Chapter 7
Faye waited, wringing her hands as she looked up and down the street for Zantar. He’d wanted her to stay in his hotel suite yesterday, but she hadn’t. She’d gone off and…well, the hotel manager had been livid with her! He’d told her to get the hell out of the hotel.
She was going to have to go home to Georgia, she thought. Faye had no idea how she was going to finish her dissertation, but maybe there was some way. Perhaps she could…maybe she could…? Closing her eyes in defeat, she inhaled slowly and carefully, trying to avoid another round of angry tears. She had no options. Leaving Skyla at this point in her research would be devastating. But she’d figure something out. She had to!
And yet, at the moment, her biggest concern was never seeing Zantar again. The hour or so with him in the morning had quickly become the highlight of her day. He was excitement and danger, all rolled up into a humongous male package.
What if he didn’t show up? What if he left the country without any word? What if she’d angered him so much that he’d simply left Skyla? Her heart thudded in her chest at the possibility.
No! No, he hadn’t left! She could feel it. He was still here. Somewhere! He had to be!
Faye paced in front of the coffee shop for another ten minutes, glancing at her phone to look at the time about every thirty seconds. When he hadn’t arrived by their normal time…Faye’s heart sank. Bowing her head, she accepted that she’d pushed him too far. And yet, she couldn’t have stayed at the hotel suite. Not only would the management have kicked her out, but she simply wouldn’t allow herself to be dependent on a man! Doing so would have violated everything she believed in. She had to be strong. She had to make her own way in this world!
Efin walked over to her, and Faye just about jumped a foot in the air when he tapped her on her shoulder. Gasping, she put a hand to her heart as she tried to calm her racing nerves. “Sorry!” she sighed, looking at the cute waiter.
“You wish for coffee?” he asked in his normal broken English.
Faye turned and looked down the street. “No,” she replied when she didn’t see a big, black SUV approaching. “No, I think I’ll skip the…” Before she could finish the statement, the black SUV turned the corner and Faye’s heart leapt in excitement! “He’s here!” she whispered.
Efin turned startled eyes towards the black SUV and he straightened his shoulders. “I get coffee!” he whispered, backing up and moving hurriedly towards the interior of the café.
Faye didn’t pay him any attention. Her heart and her eyes were too focused on Zantar as he stepped out of the back of the SUV. He walked over to her, buttoning his suit jacket as he approached. “You didn’t stay last night,” he grumbled, looking down at her with a strange look in his dark eyes.
“I didn’t,” she replied, stating the obvious. “I couldn’t.”
“Why couldn’t you?” he asked gently, moving closer. They were barely an inch apart and she could smell all of him. Her body reacted to his presence, coming alive in ways she’d never thought possible.
“Because…” she stopped, her eyes staring into his dark gaze. “You’re here,” she whispered, her lips slowly curling into a smile. “I thought that you wouldn’t want to have coffee with me anymore.”
“I want you,” he replied, and Faye wondered if he meant wanting to have coffee with her or wanting…her! She swallowed.
“I’m glad,” she whispered, wishing that she wasn’t revealing so much by her breathy tone. She needed to be strong. Assertive. She needed to appear confident and defiant! And yet, all she wanted was for him to pull her into his arms and kiss her just like he’d done last night.
“I can’t kiss you,” he stated.
Faye was so startled and so hurt, she blinked, pulling back slightly. She didn’t realize that her smile disappeared suddenly but she lowered her lashes, trying to hide the hurt his statement created inside of her. “I understand,” she lied.
“No, you don’t,” he said, putting a hand under her elbow as he led her over to their table. “But you will. Soon.” He pulled out a chair for her and Faye sat down, wishing that she understood this man. “Very soon, you will understand a great deal, Faye.”
Zantar moved to the other side of the table, wishing that he could take her into his arms and kiss her until she was completely unaware of the world. He couldn’t stop thinking about how she’d reacted to his kiss yesterday, looking flushed and flustered. Beautiful! However, yesterday, they’d been in his suite. They’d been protected by the privacy of the penthouse. He couldn’t kiss her here in the street for fear of someone taking a picture of their embrace. Anything that salacious would be all over the tabloids by the time he finished his first cup of coffee. And he couldn’t do that to Faye. She was too sweet and too unaware of who he was, too ignorant of the impact a relationship with him might have on her future.
“I will kiss you after our dinner tonight,” he told her. “And then I will drive you home and you will show me where you live.”
Faye was startled by this pronouncement, her eyes widening as she said, “I will?”
He chuckled at her sarcastic tone. “Yes. I checked in with the hotel. They assured me that you will be paid for the hours you will miss over the next week. And when your medical leave is over, you will be welcomed back to work. There will be no blemish on your work history.”
Faye’s eyes widened with that news, and he felt a surge of satisfaction. “Oh!” He watched her eyes, amazed at how they turned an even deeper blue with that assurance. “Thank you.”
“You shouldn’t have to thank me, Faye. The hotel management was in the wrong for using chemicals that were too harsh for the way they were being used. I’ve also informed the correct agency here in Skyla to look into your hotel, as well as the other hotels, to ensure that the management teams are protecting the employees with proper care and supervision.”
She blinked, stared down at her coffee cup for a long moment, then asked, “You have that much power?”
He tilted his head ever so slightly. “Yes, Faye. I have powerful connections. I understand that you don’t fully grasp my reach. But soon, you will understand.”
She laughed, shaking her head. “I doubt it,” she replied. “I don’t think I could ever understand that kind of power. I’m just…” She stopped and sighed, folding her hands on her lap before she lifted her eyes up to him again. “I’m a school teacher, Zantar. Even if I earn my PhD, then I’ll still be a school teacher, although, hopefully, I’ll be teaching students who are more interested in art than the easy grade most of my current students hope for when taking my class.” Her shoulders slumped slightly. “I doubt I could understand what it’s like to issue an edict and have that edict followed through on.” She grinned slightly. “I can barely get my students to do their homework.”
Efin arrived with a tray of pastries and steaming coffee, then quickly backed away.
Zantar didn’t like the defeated look on her lovely, normally vibrant features. “Soon, Faye. Very soon, you will understand a great deal.”
She blinked, looking over at him. “Why?”
He shook his head. “Don’t worry about that. Let me see your hands. Did you get the prescription filled? Do your hands feel better today?”
Faye laughed, rolling her eyes at his dictatorial commands, but she lifted her hands from under the table and showed him. “They are much improved. And they don’t hurt nearly as much as they did yesterday,” she told him. “The cream that the doctor gave me really did the job.”
“I’m relieved.” He took her hands in his, marveling at how small and slender her hands were. They were pretty, despite the sores and blisters and redness everywhere. “You have lovely hands, Faye,” he told her.
“I don’t,” she replied, her fingers curling up in an effort to hide the horror that her skin had become. “I used to have pretty hands. Strong hands. I could draw just about anything,” she told him. “I wasn’t an inspired artist. I wasn’t someone who could generate shock waves in the world with my paintings, but I can draw a picture that is passably good.” She shook her head as she turned her hands over, staring at the rough areas where the blisters were healing. “The chemicals at the hotel really did some damage.” She looked up at him. “Thank you for your intervention. Even if the hotel management doesn’t pay me for the hours I’ll miss over the next week, I will still be grateful to you. There are so many other employees who work there that deserve better working conditions. The poor really don’t have a great deal of power. They get trampled on often enough and, slowly, they lose their will to fight for what’s right.”