we’re all here.’
It took a full minute before Callie could process his words. ‘This is Blake Owen?’
‘Yes.’ Blake intercepted Connor’s reply. ‘Although, to be fair, I was about to introduce myself. Connor just got here before I could.’
Blake shook Connor’s hand in greeting, and Callie couldn’t help but notice how much more efficient the action was now than when he had done it with her.
‘How do you two know each other?’
‘Connor is my brother,’ Callie said, before her brother could say anything. All the feelings inside her had frozen, and she resisted the urge to shiver.
‘So you’re here to support him? That’s great.’ Blake smiled at her.
Connor laughed. ‘No! Callie’s a good sister, but I’m not sure she would attend an event so far out of her comfort zone for me.’ At Blake’s questioning look, Connor elaborated. ‘Callie works at the hotel.’
Connor’s simple words shattered the opportunity for any explanation Callie might have wanted to give. Blake’s eyes iced, and this time she couldn’t resist the shiver that went through her body.
‘Well, we should probably get going,’ Connor said when the silence extended a second too long.
‘Yes,’ Blake agreed, his gaze never leaving Callie’s. ‘You should probably start introducing me to the other employees—’ he said the word with a contempt that Callie hadn’t expected ‘—before I make a mistake I can’t rectify.’
Callie watched helplessly as they walked away, wondering how she had already managed to alienate her CEO.
BLAKE WATCHED AS the crowd in the banquet hall began to thin. There must have been about three hundred people there, he thought. And, the way he felt, he was sure he had spoken to every single one of them. No, he corrected himself almost immediately. Not everyone. There was one person he had avoided ever since learning who she was—an employee of the hotel.
Julia, his ex, had been an employee. She had been a part of the Human Resources team in the Port Elizabeth hotel, where he spent most of his time.
He had been enamoured of her. She was beautiful, intelligent, and just a little arrogant. And she had a son who had crept into his heart the moment Blake had met him. It had been a fascinating combination—the gorgeous, sassy woman and the sweet, shy child. One that had lured him in and blinded him to the truth of what she’d wanted from him. The truth that had made him distrust his judgement and conclude that staying away from his employees would be the safest option to avoid getting hurt.
He narrowed his eyes when he saw Callie walking towards him, and cursed himself for the attraction that flashed through his body. But he refused to give in to it. He would ignore the way some strands of her hair had escaped from her hairstyle and floated down to frame her face. He wouldn’t notice that she walked as if someone had rolled out a red carpet for her. He hardened himself against the effect she had on him—and then she was in front of him and her smell nearly did him in.
The floral scent was edged with seduction—a description that came from nowhere as she stood innocently in front of him, those emerald eyes clear of any sign of wrongdoing.
‘What do you want?’ he snapped, and surprised himself. Regardless of the way his body reacted to her, he could control it. He would control it.
Her eyes widened, but then set with determination. ‘I wanted to set the record straight. I know you must be confused after finding out I work here.’
‘That isn’t the word I’d use.’
‘Well, however you would describe it, I still want to tell you what happened.’
She took a breath, and Blake wondered if she realised how shakily she’d done it.
‘I had no idea who you were when we were stuck in that elevator. If I had, I wouldn’t have—’
‘Flirted with me?’
Something in her eyes fired, and reminded him that he had flirted with her, too. But her voice was calm when she spoke.
‘Yes, I suppose. It was an honest mistake. I didn’t seek you out to try and soften you up, or anything crazy like that. So...’ She paused, and then pushed on. ‘Please don’t take this out on Connor.’
Blake frowned. She was explaining to him that she’d made a mistake—and the honesty already baffled him—but she didn’t seem to be doing it for herself. She was doing it for her brother, and that was...selfless.
Almost everything Julia had done had been self-serving. But then he hadn’t known that in the beginning. He’d thought that she was being unselfish, that she was being honest. And those qualities had attracted him. But it had all been pretence. So what if there didn’t seem to be a deceitful motive behind what Callie was saying? He knew better than anyone else that she might be faking it.
But when he looked at her, into those alluring and devastatingly honest eyes, that thought just didn’t sit right.
‘So,’ he said, sliding his hands into his pockets, ‘I can take it out on you?’
Was he still flirting with her? No, he thought. He wanted to know what she thought he should do about the situation. Yes, that was it—just a test. How would she respond now that she knew he was her boss?
She cleared her throat. ‘If need be, yes. I understand if you feel you need to take disciplinary action, although I don’t believe it’s necessary.’
‘You don’t?’
‘No, sir.’
The word sounded different coming from her, and he wasn’t sure that he liked the way she was defining their relationship.
‘I apologise for my unprofessional behaviour, but I assure you it won’t happen again.’ She looked at him, and this time her eyes pleaded for herself. ‘I didn’t know who you were. Please give me a chance to make this right.’
Blake was big enough a man to realise when he had made a mistake, and the sincerity the woman in front of him exuded told him he had done just that, in spite of his doubts. He straightened, and saw that there was almost no one left in the room for him to meet. Relief poured through him, and finally he gave himself permission to leave.
But before he did, he said, ‘Okay, Miss McKenzie. I believe you. I’ll see you at work on Monday.’
* * *
By eleven o’clock on Monday morning Blake had had enough. He had got in to the office at six and had been poring over the financials since then. Again. But no matter how he looked at it—just as he’d feared the first time he’d reviewed them—there was no denying the fact that this hotel was in serious trouble.
How had he let it get this far? he thought, and walked to the coffee machine in the office he would be sharing with Connor. The man had set up a makeshift space for Blake, which
