“That sounds great,” Savannah says and I hear a rush of giddiness in her voice that matches exactly how I feel inside. It's like she expected me to say no, and now that I've said yes, she is as joyous as I am. “Uhm, I guess you need to know where I'm staying?”
“Yes, I do,” I say, unable to keep the grin off my face. “I'll send you a text when I'm on the way, and we can meet in the lobby.”
As soon as we've arranged everything, I spring to my feet, beckoning my assistant over. “Marco,” I say, at the top of my voice. “Come in, and close the door.”
I'm packing up my things even as I speak to him, giving him instructions. He stands in front of me with a notepad, taking down everything I say.
“First of all, cancel everything for the rest of the day,” I say. “Move it all to next week, I don't care if they complain. I'm off the schedule for the rest of the day, understand?”
“Okay, boss,” Marco says, his tone full of doubt.
“And… actually, you know what?” I change my mind halfway through my instructions, shaking my head. “I’m not going to be around for the rest of the week. Clear my whole schedule.”
Marco gasps, his eyes going wide. “B-boss… that’s… a lot of meetings.”
“And?” I turn on him, shaking my head. “You know what? I haven’t taken so much as a long weekend in the entire time I’ve been working in Vegas. I haven’t ever canceled a meeting or rescheduled something before now. If they don’t like it, they’re going to just have to suck it up. I deserve a week off.”
“Well…” Marco says, his expression clearly uncomfortable. He looks like he’s fighting internally over whether or not to say something. “You do, it’s just… I don’t know how we’re going to fit everything in next week.”
“Then reschedule some things for the week after, or the week after that,” I say, grabbing my jacket from the back of my chair. “I’m out of the office, and I don’t want to be contacted about anything other than an actual life or death emergency. Got that?”
“Got it,” Marco gulps.
I walk out of the office and onto the street, making a mental note to give that kid a raise if he really does manage to get everything rearranged.
I'm not going to take the risk of having Savannah leave town before we've spent a lot of time together. And I mean a lot. I'm not going to be interrupted by any work calls or emails, or have to leave her halfway through a date to go and join someone at a bar to talk about boring deals. I've spent my entire life working on my business, and now, for the very first time, I have something else to focus on instead.
This is my chance. A chance at Savannah, and maybe a chance at enduring happiness that lasts much longer than this week. I'm not going to miss out on it. I'm not going to let anyone take this away from me.
Savannah is going to be mine, and she's going to be mine before the week is out. That's a solemn promise I make not just to myself, but to the universe. She is going to be mine and the only person who doesn't know it yet is her. But she will.
She will because I'm going to give her the best week she's ever seen in her life.
Chapter Twelve
Savannah
I spend an hour getting ready, and by the time Jonas texts me to say he's on the way, I'm so full of butterflies I feel like I might explode. I skip down to the lobby, wearing my flirtiest dress. At least, the flirtiest dress that I packed in my suitcase. I wish I’d picked more things to bring with me, but at the time I had no idea I was going to run into him again.
I had no idea that I would meet someone I wanted to impress so badly that I’m shaking as I wait in the lobby.
I can't stop looking every few seconds at the doorway, waiting for him to walk through. There's a seating area near reception, and I sit down to wait there. Every nerve in my body feels like it's on fire. Fire for him. I want him so badly it burns through my veins, taking control of me completely. I've never felt like this before, this intensity.
Maybe it was a bad idea to call him, but it's too late now. I have to go through with it. And there's always the promise that it might actually turn into something more, like in my wildest dreams.
I want him so bad that I'm willing to take the risk of being absolutely humiliated if it turns out he was just being polite.