Saving Cinderella! (15 page)

Before Alex could say a word, he handed the phone back to the agent. He wasn’t smiling, but Alex could tell that he was simply going to go back to what they’d been doing.

“Wait,” she said. “What did Randy want? I assume I’m the ‘she’ in ‘she’s busy’?”

Wyatt shook his head. “There are just some reviewers there. He’s a little nervous.”

Alex blinked. “Wyatt, are these the
final
reviewers?”

“They might be.”

“They’ll expect to meet you. Those are the rules for the final round.”

“And that’s
not
happening. Your real estate agent is right. This property is a prize, and this deal needs to be finalized today.” He firmed his jaw and turned away.

Alex couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “Wyatt, what’s going on? Don’t you want to win? This is your everything.”

Now he turned back. He looked into her eyes. “And this is
your
everything. I’ve had years to work on my dreams. Now it’s your turn to have yours come true. I want to make sure that it actually happens and that you have no regrets.”

Oh, but she was going to have regrets, no matter what happened with this shop. She was never going to have Wyatt. “You’re sacrificing yourself.”

“I’m doing what’s right.”

“And so am I.” She pulled her cell phone from her purse.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m helping you.”

“Not this time. This time you’re the one who gets to win.”

Her heart clenched. Her throat clogged with tears. Real tears threatened to fall, and she was afraid she wouldn’t be able to stop them. What could she say? How could she fix this? All her years of fixing and helping had never prepared her for this.

Alex searched her brain for whatever she could say to make him see reason. She struggled and prayed and cursed stubborn men who didn’t know what was best for them. Finally she resorted to her last resort idea.

“Wyatt, how do you think I’ll feel if you don’t win this?” she asked. “I’ve worked hard for this award, too. I’ve given it all I have and all I am. I’ve stayed up nights trying to think of ideas that will give the hotel an edge. If McKendrick’s loses,
it won’t be just your loss. It will be mine, too. I
need
you to win.”

She hated using guilt on him, and she cursed herself for doing something so low, but darn it, he was going to sacrifice something that meant winning out over those jerks who had raised him. All because she had told him that if she didn’t get this property today, she would lose it.

“Wyatt, this property is nice, but San Diego is a big, gorgeous city. Lots of property coming and going.” She didn’t have a clue if what she was saying was true. She was totally flying by the seat of her pants. “There will be other shops. Better shops.” She held up her hand to keep her real estate agent quiet.

Wyatt hesitated. Was he going to dig in and get stubborn on her, withdraw from her? His jaw tightened. Alex panicked.

“Wyatt, please,” she whispered.

At her words, his green eyes flashed fire.

“All right. We’ll try. And you’re right that there’ll be better shops. I intend to see that you get the very best. But, Alex, don’t get your hopes up about us getting back in time to make a difference. The reviewers are at the hotel now, and we’re not in Las Vegas.”

“But it’s not that far by air. You have your Cessna, and I can practically see the airport from here. What you need is someone to stall, and
not
just Randy alone,” she said. “I love him, but he cares too much not to be nervous. You need people who know how to work a room. You need friends, people who care about you, Wyatt.”

Was that a mutinous look in his eyes? It was. She knew it so well. She loved it so well. But…

“You know I’m not that guy,” he said.

“You
are
. You just don’t want to admit it. Look what you’ve
done for me. You just told me that you were a friend, coming with me. That makes
me
your friend.” Even though it hurt like heck to think the man she loved was only her friend. “And there’s…there’s Katrina. She really
is
a friend. She told you about that reviewer before, and she has employees who can manage the restaurant when she’s not there. And those two ladies that first day I was there—Joanne and Meredith. They come back all the time. Part of the reason is you. And I know you’ve gotten e-mails from the mother of that little boy you helped.”

“You’re pushing it, Alex.”

“How about Beverly from the clothing store? She adores you. If she could slip away to help, I’ll bet she would. And Harold, too.”

“They’re business people.”

“Who like you and respect you,” she said, crossing her arms. “And if you’d just let them, they’d be your friends. I know these things. I may not have all the answers where real estate is concerned, but I know friendship. You can stall for time, Wyatt. If you hurry. Katrina will come in and schmooze those guys. She’ll feed them. Randy will give them whatever extras you tell him to give them. And I’ll coach Jenna. She can be quite engaging with a little encouragement.”

For the first time ever Wyatt looked uncertain.

“Wyatt,” she drawled, “please try this. Think of all your other employees at McKendrick’s who’ve worked so hard for this. McKendrick’s is in their blood.” That was low, it was sneaky, but she no longer felt guilty.

“You’re a vixen,” he said.

She held out her phone.

“Thank you, but I’ve got most of those numbers on mine. For professional reasons,” he said.

But his hands, always strong, always capable and sure,
shook a little as he dialed. Alex had never loved him so much or been so proud to know him.

His voice was somewhat stilted as he humbled himself, opened himself and asked for favors. But he did ask.

“We’ll be in touch,” he told the real estate agent as he grabbed Alex’s hand. Then he smiled down at Alex.

Her heart somersaulted as he took her hand and they sprinted toward the door.

W
HEN
Wyatt and Alex walked into McKendrick’s, he had no idea what to expect. The calls he’d made earlier had been uncomfortable. He was used to giving instructions to employees, asking fellow businesspeople to work with him—but to ask a personal favor, something purely for himself? He’d barely been able to get the words out. Only Alex sitting there nearly in tears over the situation, and the fact that she had reminded him that she and the other employees had slaved for this award had enabled him to ask for what he needed.

So when they came through the revolving doors into a lobby that was filled with light and music and the sound of hearty laughter, Wyatt nearly stopped short.

To some extent things looked as they usually did. Randy was at his station waiting on customers with his normal patience and professionalism. All the usual activities of a hotel lobby were taking place.

But over on one of the corner sofas, Katrina was entertaining a well-dressed portly balding man, who was leaning in to listen to a story she was telling.

Seth, the waiter, was serving hors d’oeuvres and drinks to Beverly and Harold. They were deep in conversation with an elegantly coifed woman who was telling some sort of story.

To his surprise, timid, nervous Jenna was seated at the baby grand piano that seldom got used. Denny was seated next to her on the bench, and she was smiling as she played. Denny’s mother, baby in arms, was singing in a clear, strong voice that no one would ever have expected from such an ordinary-looking woman. Joanne and Meredith were harmonizing with her. Other employees were doing simple tasks—filling water pitchers, answering guests’ questions—all looking perfectly calm and happy. As if there weren’t two major reviewers taking in every single word, action, note.

To his surprise, Belinda, not Lois, was at the concierge desk. She smiled and waved at him. “Alex?” he said.

“Yes. I called Belinda. Lois needed to go home, and I thought Belinda might be willing.”

Which made his heart lurch. With Belinda on her way back, Alex would be leaving. But he couldn’t let his feelings show. She was responsible for the miracle taking place in this room, and he would be damned if he let her down.

“Showtime, sweetheart,” he said.

She gave him a quick glance, but then she pasted on a smile and moved forward with him. To his surprise, the portly man got up and moved toward him with a big grin on his face. “Did she get it?”

Wyatt blinked.

“The shop, man. Katrina here tells me that you take so much interest in your employees that you volunteered to help your young concierge with her real estate transaction. Did she get it?”

“Yes. It’s perfect. And I couldn’t have done it without Wyatt,” Alex lied.

“I have to say, Mr. McKendrick,” the elegant woman said, rising to her feet, “you’ve developed wonderful community relationships. That all these people should have come out to
make sure things were running smoothly so you could attend to this young woman’s affairs is, frankly, rather amazing. Especially when some of them have businesses of their own to run. And your employees seem unusually happy in their work. Do you… I mean…how do you manage that? Is it real, I wonder?”

“Mr. McKendrick would
never
use coercion. He leads by example,” Jenna said suddenly, then clapped her hand over her mouth, her cheeks turning pink.

The woman laughed. “I won’t mark him down for that remark,” she promised, and then she and the man asked Wyatt if he could give them a personal tour and answer some questions.

His employees and, yes, his friends, had worked their magic.

“Wish me luck!” he told them, with a big smile.

A cheer went up from the room as he led the reviewers away from the lobby. Some time later, after a less friendly and very businesslike interview, he and the reviewers returned to the lobby. To his surprise everyone was still there. Pretending they were busy.

The balding man, Bob Zane, smiled. “Loyal, I see,” he said.

“I can’t wait to see what your competitor can show us,” the woman, Arlene Rogers added. She held out her hand to Wyatt.

Wyatt shook each of the reviewers’ hands. “I’m sure you’ll find a lot to like. Mark Whittington is a fine businessman, with some great ideas, and Champagne is an impressive hotel.”

“Does he lead by example, too?” Arlene asked.

“I have no idea. What I do know is that I have the finest employees, the best professional contacts and some of the greatest friends in Las Vegas. My thanks to all of you for holding the fort until I could make it here,” he said to the room at large.

“It’s been a pleasure meeting you, Mr. McKendrick,” Bob Zane said, and the woman murmured her agreement.

When they had gone, Alex leaned in next to him. “You’d better go say a few words to Katrina and all the others.”

“Yes, they went out of their way for me, thanks to you.”

“No. Thanks to
you
. You called your friends. They answered the call. That means I think you’re going to win in more ways than one,” she said, and then she slipped away to talk to Belinda.

Wyatt watched her go. This should have been an exultant moment. It was in many ways. But in one crucial way Alex was wrong. He would lose her, and there was no way to stop that from happening. Asking her to stay wouldn’t be fair. Then he would just be one of those guys she’d already known. The takers who stole her dreams.

Instead he turned toward his friends. The first friends he’d ever had, the ones he would never even have known about if not for Alex.

It had been a long day, an interminable day, Alex thought, watching Wyatt escort Beverly, the last of their visitors, to the door. He looked taller and stronger tonight, but not happier.

A pain zipped through her heart. She loved him, and she would spend her life wondering what he was doing, if he was happy. Because, shop or no shop, she had to leave him. Her time here was done. There was nothing here for her.

Especially not Wyatt. She needed to start forgetting him right away, try to start healing her heart, and yet she couldn’t help wondering why he didn’t look totally happy after the way things had played out here. She had a hunch she knew why.

She walked up to him. “You’re not worrying about the fact that I let the shop slip away, are you?” she asked. “You don’t feel responsible in any way? Because you aren’t. That was my choice, and I meant what I said. I’ll find something else.”

He smiled down at her. “You can stop the cheering section
now. I’m not fragile. No, I’m not happy that we didn’t have time to seal the deal. I’m determined to make it up to you, to get you that shop, but mostly I’m grateful to you. You really helped me out here.”

He gave her a full green-eyed smile. Devastating stuff. But his words…she’d heard those words before, seen that look of gratitude before. This was where the man felt obligated to pay her back. This was what happened just before everything tumbled down. It was what happened when you allowed yourself to forget that you were no good at loving a man. But if you were going to regret losing a man, shouldn’t you at least have something more to lose?

“I don’t regret a thing,” she said solemnly. “I’d do it all again. Everything.
Everything.
I’d do more.”

The smile disappeared. His eyes turned fierce. He didn’t say a word, but he held out his hand. She slid hers into his, and he led her out of the lobby and down the hallway.

Alex’s words echoed through Wyatt’s mind. Heat flowed through him. Hunger for her overcame him.

That was it. He was only human, and this woman, this maddeningly wonderful, vital woman…

He stopped, turned, and gazed down into her eyes. “I’m taking you to my apartment, Alex. I need to be alone with you. If you don’t want to come with me, say so. I’ll escort you to your room and we’ll pretend that I never intended to make love with you, even though I’m dying for you. I’ll return you to San Diego just as untouched as you arrived here, and—”

“No, I don’t want to be untouched,” she said, rising on her toes and kissing him. “The calendar dates will all be crossed off soon, and I am not going home without this. I’m done fighting not to want this. And I’m done counting. Let’s leap.”

She kissed him again, and when the elevator stopped, he carried her into his room, right to the bed, and fell down with her into the softness.

Finally, finally, he was going to have her. Maybe then he could get her out of his system.

So he kissed her. As much as he wanted. He flicked open the neckline-to-hem buttons on the pretty red dress she’d been wearing, and as she lay revealed to him, her red underthings a perfect contrast to the cream of her skin, he gazed at her. As much as he wanted.

Then he took what he wanted. Her mouth.

She sighed and kissed him back.

He nuzzled her cheeks, her chin, the hollow of her neck.

Alex gasped and reached to grasp the lapels of his jacket, peeling it down to his elbows in one quick move. He shrugged out of it.

He skimmed his hands down her sides from curve to curve.

She fumbled with his shirt, and he ripped it open and off. He finished undressing, and as he moved back to the bed she rose onto her knees, slipped her arms from the sleeves of the dress and moved on her knees to the side of the bed.

“I have to see all of you,” he said, removing the little scraps of silk and lowering her back to the bed. She was soft and warm and jasmine-scented, and everything he wanted.

She met him kiss for kiss. “When this is over, I don’t want you to be sorry,” she said.

He smiled against her skin and breathed in. “That’s supposed to be my line.”

“This time it’s mine.”

“You think I could be sorry for this?” He kissed her again, touched her everywhere. He drank in her moan, licked her lips as she sighed.

When she was ready, he rose over her. She looked up at him, waiting. It was a look of…he couldn’t translate that look. A second of concern slid through him.

“Are you regretting, Alex? Reconsidering?”

She slowly shook her head and smiled. “I’m savoring,” she said. “I’m anticipating.” She moved closer, her skin touching his.

His entire body turned to mindless heat and speed and need and…

“Alex,” he said, biting off the word.

“Wyatt?” she said, uncertainty in her voice. “Are
you
reconsidering?”

“I’m counting,” he said, trying to slow down. “I’m trying to go slow for you.”

She slid her hands up his body, placed his hands on
her
body. “Don’t try to go slow. Don’t count. Love me now. Leap.”

It was the last word he remembered. He leaped. He fell into the most wonderful sensation of his life.

When he woke, it was dark. The middle of the night.

Alex was gone.

There was a note on the table by the side of the bed.

Wyatt blinked. He ran one hand through his hair. He swore beneath his breath. That polite little note. What did it mean?

It meant, he knew darn well, that he had had her and he had lost her. Just as he’d known he would.

In the past, with any other woman, it wouldn’t have mattered. He wouldn’t ever have left a polite note because it
would have been understood from the start that making love didn’t really mean making love.

But Alex wouldn’t be that way. She’d worry about him feeling guilty. She’d worry about a lot of things. And she’d want to be sure that there were no bad feelings afterwards.

She was a woman who cared about people’s feelings, who saved others. Today she’d helped him see that he didn’t need to be a loner or hide from friendship. Tonight she’d made love with him and then made sure that he would feel no guilt. She was a fixer, a doer, who threw herself into everything headfirst.

She was, he realized, the woman he loved. The
only
woman he had ever loved. And her dreams were all focused elsewhere—not here, not with him. What should he do about that?

Let her go. Let her dream, he told himself.

He wanted to do that. He’d lived without love for so long it should be easy. But nothing with Alex was ever easy, he realized.

He also realized something else. No man had ever risked it all for her. She had walked through fire for men and been left sitting in the ashes when everything was over. No one had ever walked through fire for her.

That was just…

“Unacceptable,” he said aloud. Completely unacceptable.

Alex’s heart was in shreds. She didn’t regret making love with Wyatt for one second, except that it made it so much more difficult to leave him now.

And she had to go. Belinda was back. Wyatt didn’t need an extra concierge. Besides, what would be the good in staying after last night?

She just wasn’t that good an actress. He would know. At the very least, Randy would notice. He might tell. And Wyatt
would beat himself up. Hadn’t she been told how much he hated hurting people?

That was why she was sitting here, bags packed. She had scrubbed her face with cold water and put her make-up on, then cried it off. Now, finally, after washing her face and applying her make-up again, she looked close to normal. Hopefully she could say some very quick goodbyes and duck into a cab. If she could make it that far, then Wyatt wouldn’t know. That would have to be her only goal for now.
Keep your secret now, tears later, Lowell
, she coached herself.

With that order, she took a deep breath, left her room for the last time and headed down to the lobby. As she exited the elevator, the hotel seemed strangely quiet, with only the murmurs of a few guests as they passed by breaking the silence. But when she stepped into the lobby, everyone was there. Or at least it looked like everyone. Most of the employees. And Wyatt.

He stared at the bag she held in her hand.

“What’s going on?” she asked.

“You’re leaving.”

She bit her lip. “Yes. It’s time. I need to go.” But she wanted nothing more than to run to him.