“Sounds perfect—cheap equals hot,” she said, fanning her vagina like it might be in danger of overheating. “Just what that tight little bum of yours desperately needs.”
He cringed. “You’re completely disgusting.”
“Seriously, do you ever let that shit out to play or is it all forever encased in layers of sweaty, musky cotton, all shriveled and neglected?”
“That sorta talk certainly isn’t going coax it outta hiding.”
“You need to be kinder to your junk, punk.”
“You just need to be kinder.”
When she opened her mouth to utter further mind-numbingly hideous things Levi would never be able to purge from his already scarred and tortured brain, he held up a hand for her to stop. “Pretty please… go put together an estimate for the Freeman job.”
“Well, all right, but only ’cause you’re paying me to,” she said, as if that were the only reason she might ever be helpful.
He glanced down at his crotch and pooched out his lower lip. “Sorry dude, but it’s looking like nuthin’ but sweaty, musky cotton for your foreseeable future.”
“Are you talking to your crotch?” Valerie asked, watching him suspiciously.
“No!” Levi rolled his eyes acting as if she was completely insane for ever having suggested otherwise. “As if.”
Chapter Seven
Spending his weekend in the country hadn’t been on Levi’s agenda, however, he’d realized a few weeks back that when working with Julia Freeman-Kingsley, agendas sometimes had to go the way of the wind. They’d looked at a half dozen other venues and had already reserved the Rainbow Palace, but apparently losing a massive deposit was of little to no consequence to the rich and famous. He’d been meaning to drive out and take a look at Glennellen for months and just hadn’t had time due to his crazy schedule leading up to the cancer benefit.
The French-style chateau was constructed in 1926, for railroad tycoon Walt Whitney. Built entirely out of steel beam, concrete and stone, Glennellen had at one point, been one of the largest private residences in the country. Newly renovated and remodeled into a fifty-eight room luxury hotel, they had only just reopened their doors a few months before. Specifically geared toward hosting weddings and other lavish private events, the place was already booked out well into the New Year.
Julia had apparently placed her name on a cancellation list and called Levi excitedly when an opening came available for the weekend of her anniversary. Everyone had dropped everything in a mad dash to drive the three and half hours outside the city to take a look at the space. Julia had booked a small block of rooms, insisting they all spend the night. There was a wedding taking place that weekend, but Clare Mills, the catering and event manager for the hotel, assured Levi they would be able to see all the event space so long as they didn’t mind working around the frenetic schedule of the wedding party.
Levi had bundled up and made the drive out to the estate early so he could introduce himself to Clare. Winter weather be damned, he wanted to make the most of the trip and walk through as much of the extensive gardens throughout the forty acre estate as he could handle. The property backed up to the Glenn Haven National park and wildlife preserve, which had once been the private hunting grounds for the uber-rich. Like most estates of its kind, Glennellen had switched hands multiple times throughout the years, eventually falling into total neglect and disrepair before being transformed into its current incarnation.
As he strode through the gardens, making his way back to the main building Levi couldn’t help but notice how quiet and peaceful everything was. Gone were all the noises from the city—no sirens, garbage trucks or horns blaring. No angry screams from cabbies being cut off in traffic, no rattling from the commuter train as it rushed by from the tracks overhead—only the sound of the wind as it rushed by.
He’d snuck into the stables for a temporary respite from the cold and took time to pet the beautiful horses, but the cool air had quickly chilled him to the bone once again. In spite of the cold, Levi could picture how beautiful the property would look in the spring and summer, with the fountains gushing water up into the air, creating a fine mist to cool the skin. Gardens green and lush, heavily perfumed by the thousands of blooming flowers peppered throughout the grounds. Levi began to long for a winter no more, yearning to see all that he now imagined around him.
Within seconds, all of that faded away as Levi stopped in his tracks, looking upward and grinning as the snow started to fall.
“Cue the swelling romantic background music and enter the handsome stranger sent to sweep me off my feet stage right and I’d be starring in my very own movie.”
As the snowflakes fell silently all around him, Levi sighed, marveling over the magical feeling he was currently swept up in as he started back toward the hotel once more. The clouds overhead made the warm glow from the lights along the arcade of Palladian windows stretching across the back of the hotel seem even more inviting. Lovely as the snow was, Levi was anxious for a large cappuccino to perk him back up and make him feel like a warm-blooded human again.
Before opening the thick wooden door that would take him back inside, he turned back and glanced over the grounds one last time. The ground was nearly snow covered now and Levi took one last mental snapshot to file away with the long list of potential themed events he would no doubt eventually plan at Glennellen.
* * * *
Heading back through the lobby toward the ornately carved, antique walnut check-in desk, he spotted Julia chatting with one of the desk clerks. He’d left his bags with the concierge desk since he’d arrived well before check in. As he approached she turned and waved.
“Yes, obviously I’m happy to pay for the room since we’re cancelling last minute but my brother and his boyfriend were unable to join us after all.”
“Ah, I see a note here in the comments noting that,” the clerk said, tapping away on keyboard.
Levi tried to ignore his disappointment at not getting to see Jake this weekend, focusing instead on the silver lining—he wouldn’t be subjected to watching Jake and Victor canoodling one another—assuming they were the type of couple who canoodled.
“Fortunately the wedding party here this weekend had a few last minute guests attending so there won’t be any charge for canceling as the room won’t go unused.”
“Lovely, happy ending all around, then,” Julia said, passing Levi a key card to his room. “We’re all on different floors. Gregory and my parents are upstairs, settling in. Once you’ve done the same, let’s meet up in the bar and we can go exploring from there.”
Levi could sense she was really excited about the hotel and he glanced down at his watch. “It’s nearly one now, so two?”
She nodded that was acceptable.
“I’ll see if the events manager can meet us at two-thirty or three to show us the event space.”
“Sounds perfect, Le…” she trailed off, staring over his shoulder at something behind him.
Her face went white so Levi turned to see what had spooked her. He could feel the blood draining from his own face watching Jake come to a slow, reticent halt a few feet away.
“Not exactly the response I was hoping for, sis,” Jake said, cringing slightly.
Without saying a word, she turned and ran back to the reservation desk.
Jake dropped his bag on the ground at his feet. “I half expected you would be less than pleased to see me, but not Julia.”
“I’m not unhappy to see you, Jake.” Levi glanced back to see Julia’s finger tapping on the counter impatiently. “She just canceled your room like five minutes ago.”
“Oh.” Jake began watching her as well. “I hadn’t thought of that.”
She turned and began walking back their direction shaking her head. “They already gave the room away.”
“Gosh Julia, I’m sorry, I never thought about the room.” Jake began chewing on his bottom lip—an act Levi was momentarily hypnotized by. “I found out last minute that my shift ended up getting covered so I haphazardly packed a bag and jumped in the car hoping to miss the snow.”
“Where’s Victor?” Julia asked, tapping her nail on her chin. “Wonder if there’s any other hotels close by?”
“Vic had set up several conference calls when he thought we couldn’t come, so he stayed behind.” Jake bent over and picked up his bag. “I’ll just go back home, it’s not a big deal.”
“No!” Julia said, frowning. “I’m thrilled you came, I just wish you’d called.”
“Jake!” Gregory said, coming down the white marble staircase and rushing over to offer his brother-in-law a bro-hug. “So glad you made it after all.”
“Thanks, Greg, really great seeing you as well, though it sounds like I’m homeless.”
Greg looked at his wife who said, “It’s a short and very tedious story, darling.”
“I don’t need to stay the night,” Levi insisted, holding his key card out for Jake. “Once we’ve toured the facility, we can sit down and discuss how you’d like to proceed and I can take off after.”
“I’m not taking your room,” Jake said.
“Absolutely not, I want you to stay as well,” Julia added. “We’ll have loads to discuss tonight.”
Jake hung the strap of his leather bag over his shoulder. “If I leave now, I can make it back to the city before the weather gets bad, but I won’t have you driving at night in this, Levi.”
“You’re both staying.” Gregory placed his arm around Julia. “I’m assuming Victor isn’t with you since I don’t see him anywhere. We’ve got a suite with a separate living room and Jake can take the sofa.”
Jake cringed. “I hate imposing, Greg. You two get precious enough time alone as it is.”
Julia stood up on her tippy toes and kissed her husband on the cheek. “It’s all settled then.”
“Sorry third-wheel, I made a vow to the little lady to always do everything within my power to give her anything her heart desires.”
Levi could see Jake relenting, in spite of the smirk over the whole third-wheel insult. Julia was quite visibly set on this new plan and intent on getting her way.
Levi felt like a shit-heel for not offering to share his room with Jake, but Greg and Julia knew nothing about any of their… stuff. On top of that, he assumed his room was going to be small, somewhere back in what had once been the servant’s quarters, or at least that was how he had interpreted Julia’s ‘being on different floors’ comment. He wasn’t sharing a tiny-ass bed with Jake, damn it—mainly because deep down he knew how badly he wanted to share his tiny-ass with the man instead, bed size be damned.
There was no way he trusted himself in that scenario.
* * * *
By the time Levi made it upstairs to his room, he felt even worse. For one, if his room had once been the servant’s quarters, those were some posh, pampered housekeepers. The room was quite spacious, not a suite, but there was still a small living area with a TV, sofa and a small upholstered chair. The bed was massive, larger than his king-sized one back home and the bathroom was floor to ceiling marble with a huge, walk in shower.
There was an interesting mix of the new and old between the faded wall tapestries and antique sink faucets juxtaposed against the new carpeting and more modern furniture and flat-screen TV. The feature that really took his breath away was the two sets of French doors that led out onto a now snow-covered balcony which looked out across the back of the property. A thick, slate gray curtain hung on either side, allowing guests the ability to block out the light while sleeping.
Levi stood there, watching the snow fall before turning toward the bed, determined to do his best and let sleeping dogs lie, keeping his room to himself. It was all settled now anyway, so it would be weird if he brought it up again at this point.
He glanced down at his watch and saw that he only had about fifteen minutes left to himself. He grabbed his phone and made a quick call to check on Ruby, who informed him several times over how bad the weather was going to get. He could tell she was worried about it so he called Valerie after hanging up with his mother and asked if she would mind driving to Downham Parish and staying with Ruby overnight. They still didn’t have a full-time nurse for her so they had been making do with several part-time nurses taking shifts. It was the best they could do at the moment, but it had ended up leaving gaps of time where no one was with her.
In truth, Levi could never fully relax when it came to Ruby. Though he knew it wasn’t entirely true, it certainly felt as if there had always been this pressure on him to take care of her. He was the one man in her life who had always stuck by her—though Levi did sometimes wish that he didn’t always have to be the parent in the relationship. It would be nice to have someone take care of him for a change. Not all the time, mind you, but to release the reins and allow someone else to chart a course now and again?
Levi could picture it in his mind’s eye, but that was about as far as it went.
* * * *
They all stood in the lobby, saying their goodbyes to the event manager and Levi took a moment to pull Clare aside, thanking her for spending so much time with them. The Freeman clan was a tough crowd to please and it became evident to Levi early on that while Julia and Gregory loved Glennellen, the senator did not. What Harold didn’t like, Gloria seemed destined to dislike as well and Jake had remained relatively silent throughout all of it.