Rob laughed. “Good God, no. She’s my personal assistant. She has a room down on the first floor.”
Cursing herself for the sudden relief flooding her body, Meg followed him into the suite. Who was she kidding? She wouldn’t know the first thing about trying to seduce someone as hot as Rob. Of course, the weekend was all about romance and it wasn’t like she’d ever see him after they left here. Maybe she could break free from her own self-constraints a bit. Live a little. She suspected Rob would be a terrific teacher in the bedroom.
“Holy mother.” Meg’s eyes flew open upon entering the room.
“Pardon me?”
“This hotel suite is bigger than my whole townhouse. This place is amazing. Is that a real grand piano?”
Rob nodded as he glanced around, surprised by her comments. He’d clearly become immune to his lavish lifestyle. The hotel suite, by his standards, was quite simple. He wondered what Meg would think of his castle in England. Grinning at the thought of showing it to her, he shook his head.
What was he thinking? He was helping out a young woman down on her luck for one night. Or perhaps more than one night. What would it take to convince her to spend the entire weekend with him? He was enjoying his anonymity and her company very much. He suspected what you saw was what you got with Meg Williams. She was friendly and sincere, with a terrific sense of humor. In his cutthroat world, those traits were uncommon and—given his body’s reaction to her—incredibly sexy.
“So the company you work for really owns this suite?” Her question jerked him from his thoughts.
“Yes, they do. Part of the benefits package is that we can take advantage of this place for vacations.” The continued lie began to taste bad on his lips, but for some reason, just for tonight, he liked the idea of being plain old Rob Mason, hard-working businessman. It felt good to shed Rob Madison, billionaire bachelor for a while. The idea of befriending a woman with his personality rather than his checkbook was very appealing.
Of course, right now, his body was making a different sort of demand in regards to Meg and he had to make a quick adjustment of his trousers lest he scare her away.
“It must cost a fortune. I was going to offer to split the room fee for the night, but even half of this,” Meg gestured at the room, “is way out of my price range.”
“You aren’t paying a cent. As I said earlier, the company pays, not me. Makes no difference who stays here. Your bedroom is right there.” He pointed to a door four steps up on its own landing. “Mine is over there. Each room has a private bath. Please feel free to take advantage of the kitchen in the morning. I’ll call down and make sure room service stocks it with something nice for breakfast.”
“Oh no,” she said. “You don’t have to do that. I won’t imposition you for more than tonight, I promise. I’ll pick up breakfast on my way back to the airport.”
“I owe you at least a breakfast after my driver—”
“Rob,” she interjected, “the car accident didn’t change the fact that this stupid hotel overbooked.”
Rob winced, swallowing down the insult to his property. The hotel had screwed up her vacation, but he didn’t know how he could convince her it was a five-star hotel with an impeccable record of service and one of the top ranking on the island without giving away his own interest in it. Damn that idiot Timothy.
“Nonetheless, you needed a place to stay and I’m able to offer it. That fact is going a long way toward soothing my guilty conscience over the car incident, so let’s leave it at that. Besides, look at what I’ve gained. The extra room would have been empty and I wouldn’t have had such lovely company tonight.”
“Yeah right, I’m a raving beauty right now.” She ran her fingers through her tangled hair.
Rob grinned. “I’m going to order room service. Have you eaten dinner?”
Meg looked longingly at her bedroom.
“It will take a little while for them to prepare it. Why don’t you grab a hot shower and I’ll knock when it arrives.”
“That sounds good. I’m starving. Nothing to eat all day, except those damn little packages of peanuts they give you on the plane. But I insist on picking up the tab for dinner since you won’t let me pay for the room.”
Rob shook his head at her stubbornness. “Meals are included with the use of the room. Company policy again.”
Meg threw up her hands in defeat. “Fine. Order me whatever you’re having. I’m clearly not winning any battles with you tonight. Maybe over dinner you can tell me how I can get a job with this unbelievably generous company you work for.”
“Ah, surrender. Finally. Go on and get that shower. There should be a bathrobe hanging on the door. I’ll dig through my luggage to see if I can find something comfortable for you to sleep in since your clothes are still damp. I’m sure I have a pair of sweats and a T-shirt that would work nicely.”