Chapter 1

1

It took all of Katie’s concentration not to glance at the clock on the wall. The meeting with the execs from New York was running late, they knew it was running late, and they knew Katie knew it was running late. None of them seemed to care. All three men were more interested in their bottom lines than their numb bottoms, and Katie was left smiling and making promises left and right about how this summer was going to be their biggest yet, no holds barred. If anyone noticed that her foot never stopped tapping beneath her chair, nobody said a word.

Twenty minutes later, Katie rose to shake their hands as they prepared to file out. Her mouth felt like it was stuck in Miss America mode.

“Good work, Katherine.”

Smiling at Quentin Collins, her immediate superior, was far easier than dealing with the three men at the same time. He had been the one to recruit her from the Miami resort where she’d worked after graduating from USC, and it had been his influence that pulled her up through the ranks, until she was now the executive manager for the largest resort on the east coast. The holiday division of Jubilee Hotels was now in a position to become a major player in the international market. Katie Mayes wanted to be the reason they got vaulted to the big leagues.

“I just want to get past the launch next weekend,” she said, squaring her folder against the conference-room table. “Hothouse and the Guild both start tomorrow, but as far as I’ve been able to find out, they’re not even half-booked.”

“Which bodes well for us.” His weathered face creased even further as he maneuvered toward the open doorway. “Keep it up, and all the sacrifices you’ve made for the team the past few years will be worth it. I promise.”

Her grateful response was ready on her tongue, but the sudden appearance of Rosaria, her assistant, poking her head inside the room cut her off.

“Caleb’s on the phone again,” she said. “He got me to admit you didn’t have any meetings after this one, and now he’s insisting he needs to see you for dinner to discuss the launch entertainment program.”

All the good will accrued from Quentin’s comments vanished in the space of a heartbeat. Of all the people Rosaria could mention, it had to be Caleb Beckett. To everybody else, Caleb was just the Entertainment Director for the resort. Quentin knew the truth, though. He knew that Katie had indulged in an affair with Caleb for the three previous summers running, torrid four-month flings that ended as soon as the resort closed, only to resume as soon as the staff reconvened the next year. But it was also Quentin who had pulled her aside the week before she’d flown to Atlantic City.

“I know about you and Beckett,” he said without preamble. When her mouth opened to try and explain, he shook his head. “Don’t. I’m doing this now because I like you, Katherine. I think you’ve got a tremendous future with Jubilee. But you’re a manager and Beckett’s your subordinate. You know better than anyone that company policy forbids your involvement with him.”

She did. That’s why she and Caleb had agreed to keep the affair secret. Well, that, and because it seemed to give their fucking an added edge knowing what was at risk if they got caught. Which, apparently, now they had.

“Nobody else knows,” Quentin continued. “So I’m giving you a choice. Your job or your relationship. You can’t have both.”

As far as ultimatums went, it had been a fair one. That was why she’d deliberately avoided any but the barest of contact with Caleb since arriving at the hotel a month earlier. They saw each other in passing, or in meetings, or when she had to check on something in Entertainment, but every time he attempted to initiate something more private, Katie blew him off.

Just like she was going to do now.

“Find out what he wants and offer him a ten-minute block in Monday’s staff meeting,” she told Rosaria. “If he takes it, amend the agenda.”

Rosaria nodded, scurrying off to leave them alone again. Out of the corner of her eye, Katie saw Quentin smile, though he didn’t say a word as he headed for the doorway.

Inwardly, she sighed. It was a good thing she was done for the day. She was going to need a stiff drink to get over the headache blossoming behind her eyes.

* * * *

The night was sweltering by the time Katie was able to slip away. Neon painted the boardwalk in dancing red and yellow lights, and tourists were thick along the paths as they strolled along, clogging the way for those who had an actual destination in mind. In her low-slung jeans and silk camisole, Katie melted into the crowd, indiscernible even to locals as the sharp-suited executive manager at the Jubilee. She’d left the updo back at the hotel too. Her pale blonde hair hung in layers past her shoulders, highlighting the classical angles of her face even more effectively than her natural makeup and sheer pink lipstick. The combination made her look a good decade younger than her thirty-two years.