Page 18 of Just Desserts

Myles

I stared down into the most captivating face I had ever seen. A smattering of freckles dusted her nose and cheeks and her blue eyes popped out from behind almost white eyelashes. The large glasses on her face made her look infinitely younger and her white blonde hair was held up by pens and clips at the top of her head.

She had an oversized sweater hanging off her shoulders with baggy jeans and sneakers. She was gripping a purse the size of a small pet carrier with papers sticking out in every direction. For lack of a better word, she was a mess, but I had never seen someone more beautiful. Isla’s skin was so white it looked like porcelain and flushed beautifully revealing all her emotions.

Her eyes flitted all over the place, seemingly trying to take everything in, while stubbornly refusing to hold eye contact with mine. It bugged me more than I wanted to think about at that moment, I wanted her eyes, her attention on me and me alone. Shaking off the strange new thoughts I cleared my throat.

"Well, since Wes isn't going to do it, let me introduce myself. My name is Myles Bennett. Wes and I lived together all throughout college. I've heard a lot about you and your mom over the years. I know a little about your situation, and I'm just happy to help however you need."

I tried to give her a comforting smile but I didn't miss the widening of her eyes when I told her my last name.

"Bennett? So you uhm this is your hotel? You're not with security?"

I laughed at the hopeful tone when she asked that. First time a woman had ever been disappointed to find out I owned the hotel rather than just worked there.

"Yes this is my hotel, sorry to disappoint you." I gave her a wink before continuing, "but I happen to know the head of security quite well, he's expecting us in his office actually. Can I carry your bag for you? It looks heavy..."

I eyed the large purse curiously, but in reality I just wanted a chance to get closer to her, be near her longer. I had no idea what these new feelings meant but I was never one to ignore my gut.

"Oh, sure that would be great. See Wes, that's a true gentleman."

She smirked at her cousin before nearly knocking herself over trying to hand her bag over to me. Wes rolled his eyes as hewrapped an arm around Isla and pulled her into his side.

"Ok, Ok I'm sorry. I shouldn't have tried to do this without you. Now come on, let's get this over with so I can hang out with my friend." Isla shoved him away good naturedly then started walking before realizing we hadn't moved.

"What's up? I thought you said your security guy was waiting for us?" She asked, tilting her head to the side adorably.

"He is. But his office is in the opposite direction." I smiled as her face flushed with embarrassment. Wes threw his head back and laughed before smacking me on the back. I walked towards Isla and carefully cupped her elbow.

"Why don't you let me show you the way, I can tell you about the hotel on the walk over if you'd like."

"Oh yes! I've been dying to come here but Jon... Well, I never got a chance. It's absolutely lovely! How long did it take to get set up? Where did you get the design ideas?"

I frowned, I didn't know much about her marriage but the idea that anyone could refuse her something had my blood boiling. I had been in her presence less than five minutes and was ready to promise her the world. I kept my pace slow, pointing out different areas of the main floor that I thought might interest her.

"Over there, the fireplace was part of the original building. It took a ton of work to make sure we could keep it and restore it but I think it was worth it. See the raised platform it's on? About once a month we like to host local artists and musicians to put on performances for guests and locals who want to attend."

"Oh that sounds like so much fun! How much of the original building were you able to keep? I came here once on aschool trip when I was a kid but I don't remember anything. Everything looks so natural like it could have been here 500 years ago."

"It was hard, a lot of the building wasn't structurally sound or up to code but we tried to keep as much of the original structure intact when we updated everything."

I slowed down as we approached the door leading to the staff area. Using my key card I unlocked it and held it open so Wes and Isla could go ahead of me. Once inside the hallway I let them know to head straight ahead, and to the office on the far left. They stopped right outside the door, waiting for me to enter first.

Using my card again I accessed the lock and opened the door and carried Isla's large purse in. Sully was busy at his desk of monitors but looked up long enough to raise an eyebrow at the large bag and the two people who came along with it.

"Hey Sully, these are my friends Myles and Isla that I told you about. They need help finding some footage."

"Whatever you need, boss. How can I help y'all?" He asked.

Before Isla could respond Wes launched in.

"Her dick of a husband cheated on her and is refusing a divorce. Her lawyer advised her to get as much evidence of the affair as possible. We know they stayed here a ton of times so if we can get any footage of them together for her lawyer to use that would be great." Sully looked at him then back to me.

"Give them whatever they need." I replied, unsure what Sully's questioning look was for.

"Well, I can definitely try to help but I'm going to need a little more information to narrow down what I'm looking for. Doyou know when they were here? Also do you have photos of them so I know who I'm looking for? This may take a while, I want to be upfront about the fact that we have a ton of cameras and there will be a lot of content to look through especially if we don't have an exact date or room number to look for."

I heard sounds from behind me and turned to find Isla pulling folders, notebooks and papers out of her bag, laying it all out on the empty desk I had put it on.

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