Page 4 of Hard Rock Heat

I went about doing my job, trying to forget about my two extra uninvited guests. There were wait staff to direct, announcements to make, and interns to order around. Make that intern, singular. Only one had shown up, which was why I'd roped my sister into helpingme.

Fifteen minutes later saw me ushering the guests from the lobby into the dining room with smiles and nods. I made sure the guest speakers had everything they needed, gave one last talk to the sound and lighting techs, and double checked the awards for thewinners.

Everything was inplace.

Almosteverything.

An older woman with too much jewelry grabbed me by thearm.

"I don't approve of my table number," she snapped at me. "I'm too far away from thestage."

I forced myself to remainpleasant.

"Ms. Hamilton, I assure you, your table has a great view of the stage from theside—"

"No, that won't do. I insist on being seated near thefront."

"Unfortunately, we're unableto—"

"If I need to speak to someone above you, Iwill."

I plastered a smile on my face to conceal my fit of pique. "Of course. I'll make ithappen."

She patted my arm. "That's a gooddear."

Every single one of my nerves went haywire as I switched the woman's name tag with another guest. I'd planned out the seatingmonthsago and now because of one irate guest I had to change it at the lastminute.

I forced myself to take in a slow breath and let it out several times. My tense shoulders began to relax. I craned my neck back and forth, stretching. Okay. This was fine. One more small change wouldn't killme.

Once that was taken care of, I left the dining room, wandering around the conference hall lobby for stragglers before the official programmingbegan.

Guarding the entrance was my intern. She was staring up, starry-eyed, at the man who had an arm around herwaist.

Damon.

She put a hand to her mouth and giggled. He trailed a hand along hershoulder.

I threw my hands up in theair.

"Stop flirting with myintern!"

The girljumped.

The corners of Damon's lips tugged up. "You jealous,sweetheart?"

I ground my teethtogether.

"Besides," he continued, "I thought she wasn't your intern anymore? Didn't I hear you tell my brother you're firingher?"

The poor girl's mouth droppedopen.

"Please don't fire me!" Her eyes went wide and pleading. "I need thisinternship!"

I pinched the bridge of my nose with twofingers.

"Then you shouldn't have let in two uninvited people, no matter how famous they are." I took in a deep, cleansing breath. I let it out. Maybe I could take up yoga. Didn't people say it was all about the breathing? "Dinner is starting. You need to get back to your spot to usher in theguests."

My intern hurried away, ducking her head to avoid myeyes.