Page 67 of Room Service
“No.” I cut her off before she can even finish the question. “Never.”
“Jesus, this gets more complicated by the day,” she mutters, her eyes falling closed for a moment, and I decide I may as well hit her with the next thing I want to ask.
“So, I need a new hotel manager,” I begin, and her eyes spring open.
“Dorien, no.”
“No?”
“You’re not thinking of asking me to manage this place, are you?”
“Of course I am.”
“Dorien, I can barely manage my own life right now, how the hell do you expect me to run a hotel when I know nothing about how to do that?” she questions, but this is all irrelevant crap that can be worked through.
“By learning on the job.” It’s the best way. Qualifications get you so far, but working from the ground up is what I’ve found works.
“I can’t do it,” she says softly, but I didn’t get where I am today by backing down. I crouch in front of her, taking her hands in mine.
“Elise, if I didn’t think you could do it, I wouldn’t be asking you. I’m a businessman through and through, so I’m not going to make decisions on a whim, and this has nothing to with the fact that you are in my bed every night. This is about trust, and I need someone I can trust to not fuck me or any of the employees over.” It’s honest, and that’s all I can be with her. “I can be here to help to start with, if it makes you feel better.”
Her hand comes up to cup my cheek as she says, “You’re being totally serious, aren’t you?”
“Deadly.” I hold her gaze, waiting for her to give me the answer I want.
“Can I think about it?” she asks.
“Of course. You have forty-eight hours to give me your decision.”
“You’re putting me on a time limit?” she says with a chuckle.
“Did you expect anything less?”
“No,” she tells me, before pushing her lips to mine and finally giving me a taste of her. “You’re a special man, Dorien Dukes,” she whispers, and the time for talking is over, for now. I pick her up from the chair and carry her to the bedroom, where I plan to make her scream my name so loud that the floor downstairs will hear us.
Chapter Forty-Nine
ELISE
My phone rings on the bedside table, rousing me from sleep, and I lazily pick it up, only to spring up in bed at seeing my mother’s name on the screen. I can’t deal with her before I’ve had coffee, especially as it’s been a few weeks since I last had contact with her. I’m sure she’s phoning to berate me into going back to Derrick, but nothing could make me go back to him. Ever.
I put my phone back on the side and get out of bed, padding my way to the bathroom before going into the main room to see Dorien sat at the table with breakfast laid out ready. He’s drinking a coffee and reading something on his phone. Such a simple thing has me smiling.
“Morning,” I say as I walk over to him after finishing admiring how delicious he is.
“Good, you’re awake,” he says as I get to the table and pour myself a cup of coffee. “Got an answer for me yet?”
I chuckle and roll my eyes. “So impatient.”
“You already know this about me,” he states, and I take a seat whilst enjoying the gentle banter we seem to be building up between us more and more with each day that passes. “I have something else for you, actually.” I pause with my cup halfway to my mouth as he picks up an envelope from beside him and passes it to me.
I take the envelope and narrow my eyes on him a little. “If this is a contract to become the manager, I haven’t decided yet.”
He laughs, and it warms me to hear it. “It’s not that, but it is a document of sorts.”
Intrigued, I open the envelope and pull out the contents, my eyes scanning the first page and nearly bugging out of my head. Fuck me, it’s divorce papers. For me. And Derrick. What the hell?
“I had my legal team draft that for you, so you don’t have to wait,” Dorien informs me, but I am incapable of saying anything for a moment. “You don’t have to use them, but they are the best, and they are there any time you need to speak to them. Their number is on the card inside the envelope.”
