Chapter 1
Jacob
After I got my rental car at the airport, I drove past the first of the three sites I was here to examine before meeting with the realtor. The site was large and barren. It would be perfect for a two hundred room hotel. I thought about how we were getting three hotel locations in a sweet deal. They were trying to move the property quickly, and I had everything ready to go. I’d been eyeing the locations for a couple of months already. I didn’t have time to stop because it was already past my check-in time.
I pulled up to the generic hotel that was going to be my home for the next week, and I didn’t even want to get out of the car. The hotel reminded me of a shit scene on crime shows where cleaning ladies discovered dead bodies. I turned off the engine of the modest car I rented. I could have drove up in my truck, but I didn’t want anyone to know why I was here. People tried to please you or shun you, depending on how the future change was perceived. Rumor had it I would be adored here. They needed an upgrade and a financial pick-me-up. The land was cheap here and the potential for growth coming with the newest theme park being built twenty minutes away in the next town over. It wouldn’t be done for two years, but I wanted a jump start on the game. If I put up three four-star hotels right before the launch, I would be inundated with theme park guests. The Middleton Hotels were already in many countries throughout the world, but we were always looking for ways to expand. We rivaled the Hiltons in wealth, but we kept a very low profile, so many had no idea how wealthy we really were. We were like the Spurs, a team no one sees coming until the chase for the title begins. We’ve won the last four bids on locations. This one should be a slam dunk as well. It was three separate properties being sold for a large sum of money. I wanted all three, but one happened to be the hotel as it was. I wasn’t allowed to demolish this one because it was the only one in town, so I would build the others, then renovate this one or do a full rebuild if necessary.
I stepped out of my rental and headed to the front doors. There was nothing remarkable about this place in the least, but I suppose with a town of only 2,500 people, there didn’t need to be a lavish hotel in place. It looked worn down and the sign wasn’t even lit. Everything about it reminded me of horror stories. “Great, a case of bed bug bites headed my way,” I grumbled to myself.
“Nah, they don’t like your filthy, rich blood,” said a soft voice behind me. A moment of embarrassment washed over me as I realized someone overheard me. Then it pissed me off. That was a shitty thing to say to me because I didn’t know this person and they sure as hell didn’t know me. I turned around to see a petite dark-haired woman with the softest grey eyes staring at me. Her face immediately turned beet red. “Oh gosh, I’m sorry. I thought you were someone else.” She didn’t wait for my acceptance of her rapid apology; she just scurried right past me.
I paused for a moment to check my phone, or so I wanted her to think. I just wanted to let her get settled. I caught her name tag and shirt when I turned to her. The shocked look on her face told me she was being truthful about her mistake. Inside, that kind of pissed me off. Who was the man she mistook me for? A strange wave of possessiveness and jealousy washed over me. Like somehow with the purchase of this place she came as a package deal. Mine to keep. Now it was time to meet the beauty and stake my claim.
Chapter 2
Harley
I wanted to die of mortification. From behind, I thought he was the realtor who I couldn’t stand. This man was a sexy complete stranger, and I had a feeling he was from the Middleton Group. We only had a total of three reservations booked and one was for Jacob Middleton. I didn’t know anything about the Middletons except they were wealthy and successful. Unlike many people, I didn’t have daily access to the internet. My other expenses took priority over a smart phone or cable and internet. Books were all I had to occupy my time. They weren’t the most educational books, well not in an intellectual sense. They were chock-full of romance and sex, but I loved them. I was addicted, but that’s because I wasn’t ever going to end up with my own prince charming, but a girl could dream.
Speaking of dreams, I watched as every woman’s wet dream stood outside, doing something on his phone. He was probably texting his girl that he was at the hotel safe and sound. He probably told her how much he missed her and how he couldn’t wait to get home to her.
“Stupid, Harley,” I muttered under my breath as I let my wild imagination get jealous over a stranger. I rushed to my place behind the old, beat-up desk and waited for him to approach.
Turning on the professionalism I learned after working here for the past year, I greeted him cheerfully, “Hello, welcome to the River’s Peak Hotel.” My smile was wide as I hope to make him forget my gaff.
“Hello, Harley,” he said, reading my name tag which I now noticed was upside down. My entire body flushed. Freaking wonderful. Could I look any more like a fool? I was sure I would do more to look foolish before he left. So much for making a good impression.
“How can I help you today, sir?” I asked as calmly as possible, but I was shaking inside. He said my name and I wanted to faint. His chiseled jaw was groomed with a soft layer of brown facial hair. I made a whimpering sigh that I didn’t think he heard. His body seemed much larger now that we were mere inches from each other. He had light brown hair and a killer smile. His eyes were brighter than mine and they were looking at me with a smile in them. I was going to make a bigger fool of myself if I didn’t get it together.
“Sir? You make me sound old. I’m only twenty-four,” he said, holding his chest, faking a heart attack. I felt the tension leave me and I relaxed for a moment. I don’t know what magic he worked, but I was lost in his eyes so much that I wasn’t nervous.
“I’m sorry, sir, but I don’t know your name, so sir would be appropriate,” I offered back with a bit of sass, trying to get it together. I had to treat him like any other man who came onto me. And that’s what he was doing.
“It’s Jacob Middleton,” he said, holding his hand out for me to shake. I reached out and took it, but I pulled back as fast as I could. Electricity shot through my hand and straight to my heart. My eyes jumped to his nervously then back down to my hand like there was some imprint from his touch.
“Mr. Middleton, we have your room ready,” I stuttered out weakly.
“Again, making me feel old. Call me Jacob.” He smiled at me, and I saw that I lost some of the ground and distance I tried to create.
“I think it’s better if I keep it formal, Mr. Middleton. The entire staff knows why you’re here.” He was interested in buying the hotel, and with all the debt and dilapidation, the hotel needed it or we would all be out of a job.
“Then it would be prudent to do as I asked and call me Jacob,” he said. It came off as sexual.
“I suppose, Jacob. Now, let me get you checked in so you can head up to your room.” I looked down at my old computer screen and checked him in, avoiding his eyes that I could feel were on me. My pulse was racing. Something was happening to me, and I couldn’t be this attracted to him, could I? I looked up again at him and our eyes connected.
“How old are you, Harley?” he asked, his voice deepening as he swallowed hard.
“A bit too young for you.” It was something I told all the customers that asked because it was true, but with him, I didn’t want to say it. I wanted to say eighteen so he would sweep me off my feet like in some damn fairytale, but that wasn’t the truth.
He tilted his head back like I struck him. “Wow, you wound me again.” The smile on his face made his eyes brighter. Instead of a greyish blue they were sky blue.
I wanted to lose myself in them, but instead I clarified myself for him, which I never did with any other guest. “I mean, my age would get you arrested. I’m seventeen.”
He didn’t skip a beat when he said, “And when will you be eighteen?”
“In three months.”
“Good, then in three months, will I be too old for you?” he asked like he truly wanted to know, but he wasn’t the type to want me. He’d probably been with hundreds of women. I was a virgin with no life outside of this place. Not that I had a problem with it, but I wasn’t going anywhere. Hell, I wasn’t bright enough to go high places, but I’d come to terms with that a long time ago. Community college was the only place I was accepted to and the most I would ever get. Something in my brain didn’t click all the time, but we all can’t be like him. Some of us have to make do with what we’ve been given and be happy.
“In three months, you’ll have forgotten me,” I said boldly. Men like him flirted with me all the time. Only this time the thought of him forgetting me actually hurt.
“I doubt I could ever forget you,” he said, taking the keycard from my hand without making any contact this time, something I didn’t appreciate. I watched him walk to the elevators on the left.
And that was the last time that I saw him. He checked out the next morning.
Chapter 3
Jacob
It had been a week since I left Reese, Oregon and Harley. And it has been hard for me to stay away. It was only five in the morning over there, but I needed information from Tony. I didn’t give two shits that he probably had just fallen asleep. Most of the time Harley worked late into the night. And it was Tony’s job to keep an eye on her at all times.
“Hey, I was waiting for your call,” he said, answering on the first ring.
“What’s up?” I asked impatiently. Every day I harassed him.
“Nothing really, she’s starting to open up to me, but every time your name is brought up she gets that look like she’s upset. I asked her if she didn’t like you, but all she said was that you cut your trip short and left before her next shift. She thinks she did something wrong, but I told her that you had some important things that needed to be taken care of that came up.”
“Thanks, Tony.” I felt bad that she was upset because of me, but I couldn’t tell her the truth until she was legal.
“Anything for you. Have you decided who replaces her once you steal her away or are you going to just look for a new hire?”
“Actually, Denise is looking for a change of scenery.”
“Oh, really. Well is there anything else you need? I’m beat.”