Page 17 of Love Me Ever After
“Come on,” I muttered to myself. “You’ve got this. You can do it.”
My mini motivational speech did little to quell the nerves bubbling around in my stomach, but if I didn’t get a move on, I’d be late. Throwing off the covers, I nipped into the bathroom and showered quickly before going back to my room to get dressed. In another fit of organisation, I’d laid out my outfit for today the previous evening: black pencil skirt, traffic-stopping red blouse and a fitted black suit jacket. Instead of my usual flat heels, I’d even dusted off my Christian Louboutin pumps for the day, matching my top to the signature red soles. The shoes had been an investment, a present to myself when I’d got the job at the hotel. I rarely wore them, scared of ruining them, but today felt like a special occasion and they always made me feel like I could take on the world. I also planned to match my lipstick too. Thankfully, I’d washed my hair the previous morning, otherwise I’d have wasted valuable time drying it. I drew it up into a high, bouncy ponytail, pulling a few strands out around my face to soften the look. While I wanted to be the very epitome of professional, I didn’t want to appear unapproachable. Finally, I tackled my make-up, finishing the look with a smoky grey around my eyes and a slick of red lip gloss. The reflection in the mirror radiated confidence, in truth I felt anything but. Blowing out a breath, I grabbed my work bag and handbag, and headed downstairs.
Not expecting anyone else to be up at this ungodly hour, the sight of Mason making coffee floored me. He too was already dressed for the day, in a well-cut French navy suit, his tie not yet done up, the pale blue shirt he wore stretching across his chest.
I swallowed. This was almost as bad as the sex dream I’d had about him. He lookedso fucking good.
“Oh, you’re up,” he said, without looking at me. “I thought I was going to have to come and bang on your bedroom door.”
“Why are you ready so early?”
“Breakfast with Fraser. We’re going to the hotel to meet up with a couple of the London guys.” He turned, holding out a mug of strong black coffee for me. As he clocked me, he stopped. The tip of his tongue ran around his lips, and he let out a low whistle. “Well, fuck me, Emily Berry. Don’t you look hot.” The words left his mouth, and he shook his head. “Sorry, I know I have no right to say that. But seriously.” His gaze swept over me and an involuntary shiver rippled down my spine.
Silence hung between us. I took the mug from him and had a small sip, careful not to leave bright red lipstick on the rim.
“Make sure you eat something. I don’t want you facing the L&P hordes without breakfast.” He picked up his laptop bag. “Gotta go. I guess I’ll see you at some point during the day. Good luck.” And with that he was gone, leaving me alone with my head spinning and swallowing hard.
By seven o’clock, I was at the hotel and headed straight for my office. Sonya wasn’t there yet. She’d told me this was my gig and that she wasn’t going to hover around checking up on me. Grateful for the peace and quiet, I went through the final schedules, then went on a tour of the rooms. Each of them held tea, coffee and water for the morning. All the tables had an Ealynn Sands Marina Hotel notepad and pen on them—anything for a bit of free publicity. The largest room had a screen set up and I noticed one of the technical support team fiddling around with a laptop which seemed to have a presentation on it.
“Emily?” A female voice came from behind me.
I turned to face a woman, barely scraping five feet, who looked to be in her early forties, with short brown hair. She was dressed in a grey trouser suit, and sensible flat shoes. By the end of the day, I suspected I’d be regretting the Louboutins, but I didn’t care.
“Yes,” I responded with a smile. “Barbara, right?”
The woman extended a hand and smiled. “It’s lovely to finally meet you. After all the time we’ve spent on the phone, I had a mental picture of you and you’re nothing like I expected.”
“Is that a good thing?” I frowned. Making a good impression on Barbara was important to me.
She didn’t have the chance to answer as another woman joined us. “Barbara, this is such a lovely hotel,” she gushed. “When you said we were leaving London for a small-town hotel, I didn’t expectthis.” She gestured around the room. “I’ve already had such a pleasant morning taking a walk along the marina. It’s so peaceful here.”
I had no idea who this woman was, but wished I had a tape recorder to pass on her thoughts to Sonya. “Um, hello? I’m Emily Berry and I worked with Barbara to make this happen.”
The woman turned to look at me and smiled. “Hello, Emily. I’m Janine Helen, one of the regional managers.”
The last time I’d heard that name, Mason and I were sitting in Anna’s Kitchen and he was telling me he was leaving for New York. Instantly, I hardened. “Nice to meet you, Janine. I’m delighted to hear you like the hotel.” I gave her a tight smile. “If you’ll excuse me, I must go and check in with Francine, our head chef. She’ll be expecting final numbers for dinner this evening and I think I have them now.” I waved a sheaf of papers at the two of them, even though none of them had anything to do with dinner.
“You got all of the final allergy information through in time?” Barbara asked.
“Yes, thank you.” I nodded. “Everything should be fine.”
“I do hope so,” Janine added.
I half-turned to leave before stopping to add, “I have no doubt I’ll see you both during the day. Just let me know if you need anything at all.”
My back to the pair, I began walking away.
“She’s so different to how I thought she’d be.” Even though Barbara probably thought she was talking quietly, her words carried on the still air of the empty room.
“What do you mean?” asked Janine.
“She’s basically a wedding planner, not a conference organiser. I expected blonde hair, lots of pink and glitter. But if you put her next to one of the girls in the Sales Recruitment team, it would be a hard push to differentiate her.”
The implied insult stung and I hurried away before I heard any more. My already fragile confidence was wobbling and I didn’t need anything else to push me over the edge.
Thankfully, the morning seemed to go smoothly, except for the inevitable issue with the laptop for the first set of presentations. Initially, they lost the connection to the Wi-Fi, then the batteries in the remote for the high-tech screen failed. But after a few minutes, everything clicked into place. Barbara had shared the schedule with me and I made sure to be around at each break, checking everything was going to plan.
Watching everyone milling around in the restaurant before lunch, I stood to one side.
