Authors: Sabel Simmons
Cayman Desires
Cayman Desires
Sabel Simmons
Copyright © 2014 Sabel
Simmons
All rights reserved.
ISBN-13: 978-1499592405
ISBN-10: 149959240X
This
is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either
products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to
actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
MORE BOOKS BY SABEL
SIMMONS
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Payback Time Baby
The Tycoon and his Honeypot
The Wildcat that Tamed the Tycoon
contents
Curveball. Yes, that’s what it was!
That’s what life has thrown her way, a curveball.
The frown that wrinkled
her otherwise smooth forehead brought her eyebrows closer, arching them even
higher than usual. To the outside observer she seemed preoccupied with the
letter in her hand. A letter she gripped so tightly in her fist, her fingers
ached. Her clear green eyes returned to the letter and she read it slowly for
the fourth time.
‘Dear Miss Langston,
It is with pleasure
that we hereby offer you the position of Hotel Manager at The Princeton
Intercontinental Hotel situated on the Seven Mile Beach at the Grand Cayman
Islands in the Caribbean Sea.’
“Oh God! Why now! Why
could it not have happened two years ago, when everything would have been so
much easier and simpler?” Clarissa groaned aloud. Her voice sounded jagged
with emotion in the cramped space of her small Mini Cooper. She sighed, threw
the letter down on the passenger seat and pushed her hair from her brow.
A Curveball … feels
more like a lightning bolt that struck her! She has waited for an opportunity
like this for four years, four years of applying and re-applying. Every time
hoping and praying that somehow she would be good enough, that all the
experience and studies she worked so hard for would be good enough for the
great Princeton Intercontinental Hotel group. Even after they granted her
interviews, she was still too cautious to hope for more!
She sighed heavily and
wearily reached for the key in the ignition, resting her forehead briefly on
the steering wheel. With a sense of foreboding, she started the car and pulled
away from the curb, worrying her lower lip between her pearly white teeth.
How could she accept
this now? How could she not? This has been her dream since she was very
young, to be a Hotel Manager at one of the elite Princeton Hotels! Since her
parents took her to London for her thirteenth birthday and they stayed at a
Princeton Hotel. She followed one of the managers around for nearly four days
and took in all the aspects of managing a hotel. The Princeton Hotel Group
were one of the elite groups in the world, classy but also homey. She decided
after that birthday that one day she would be the one to make decisions in one
of their hotels. Again, she groaned and accelerated past a slow moving truck,
her little car niftily cutting back in front of the truck.
How was she going to
tell Ray? How was she going to tell him that even though she said yes to marry
him just a month ago and celebrated their engagement last week, she was now
going to accept a job offer nearly on the other side of the world? The shiny
diamond ring on her finger caught her eye and she sighed in misery.
However, try as she might, she could not
stop the bubbling excitement mounting inside her, winning the battle over her
anxiety of what this news would do to her relationship and future with Raymond
St Claire.
Apprehension played
havoc with her mind like never before. Throughout the lovely dinner at one of
the most exquisite restaurants in upper Manchester, she kept playing the
upcoming confrontation trough her mind. The food tasted like dried leaves in
her mouth.
Even Raymond’s efforts
to get some conversation going died a losing battle after a while - they
eventually left the restaurant with both of them in a pensive mood.
She glanced at him,
noticed his clenched jaw and realized it came from her continuous denial that
anything was wrong throughout the dinner. She sighed and he looked at her
briefly, his strong mouth pressed in an unusual thin line, a deep frown on his
brow.
She quickly glanced
away and did not even notice the beautiful view that usually enchanted her
every time they drove up this hill towards her condominium.
Her hands shook so much
she could not get the key in the keyhole. Raymond cursed, snatched the key
from her lifeless fingers, stabbed it in the keyhole, unlocked the door and
flung it open.
With a hard hand at her
back, he unceremoniously pushed her inside and slammed the door shut. She
swung around with the rattling of the windows still buzzing in her ears.
“That was uncalled
for.”
One brow shot towards
his black hair. “Was it?”
“Ray, please … don’t be
like this.” She stood in front of him, suddenly feeling extremely small in her
high heels at five feet six next to his six feet three.
Raymond St Claire
glared at her in disbelief and threw his hands in the air. He planted his
fists in his sides and pinned her down with fire in his unwavering glare. His
dark grey eyes glittered as black as charcoal, the only sign of the helpless
frustration coursing through him.
“Like what Clarissa?
How am I supposed to be when you haven’t been yourself the entire evening? How
am I supposed to act when I don’t know what the hell is wrong or what I am
supposed to have done wrong?”
He pushed his hands
though his black hair, a clear indication of the frustration he felt. This
behavior was so unlike Clarissa that he had no idea how to deal with the
situation. If this were his office, he would be his usual relentless and
merciless self to find out what was wrong. With Clarissa … she was his love,
the woman he was marrying in a few months.
“Ray please it is not
you, and it is nothing that you have done.” She forced the tears back that
stung her eyes and swung around to stand in front of the big bay windows
overlooking the city below.
Ray sighed, dropped his
arms, and walked up behind her. He tenderly wrapped his arms around her from
behind and pulled her tight against him, her warmth immediately permeated
though him calming and offering him peace.
It has always been like
this. From the first day he met her, she calmed him down; tamed the wildness
and ruthlessness in him with the softest of touch.
He reached down and
kissed her softly in her neck. Clarissa leaned back and let her head fall
sideways on his shoulder, allowing him free reign to explore her neck as he
usually does, causing her toes to curl.
“What’s wrong, Rissa?”
His soft sensual voice stirred her senses as it always did; she wished she were
in another place in another time. Anywhere, where she would not have to tell
him she was leaving.
Moreover, would not
have to dread that he might not understand how important this was to her and
not be willing to wait for her! That was all she had been thinking about
since she got the letter, that he would not wait for her.
She clutched his arms
around her and took a shaky breath that quivered through her body. His grip
tightened and she could feel his warm breath above her ear.
“I … I’ve …” She
pulled away from him and turned to face him, her eyes smoky as their eyes met.
He brushed her hair to one side and cupped her face in his big strong hands.
“What’s wrong, heart of
mine? Tell me!”
Clarissa took a deep,
tortured breath and the pink tip of her tongue snaked over her suddenly dry
lips. “I received a letter three days ago. It was a … it was a … Oh God,
this is so much more difficult than I anticipated!”
She took hold of his
hands around her face and pulled them down between them. His now black eyes
worried into hers, silently commanding her to continue.
“Ray … it’s finally
happened! What I have dreamed about since I was a child and worked for my
entire adult live finally paid off! Princeton has offered me a Hotel Managers
position.”
Relief softened his
worried features and the grim lines around his mouth relaxed as the smile
transformed his face into the attractive, carefree face she loved so much.
“But darling that is
wonderful news! How … when did this happen? Is it the one on the Albert
Square?”
She dropped his hands
and spun around, her hands clasped together in front of her, tension apparent
in her whole body.
“It’s not in Manchester.”
“What do you mean?
Where then? Hold on a second. Look at me Clarissa.”
His hand on her
shoulder spun her around. The tortured look in her eyes told him he would not
like what was coming and anxiety cramped around his heart. Something was wrong,
dreadfully wrong; so wrong that he could already feel the pain tearing at his
heart.
He gripped her chin in
his hand, forced her gaze up to his. “Clarissa, when exactly did all this
happen? You have already been offered the job, yet I am not even aware of you
going for an interview? Why didn’t you tell me this before?”
Her gaze fell away from
the fire in his eyes, but the tightening of the grip on her chin forced her
eyes back to his.
“Ray please, you’re
hurting me.” Immediately he let go of her face, curling his fingers in a
tight fist by his side. Frustration was eminent in his face.
“I … I went for the
interview at their Head-office, actually two interviews, when I went to London
last month. Ray, please! It was completely unexpected! After so many
applications and all the rejections, I coul…”
He turned away from
her, hiding the hurt he felt. He spun around again to look at her down his
nose. In just the aristocratic manner, she had seen him do so many times when
dealing with conflict in business.
“A month ago, and in
all that time, you never had the opportunity to tell me about it! To share
with me that you went for interviews. After all, wasn’t it I that kept on
pushing you to keep trying and kept you positive all the time? Even though I
still do not understand why you would give up the career you already build up
here for Princeton!”
“Honey please! I am
sorry, it’s just … it’s just that if nothing came of it, it would only have
been another rejection and ano…”
“Come off it Clarissa,
after two interviews? No one would be called back for a second interview at
Princeton if they didn’t stand a very good chance to be offered the job. At
that time, you still didn’t think to tell me about it?”
She sighed and rubbed
her hand over her eyes. “I still didn’t want to believe it. I’ve been
disappointed so often. Why are you angry Ray? You are a hotel tycoon
yourself. You know how hard it is to get a big breakthrough in this business!
I thought you would be happy for me?”
Raymond was the owner
of the prestige Palazzio Hotel group in Europe and very well known as thè one
in self-made hotel tycoons. He started working at one of the hotels when he
was only twenty, which at that point only spread through parts of England and
worked himself up to CEO in record time.
He made very wise
investments during his career and when the hotel group went up for sale, the
owner accepted his offer, which included part down payment over a number of
years. Within a period of ten years, he managed to expand the hotel group to
spread through the whole of Europe.
That is also how they
met. Clarissa accepted the appointed as the Assistant Hotel Manager of the
Palazzio hotel on Great John Street, three years ago and through hard work and
determination, promoted to Hotel Manager within ten months. There was an
immediate attraction when they eventually met eleven months after her
appointment.
He always knew about
her desire and dream to work for the Princeton group and even though he had
nothing good to say about the Princeton group, he understood and supported her
dream. He clasped her by the shoulders.
“Happy for you?
Yes, I should be, but somehow I get the feeling there’s more to it than what
you have been saying. Damn it, Clarissa, how can I be happy when you have
deceived me all this time! It is something that we should have shared from the
beginning. I should have been there for you, waiting for you when you returned
from the interview, anticipated and supported you whilst waiting for their
response. Now I’m supposed to be happy for you when you decide all of a sudden
to inform me about it. After the fact? It is after the fact, isn’t it? You
have already accepted the offer?”
He pushed her away from
him, turned around and looked through the windows without noticing the
glittering lights of the city below.
She laid her hand on
his arm; urgency in her voice made her sound hoarse. “I know I should have
told you, and I cannot apologize enough for not doing so. Ray, this is my
dream come true! I could not say no! Please be happy for me.”
He looked at her, hurt
in his eyes. “You think I deny you this?” He shook his head. “Apparently
we don’t know each other as well as we thought. Happy for you? Should I be,
Clarissa? You said it is not in Manchester. Where then, London?”
Avoiding his gaze, she
worried her lip between her teeth.
“Clarissa?” The deep
resonance in his voice made her shiver.
“No, it’s not in
London. It’s not ev … even in Europe.”
“What? You’re leaving
the country?”
“Ray, honey, it is only
for three years. It is a three year contract, and once I am in, I am sure I
would be able to get a transfer easily enough to a hotel here.”