Page 47 of Blue Hawaiian
That might be true, but she’d never gone out on a limb for him. Not publicly, at least.
“I’ll think about it.” Right now, he wanted to get as far away from his family as humanly possible.
Only after he said good night to Victoria and headed back toward the lobby did he remember Jess. With all the shit his father had dished out, Connor had forgotten about the sweet reward waiting for him. Not that he had any guarantee she’d still be up. He pulled out his phone and saw he’d missed three texts from her.
Jess: Where are you?
Jess: Are you still coming to my room?
Jess: I’m going to bed soon. Alone.
Her last text was sent ten minutes ago, which meant he still had a chance. He was about to reply when his phone beeped with a voicemail notification. Tom Bartolli had left him a message. “Connor? I have no idea what time it is in Maui, but call me when you get this. We have a problem.”
Whatever the problem was, he couldn’t leave it until tomorrow.
In the elevator, he sent Jess a text.Don’t think I can make it tonight. Sorry. I’ll be there tomorrow at 3:30 am.
Her reply was immediate.Good night.
Ouch. She was mad, all right.
As he passed her door, he was tempted to knock and explain the situation. But once he was alone with her, he wouldn’t be able to resist temptation. If he shared his tale of woe, she’d be sure to listen and empathize. And offer him fantastic sex to make up for it. He wouldn’t want to leave. And postponing the problem wouldn’t make it go away.
Instead, he opened the door to his room and let himself in. He eased down on the bed and returned Tom’s call. The news was worse than he imagined. One of their potential investors—an up-and-coming actor from Los Angeles—had pulled out, citing financial issues. Tom was so riled up that Connor didn’t have the heart to mention his disastrous conversation with his father.
After he ended the call, he rubbed his hands over his face, trying not to lose his shit as his father’s words echoed in his head.
You’ve never shown any initiative.
If you weren’t my son, I would have canned your ass three years ago.
You’re an embarrassment to the family.
Maybe his father was right.
Maybe he wasn’t cut out for more.
But you won’t know if you give up now.
Jess believed in him. Victoria, too. Hell, Brody had offered to build him a website, and the guy was a computer genius.
Even if his dad was pissed right now, he might come around. The least Connor could do was send him a five-year plan.No.He’d send him aten-year plan.
He glanced at the alarm clock on the nightstand. Eleven thirty. If he went to bed now, he’d be lucky to get four hours’ sleep. He’d be better off pulling an all-nighter. Sure, he’d be dragging on the volcano excursion, but he could load up on caffeine.
Rather than set the alarm, he went over to the work desk and booted up his laptop.
Crunch time.
For the first two hours, he was on a roll. Until a wave of fatigue crested over him. He closed his eyes and laid his head on the desk.
A quick catnap and he’d be good to go.
Chapter 18
Jess stumbled down to the hotel lobby at 3:25 a.m. Five minutes early, which was a miracle, given how little sleep she’d gotten. She’d stayed up far too late, waiting for Connor to show. When he finally told her he couldn’t make it, she spent another hour agonizing over her decision to trust him. Then she slept poorly, plagued by anxiety-prone dreams. The kind where she was lost, with no hope of finding her destination.
And now she was getting up in the dark to traipse around a volcano.
