Page 26 of Booked for Summer

‘He… What?’

‘He’s your new boss.’

Confused, she swivelled to face Liam again. ‘You’vetaken over the bookstore?’ This had to be a joke. ‘But you don’t even like books.’

A muscle flexed in his jaw and though his eyes met hers, they didn’t linger, shifting instead to look at Flo. ‘I’m the new owner of the wharf and this building, yes. It’s going to be absorbed into the resort.’

‘Oh.’ She’d slept with her boss. Her stomach rolled. Yeah, that wasn’t good, not good at all. She hadn’t known he’d be her boss, though, so surely she could give herself a break. But… the queasy feeling returned. ‘Did you know? When we…’ She trailed off as she realised Flo was watching them with obvious interest. ‘Er, when we met, did you know you were going to be my boss?’

That muscle jumped again. ‘When we first met, no.’

First? Did that mean he knew later? But she couldn’t ask, not with Flo there. ‘Okay, so this is a bit, er, unexpected. And awkward,’ she tagged on, aware of a heavy tension in the air. Bad enough in a usual place of work, but in this place of calm, bibliophilic beauty, it felt blasphemous.

‘I’m sure Flo will want to discuss this further with you. I just came to… introduce myself.’

A slight flush crept over his cheeks and if she’d hadn’t felt so off-balanced, she might have found it interesting, even a little endearing, to see him so uncomfortable. ‘Pretty sure we’ve already moved past the introduction phase,boss.’

The flush deepened and he looked as if he was about to say something but then gave a little shake of his head. ‘Perhaps when you’ve finished talking to Flo you can come to my office in the resort.’

So business-like, impersonal. No trace of the man who’d walked her back last night. Who’d had his hands, and his mouth, on every part of her body.Don’t think about it. She straightened her back, looked him in the eye. ‘Is that an order?’

He let out a heavy exhale. ‘It’s a polite request.’

With an abrupt nod, he turned and strode out, leaving in his wake a lingering hint of very male cologne and a heavily charged atmosphere.

‘I’m sorry to do this to you,’ Flo broke the silence, her expression full of apology. ‘When I hired you, I fully intended to let the contract run and then sell, but a few weeks ago my sons announced their business had taken another hit and they were going to become bankrupt if they didn’t get a loan now. Of course, you’d already booked your flight and organised the time off work. Plus you were so excited about coming here.’ She let out a deep sigh. ‘Call me an old fool but I thought if I kept putting off the sale, things would work out and my sons would find the money another way.’ She gave Jade a sad smile. ‘I love my children, would do anything for them, but sometimes they drive me crazy.’

‘It’s okay. I understand. My parents would do the same for me and my sister.’ Well, they definitely would for Lauren and they probably would for Jade, too, because they loved her– they’d just be less certain of ever getting the money back.

‘He has promised you’ll still be able to stay for the full three months, but I only have his word on that. His lawyers refused to put anything into the contract, and frankly they had me over a barrel because the wharf isn’t worth the money he’s paying to anyone else.’ She smiled sadly, covering one of Jade’s hands with her own. ‘I want you to know I still have faith that you’ll be a real asset to Little Bay Book Shack. I’m sure you’ll be able to convince Liam Haven of that, too.’

LiamHaven. Holy shit, it was slowly sinking in. The yacht’s name,Ocean Haven, which was the same name as that of the resort. She hadn’t just slept with her new boss. She’d slept with a man who owned the whole frigging resort.

Flo coughed. ‘It’s none of my business, but I get the sense you two already know each other?’

‘Sort of. At least, I thought I knew him a little bit. Now I’m not sure.’

Flo slowly climbed to her feet, bangles jangling. ‘Well, I’m afraid this is goodbye, dear. Remember I’m always at the end of the phone if you want any advice.’ She gave Jade a tight hug and started walking towards the door. When she opened it, she halted and glanced back at her. ‘I know it’s none of my business, but I’d be very wary of climbing into bed with Liam Haven. He has a reputation of being ruthless, both in business and his personal life.’ She smiled, as if trying to soften her words. ‘Good luck, dear.’

Ruthless. Yeah, she wasn’t kidding. As Jade watched the woman she’d managed to convince to hire her disappear out of her life, anger mixed with a massive swell of self-disgust. Only a few days into her supposed life-altering three months, and already she’d fallen back into old habits, showing herself to be utterly stupid when it came to men.

* * *

At the tap on his door, Liam’s pulse kicked up a gear, only to settle immediately when he saw his deputy’s face.

‘Jeremy.’

The man’s ginger eyebrows flew up to his hairline. ‘You don’t sound happy. And there was me thinking that now you’ve secured the deal on the wharf, you’d be in a sunny mood this morning.’ He waved a hand in Liam’s direction. ‘Let me rephrase that, because sunny is most certainly not a mood I could ever associate with you. How about instead I ask who pissed you off this morning?’

‘Nobody.’ It was himself Liam was annoyed at. He was accustomed to taking tough decisions, having difficult conversations, but the one he was about to have with Jade was causing his stomach to churn. ‘What do you want?’

Ignoring his abruptness, Jeremy sauntered into the office and dropped elegantly into the chair opposite. ‘I bring good news. The supply issue from yesterday is resolved, so we’re running on full menus again and the shower in the presidential suite has been fixed. The couple moved back this morning and graciously accepted our offer of free food and drink for the rest of their stay.’

Liam baulked. ‘Who agreed that?’

‘I did. Better to be in the red with happy guests than in the black with angry ones. Happy guests will come back, spend lots of money on their return, and sing your praises to their rich friends who will then book their own holiday here and spend lots of money?—’

‘I get the picture,’ Liam interrupted. He didn’t like giving anything away free to people rich enough to squander ten-thousand dollars on a night in a hotel, but this was why he employed Jeremy. To be the light to his dark.

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