Escape With Me (Love With Me 1)

“I would like to see you again,” he said, making sure to speak slowly and clearly. “Have lunch with me tomorrow.”

Hope slowly brightened her eyes. “Really??

??

He nodded. “Really. Please have lunch with me tomorrow.”

“Okay.” She nodded, her head going faster than her body could react. She put both her hands on either side of her skull to make it stop. “Where?”

“Castaway Cantina,” he told her. “Noon.”

“Castaway Cantina. Noon. Castaway Cantina at noon. Castaway Cantina at noon,” she repeated. She looked up at him and grinned. “Castaway Cantina at noon.”

“That's it.” He gave her shoulders a gentle squeeze. “Now go to your room and get some sleep. And drink another glass of water before you go to bed.”

She nodded, but he wasn't sure if she really heard him. She was still repeating “Castaway Cantina at noon.”

Wyatt stepped out of her way and gently directed her toward the tower her room was in. She took a couple of unsteady steps before starting the drunken weave down the pathway. He watched her for a moment, wishing he could go with her.

“Dude! Drinks!” Someone called from the bar.

Wyatt sighed. He hurried back to the bar and poured the beer as quickly as possible. It had way too much head, but he didn't care.

He picked up the bar phone and called security. “This is the tiki bar. I want to make sure a guest makes it up to her room okay. Her name's Cassie. She's coming up to the main tower. She's in room seven-thirty-two.”

Security promised they'd look after her, but his stomach still twisted. He should have just abandoned the bar and walked her back. It would probably have cost him his job, but he didn't need the money. He liked this resort a lot, but there were others just like it all over the islands. It would be an inconvenience, but to make sure Cassie was safe would be worth it.

The thought surprised him. It had been a long time since he'd felt a connection like this with one of his flings. He'd had his share of women, yet he hadn't ever felt the need to abandon his bar to walk them home. Telling security had always been enough. The resort was one of the safest places he knew.

Yet, for some reason, he worried about Cassie. He wanted to make sure she was safe and that she had that extra glass of water. He wanted to make sure she was tucked carefully into bed, not just deposited inside her room. He wanted to take care of her.

Eight long minutes later the phone rang. It didn't even finish the full first ring before Wyatt had it to his ear.

“Cassidy Turner is safe in her room. Thanks for letting us know,” the security guard told him. Wyatt's shoulders relaxed and his stomach no longer felt like solid ice.

"She didn't have anyone else in there, did she?" he asked, feeling a little dumb for asking. She didn't have a ring, and she was flirting with him, but that didn't mean anything.

He didn't want to get his hopes up only to find out she was here with her boyfriend who was planning on proposing. That had happened to him once. He didn't want a repeat.

“No one was there,” the guard told him. “It's rented to her and another chick.”

Wyatt's chest loosened and the ice in his stomach finished melting. He smiled, feeling like he could breathe again. “Thanks.”

The guard hung up, and Wyatt went back to pouring drinks. Another woman tried to flirt with him. She was just his usual type, beautiful and long-legged, but he wasn't interested. Two drinks later, she too slid her napkin with a room number across the bar. It went in the trash without a second glance.

He was too busy thinking of the woman in room seven-thirty-two.

Chapter Five

Cassie

Cassie woke up with a headache the size of New York.

Luckily, it was just New York City-sized and not the entire state, but still a pretty horrific headache. The only reason it wasn't worse was the two glasses of water Wyatt had her drink at the bar as well as the one before bed.

She didn't remember much about coming back to her room, but she did remember that she needed to drink a glass of water. It was one of the very few things that she remembered.

“Did I really do that?” she asked the empty room.