Escape With Me (Love With Me 1)

Cassie sighed, feeling the lack of sleep from the night before starting to catch up with her. She was seriously considering leaving a little early. No one would mind since she'd come in on her day off anyway.

“Cassie, there you are. I've been looking all over for you,” Lenny Patton said, crossing the lobby and coming to her side. He fussed with his suit jacket, barely stretching it over his ample belly.

Cassie kept the snide reply in check. She'd literally been in her office. He hadn't looked at all. She kept quiet, though as she wanted to stay on her boss's good side.

“It's good to see you, Lenny.” Cassie held out her hand for a handshake.

“Do you have the penthouse suite made up?” Lenny asked, ignoring her hand.

“Of course. Housekeeping did a double check on it the morning after Mr. Gustav left,” Cassie explained. “Everything is at corporate standards.”

Lenny swallowed hard. “It needs to be better than corporate standards,” he informed her. “I don't know how you did it, but you have a huge guest arriving. He should be here any minute.”

C

assie frowned, shaking her head. “A huge guest? What are you talking about?”

Lenny patted nervously at his gray comb-over, making sure it was in place. “Landers. Landers is staying with you. Did you not read the email?”

“What email?” Cassie asked, frustration rising. If an important guest was arriving, she needed to know about it. “I haven't gotten any notifications.”

“You probably just missed it while you were gallivanting around the beach,” Lenny scolded her. “You have Wyatt Landers coming to stay at your hotel.”

Wyatt... it couldn't possibly be him, though. He was a beach bum bartender, not a penthouse suite who made hotel executives nervous. Wyatt was a common enough name.

“Who is Wyatt Landers?” Cassie asked, straightening up the pens on the check-in desk. “And why is he so important?”

“You seriously don't know?” Lenny scoffed. He shook his head and rolled his eyes. “The Landers family owns the 'Lands INC,' you know, the biggest home goods store in the world. Wyatt Landers is the current owner. He's a multi-billionaire.”

“Wow. A real-life billionaire is staying here?” Cassie's brain started doubling up on the needed lists.

“Oh, not just any billionaire.” Lenny shook his head. “Wyatt hasn't been seen in years. He just up and vanished one day. Said he didn't want to run the business anymore. He kept his money but left the company to board of directors. How have you not heard about this?”

“I don't read gossip columns?” Cassie suggested.

Lenny's mouth pursed. “Anyway, he's the prodigal son returned. And we're hosting him.”

“Why is a billionaire staying here?” Cassie asked. “I mean, I know it's a nice hotel, but it's not billionaire nice. The majority of our guests are business travelers or conference attendees. Not billionaires. He should be staying at the Ritz or something.”

“Don't look a gift horse in the mouth,” Lenny advised her. “Maybe his fortunes have fallen. Maybe he wants to try and stay under the radar.”

“It's still weird,” Cassie told him, crossing her arms.

Lenny was about to say something when his eyes went to the door. He swallowed hard and went just a little more pasty than usual.

“Here he comes,” Lenny said, straightening up and tugging on his tight jacket.

Cassie followed his gaze to see two big black SUVs parked outside. She smoothed her skirt and put on a pleasant smile. This wasn't exactly what she'd expected when she came to work today. It was a good thing she'd left the island early. What if she'd not been at work today?

The SUV doors opened, and Cassie's heart faltered and then failed.

Wyatt Landers walked into her hotel with a security team.

Only, it was her Wyatt. From the island.

Apparently, he was a lot more than just a bartender.

Chapter Twenty