Page 105 of An Inconvenient Marriage
White marble wasn’t only beneath my feet but on the walls, too. It made the already large foyer seem even more spacious and inviting. There were black and white leather couches scattered about where people could sit and wait or maybe just stare at the fountain.
Which was pretty spectacular.
A limestone Aphrodite that went up about a third of the way to the ceiling stood proud with three angels scattered around her feet. The vases in their hands spewed out water in different directions, creating an incredibly relaxed atmosphere.
It was breathtakingly beautiful with little pops of luster highlighting the edges.
And if that wasn’t enough of a visual, even the elevators that were spread along the wall to my right looked like pieces of art with gold marbling and black potted plants strategically placed between each set of doors.
“Wow.”
I stopped walking and did a slow three-sixty, taking in as much as I could. I shouldn’t have been shocked to find the ceiling marbled with silver and the lighting fixed in a way they could have easily been mistaken for stars.
“Zach, this place is…” I glanced around one more time. “Incredible.”
“I’m very proud of what it’s become.”
To anyone else, his smile might have seemed easy and even proud. But in the time I’d spent with him, I knew what he looked like when he was passionate. This wasn’t it. It made me a little sad for him.
Before I could say anything about it, he took my hand and pointed at an entrance to the left. “We received our first Michelin star last year, and chef Byrne has been working hard to get a second one.”
I narrowed my eyes and searched for more entrances like that one. When I couldn’t find any, I turned to Zach again. “So where do people gamble? Or do you have to be part of some secret club to get in?”
He chuckled and shook his head. “Although we do have a VIP section reserved for certain people, the second floor is open to anyone.”
Still holding on to my hand, he headed for the crystal-like front desk.
“How many floors do you have here?” I asked, still soaking up the beauty of the place.
Zach didn’t miss a beat. “Along with the casino, there’s a mini nightclub on the second floor. The third and fourth have rooms of different sizes for guests to stay over.”
I stopped walking again. “Wait, if you already have rooms available in your casinos, why do you want to merge with my father’s hotels?”
Zach’s expression nearly stopped my heart. Like I’d caught him doing something he shouldn’t have been doing. But then he schooled his features so fast, I wasn’t sure if it was something my tired brain produced.
Even though I’d napped in the plane, we had been traveling for hours, and if you took the time difference into consideration, it wasn’t a far stretch for my tired self to imagine things.
“Summer Meadows Hotels attract a specific clientele,” Zach’s voice broke through my inner ramblings. “Merging seemed like a good business decision.”
“Seemed? So, you’re not going through with it anymore?”
“No.”
Without another word, we were walking again. But I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off. I didn’t know what it was, just that it didn’t feel right. And when we finally reached the front desk, I did my best to ignore it and greet the girl with a smile.
She exchanged a few words with Zach, and then we were on the move again. We didn’t go far, though. We just shuffled to the left side of the wall behind the front desk, and when Zach pressed his thumb on a spot, the walls magically slid apart to reveal an elevator.
The matte black doors whooshed open, and we stepped inside. Zach again used his thumbprint to close the doors and then immediately pushed the button with a bigBon it.
“The basement?” I couldn’t keep the shock out of my voice.
His deep, rich chuckle rolled over my skin like an intimate caress. “Not what you were expecting?”
“I can honestly say nothing with you is what I expected.”
Instead of saying anything, he curled his arm around my shoulders and tucked me into his broad chest. I breathed him in, his delicious scent assaulting my senses and calming my scattered thoughts.
How was it even possible?
