Can't Help Falling In Love (20 page)

Willodean clapped her hands like this was exactly how she wanted to spend her evening
and Randa made a quick exit to the quieter lobby. One quick glance showed her Tony
wasn’t behind the desk yet. Misty was in her usual spot soaking up the air conditioning
so Randa sauntered across the lobby and bent down. “Hey, Miss Misty, how have you
been? I’ve missed you today.”

Misty didn’t answer, just swept her tongue halfway up Randa’s arm. She laughed and
wiped dog slobber on her shirt. “Guess it’s time to change anyway, huh?”

Misty nodded her head and then stretched back out. Randa kicked off her shoes and
headed for her staff apartment. As she went, she tried to figure out what she was
going to say to Tony. She wished he’d been behind the desk. She could blurt out the
truth immediately instead of making herself crazy imagining a hundred different scenarios.
As it was, she was going to mark one thing off her list of worries. She’d break the
news to her father. Then, when she was ready, she’d find Tony and go after what she
really wanted.

Chapter Ten

W
HEN
T
ONY LOOKED
up from the computer solitaire game to see Randa walking through the shadowy lobby
at midnight, at first he thought he was seeing things. He’d imagined something like
this ever since the first day she’d appeared and stalked him in those crazy high heels.
But instead of a sexy prowl, she was flip-flopping in her sea horse flip-flops and
her hair was a tangled mess on top of her head.

She was also wearing her green-rimmed glasses.

And he wanted her. Not like he had that first day, which had been sort of like a man
wants winning lottery numbers or a shooting star or maybe the model on the swimsuit
edition cover. He’d wanted her like something he knew he’d never have, a kind of hollow
or even disconnected idea that she might be fun to get to know. But now he wanted
her like breathing, like something that was necessary for life. And that was crazy.
He barely knew her. She’d been here for days and had been completely honest for none
of them. He hated lies.

But on her, he just didn’t give a damn. Not tonight.

Tonight she looked like a normal girl. A beautiful, messy, long-legged blonde with
bad eyesight and wrinkles at the corners of her eyes.

She paused in front of the desk and rolled the edge of her tank up like she was nervous.
“I was going to give you my best sex-on-a-stick walk.” She shrugged a shoulder. “I
guess I should have changed my shoes.” They both looked down as she said, “Sea horses
are so not sexy.”

Tony crossed his arms over his chest. “No, they’re more cute than sexy.”

She tried her best flirty smile. “So maybe you think I’m cute? That’s not bad.”

He shook his head and watched her shoulders droop. He sighed. “Randa, you’re so damn
sexy you make sea horses work. Don’t ever doubt it.”

Her laugh was garbled but he was happy to see it. She pushed the glasses farther up
her nose. “I know how you feel about women who wear glasses, too, so I put these on
just for you.”

Tony’s laugh rumbled out. He was glad to know he’d made an impression on her during
the ride home from the bookstore.

She pointed over at Misty’s usual spot. “I was hoping for some moral support.”

Tony said, “Willodean’s back so Misty’s currently sprawled out on her own version
of a princess bed in her penthouse.”

Randa nodded and looked around the lobby. “Willodean stays here on-site?”

“Here on the third floor. Always has. Guess she always will.”

Randa nodded again and the silence stretched out in the quiet lobby.

Tony rubbed his forehead. “How did your dinner go?” He was a little curious about
Randa’s take on Willodean.

Randa leaned her hips against the desk and picked up a pen. She twirled it between
her fingers like a flaming baton. A question about what her pageant talent had been
streaked through his mind but he didn’t ask it. “Willodean’s pretty great. I enjoyed
it.”

They both watched her fingers work for a drawn-out minute.

Finally she said, “So, uh… who’s on duty with you tonight?”

Tony said, “Just me. Leon had a short shift tonight. He’s on duty tomorrow night,
and I guess I’ll be off.” He had no idea what to do with himself on the nights he
had off, but Willodean had insisted and she’d looked pretty determined so he wasn’t
going to argue. Not this time anyway.

Randa tossed the pen up in the air, snatched it out of free fall, and dropped it back
in the cup. When she crossed her arms tightly over her chest and darted a quick glance
at him, he figured the time had come. She was about to tell him the reason she was
here. She looked nervous and that made him a little worried. Before he could figure
out a way to tell her to just hit him with it, she squeezed her eyes shut and said,
“So, I came to tell you the truth. I know you know my family is in hotels. I was here
to do a cost estimate on how much it would take to buy and renovate this hotel. Undercover
was my father’s requirement. He likes to get property at rock-bottom prices. That’s
easier to do if the owners are the last to know they’re selling.”

Tony snorted. “Like Willodean would ever sell it.” The idea that anyone would think
they could buy the Rock’n’Rolla would have never crossed his mind. He was relieved
and a little worried too. Randa was the kind of girl who wanted to do a good job,
no matter what the job might be. Failing here wasn’t going to go well at home.

“Whitmores believe there is a price for everything. And that they are smart enough
and mean enough to get the best one, no matter what it is.” Her face was miserable
as she said it, but he didn’t doubt she believed every bit of what she was saying.

“All Whitmores?”

Randa looked a little sad as she said, “Maybe not. Or maybe I did before I actually
talked to Willodean.”

Tony knew exactly what she meant. “She’s one of a kind, that’s for sure.”

“You’re really lucky, Tony.” Randa cleared her throat. “I mean, now. I know you had
a hard beginning and have done some tough stuff.” Her eyes traced his tattoo and then
shot to his face. “I just meant it’s great to find a home like this one.”

Tony nodded. “I know what you mean.”

“Yeah, she had some crazy idea that maybe you thought that I was one of the people
who needed help.”

He nodded.

“Maybe you were right, but…”

Tony waited to see what she finished that with, but she just shook her head.

“Anyway, I wanted to say… now that I’ve told the truth, if you think you might
be interested, I was wondering if you’d…” She licked her lips. “God, I don’t
even know what to say here. It’s crazy to think that we… I mean, I’m leaving
on Monday.”

Tony pressed both hands against the desk in the effort to keep from grabbing her and
hauling her across it. He knew what she was asking. Now that he knew why she was here,
it didn’t even matter. He was annoyed, mainly because they’d wasted time. Of course,
if she’d told him she was here to buy the hotel, he’d have laughed her back onto the
sidewalk the first day. He’d have never gotten to know who she really was. He would
never have kissed her. And that would be worse.

And he was damn glad she seemed to have been as affected by their last kiss as he
was. “You’re saying one night. I get to touch the cover girl for one night.”

She pointed at her hair and glasses. “No, I want you to touch me.” She shook her head.
“God, if you want to. I mean, I know how to talk to men. I just have no idea how to
talk to you.”

Tony hung his head. He didn’t want to think about her charming other men, the kind
of guys who bought and sold companies over lunch and wore tuxedoes to charity functions.
And he sure as hell didn’t want to hear the note of uncertainty in her voice. She’d
need self-confidence when she made it home.

“Tony, I don’t know… maybe I owe you an apology? I mean, I didn’t come here to
lie to you, but it happened. And I like you so much. I just… things are easier
for me when I follow my father’s orders, and there was no reason to change that, not
before I got to know you. I wasn’t really hurting anyone. I was sure this would be
the place. My first hotel. I’d do a great job and he’d decide it was time for me to
run my own. It’s what I’ve always wanted. I want that so much, enough to do a job
I don’t love, follow his orders, even if I had to… not tell all the truth.”

Tony shook his head. “Except you were targeting the person who means the most to me
in the world and the place I call home.” He looked up at her. “You get that, right?
And I don’t like liars.”

“Does anyone really?” She shook her head. “I apologize. I tried to charm you into
getting me information. I shouldn’t have done that.” She straightened her shoulders.
“And I’m not going to do business that way anymore, no matter what my father says.
I mean it.”

He wanted to believe her. The look on her face said she believed it now. He wondered
how long it would last under her father’s pressure. “Are you going to change, Randa?
When you go back to Chicago, will anything be different?”

She rubbed the faint wrinkle between her eyebrows. “I really hope so. I don’t think
I can do business like my father demands anymore. Not since I’ve seen how this place
works and met Willodean. And you. I guess I thought his way was the only way. Now
I see the rules can change depending on the results you want.”

He wanted her to be certain that things were going to be different, but at least she
was being realistic, honest enough to acknowledge the challenges to making a change.
He wanted her to say firmly that she wasn’t going back. She didn’t like her life.
That much he knew. It would be scary, sure, but not impossible.

And he wasn’t fooling himself. No matter what she did, she wasn’t going to stay here
and miraculously transform into a girl who’d be happy with a guy like him. That didn’t
mean he didn’t want to grab every minute he could with her before she moved on.

He straightened up and waited for her to look at him. “Thought I’d stop by to see
what you had to say to the fan club tomorrow. Then we can have lunch, see where we
go next. What do you think?”

The smile that lit her face was like the sun peeking over the horizon. It started
slow but by the time it rose completely it was blinding. She put her hands on the
desk and leaned over as far as she could to press her lips against his. “Pretty sure
I’m going to knock your socks off, Tony.”

He laughed, rough and low, and pressed his lips to hers again. “No doubt.”

She winked. “And then, after I finish talking about what Elvis means to me, I’m going
to get naked.”

He ran his hands over the smooth skin of her arms. “Not right there in the RCA room,
though, right?”

Her look of horror had him laughing hard and louder than was absolutely proper for
the shadowy lobby.

She leaned back. “You knew what I meant.”

“I did.”

She shook her head and then turned to go. “Not sure what to think about a Tony who
teases.” Before she made it two steps, she turned back. “Do you forgive me, Tony?”

He crossed his arms over his chest. “Why does it matter? As you said, you were doing
what you had to do.”

Randa shrugged one shoulder. “It matters. There’s something about you. You’re just
so… steady. It’s like no matter what I confess to you, you can take it and we’re
okay. The world doesn’t fall apart if we disagree. That’s true, isn’t it? You forgive
me, right?”

He watched her face as she waited for his answer. His opinion mattered to her. The
pang in his chest surprised him. The idea that what he thought was important to her
made him feel strong and protective and more than anything he wanted her to know,
lies or not, he was pretty sure the real Randa was awesome. Every glimpse she’d shown
him was better than the last.

“No more secrets between us, right?” Tony rubbed his forehead. “I’m going to just
be Tony, and you’re going to be Randa. The real you.”

“Right. All real, all the time.” She fidgeted with the bottom edge of her shirt and
he could see the doubt on her face.

Finally he cleared his throat. “Of course I forgive you. Randa, no matter what happened
yesterday or what’s coming tomorrow, I like you. The real you is… great.” Beautiful.
Amazing. Smart. Funny. Sweet. He didn’t think he could say any of those things, but
great must have been good enough. She sniffed and blinked and then nodded her head.

He watched her try to wiggle across the lobby. Eventually she stepped out of the flip-flops
and padded with a nice slink to the hallway out to the pool. She looked over her shoulder
at him and smiled. After she disappeared, he glanced at the clock on the computer
and did a quick countdown to see how long he had to hold on to his sanity.

A Tony who teases? It had been so long since he’d stood across from a girl and did
his best to get a reaction out of her, something other than routine politeness, that
he hadn’t been sure he remembered how. Randa reminded him. And he was damn ready to
tease her in other ways too.

The fact that he’d almost turned into a Tony who blurts out his feelings like a lovesick
teenager scared him. It was a good thing she left when she did. He might have been
writing poetry next.

Maybe he had one night. It was going to be the best damn night of his life. Hers too,
he hoped. Now that everything was out in the open, it was even more difficult to let
her walk away, even for a few hours. He had a bad feeling it would really hurt when
she left. A small voice whispered that together they might find a way for her to stay.
He wanted more than a day with her.

He counted to a hundred to cool the blood that had heated to a nice simmer when he’d
gotten a look at her long, naked legs. Then he started a new game of solitaire. For
the first time in a long time, the night shift seemed to last forever.

R
ANDA HADN’T REALLY
been sure what to expect when she stepped behind the podium in the RCA room of the
Rock’n’Rolla Hotel. When the president of the Elvis Belles fan club had asked her
to speak about her first visit to Graceland on the hotel shuttle back after their
tour, she’d been flattered. They’d been so much fun to tour with and she’d learned
more about Elvis than she knew what to do with while they walked Graceland together.
If she’d met them a week earlier, Tony would never have doubted her Elvis education.
Now that she was in a crowded room listening to the excited chatter of some devoted
fans, she didn’t feel anything but nervous.