocean. “What a beautiful view! Who
cares what the room looks like when you’ve got this to look at?”
She laughs as she walks back in, closing the doors behind her.

“I couldn’t agree more; the view is quite
spectacular.” After she finishes taking photos of the room, we walk
down to the end of the corridor to my private elevator that will
take us up to the top floor. “This is the final stop on the tour,
my penthouse. I occupy the entire floor, of course.”

The doors open and we step into the grand
entryway complete with marble flooring and oversized roman columns
on either side. Scarlett’s mouth immediately drops open at the
sight of living room just five feet in front of us—the far wall
made up of nothing but windows.

“Now this is what I’d call spectacular,
Donovan! This space is nothing but light. And the view...” She
walks over to the window and stares out at the beach, then turns,
smiling as she looks at me. “I get to re-do this space, also?” Her
eyes widen at the thought. She is like a kid in a candy store.

“Of course, this is part of the package,
Scarlett.” I have to laugh. Her reaction to the penthouse is
endearing. “Let me show you the rest of the place. Follow me.”

After we wrap up the tour of the hotel,
Scarlett and I take the elevator down to the main floor where my
office is located. We walk through the lobby, then enter the
reception area of my office. I see that Patrice's desk is empty,
and I assume that she's gone to lunch already. I glance at the
clock on the wall and realize that it’s well past
lunchtime. 

“It looks like we’re on our own here. I
believe that my assistant is out to lunch.” I open the door to my
office stepping aside, allowing her to enter before me, which
shows what a gentleman I am and gives me a great view of her ass at
the same time.

Just because I have a hard rule about dating
women that I do business with doesn’t mean that I can’t still
appreciate a nicely-toned bottom— especially one in a tight-fitting
pencil skirt. But I digress.

“Would you like something to drink?” I am
now playing host until Patrice returns. “Coffee, tea,
water?” 

Scarlett looks up at me with a bright smile,
shaking her head. “No, I’m fine right now but thank you.” She takes
a seat in the chair in front of my desk, and I can see her scan the
room knowing that she’s redecorating my office in her head.

“Let me know if you change your mind,
alright?” I walk around the desk and sit down behind it. Placed
neatly on my desk is the completed contract that Patrice had
prepared for me earlier. “Perfect. Let’s see if we can’t get
through this quickly. I’m actually pretty hungry, and I’m sure
you’d like to get some lunch yourself.” I begin to flip through the
pages making sure that everything is in order.

“You’ll see here on page three a detailed
description of the work to be done here.” I slide the set of papers
across the desk to her. “I know that you’ve already told me what
your regular fee is, but I think that you’ll be pleased with my
offer. I will expect you to commit solely to this project, and I
have provided generous compensation as you will see on the last
page.” 

After looking everything over, obviously
pleased, she looks up at me grinning from ear to ear. “Where do I
sign?” Then she holds her hand out in front of her. “Do you have a
pen?”

“Yes, of course.” I chuckle as I take a pen
from the holder on my desk and hand it to her. “You sign on the
last page, Scarlett.” After we both sign, I get up and walk into
the reception area to make her a copy, seeing that Patrice still
hasn’t returned from lunch as of yet.