Chasing Memories: The Forevermore Series, Book 2 (4 page)

The alarm on his watch rang. Walking over to his desk, Lucas shut down his computer, went out into the hall, then shut and locked the office door.

He found India in the lobby, sitting in one of the armchairs gathered around a glass-and-metal coffee table in the center of the room.

She stood when he approached, and the breath whooshed out of him. Stunning. The woman looked absolutely stunning in her simple, sleeveless, just-above-the-knee dress and sandals. Maybe it was the way the fabric skimmed over her and hinted at all her glorious curves, or how the navy color brought out the sparkling blue in her eyes. He didn’t know. Didn’t care. Only knew he liked it.

Not getting involved, not getting involved.
He repeated the mantra hoping to hell his body would get the message. “Ready to go?”

She nodded, grabbed her purse and camera, then stood. “Can we start with a tour of the hotel first?”

“I thought you wanted to see the sights?”

“Yes, I do, but part of why I want to visit the attractions is to identify elements I want to incorporate into my designs. It’s easier to do if I’m familiar with the type of space I have to work with.” She flashed a smile and wiggled her brows. “I have to confess to snooping around a little yesterday, after I arrived, but I didn’t see much. Most of the areas are closed off and I couldn’t get in.”

The woman was industrious. “I’ll make sure you have full access to all the levels from now on. I take it you already have some ideas you want to present?”

“Ideas, yes. Actual designs, no. Not fully developed at any rate. I’ll need room dimensions, and electrical and plumbing layouts from the architect before I can create drawings.”

“All right. I can get the information for you tomorrow.”

India nodded, but said nothing more.

He sent her a speculative glance. “Are you going to tell me your ideas or keep me in the dark?”

She laughed. A sweet, sexy chuckle. It flowed over him, around him, like warm honey and made his stomach tighten.
Shit.

“I guess I can fill you in on the basics. From what I gathered when we discussed your expectations during my interview, the Acquati name is synonymous with unique, high-end luxury. Your designer certainly achieved this with the San Francisco property by creating an upscale setting which included design elements that captured the local flavor of the city.”

This had been his vision. He didn’t want cookie-cutter properties. He wanted high-class and distinction. A place patrons sought out, whatever city they happened to be in. “Yes.”

“In keeping with this theme, and given the location of this property, I envision a contemporary, ultra-modern setting with a strong Art Deco influence and an emphasis on luxury. Patrons will expect extravagance in a boutique hotel such as this, and they don’t mind paying a little more for the indulgence. Provide lavish amenities and you’ll keep them coming back.”

The woman was damned good. He’d have to give her that. She understood what he wanted. From a business perspective, hiring her had been a good decision, after all. “I like your ideas. Let’s head up to the third floor and I’ll show you the different room configurations on that level.”

She flashed a radiant grin. One that had those luscious lips parting and her sparkling blue eyes shining as bright as the sun on a clear Miami morning.

It knocked him for a loop. Grams’s image flashed into his mind.
Shit.

Hiring India may have been a good business decision, but on a personal level— holy hell, he’d just landed in a shit-heap of trouble.

Chapter Six

“Is this is the last of the room configurations?” India asked.

“Yes.” Lucas opened the door and gestured for India to precede him out into the hall.

She stepped through and he followed her out. As on the top floor, renovations had begun here on the third level, too. Sections of carpet had been removed, baring the concrete floor below. Areas of wallpaper had been stripped and building supplies sat stacked in neat piles in several locations along the right wall. It might seem a bit shabby now, but she’d make damned sure this Acquati measured up to, or better yet, surpassed its sister property in San Francisco. She had to. Her future depended on it. “It didn’t seem as if the overall room dimensions varied between the king-bed option and the two queens.”

“There’s no difference. However, the king-bed option included a couch and an armchair where the two queens did not.”

“There’s not enough space the way the room is currently configured. We’ll need some minor construction to maximize what we have.”

He pointed to the building supplies stacked in neat piles. “I already have some work scheduled with a local construction firm. Once you finalize your designs, I’ll have the foreman assign personnel to get what you need done.”

“Thank you.”

“If there isn’t anything else, we’ll head back down to the lobby now.” Lucas glanced at his watch. “It’s one o’clock. Are you hungry? We can walk along the boardwalk and stop at one of the cafes for a bite to eat. You can tell me more about your design plans and then we can decide which of the sights to see first.”

“Sounds good.” When they arrived, Lucas pressed the button to summon the elevator. “Speaking of which, what are your plans for the restaurant here at the hotel?”

“It’s the only common thread among the properties.”

“Similar to the one in San Francisco?”

“Not similar. An exact carbon copy right down to the same name.” He winked. “If I only had a duplicate chef.”

India laughed. The press had definitely done him an injustice over the years. This Lucas wasn’t a cad. More like charming and witty. “It makes sense to have some commonality, especially when it includes a restaurant as good as Carmichael’s. Your chef makes the best calamari hands down.” Her stomach knotted, and an odd sensation washed over her. How had she known the food at the San Francisco Acquati had been to die for? She’d never eaten there before. Had she? Maybe she’d read reviews? She’d combed through every piece of information on the web about the Acquati the moment Lucas offered her the interior design position. Yes, that had to be it.

The elevator doors slid open and India stepped in. Lucas followed and the door closed behind him. He stared up at her, his eyes blazing. The knot in her stomach tightened and the sensation… She fell back against the wall. Her eyes closed. The images swam into her mind.

India, her back pressed against the cool wall of the elevator. Lucas, his body so close to her, the heady scent of soap and spice surrounded—no, totally, completely enveloped her.

He linked his hands with hers, flashed a wicked grin, then lowered his head. His lips hovered, millimeters from hers.

The air in the confined space sparked and crackled. His lips touched hers, and dear lord, excitement tore through every fiber of her being as his mouth caressed hers.

The slow, languid kiss turned hot, intense. Fire burned inside her. She couldn’t get enough of him. Grasping his face in her hands, she stood on her tiptoes—another novelty for her—and gave herself up to the pure pleasure spiraling inside.

He deepened the kiss, his tongue hungry, demanding entrance. When she opened her mouth, it stroked, teased, ravished, while his hands glided over every inch of her body, assaulting all of her senses.

“India.” He grasped her arm and shook it gently.

Her eyes snapped open, landed on his. Pools of molten lava stared back at her.
Kiss me. Do it now. Please.
She wanted it so badly she could scream.

Lucas frowned. “India?”

Heat scorched her cheeks.
Damn it.
She was blushing up a storm
.
Jeez, talk about a wild imagination. Dear God, hers had gone haywire today.

“What’s wrong?”

Get a grip, woman, and fast.
“Nothing. I’m fine.” She straightened and moved away from the wall. The car came to a stop and when the doors opened, India hurried into the main hall. The chilled air cooled her heated skin.

A short, brawny man approached them in the lobby. “Lucas. Good, you’re back. Have you decided what you want me to do?” His heavy accent made him difficult to understand.

He arched a brow? “What I want? What are you talking about, Javier?”

“The lighting in the restaurant. Didn’t you get my voice message?”

Lucas shook his head, grabbed his cell and glanced at the screen. “I missed the call. What’s the problem?”

“The last contractor cut corners. The wiring’s a mess. A fire waiting to happen. I need you in the kitchen, now. Otherwise…” He stopped and shrugged. “My crew can’t work.”

Lucas turned to her. “I have to deal with this. They’re working overtime to get the restaurant renovations completed by the end of next week so we can reopen.”

She smiled. “No problem. Would you like me to wait here for you?”

He cast a wary expression in her direction. “Come with me and see the progress we’ve made.”

By checking out what they’d done, she could identify any elements she might want to incorporate into other spaces. “Okay.”

“It’s this way.” He placed a hand on the center of her back, guided her to the massive space off the right side of the lobby, then opened the door and ushered her in. “What do you think?”

She peered around the room taking in everything. Light sage color gave an airy feel to the space and the crisp, clean lines, an edgy contemporary appearance. And the ocean view… Spectacular didn’t cover it.
Magnificent, glorious, stunning.
When she looked over at Lucas, his guarded expression returned. The odd sensation washed over her again. “It looks great. Like you told me earlier, it’s a carbon copy of the San Francisco restaurant, where we had dinner together.” Her eyes widened, and she let out a loud gasp. “Oh my God. I remember. We had dinner together. At the Acquati hotel.”

They’d met a couple of months ago, when she’d been visiting Dante, her eldest brother, in Los Angeles. She’d gone to the investment seminar his company had co-sponsored with other businesses. Lucas had been there, too.

He’d flirted with her, and yes, she’d flirted back. Why wouldn’t she? The man was gorgeous and sexy and really, really funny and she’d already broken things off with Victor.

The more she’d gotten to know Lucas, the better she’d liked him. Which was why she’d had coffee with him after the investment seminar ended, and why she’d agreed to have dinner with him a few days later.

“You remember?” He eyed her curiously.

“Yes. We met in LA at an investment—”
Holy crap.
The significance of what she’d said slammed into her stomach with the force of a wrecking ball. The room started to spin. She swayed.

Lucas clamped strong hands on her shoulders to steady her. “You need to sit down, damn it.” He guided her out of the restaurant and into the lobby to the grouping of chairs where she’d waited for him earlier.

India sat.

“Are you okay?”

She didn’t answer. Couldn’t. Only stared straight ahead while her brain grappled with the reality of the situation. She
knew
Lucas Morgan. Those kisses hadn’t been a dream. Or her imagination. They’d been real. Pulse-pounding, heart-thudding, breath-stealing, I-could-come-right-here-right-now-just-thinking-about-them real.

She… and Lucas… Heat scorched her cheeks.
Oh dear God!
They’d… And he’d never said a word. Her hands clenched into tight fists and it took everything inside her to stifle the urge to smack him across his handsome face. “You son of a bitch.”

“I can explain.”

“It had better be good. As far as I’m concerned you are a lying rat bastard.” She shoved a pointed finger in his chest. “You’ve known who I was all this time and kept quiet. Why?”

He backed away. “I didn’t realize you were the person I’d asked Brett to contact to interview for the interior design position. Not until I walked into the conference room and saw you.”

“How could you not?” Her memory had vanished, not his. Why keep the truth from her? She folded her arms over her chest. “I don’t believe you.”

“Maybe not, but it’s the truth.”

Her lips tightened.

Lucas folded his arms across the wide expanse of his chest. “Come on.
Dee
.”

She flinched. Okay, yes, she’d used the nickname her grandfather called her when she’d been a small child. So? She didn’t know anyone at the conference, and a young, single woman couldn’t be too careful these days. There were too many psychos on the loose out in the real world and they disguised themselves as normal, ordinary,
trustworthy
men. If she happened to run into one, no way did she want him to know her real name. Maybe that sounded a bit neurotic, or irrational, or even disturbed. Too bad, she didn’t care. Better safe than sorry.

“And with your new short hair…” He frowned. “Why did you cut it? All those gorgeous, long waves gone.”

Lucas liked her long hair? A rush of warmth flooded through her.
No, no, no.
His opinions on how she wore her hair, or the way she dressed, or anything regarding her personally, didn’t matter one way or the other.
It doesn’t,
she repeated to make sure her brain got the message
.
“I’d hoped the shorter style would make it harder for me to be recognized. The media has been hounding me since the accident.”
Too bad it didn’t work.
She sighed. “Okay, maybe you didn’t recognize me at first, but eventually you did. Why didn’t you say something then?”

A splash of color invaded his cheeks. “We hadn’t parted on the best of terms, and I wasn’t eager to remind you of my abominable behavior.”

“What did you expect? You hit my brother.”

“That jerk was your brother?”

“Yes, and he’s not a jerk.”
At least not all the time.
“Arrogant and bossy, yes. Overprotective, always.”

“He called you a tramp.”

“He didn’t use that word.”

Lucas shook his head. “Maybe not, but he sure as hell implied as much. Makes him an ass as far as I’m concerned.”

Dante hadn’t meant the harsh words he’d said to her that night. He’d apologized the moment they’d come out of his mouth. A split second before Lucas… “You hit Dante because of what he said to me?”

“Damned straight.”

Lucas had been defending her? Defending. Her.
Oh my God.
No guy had ever done anything of the kind. Not ever. Yet, Lucas had, and he hadn’t even known her all that well either. She just might go weak in the knees. “I thought you hit him because of what he’d called you.”

He laughed, a deep, baritone, gritty rumble that scraped over her in the most satisfying way. “No way. I’ve been called worse than a player before, believe me, and for the record, I don’t usually go around hitting people.”

Good.
She didn’t condone violence, but secretly, she was glad Lucas had put Dante in his place. Dante had more than pissed her off that night. “You hitting Dante isn’t important now.” It wasn’t why she’d been upset in the first place. “You should have said something.” The image of her wanton self in the elevator with him the evening they’d first met flashed into her mind. Heat flooded her cheeks. Lord, what the man could do with his lips! “What matters is we, um…”

“Flirted with each other? Shared a few kisses?”

Hot, amazing kisses. Soft, tender touches. And she hadn’t been afraid. The whole lot was
real
and thinking about it now only made her want more.

Heat simmered in Lucas’s gaze as he stared at her now.
Holy shit.
He knew what she’d been thinking.
No.
He wasn’t a mind reader, but he was her boss, and okay, maybe he’d touched her, and she hadn’t freaked out, but that didn’t mean it wouldn’t happen if they…
Not going there.
She’d be humiliated. Again. Or worse, out of a job. And she needed to put her career back on track.

“Yes,” she hissed. “Why didn’t you say something?”

“You’re right. I should have been up front with you. I’m sorry.”

He stared at her, his eyes dark, piercing. A shiver ran through her.

“There’s something more I need to tell you.”

Her stomach twisted. She swallowed hard to clear the lump in her throat. “What,” she whispered.

“We met on another occasion, recently, but again, I didn’t recognize you. You had cuts and scrapes and bruises on your face.”

Her breaths came in short, sharp gasps.
Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit.
“When?”

“The night of your accident. I pulled you from the car before it rolled down the ravine and exploded.”