Shelter for Adeline (22 page)

“Thanks, Chief. I appreciate it.”

The man nodded, looked at her for a long moment, as if contemplating whether or not he should leave her, then turned on his heel and headed for the thankfully short line at the front counter.

He hadn’t been gone more than two minutes when someone sat on the couch next to her.

“I see you made it,” Douglas practically sneered. “I just got here myself. It was stupid for us not to come together. A waste of company money.”

Adeline huffed out a frustrated breath. Dealing with her boss was the last thing she needed or wanted to do at the moment, especially when she wasn’t feeling one hundred percent.

“Hey, Douglas. We talked about this. I’m not going to claim the mileage, so it’s not a waste.”

He waved her words away with his hand. “Fine. You want to go to dinner tonight?”

Adeline was shaking her head before he’d finished getting the words out. God, didn’t the man
ever
give up? “I don’t think so. I don’t feel that great. I’m just going to go up to my room and probably order room service.”

“You’re going to the opening speeches, right? That
is
why you’re here. If you’re too sick to go then maybe you should’ve stayed home.”

Adeline could feel her blood pressure rising. This was the last thing she needed. She tried to stay calm. “Of course I am. Listening to Bob Iger talk about how Disney has upped their game in the marketing department is a speech that I wouldn’t miss.”

“Good. Because afterwards I’m taking James Wolfe to dinner, and he’s asked that you accompany us as well. He was impressed with your ideas for the new ads for his car dealerships and wants to meet you, discuss the results, and talk about where he should go from here to capitalize on the success of the current campaign.”

Well, fuck. So much for her quiet night. “Fine. Where should I meet you two?”

Adeline didn’t like the smug look in her boss’s eye, but was too tired and out of sorts to think about it at the moment.

“Opening speech is at six. So how about seven-thirty right here in the lobby?”

“That sounds good.”

“Who are you?”

The extremely irritated voice came from above them. Adeline looked up to see Chief standing next to the couch with his arms crossed over his chest. He was
pissed
, and it was easy to see.

“Chief, this is my boss, Douglas Hill. Douglas, this is my friend, Chief.”

“You’re dating him?”

It was an odd response, but Adeline hurried to say, “No, he’s not my boyfriend. He’s just a friend.”

Chief hadn’t moved a muscle.

“Is he the one who brought you up here?” Douglas asked, sitting up straighter.

“Yes.”

Douglas held out his hand. “Good to meet you…er…Chief. Thanks for bringing one of my best employees to the hotel safe and sound. Guess you’ll be headed back now, huh?”

Chief didn’t reach for Douglas’s hand. Simply stood there stoically and stared at him as if he was beneath him.

Adeline said quickly, trying to brush over the awkwardness, “Everything all set, Chief?”

He looked at her then and held out a hand. “Yeah, you’re all checked in.”

Adeline placed her hand in Chief’s and let him pull her to her feet. She stumbled but caught herself. Even so, Chief put his arm around her waist to steady her.

Douglas’s eyes narrowed at them as he stood, as if he was trying to figure out the exact nature of their relationship. “I guess I’ll see you later then. I’ll text if plans change.”

“Thanks,” Adeline told him absently, reaching down for Coco’s leash.

Chief turned her and walked away from Douglas without another word, leading her toward the elevator. When they were well away from her boss, Adeline said softly, putting her free hand over Chief’s at her waist, “Thanks for checking me in. I appreciate it.”

“He doesn’t know about Crash?”

Figured Chief would pick up on that. She sighed, then said, “If he does, I didn’t tell him. I like to keep my work life completely separate from my personal life. I haven’t told Douglas, or just about any of my coworkers, about Dean. There’s no reason for them to know anyway. It’s not a big deal.”

“You have plans with that asshole later?”

Adeline huffed out an exasperated breath. It looked like Dean hung out with men who were a lot like him. “Yes. But not like you’re thinking. We’re having dinner with a client. An important one, otherwise I’d blow it off.”

“You tell Crash?”

Adeline shook her head as the bell over the elevator rang, indicating the car was there. Chief led her in and she said, “When have I had the time? Besides, he’s at work. I’m gonna see him tomorrow. I’ll tell Dean all about how I impressed the socks off the client at dinner when he gets here.”

Chief’s eyes narrowed as the elevator doors closed. “Think you better call him now.”

“Look, Chief, Dean’s not the boss of me. I am fully aware that he doesn’t like Douglas. That doesn’t negate the fact that I’m still his employee. I’ve got clients I need to assist and one of those is James Wolfe. Just because I’m not thrilled that I have to have dinner with my boss doesn’t mean I can skirt my duties. I’m here for my job. That means I need to actually
do
my job. No matter how much my boyfriend might not like it. Or his high-handed, closed-mouthed friend.”

Chief chuckled low in his throat, and Adeline stared up at him in surprise. It wasn’t exactly the response she thought she’d get. The smile and laugh looked good on him. Made him seem much more approachable and soft. He obviously didn’t do it often, and Adeline couldn’t help but hope some lucky woman would be able to make him laugh on a more regular basis.

“Right. But if I was your man, I wouldn’t be happy to learn a day after the fact that my woman was breaking bread with a man who she disliked, didn’t trust, and was even a bit scared of.”

“What? I’m not scared of Douglas,” Adeline protested. “Why would you say that?”

“When he sat next to you, you flinched and leaned away from him, pretending to pet Coco. You never looked into his eyes once, showing you don’t trust him, and your body language screamed discomfort. It doesn’t take a genius to see he’s the last person you want to go to dinner with, sister.”

The sister thing threw her, but Adeline ignored it for the moment as she had more important things to say. “You’re right…” The elevator bell dinged to indicate they’d reached their floor, and Chief pressed against her back lightly to encourage her to exit.

As they walked down the hall to her room, Adeline continued, “I don’t particularly like Douglas, but I’m not scared of him. We’re in a public place. He’s my boss. I’ve seen him every week at work since he was hired. It’s not that I don’t trust him, but it’s not that I
do
trust him either. And it doesn’t matter, it’s just dinner.”

“How many times has he asked you out before now?” Chief asked knowingly.

Damn. He’d obviously talked to Dean about this. “Only once, the first time. All the other times he asked because of work stuff.”

“And how many times did you go?” Chief pressed.

“Well, none. We could get what we needed to get done at work.”

“Right, so now you’re away from home base. On your own, after hours. And he uses a client as an excuse to get you to go to dinner with him.”

Adeline sighed and shut her eyes momentarily as they stood in front of her hotel room. She turned to Chief. “Look. I don’t want to go out with him, but I kinda feel like I have to. I don’t want to tell Dean now because he’ll react the same way you are and I don’t really have a choice. So in order to cause me less stress, I’ll tell him tomorrow when he gets here and deal with his pissed-off reaction then. Okay?”

“Okay,” Chief agreed, surprising the hell out of Adeline.

“Okay?”

“Yes.”

Chief pushed the electronic key card into the slot in the door and opened it. Adeline stepped inside and Chief put his hand on her back and encouraged her to walk through the little sitting room to the bedroom in the back of the suite.

“Sleep,” he ordered.

“I need to be up in an hour and a half to get ready for the opening speech,” Adeline halfheartedly protested. She could totally use a nap. She was wiped.

“I’ll make sure you’re up,” Chief told her calmly.

That made Adeline’s head whip up. “What? You’re driving back now.”

“Nope. Plans changed. I’m going to dinner with you and your boss tonight.” He said it with a completely straight face. No emotion, but in a flat way that encouraged no discussion.

Adeline eyed Chief for a moment. She wanted to protest, but tamped down the words. She licked her lips, then nodded. “All right. I probably should protest some more, but honestly, it actually makes me feel better. Although I feel like I’m taking advantage of you. Maybe it’s because I’m still off from the seizure. Maybe it’s because I feel like if I protested it wouldn’t do any good anyway. But regardless, thank you, Chief. It would make me feel more comfortable if you were there tonight.”

The relief in his eyes was easy to read. He was glad she hadn’t balked. “Sleep,” Chief repeated.

“An hour and a half,” Adeline warned. “No longer. I mean it.”

Chief’s lips quirked once more, but never fully formed a smile. “Hour and a half. Got it.”

Adeline shook her head and rolled her eyes, but wandered into the bedroom. She patted the bed, not caring if Coco left dog hairs on it for once, then curled onto her side and sighed. It felt good to lie down.

“Chief?” she called out, not moving.

“Yes, sister?”

There was that sister thing again. “Can you please crank down the air? Around sixty-six, sixty-seven if it’ll go.”

Not even a second passed before he called back, “Already done. Crash told me you preferred the cold.”

“Thank you.”

Chief didn’t respond. Adeline smiled again. The man might not say much, but he sure was aware of everything around him.

She closed her eyes. All she needed was a nap and she’d be rarin’ to go.

* * *

T
hree and a half hours later
, Adeline was back in her hotel room, watching a pissed-off Chief pace back and forth in the small sitting room.

He’d woken her up after exactly an hour and a half of sleep. He’d gone downstairs with her and Coco and had stood with her while she registered for the conference. After learning he wouldn’t be allowed into the opening speech without a registration badge, he’d bought a one-day pass for the conference without blinking.

He’d accompanied her to the speech by the CEO of Disney, then walked with her to meet Douglas and James Wolfe in the lobby.

But James hadn’t been there. It was only Douglas.

Her boss claimed that the man couldn’t make dinner after all, but since they had reservations, they could still go and discuss his account.

Chief hadn’t said a word, but had taken her elbow and led her straight back to the elevators, with Douglas walking alongside.

“Come on, Adeline,” her boss cajoled in an annoying, high-pitched tone. “We need to talk about Wolfe’s campaign. You’re starting to piss me off. This is very unprofessional behavior. You need to go to dinner with me now.”

Chief had turned then, making sure he was between Adeline and her boss, and taken a step toward Douglas. He’d stepped back. Chief took another step toward him and Douglas once again took a step back. They continued like this until Douglas’s back was against the wall.

Chief leaned into him and, with his fists clenched at his side and words coming out clipped and flat, said, “She doesn’t have to do anything with you and
she
isn’t the one acting unprofessionally. She doesn’t want to go to dinner with you. She doesn’t want anything to do with you. You might be her boss, but you can’t force her to do one damn thing she doesn’t want to do. I suggest you back off, figure out where the fuck you left your professionalism, and pick it back up. Now.”

It was the most Adeline had ever heard Chief say at one time. And. It. Was. Awesome. She wished she’d gotten it on video. Beth would’ve loved to have seen it.

They left Douglas standing against the wall, glaring at them, as they entered an elevator.

Now Chief was pacing her room, pissed.

Deciding to leave him alone and not try to make him talk, Adeline went into the bedroom and closed the door. She put on a pair of sweats and a sweatshirt—it was chilly in the room, after all—and then went back out into the sitting room to deal with Chief.

He was on the phone. Shit.

“I’m staying the night, brother,” Chief was saying. Adeline knew who he was talking to. Double shit.

“Asshole tried to trick her into going to dinner. Said a client would be there when it was more than obvious he’d lied. When she tried to leave, he said some shit.”

Adeline didn’t like the way the conversation was going. “Let me talk to him, Chief,” she ordered, holding out her hand for the phone.

Chief ignored her. “Yeah. I shut it down. But I don’t want to leave her. Not after today.”

Dammit. He wouldn’t…

“Yeah, she seized. Bad. Grand mal.”

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

“Yeah. Twenty minutes or so. She’s still not herself. Groggy, not quite steady on her feet, and she’s pale.”