LITMIR.BIZ

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about but I’ve never actually met anyone who would allow me to try it on them. I mean, I’m really sorry your hair got messed up when you ended up falling during the demonstration, but I assure you that all this stuff is going to be incredibly useful. A girl really needs to know a few tricks to protect herself from the bad guys. Hotels are not immune from these things, you know, Jenna,” she said, shaking a warning finger at the woman. “Every guest should know at least a few basic moves.”

      Then, as if she was completely unaware of this surreal situation that everyone was trapped in, Alex got that amazing, intense lightbulb look in her eyes that Wyatt was beginning to recognize. “I think maybe we could offer some basic self-defense classes in the ballroom. Just in case anyone is interested. Wouldn’t that be great? I’m going to get right on that.”

      Then she smiled at the tour group again and left the room, her usual spring in her step.

      “A self-defense class? That’s a wonderful idea, Mr. McKendrick—don’t you think?” Jenna asked.

      Wyatt blinked. He was angry at himself for putting Alex at risk, and it must have shown on his face.

      “I’m sorry. Did I do something wrong?”

      Wyatt wanted to groan. “No, Jenna. And, yes, it’s a great idea. Alex has come up with another way to improve McKendrick’s.” What was he going to do when she had gone? he wondered, knowing he wasn’t thinking only of the hotel. He frowned again, then remembered Jenna. “So…you think it will work?” he asked her, trying to be encouraging. Jenna hadn’t been here very long. He didn’t want her to think he was crazy. The CEO of Champagne would certainly love that, wouldn’t he?

      “Oh, I think it’d be great,” Jenna said. “I’d totally sign up if they were held here. What could be more convenient?”

      The people in the group agreed, although some of them still looked as if they weren’t quite sure what had just happened.

      Wyatt wasn’t sure, either, but it was probably a good thing that Jenna had interrupted. He was completely losing his selfcontrol where Alex was concerned.

      He could still taste her. He wanted to go looking for her to finish what they’d started. Only two things stopped him. Alex had been hurt so badly in the past that she had walked away from men and love forever. And he was still the same man he’d been this morning. A loner. Incapable of maintaining a long-term relationship. If he couldn’t offer her more than the disappointing men she’d already suffered through, then he didn’t have the right to pursue her. He refused to be the next disappointing jerk in her life. He couldn’t be the man who finally broke her spirit.

      He wanted to shore up Alex’s spirit. She’d had to handle a nasty situation. His contribution couldn’t have made her day less trying, either. And if he was part of the problem…well, who did she have to share her troubles with? No one, it seemed. She was cut off from the home she loved, without her lifeline. There was no one with whom to discuss the problems her life as his concierge had brought about.

      Wyatt swore. In the past couple of weeks he’d begun to learn how Alex operated. She went all out to help people, and sometimes people—unscrupulous men—took advantage of her good nature. He had taken advantage today, and once she had time to think, she might beat herself up for letting him kiss her again.

      In fact, too much had happened to Alex since he’d yanked her out of the life she loved. She’d been pushed too far, thrown into situations she never should have been forced to handle. Alex needed backup, maybe even comfort.

      For half a second he thought again about spiriting her away to the Haven, his hideaway…a place he never showed anyone. But he immediately dismissed the idea.

      That wasn’t the right place for her, and he wasn’t the right person for the job. At all. But he knew who might be. Just because he had no need for friends didn’t mean that he had missed the fact that Alex did need them.

       CHAPTER TEN

      ANTICIPATION built within Alex as the limo dropped her off in front of Tableau, a restaurant located in an atrium, surrounded by pools. She opened the door and went inside.

      Immediately she heard a squeal. “Alex!”

      Molly came running up to her and gave her a big hug. Jayne and Serena were only steps behind.

      Alex’s throat clogged with happy tears. Somehow Wyatt had managed to fly Jayne and Molly out, and he’d located Serena and arranged this meeting.

      She couldn’t help wondering why. Wyatt’s explanation had simply been that he knew she missed her friends. That seemed too simple, but she did miss them. And she needed to see them, to get her head on straight.

      After Wyatt had kissed her crazy in the conference room the other day, she’d gone to her room, bent over to keep from fainting and prayed she would get a brain, get a clue, and stop longing to be held in Wyatt’s arms. There was zero payoff in getting involved with him. This time, unlike the other times in her life, she’d been warned.

      “Alex, you look so far away,” Molly was saying.

      Alex shook her head. “Sorry. You know me. It takes a few minutes to come down from the clouds and forget work.”

      What was it that was different about Molly? she wondered, looking more closely at her friend. Something wasn’t right there. But when she voiced her concerns to Molly, her friend wrinkled her nose.

      “Hey, I’m fine. Serena and Jayne and I are the ones who get to play mother duck to you today. Still, I can’t believe Wyatt flew us all out here to see you! A private luxury jet. Wow!”

      “I know, and I’m still trying to figure out the underlying reason for this trip,” Jayne said.

      “Wyatt said that you needed people who could help you relax,” Serena said. “Alex, what does that mean? What have you been up to that the emergency friend forces have been called in?”

      “Emergency friend forces?”

      “You better believe it,” Serena told her. “I’ve got the tattoo. Jayne and Molly, too. We’d show you, but then you’d want one, too, and we know you’re allergic to needles.”

      Alex laughed. She relaxed.

      “Okay, enough stalling. Spill,” Molly ordered.

      “There’s not much to tell,” Alex said, and she related the story of the boy and the ruined papers, the events she had been planning, and eventually the last incident with the angry workmen in the ballroom. No need to mention the latest out-of-control kiss with Wyatt, since she still hadn’t wrapped her own mind around what had happened.

      “So…what’s happening between you and Wyatt?” Serena asked.

      “What do you mean?”

      “Flying your friends in? That’s not one of the usual employee perks.”

      Of course nothing had been “the usual” between her and Wyatt from the very start.

      “He’s a very different kind of man,” she said carefully.

      “Uh-oh,” Molly said, and Serena and Jayne nodded.

      “Different as in interesting and exciting?” Serena asked.

      “Different as in an employer who goes the extra mile for his employees,” she said, looking at her friends sternly. “Look, you don’t have to worry. I’ll be home soon. I called a real estate agent in San Diego, and she’s looking for a shop for me to rent.”

      Because after ending up in Wyatt’s embrace the other day what else could she do? The best way to stay smart was to pretend her time here was almost done, plan ahead, get involved in making her dream of a shop a reality. No more dwelling on Wyatt.

      “Alex, that’s so

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