Page 82 of Ashes of Us

Alex

Alex was only half watching the movie as he felt Danica relax in his arms and heard her breathing even out.

He continued running his fingers through her golden-brown hair, enjoying the feeling of the silky strands slipping between his fingers.

He wasn't sure when the grudging respect and admiration he had developed for her in the first few months of having her as his executive assistant morphed into what he first thought was a crush on a pretty woman who had no problem standing up to him, but he realized he was utterly, hopelessly in love with her when he heard the doctor tell her that Jasper would never wake up because while he felt terrible for her, he also felt a rush of joy that he could now pursue her and had immediately set out to do just that.

His motives weren't entirely selfish, though.

He wanted her to be happy, and while he wanted to be the one to make her happy, he didn't want to rush her.

He knew it might be months or even years before she felt ready to date, and he was willing to be patient and put in the work to make her fall for him.

Alex decided to take what could have been a considerable disadvantage, her situation with how Jasper died and her emotional state around his death, and use it to improve his odds, as well as an opportunity to get to know her better and develop a friendship with her, figuring it would either solidify his feelings for her or make them go away.

He looked down at her, soaking up the feeling of finally having her in his arms, admiring the way her long eyelashes rested on her cheeks, hiding the blue green of her eyes, the slope of her nose, and the dusting of freckles across her face.

She was not his usual type, more girl-next-door cute instead of the high-fashion, model-esque woman he usually dated, but he freely admitted to never feeling so strongly for someone before.

He wanted her close to him so badly that he had fudged the truth a little about her condo.

His neighbour had looked after his condo while he was in London, but she had moved to Arizona to care for her elderly parents, not the other way around, and she hadn't agreed to Alex's original proposal that she rent out the condo and he would act as the property manager.

Instead, Alex had ended up buying the condo outright.

He had wanted to tell Danica the truth, but Emilia had insisted Danica would not be happy that he essentially purchased a million dollar condo for her and suggested he stick to the rental story, although he wasn't sure what the difference was between renting from him and renting from someone else, However, Emilia knew her better then he did, so he went along with it after she promised to take the blame when he told Danica the truth.

Shifting Danica slightly so he could move and get more comfortable, he settled back, holding her against him and closed his eyes. As much as he wanted to stay awake and enjoy holding her, he was exhausted and needed to get some sleep so he would be on top of his game when they landed in Honolulu.

When the pilot announced they would be landing in an hour, Alex felt Danica shift and start to pull away, and he tightened his hold on her briefly before letting her sit up.

Opening his eyes, he watched as she stretched and smiled at him.

He let his eyes trail over her. For once, she wasn't wearing clothes that they could both fit into at the same time; instead, she was dressed in a pair of leggings and a t-shirt that was only a size too big for her.

She had lost between fifteen and twenty pounds in the aftermath of Jasper's accident and death, something he wasn't overly happy about.

Danica had always been underweight, in his opinion, impossibly slender; now she was practically waif-like.

Still beautiful, but he wished she would eat more calories.

Swallowing his concern, knowing she wouldn't appreciate it, he returned her smile. “How'd you sleep?”

“Probably the best sleep I had in months.” She admitted, her voice soft and almost shy, which made Alex pause.

Danica was anything but shy; she might blush and get flustered when he teased her, but she never hesitated to tell him what she thought or felt about something.

That was interesting. Standing up, he reached out and tucked her rumpled hair behind her ear, enjoying the flush that crossed her cheeks.

“Good.” He said simply as he picked up the empty popcorn bag and drink bottles to throw away, nodding to the small bathroom at the back of the plane.

“Do you want to go first?” They were going directly to the hotel and their first meeting with the manager from the airport, something he had arranged on purpose.

The Honolulu hotel was solid, and he had no concerns about its management.

Unless something unexpected was brought to their attention, he fully intended to be done by the next afternoon, leaving five days together in the presidential penthouse suite of a luxury hotel in a tropical paradise.

He hadn't been too shocked when Danica told him that when she travelled with his father, it was two days in each city, no time for fun or sightseeing.

So, while she had been to nineteen of the largest cities in the US, five European countries and four Canadian provinces, she hadn't actually seen anything in most of them, something he was determined to fix.

“Yeah, if you don't mind.” Danica nodded in response to his question and pulled her carry-on out of the cupboard. “I'd like to freshen up before we get to the hotel.”

“Go for it.” He watched as she gave him another quick smile and turned to go to the bathroom, his eyes dropping involuntarily to her ass in the leggings and tried to ignore the way his pants suddenly felt too tight.

She might be small and slender on top, but her ass.

.. The door shut behind her, and he shook his head, smiling to himself.

Maybe there was something to her yoga classes after all.

Alex tossed the garbage and put away his laptop while he waited for her to finish in the bathroom, wondering what she'd say when she found out they had to share a hotel room.

It hadn't been part of his plan - he'd forgotten the Vans Triple Crown of Surfing was held throughout November and December, and hotels all over the island were booked solid, but he wasn't one to pass up opportunities, especially when they landed in his lap so prettily tied up with a bow.

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When they pulled up to the hotel just before the meeting, Alex collected their bags from the trunk and led the way inside. “So, there was a small issue with room availability.” He told her casually as they walked toward the check-in desk.

“Really?” Danica was looking around, and he was grateful that the lobby was packed with people, so he didn't have to convince her that he wasn't setting them up to share a room. “What kind of issue?”

“They only had two rooms available.” He explained as they joined the lineup.

“The presidential suite and a one-bedroom suite.

Since we're imposing during their busiest season, I opted for the presidential suite for both of us.

It has two rooms and is very rarely booked.

I hope that's not a problem.” He really hoped it wouldn't, since the other room had been booked.

“It's fine.” Danica smiled at him. “If I can survive sharing a tent with you, I can survive an extravagant two-bedroom suite.”

“Good point.” Tension he wasn't aware he had seeped out of his shoulders, and he relaxed as he gave his name to the desk clerk, and someone came to take their bags up to the suite.

The desk clerk informed them that she had alerted the manager, Richard Mahelona, that they had arrived, and he was on his way down to meet them.

Alex thanked her, and they moved to one side, out of the way of the other guests.

They hadn't been there very long when a short man in his mid-fifties with close-cropped steel grey hair and brown eyes approached, smiling broadly.

“Danica!” He took both her hands in his and raised them to his lips, ghosting a kiss across her knuckles. Alex watched in amusement as Danica leaned in and kissed his cheek. “You look incredible.”

“Richard.” She smiled back at him. “It's so good to see you.” Alex waited patiently for her to introduce him.

It was like this at almost every hotel they had been to, happily greeting Danica like she was the only person in the room.

She'd explained after it happened for the third time in Chicago back in May that it was because Alexander usually let her handle their meetings.

“He'd do the tour, sit in on the first meeting of each day and then go back to his room and leave me in charge.”

When Danica turned up at his penthouse to tell him his father had died, he'd fully expected to come back and find out Alexander had left the hotels to Danica, especially with everything Marcy told him in her biweekly reports.

He'd found out quickly upon arriving back in the States that Marcy had embellished or just straight-up lied about a lot of what she wrote.

Unbeknownst to Danica, the first hotel he'd done an audit on had been the Boston one, and in the interviews with the staff, Marcy had been the only one who had anything negative to say about Danica.

The only reason Alex hadn't fired her after he found out the truth was because Nigel had warned him that she was extremely vindictive and manipulative.

Since asking her to spy on people for him wasn't exactly ethical, he decided he needed to wait for another reason to fire her.

She was already on her second strike and receiving mandatory remedial training for failing to meet standards after she failed to show up for three non-consecutive shifts without calling in or attempting to find a replacement in just over a month.

They had to tread delicately because she later provided a doctor's note for each missed shift, and she was part of the union that protected hotel workers.

“Richard, this is Alex West.” Danica's voice cut through his thoughts, and Alex plastered a polite, professional smile on his face as he shook Richard's hand. “Mr. West, this is Richard Mahelona; he's been the manager here forever.”

“I wouldn't say forever.” Richard chuckled, “But it's been a long time. It's good to see you again, Alex.”

“Oh, I'm sorry,” Danica's eyes widened in surprise. “I didn't realize you two knew each other.”

“I wouldn't call it knowing each other,” Alex reassured her, still keeping the polite smile in place. He only had a vague memory of the man. “I think the last time we spoke was just after I graduated from university, so close to sixteen years ago now.”

“My god, has it really been that long?” Richard ran his hand over his hair and shook his head as he gestured for them to follow him.

“You were right, Danica. I have been here forever.

He came to a sudden stop, and Alex almost walked into him.

“Where are my manners?” He muttered as he turned to Alex.

“I'm so sorry about your father; he was a wonderful man.”

“Yes, he was. Thank you.” Somehow, he managed to keep his face pleasantly impersonal.

He wasn't sure where he stood with his father yet.

He'd left a six-page, double-sided letter explaining things from his perspective for Alex in his paperwork, but he'd only managed to briefly skim it so far, finding his justifications for a lot of what he did made him too angry to continue.

Richard turned and continued leading them through the lobby and into a hallway that had conference rooms on one side and banquet halls on the other.

“I have everything you need set up in conference room D, it's the smallest one, but I figured you wouldn't want a huge room for a few interviews and to read in.”

“That's perfect.” Alex nodded as Richard opened the door, revealing several banker's boxes stacked beside a six-foot oval table in a room that was slightly outdated. “Did you set up a schedule with your employees as requested?”

Richard nodded. “I did. I'm first.”

“Excellent, let's get started then.”