Candy Crush (37 page)

Carter led me across the flagstone driveway.
When we reached the edge of the main building, another man, dressed
completely in black, materialized out of the shadows. I gave an
involuntary yelp and Carter squeezed my hand. Carter murmured
instructions to the man and handed him the two laundry bags and the
man disappeared into the shadows again. I felt goose bumps rise on
my arms and I furtively glanced around, wondering how many eyes
were watching us at this very moment. Carter, who apparently missed
nothing, noticed.

“Yes, I have security well hidden
everywhere. As well as cameras and audio devices. Rarely does
anything get by us. That’s why The Resort uses us exclusively.”

“How come you don’t live on property, as the
head of security?” I knew, also through gossip, that there was one
suite reserved for what was known as the manager-on-duty, or MOD.
At all times, twenty-four-seven, some sort of manager was on-site,
in case of emergencies or guest issues.

“I have people stationed here
twenty-four-seven. I like my privacy when I’m not on the job.”

I wondered if he lived in Lovejoy, or in one
of the myriad of other small towns around the area. Maybe I’d do a
little investigating, see which rental properties had recently been
rented. One of the good things about living in a small town is it’s
hard to hide something like a new person moving to town.

I was vaguely surprised I hadn’t already
heard that a handsome new man moved to town. But then again, I’m
not as into gossip as so many other locals are, and I’ve been
rather preoccupied lately with trying to keep a job that actually
paid my bills, and still allowed me time to hang out on the river
with my friends. Probably I’ve been doing too much of the latter,
since the former always ended up being a miserable failure for
me.

We reached the edge of the gardens that
wrapped around the ballroom’s flagstone patio. Waist high hydrangea
bushes lined the patio, and I could tell by the light pouring out
of the French doors lining the ballroom that the blooms ranged from
pink to blue to white.

I knew, from when I was a kid playing in the
yard while my mother tended to her garden that the landscapers had
to alter the soil to get the color of the blooms to change like
that. Rusty nails in the soil turned the blooms blue. I couldn’t
recall how you turned them white. Probably, The Resort’s
landscapers used more high tech methods than my mother did. I
inhaled deeply, because I loved the faint scent of hydrangeas, and
then I turned towards the ballroom.

I could hear the strains of music from a
band, and the murmur of hundreds of voices, chattering away, just a
few feet away. I suddenly felt nervous. Maybe this wasn’t such a
good idea after all.

“Would you like to fix your lip-gloss before
we join the party?” Carter looked at me blandly, but I could hear
that damn hint of amusement in his voice. It hadn’t been there when
he’d growled at Joey and Dave and it hadn’t been there when he
spoke with the guy in the shadows. But it was always there when he
spoke to me.

“I might have changed my mind,” I said,
licking my lips and realizing that he’d kissed off all of my
lip-gloss, just as he insinuated. I was trying really hard to put
that kiss out of my mind, so I didn’t appreciate his reminder.

“You can’t turn back now. You’re here.
You’re on the other side. The food alone is worth it.”

He was laughing at me again. In a huff, I
pulled my gloss out of my purse and reapplied. I took a deep
breath, smoothed the front of my dress, and Carter tugged me
forward.

We stepped through the flowers and onto the
flagstone, and then I let him lead me and we somehow managed to
blend in with the crowd. I was pretty sure no one even realized
we’d entered via the gardens. And I was just as sure that none of
Carter’s security guards would let anyone else do the same.

There were white twinkle lights and white
pillar candles everywhere. I could hear the river, gurgling past in
the distance. Tiki torches were set up every few feet along the
boardwalk that ran along the riverbanks. Servers in tuxedos and
white gloves carried trays, some laden with food, some with
champagne flutes.

I knew how hard it was to carry those
champagne flutes, since I’d dropped three trays before my former
boss declared I was only allowed to carry food trays. Joey wandered
past and Carter pulled two champagne flutes off his tray. Joey
winked at me before wandering away. Carter handed me one of the
glasses and I drank half of it in one swallow.

“Nervous?” he asked in his amused voice.

“Are you letting me stick around just
because I amuse you?” I snapped, and then I swallowed the rest of
the champagne.

Hell yes, I was nervous. There was more
money and power on this patio than I could even begin to fathom.
These people were paying more per night to stay at The Resort than
I’d ever made in a single month. I wasn’t sure how I was going to
pay my next car note and these people probably had ten cars in each
garage, and every single one had been purchased with cash. I’d
purchased my car used, it was eleven years old, and I still had
almost a year’s worth of payments on it.

“Something like that,” Carter murmured. I
let the comment slide. I was already getting used to the fact that
he probably wouldn’t ever give me a straight answer. He handed me
his still-full champagne flute and I put mine on a nearby table. He
crooked his arm into a V and I slipped my arm through it and
allowed him to escort me through the room.

When the next server walked by carrying a
tray of champagne flutes, I drained mine and tried to set it on his
tray. The entire thing tipped precariously and then suddenly
crashed to the ground. I tried to jump out of the way, but I didn’t
make it and my dress was doused with champagne. I glanced at
Carter. He was completely dry and looked exasperated. I heard a
tinkling laugh and turned towards the sound.

Another woman had been doused with
champagne, but she seemed to find it amusing. She looked to be
about mid-twenties, and she was stunningly beautiful. She had thick
blond hair that was piled on her head in some intricate fashion
with little diamonds sparkling here and there that I was willing to
bet were real. Diamonds dripped from her ears and a giant diamond
necklace nearly made me blind with the way it caught the light from
the candles and chandeliers. It was not unlike looking directly at
the sun.

She wore a silver gown with a sweetheart
neckline and skinny straps, and it hugged her body to her toes,
where it shimmered and draped over her silver high-heeled sandals.
I estimated that she was six foot tall in the heels, which meant
she was probably five-foot-eight without them. She was everything
I’ve always wanted to be. It was a little uncanny, but other than
the few inches in height, we actually looked a lot alike.

I recognized her instantly. She was Brianna
Jefferson, the only daughter of an extremely wealthy and public
entrepreneur. Her father created some sort of smokeless cigarette
that costs half as much as regular cigarettes and didn’t annoy the
people around those who smoked it, and it packed just as much punch
as a regular cigarette. He had lots of friends and even more
enemies. A lot of people lost a lot of money when he went public
with his invention.

Brianna’s mother’s family owned a great deal
of land in Texas and had more money than they had sense to do with
it. Brianna spent all of her time being a public socialite. She
was, essentially, paid to party and get her picture in the gossip
magazines. And security guards normally flanked her at all times
because lots of people disliked her father, and they weren’t afraid
to try to get to her, in order to get to him.

I couldn’t believe she was laughing at the
fact that I’d just doused her with champagne. “I’m so, so sorry,” I
stuttered.

I stood there feeling utterly helpless, not
sure what to do. If she demanded I pay for her gown I’d have to
shoot myself. I had every confidence it was worth more than I’d
ever made in a year, probably in my whole life.

She giggled and waved a hand as if shooing a
fly. “Oh my, don’t apologize. That was quite funny. That poor
server’s face was classic.” I looked around. The server had
disappeared and was hustling back with a mop and his boss on his
heels. My former boss.

Yikes. I lied before. I didn’t really want
to see him again.

“Come on, we should go get changed,” I said
to Brianna, shocking myself by thinking so fast on my feet.

“Oh, good idea. I’m starting to feel
chilled. It gets so much colder here at night than it does in
Dallas.”

She turned and began walking down the
lighted path that led to the main building and I followed, turning
away before my former boss was close enough to recognize me.

I felt a hand on the small of my back and
glanced over my shoulder to see Carter following along behind us.
“Maybe I should take you home, Allison?” he suggested.

Brianna stopped and turned around. We were
nearly to the main building. I chanced a glance towards the
ballroom. The server and my former boss were busy cleaning up the
mess and not paying any attention to us. As soon as we stepped out
of the building, the entire party kicked back into gear, as if we’d
never been there. Whew.

“Take you home? You aren’t staying here?”
Brianna asked.

“No,” I admitted. “I live in town.”

“Really?” Her eyes danced as she grinned. “A
local! I’ve wanted to go into town since we got here, but my
bodyguards won’t let me.” She threw a pout at Carter, so obviously
she knew who he was.

“Yeah, well, you aren’t missing much. You
guys have the best view of the river here. There are a couple of
t-shirt places and art galleries and an ice cream shop and that’s
about it. Nothing like this.” I waved my arm in an arch.

“I see this all the time. I’d love to just
wander around town, blending in with the locals.” She sounded
wistful.

I thought there was no way in hell Brianna
would ever blend in with the locals. Her very stature screamed of a
type of life that us locals only ever saw on television, at least
before The Resort moved into town. She swept her eyes over my dress
and said, “Come on to my suite. I bet we’re the same size. You can
borrow one of my gowns.”

My heart leapt at the thought, even as my
brain screamed
no
! I’d probably drop a cream puff on her
gown and then I’d have to pay for two of them. I still wasn’t sure
how I would pay for the one she was wearing. Carter answered for
me.

“No. It’s time for Allison to go home.”

Brianna rolled her eyes and grabbed my arm.
She turned and began walking toward the main building, dragging me
along behind. I threw a helpless glance at Carter and scurried to
keep up with her.

“Thanks for getting me away from him,” I
whispered and Brianna laughed again. Her laugh sounded like
tinkling bells.

“He’s a bit of a stuffed shirt, isn’t he?
How’d you end up on his arm, anyway?” She chatted with me as if we
were old friends. I stole another glance at Carter. He followed us
at a short distance. His eyes caught mine and I gulped. He
really
looked like he wanted to throttle me.

“I was sort of trying to sneak into the
party and he caught me,” I admitted.

Brianna laughed again.

“I’m Allison Bell, by the way.”

“Allison Bell, such a pretty name. I’m Bree
Jefferson.”

“Bree? I thought your name was Brianna?”

“It is. My parents hate Bree, so I’m
Bree.”

Huh. I could understand exactly.

We swept into the lobby and I was pretty
sure my head rotated on my neck, a’ la
The Exorcist,
as I
craned to try to take it all in.

The largest chandelier I’ve ever seen hung
in the middle of the lobby, dripping Tiffany crystal that tinkled
quietly whenever the door opened. We walked across plush carpeting
that swallowed half my foot as I walked. I wanted to take my
sandals off and walk barefoot because I bet it felt great. The
front desk ran along one wall and was surrounded by a cherry wood
counter that curved in and out in smooth lines.

The staff behind the counter were perfectly
groomed and wearing navy blue uniforms with silver piping. There
was a multitude of seating areas. All of the furniture was
upholstered in neutral earthy tones that both calmed the senses and
blended with the natural and a bit rustic surroundings.

Bree swept past all of this without even
glancing side to side and dragged me up the stairs. I wanted to
take the elevator because my feet were starting to hurt from
wearing four-inch heels all evening, but at the same time I didn’t
really want to be in a small, enclosed space with Carter.

We turned left at the top of the stairs and
I followed Bree down to the end of the hall. We stopped short at a
door where another man in black stood, blocking our entrance. His
arms were clasped in front of him and he almost looked at ease. He
didn’t speak until Carter caught up to us.

“I’ve already done a sweep, sir. All clear,
unless you’d like to double check.”

“I would,” Carter said shortly. He pulled a
key card out of his pocket and slipped it into the mechanism on the
door. Bree tapped her foot impatiently while he was inside, even
though it was less than a minute before he was back, holding the
door open for us to enter.

“Come on,” Bree said, and she dragged me
across the parlor and through a door, into a bedroom. I glanced
back before she closed the door. Carter had positioned himself in
front of the balcony in the parlor. Bree walked over to a wet bar
and pulled a bottle of champagne out of the mini fridge. She
expertly popped the cork and poured two full glasses. She handed
one to me, and then walked into the bedroom, carrying both a full
glass of champagne and the bottle. She slammed the bedroom door and
then turned and asked me to unzip her dress.