The Romance Challenge, Complete Series Box Set: BBW Hot Alpha Billionaire Romance (5 page)

Nathan tapped his foot. He was not a man
you put on hold. Fortunately, the woman wrapped up her call quickly.

"I got to go. We will talk about this
tonight." She hung up the phone and turned to us, a smile now on her face,
though worry still lingered in her eyes. "You must be Nathan Cameron, the
new owner. And you're Amber Ward, yes?"

Points for knowing who we were.

"Yes, and you're Julia, the head
bookkeeper correct?"

"Yes, correct." She stood and
shook both our hands.

"Julia, I'm going have an external
auditor come in soon and go over the books. I'll give you his number and I'd like
you to make an appointment with him."

Her face fell. "Why? Is there a
problem?"

"No, no problem. I want to see what
we can do to improve efficiency. An independent financial audit is a standard
procedure and shouldn't take much time."

"I keep excellent records. There have
never been discrepancies. You don't need anyone to look at my books. They're in
perfect order."

Uh-oh. Not good. I felt Nathan stiffen and
from the corner of my eye, saw his jaw twitch.

"I'm sure they are. As I said, an
audit is standard procedure."

Nathan had done a thorough check of the
hotel finances before he even bought Bay Paradise Resort, I knew. There wouldn't
be any issues.

Julia sat back down and crossed her arms,
her scowl deepening. "I'm very busy. I don't know when I'll have the
time."

"You need to make time. Why are you
so adamant about not having an audit done?  Do you have something to
hide?"

Nathan glared at Julia, his teeth almost
bared. This could get ugly. I glanced at her desk and saw a picture of a
teenage boy. "Is this your son?" I pointed.

"Yes, that's Dante." Her mouth
relaxed a smidgen.

"How old is he?"

"Thirteen."

"They're a handful at that age,
aren't they?"

"You're telling me!" She threw
up her hands. "That boy, he's got a mouth on him."

"I bet he eats a lot too. He looks like
a big guy. Does he play sports?"

"He sure does eat, like a wild
dog." She picked up the picture and gazed at it, a smile lighting her
face. "Yeah, he plays basketball. Wants to be an athlete. But I tell him,
he's got to keep up his grades, not…" She put the frame down and sighed,
her mouth turning back down to a frown. "He's a good boy."

"I'm sure he is." I smiled at
her. "Sometimes, they just need a little push."

She sighed, then ran a hand through her
hair. "I'm sorry, Mr. Cameron. Give me the name of the auditor. I'll make an
appointment with him as soon as possible."

The tension in the room eased, and I
released a breath I didn't realize I was holding.

"It's Nathan, and I'll send you an
email this afternoon. Thank you, Julia."

We exited her office and made our way back
outside.

"Thank you. For dealing with that situation.
I'm sorry; I didn't think she would be that upset about a routine audit."

And I didn't think you you'd get that
keyed up about a stubborn employee.

"I heard her talking on the phone
when we came to her office. She said the words '
problemas
' and '
escuela
'.
They mean 'problems' and 'school'. I figured she was having a conversation
about or with her son, who's getting into trouble. That upset her, so when you
mentioned an audit, she got even more disturbed."

Nathan looked at me, with that half
admiring, half something-I-couldn't-put-my-finger-on expression. "Pretty
smart of you, Amber."

"Most people have a lot of crap, I
mean, stuff going on in their lives. I try to remember that, so when they get
crabby with me, I don't take it personal."

"Good philosophy." He stopped
walking as we neared the lobby. "I look forward to hearing what else you
come up with during your time here. Why don't you have lunch at Water's Edge
Café, then meet me back at the conference room at two o'clock."

Excellent idea. I was starving. I went to
the café, got a salad and wanted to take it back to my room, but remembered, my
job was to observe. So I sat and listened to the other guests. Mostly happy,
fun conversations. Who wouldn't be having a good time, on vacation in paradise?
I heard one or two complaints. There weren't enough towels, the pool closed too
early, etc. Nothing major.

After I ate, I headed back to my room to
change into my pants, as we would work indoors the rest of the day. Our plan,
visit the café's kitchen and the laundry facility, and then we'd go over the
budget together. After that, I'd have time off, then Nathan wanted me to sit
with the front desk person for several hours in the evening. That's what he mainly
wanted me to do, hang around discreetly, observe employees, and give him my
reports.

Once again, a little chill of excitement
ran through me. This was fun! I was getting to use my talents, to stretch my
skills. I always thought I'd make a great detective, since I could watch people
and activities, and notice irregularities pretty quick. Like I did with Julia, a
lot of that talent involved remembering that something was important to each
person, and much of their energy went towards protecting that important thing.

In my room, the bed was made up, the
towels refolded. I couldn't tell if they were fresh, or the ones I'd already
used. I made a note, to order those signs that let guests know about reusing
towels. Conserving water helped everyone. I took a few minutes to freshen up, then
headed back to the conference room. I typed up my notes from the morning and
when Nathan arrived at two, he sat down and pulled up records on his laptop.

"I know finance isn't your specialty,
but take a look at this spreadsheet and see what jumps out at you. Come here,
sit next to me."

I did, willing my brain not to register his
spicy scent, heavier this afternoon now that I was so close, and he'd sweated a
bit outside. It was no use. A little burst of heat flared between my thighs.
Spicy and sweaty. Yum.

"Amber?"

"Hmmm?" Oh shit, what did I
miss?

"I said, can you see the screen all
right?"

"Yes, fine."

Sp
readsheets. Look at the spreadsheets.
Focus
. I did, for ten minutes, while Nathan tapped away on his phone.

"Well, the only thing that strikes me
right away is the food expense seems high. But maybe that's not true. I really don't
know much about the cost of running a hotel."

In the short time I'd had to get ready for
this trip, I studied what I could about the hotel and resort industry. So much
to learn! More went on behind the scenes than most people realized.

"No, I agree, I think we spend too
much on food. I'm considering going with a leased restaurant instead of trying
to run one ourselves." He seemed pleased that I'd picked that up "The
hotel used to do its own grounds keeping and now hires an outside company. Seems
to work well so far. We might even outsource the housekeeping, one day."

A knock sounded on the door, and one of
the front desk people came in. Rose, her name badge said.

"Excuse me, I'm so sorry to
interrupt. Amber, a woman named Vicky said it's urgent you call her. About your
sister. She can't reach you on your phone."

Damn, I'd turned the volume down during our
tour and forgot to turn it back up. My heart thudding, I dug through my purse.
"Thank you Rose. I'll call her now. Nathan, I need to return this
call."

"Take whatever time you need."

"It should only take a few minutes. We
can get right back to work." Crap. I was so not used to traveling and had
been having such fun today, I nearly forgot my responsibilities at home. I
should have kept my phone on, at least set to vibrate. What could be going on
with Michelle?

Nathan shut his laptop. "I'm done here
anyway and need to take care of other matters."  He stood and put his hand
on my shoulder.

Oh, crap again. That same tingle as when we'd
first shook hands.

"We'll be keeping odd hours,
including evenings and nights. You don't have to work every single minute of
the day. I need you rested and alert, and I realize you have a life back home
and responsibilities that don't stop because you're here."

He squeezed my shoulder, then removed his
hand. "Take your time, let me know if you need anything. I'll meet you at
the front desk at six o'clock. Take a break before. You'll spend two hours
there observing, so bring along whatever you'll need. After that, we'll go out
to dinner at this great place I found. I want you to get a feel for the other
businesses on the island."

Missing the warmth of his hand on my
shoulder as soon as he removed it, I waited until he walked out the door before
I called Vicky.

"So sorry to bother you. I hope I
didn't get you in trouble." Her voice sounded strained.

"That's okay Vicky, my fault for not
having my phone turned up. What's going on?"

"I got a letter from this insurance
company. You told me to look through Michelle's mail while you're gone. It says
they'll cancel her policy if you don't give them some information, and they
want it in two days."

Great. "Read me the letter."

Vicky did, and fortunately, it was nothing
complicated, only a clerical question. The insurance company claimed they'd
sent an initial request weeks ago, but I didn't remember seeing any such thing.
She gave me the phone number, I called and we had the problem resolved in ten
minutes.

Lesson learned; keep my phone on and
nearby. And maybe I should try again to get Vicky to text. She'd enjoy it, once
she got started, I knew.

I closed my laptop and stood, when the
last part of what Nathan said hit me. Dinner. He planned to take me to dinner
tonight. A business dinner, but still. A little ball of unease rolled around in
my stomach, like it did every time I had a date.

Not a date. A business dinner. Nathan said
that.

So why did my pulse speed up as I pictured
sitting in a restaurant with Nathan, both of us laughing, trading bites of
food?

Stop. We'd talk about Bay Paradise. No
food swapping.

 I left the conference room and headed
back to my suite. It appeared I had time off. I could finish up my notes, or take
a break, as Nathan suggested. The adrenaline spike from Vicky's call now had my
nervous system dive-bombing, and a rest sounded good. I'd type my notes while
at the front desk. There would be
some
activity in the evening there,
but not a lot. The employees would act more naturally if it didn't appear I was
looking over their shoulder every minute.

Back in my room again, I set my phone alarm,
undressed, and laid on the bed with my laptop and a book. I'd check in with my
email back home, then read for an hour or so.

When my alarm blasted at five o'clock, I
woke with a start, my laptop underneath me and my book on the floor beside the
bed. I must have been more tired than I thought. After I got up, moved around,
drank a glass of water and shook the haze out of my brain, I called Michelle.

"Hey sis, how's things kickin'?"

"Kickin' good."

Our standard greeting, when she actually answered
the phone.

"I'm in Key Largo and boy is it beautiful.
I saw a sunset last night…"

"You told me."

Okay, someone was cranky.

"Today I went down by the water and
you would not believe all the stuff in there. Sea grass, little fishes,
coral."

"That's nice."

Definitely a chill coming across the air
waves.

"What are you all crabby about?"

"Vicky couldn't reach you today. She
called you, and you didn't answer. It was important."

I clenched my fist, then let it relax and
crossed my fingers, ready to fib again. I couldn't tell Michelle I had my
ringer turned down. "I was in a meeting. I got back with her, and we took
care of the problem. It's okay."

"What if something happens to me?
Something serious, and you aren't here?"

"Vicky is a licensed CNA. That's why
I'm paying extra money, to have someone with medical experience visit you. And
you know perfectly well how to call 911 if there's an emergency."

"Don't yell at me."

Pushing out a breath, away from the phone,
I lowered my tone. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to yell. I'm just saying, if anything
happens to you, I've got it covered, okay? You're safe, like you've always
been. Right?"

Silence. I'd been looking out my window at
the water and now rested my forehead on the cool glass. Only Michelle could
torment me by not saying a word.

"Right." The word, delivered reluctantly,
made me sigh with relief.

"I promise, even if I'm not there,
I'm thinking about you and taking care of you. I posted a picture to Facebook
today, of one of those fish. I hope it came out; I've been too busy to check.
Tell me how it looks."