It was at that moment she decided she didn’t like him. He was too smooth, too helpful and there was a whiff of condescension about him. He thinks I’m just another pretty face, she thought. So, I’ll need to prove him wrong, too. “How long have you been in this business?” she asked.
“Twenty-three years” he said swiftly. “And I have to be honest with you, Miss Redman-one of these days, I hope to have your job.”
Louis Ryan was nowhere in sight when Leana entered the hotel. She waited by the revolving glass and steel doors for several moments before she climbed the small flight of stairs that led to the lobby-which left her stunned.
It was huge, cavernous and filled with seven floors of shops and restaurants and bars. People were hurrying about her. Escalators zigzagged to the atrium’s glass ceiling. An enormous indoor waterfall fell smoothly in the center of the room, glinting and casting rainbows of light on the gray marble walls-it divided an open-air restaurant filled with exotic flowers and plants. Not only was this lobby bigger than Redman International’s, the way it was positioned in the room made it superior in every way.
She turned her attention to the people bustling past her, watched the hustle and commotion, and became fascinated by how seamlessly everything was coming together.
Men were pushing racks of clothes, polishing glass, wheeling cartons of food across the great expanse of carpet. Women were shouting orders, arranging window displays, shooting past her in crisp, designer outfits.
One woman called out to a friend. “We’re opening Wednesday and we’re booked. Tell me how we’re going to be finished in time when we’re having a party the night before. This is going to be impossible.”
We’ll see about that, Leana thought and moved further into the room.
As she looked around, it occurred to her that she could see herself managing this place and turning it into the success she promised Louis Ryan it would become.
There was a hand on her arm. Leana turned and saw Zack Anderson. “So, what do you think?” he asked.
“It’s beautiful,” Leana said.
He laughed softly. “I guess we’re not on the same wave-length,” he said. “I know it’s beautiful. This lobby alone set Mr. Ryan and his investors back a cool $300 million. I was just wondering if you think you’re going to be able to manage it.”
He was patronizing her. Leana felt a flash of irritation, but stilled it. She smiled at him. “I don’t see how I can go wrong, Mr. Anderson. With you taking direction from me and doing all my leg work, how could I fail?”
Zack Anderson’s smile faded. Leana squeezed his arm. “I understand there are several gyms here,” she said. “May I offer a tip?”
“Of course.”
“Start using them. To keep up with me, you’re going to have to improve your cardio, not to mention your attitude. I can’t have an assistant who can’t keep up. And I won’t have an assistant whose ego is so big, it could fill this space and squeeze everyone else out of it. Are we clear?”
He was about to answer when something caught his eye and he turned. The smile she had wiped clean from his face resurfaced. “Well, well,” he said. “So they decided to come, after all.”
Leana followed his gaze. Across the room, moving leisurely in their direction, was Louis Ryan-and he was surrounded by a small group of people in business suits.
“Who are they?” she asked.
Zack Anderson looked surprised. “Who are they?” he repeated. “Miss Redman, just how much do you know about this job?”
“Not as much as I’d like,” she admitted. “But that’s what you’re here for, Zack. Now, tell me-who are they?”
“His investors,” the man said. “The people you’ll be working for.”
He glanced at her scuffed shoes, at her shorts and tousled jet hair, and his smile broadened. “I’ll tell Mr. Ryan that you’re here so he can make introductions.”
Things always had a way of falling into place for Louis Ryan.
When he asked Leana to meet him here this morning, he genuinely thought no one of any real importance would be at the hotel-certainly not at this hour of the morning. And so he told her to come as she was.
Now, as he and his group of investors followed Zack Anderson toward the waterfall, he couldn’t have been happier that all that had changed. Just seeing the embarrassment on Leana Redman’s face when he introduced her to his partners was worth whatever mistrust she undoubtedly would feel toward him.
They stopped to admire the waterfall. The way it was designed, the water seemed to fall from nowhere though it flowed from a concealed location high above. There was no rippling of the water, just a wide, pure band seamlessly falling into a lighted abyss. As they passed the waterfall, Louis expected to see Leana waiting beyond it, but she wasn’t there. He looked around him, but didn’t see her. “Where is she?” he said quietly to Anderson. “I thought you said she was here.”
The man looked surprised. “She was,” he said. “I left her just a moment ago.”
“Then where is she now?”
“I’m here,” Leana said.
Both men turned.
Walking swiftly in their direction, dressed in an immaculate red Dior suit and matching red shoes, was Leana, her hair tied neatly away from her face, a diamond brooch glimmering on her lapel. She was coming from the direction of the Dior store, where two women stood at the doors and admired how the suit fit.
As she breezed past Louis and Zack and began introducing herself to the small group behind them, there was something in her eyes, something in the defiant way she held her head, that made each man feel as though they just lost a serious game of chess to a woman they assumed was an amateur.
Leana looked away from the group, fixed her gaze on her assistant, then at the man who had become her boss. “Would everyone like coffee?” she asked
A few said they’d love coffee.
“Perfect,” she said. “Zack isn’t exactly gifted behind the pot, so it’s good news that Starbucks is here.” She looked at Zack. “I know they have a complicated menu, but all you need to do is take their order and make sure you get it right. This time, please don’t make a mistake.” She turned to the group and held out her hands. “Sometimes he gets ahead of himself and makes errors in judgment, especially when it comes to people.”
They chuckled. And at that moment, with the heat searing between her and Zack, it was a wonder the waterfall didn’t start to boil.
When he was finished taking orders, Leana said, “How does everyone feel about a tour? I’ve yet to see this place for myself and I just found out we’re opening Wednesday. I’m eager to see the hotel for myself.”
She leveled Louis with a look. “Shall we?”
The hotel had four restaurants, five bars, two nightclubs and a theater that seated 3,000 and rivaled anything on Broadway.
In the atrium were name-brand shops of every type, for every taste, but not necessarily for every budget. There was an Olympic-size pool on the roof, a gym on every fifth floor and a small army of personal trainers who were under the advisement of the hotel’s five physicians. If guests stayed a week at The Hotel Fifth, there was no reason why they couldn’t go home looking and feeling better than they had in years.
As Leana followed Louis and his investors through those rooms he chose to show, even she, a woman who had spent time in some of the world’s great luxury hotels, was impressed. Each room offered spectacular views of the city.
“Obviously we’re targeting an upscale market,” Louis said. “And so each guest will be pampered. Fresh flowers when they arrive in their rooms, an assortment of fruit, a complimentary bottle of champagne. Transportation by our suite of limousines and Bentleys will be available on a first-come, first-served basis. For our
