“It’s not that simple,” he shouted. “Sex is never that simple. If you were as mature as you need to be, you’d know that.”
“And how am I supposed to come by this supposed maturity when I can’t get the experience from which I’m supposed to learn?”
“I’m not your guy. I’m not the one gonna do that for you.”
“I know,” she shouted right back at him. “I got that already. No need to ram it home,” she snapped. “Now if you’ll excuse me,” she stood from the table with a rough jerk and stomped off. “I’ll go live my life.”
“No. No running away.” He was blocking the door in a nanosecond.
She stopped a few steps along and sent him a disdainful look. “I’m not. I was going to lock myself in your bedroom.”
“Well. Good.” He huffed out a frustrated breath.
She huffed one back. She caught his eye and suddenly laughed.
He stared at her thunderstruck for a second, and then a reluctant smile tweaked his mouth.
“You should have seen the look on your face,” she giggled.
“Yeah, well,” he stepped back, rubbing his forehead. “You can’t run away from everything all the time.”
“Why not?”
“Because you have to grow up sometime.”
That piqued her again. “Okay, then I’ll go find myself some young, inexperienced jerk to fumble round with…”
“Dani.”
“Don’t worry.” She rolled her eyes and held her hands up in surrender. “Not tonight. I’m here for the one night. I’ve got it.”
She stomped to the sofa, picked up the remote to the TV and fiddled with buttons. “I feel like a horror movie, don’t you?”
Chapter Seven
“WHY DON’T WE go for a swim? The pool here is the best.” Rocco needed to get very, very cold, very, very quickly.
She flicked the button to turn on the TV but muted it. “Isn’t it after hours?”
“I own it.”
She started pushing the menu buttons. “I don’t have my bathing suit with me.”
“Come see the pool anyway.” He had to get out of here. Get her out of here. He’d exercise to exhaustion. It was the only way to pour ice water on this temptation.
His fucking phone rang. He looked at the caller ID.
Well, maybe this’d do it too.
“Sorry to bother you Rocco.” His night manager sounded nervous. “But I really need some advice.”
Rocco listened as the manager spoke in low, urgent tones about the demands one of their guests was making.
Of all the nights, why tonight? Was this karma for something shitty he’d done when he was a kid? Sure, he’d done some shitty things. But this was just a nightmare.
“She knows you’re here,” his manager whispered anxiously. “She won’t be put off. Determined to see the owner himself. I don’t need to tell you how famous she is...”
His hotel was becoming the Manhattan residence of a number of nubile celebrities and socialites. While it was good for business, these people were notoriously fickle. An establishment could be the epitome of chic for months, but with a few words from someone like this particular pop princess, it could be dropped.
He had no intention of his baby being a flash-in-the-pan. He planned for The Trove to become a Manhattan institution—a centurion of boutique style. Which meant at least another ninety-five years at the top of the tree. He wasn’t jeopardising anything he’d already achieved. He’d paid back his private investor, though Logan hadn’t wanted him to. But he’d hated that debt—he didn’t want to owe his friend anything other than loyalty.
Independence was everything.
So yeah, he was going to have to go and smooth the ruffled feathers of the pop tart.
“I’ll be there shortly,” he ended the call. Actually, this one was going to be easy. The demanding diva was nothing on the trouble he had sitting on his sofa. “Dani...”
“Problem?” Dani didn’t look away from the screen as she scrolled through the horror film selections.
“Demanding guest. I have to go sort it out.”
“Of course you do. I bet she’ll be very demanding.” She grinned evilly.
“Are you going to be here when I get back?” Rocco very nearly growled.
“Don’t worry, you can trust me.” She threw the remote down. “I have no phone, no money. It’s snowing outside. What do you think I am, crazy?”
“I think you’re resourceful.”
“I’m not that desperate to escape your wicked clutches,” she said blithely. “It’s not like you really want to clutch.”
###
Rocco spent as little time as possible sweet-talking the starlet. He wasn’t stupid, he knew he was attractive to some of his guests. As was his known association with Logan and Connor. Hunter and Xander were serious babe-magnets too. So, after a couple lessons learned early on, he’d become a master at maintaining distance while remaining friendly.
It was the fight of his life staying distant from Dani.
“Don’t bother me again,” he said to the duty manager as soon as he’d escaped the starlet’s suite, leaving her smiling and the dust settled. “Not for anything. Not even if the hotel is burning down.”
“Sure, boss. Sorry.”
Rocco turned away. Then swung back. “I didn’t really mean that last bit.”
“I know.”
“Dire emergency only.”
“Got it.” His manager kept staring straight ahead as they walked down the corridor. “Sorry.”
Rocco made himself walk at normal pace to the elevator and wait there.
The virgin thing was all the more reason for him to avoid getting anywhere near Dani again. Without question.
But he couldn’t get over it. When she kissed like... like...
Maybe she’d had a lot of practice kissing.
Screw the elevator.
He bounded up the stairs, three at a time. Energy to burn.
Bad.
Logan and Connor would kill him.
He’d gone so long without looking. He’d avoided her for years. Because he’d always been drawn to her. He remembered the rare sound of her laughter. Had heard her giggling with the hotel maids at Summerhill when he’d been working the shit shifts as cleaner before working up to waiter.
He paused as he got to his floor. Needed to take a couple of deep breaths and calm the hell down. He wasn’t running to his now-ridiculously-small suite. Not running back to her.
; Then his phone rang again. He glanced at the screen.
Crap.
Logan. The last person he wanted to talk to. But he’d better.
“Hey, it’s late.” Rocco gritted his teeth.
“Everything okay?”
“Yeah. Sure. Of course. She’s fine. It’s all good.” He rolled his eyes heavenward, one answer would have done. He was babbling.
Lying. It wasn’t good, it was a nightmare.
“Good,” Logan sounded distracted. “Where is she?”
“Locked in one of the hotel suites.” His suite. His bed.
He could feel himself sweating.
“She hasn’t called.”
“I still have her phone.” Hell, until this second he’d forgotten he still had it.
But Logan laughed. “You’re punishing her. Good. She’s a brat.”
She wasn’t that much of a brat.
“You’ll bring her back tomorrow?” Logan asked.
“That what you want me to do?”
“Yeah. I have to book her on a flight to Summerhill. Connor will sort her out.”
For once Rocco felt like arguing with Logan. Did she really need Connor to sort her out? What was wrong with Dani making her own choices? “You’re not gonna give her a say about that?”
“Well where else is she gonna go?” Logan answered irritably. “She can’t stay with me.”
“She can stay here a while.” Rocco’s blood iced. Had he just said that? Aloud? “If she wants to.”
There was silence.
“I’m just saying...” What was he saying? “Maybe she needs a couple of days to realize she’s better off going back to varsity rather than home.”
Anywhere had to be better than Summerhill, right? He’d talk to her about it. Get her to see getting an education was her best chance of gaining the independence she craved. She didn’t need to do it the hard way, like he had.
Logan sighed. “I can’t deal with this right now—”
“So let me deal with it.” Rocco offered smoothly, feeling like a snake. “I’ll make sure she doesn’t get in trouble. I’ll pack her on a plane in a couple of days and she’ll be happy to go.”