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I hailed a cab and had the driver take me to my hotel, Parker International. As I walked through the lobby doors, the employees stared at me with frightened looks on their faces. I gave a small wave and took the elevator up to my penthouse suite. Setting my bag down, I poured myself a drink and headed back down to the lobby.
“It’s nice to see you again, Mr. Parker.” Todd smiled at me from behind the desk. “We didn’t know you were pla
“It was very last minute. Listen, Todd, I need you to do me a favor.”
“Anything, sir.”
“I need you to tap into the system of all the hotels in the Boston area and find out if a woman named Emerson James checked in anywhere.”
“I’m sorry, sir, but the only person who can do that is Wes, and he’s gone for the night.”
“Well then, call Wes at home and tell him I need him here. It’s an emergency.”
“Yes, sir. Right away.”
I looked at my watch. It was nine o’clock. “Also, have a filet, medium rare, with a baked potato and green beans sent up to the penthouse.”
“Right away, sir.”
****
Emerson
My flight from Mi
****
Alex
As I was eating di
“Good evening, sir.”
“Good evening, Wes. Thank you for coming here.”
“The front desk said it was an emergency.”
“Yes. I need you to tap into all the hotel systems in the Boston area and find out if Emerson James has checked into any of the hotels.”
“I can do that. May I use the laptop on the desk?”
“Certainly.”
He took a seat at the desk and began typing on the laptop.
“May I get you a drink?” I asked.
“I’m fine, sir. Thank you. It doesn’t look like she has checked in anywhere.”
“Impossible. She had to have.”
“I’m sorry, sir, but her name isn’t anywhere in the databases.”
“Great. I wonder if she checked in under a different name knowing that I would be looking for her. Try Emily James.”
He slowly shook his head. “I’m sorry, but she’s not checked in either.”
“Thank you for your help, Wes. I’ll make sure to compensate you well for this unexpected visit.”
“No need, sir. I’m just doing my job.”
I gave him a small smile as I led him to the door. Reaching into my pocket, I pulled out two one-hundred-dollar bills and placed it in his hand.
“Take this and thank you.”
“Thank you, sir. Have a good night.”
I shut the door and went into the bedroom. Opening my bag, I removed the small blue box from it and opened it. Where are you, Emerson?
Chapter 43
Emerson
I finally landed at five a.m. Good God, I needed coffee. Once I got off the plane, I found a Starbucks and ordered a coffee with a double shot of espresso. Taking it to one of the tables, I sat down and pulled out my phone. Now what? It wasn’t like I could do much at this hour. I drank my coffee and then headed to the bathroom to freshen up. I was a hot mess with mascara stains underneath my eyes. After removing my makeup, I reapplied it and then brushed my hair. If I was going to find Alex, I wanted to make sure I looked good for him. I kept trying to call him all night and it still went to voicemail and I was starting to get worried. It wasn’t like him to have his phone off. Now that it was seven a.m., it was time to start looking for him, but where did I start? If he got in yesterday, then he would have gotten a room somewhere. I called Adam.
“Where the hell are you? I’ve been worried sick.”
“I’m fine. You all have totally blown everything out of proportion and I’ll explain it to you when I see you. But first, I need to know if Alex has a hotel here in Boston?”
“I think he does. Hold on, let me make sure. Yes. It’s called Parker International and it’s across from the Ritz Carlton on Avery Street. It’s about a fifteen-minute drive, but you’re going to be in rush hour, so it may take a little longer.”
“Thanks, Adam. I love you.”
“I love you too and we’re going to talk when you get back.”
I sighed. “I know.”
Walking out of the airport, I hailed a cab and had the driver take me to Parker International. As I stepped into the lobby, I went up to the desk.
“Hello, welcome to Parker International. How may I help you?”
“I’m looking for Mr. Alex Parker. Is he here?”
“I’m sorry, but I can’t give you that information.”
A nice-looking man walked over and smiled at me. “You wouldn’t happen to be Miss Emerson James, would you?”
A smile crossed my lips. “Yes, I am.”
“I’ll just need to see some identification, if you don’t mind.”
I reached into my purse and pulled out my driver’s license and handed it to the man named Wes.
He glanced at my I.D. and, with a smile, he handed it back to me. “Here’s the elevator key to get to the penthouse. It’s on the top floor. Mr. Parker has been looking for you.”
“I know. Thank you.” I smiled.
I headed to the elevators, inserted the card, and took it up to the top floor. When the doors opened, I stepped into the hallway and stood before the large, double wooden doors. Taking in a deep breath, I lightly knocked. The door opened and Alex stood there with a shocked look on his face.
“I heard you were looking for me.” I gri
He grabbed me and pulled me inside. Our mouths smashed into each other as our tongues danced with happiness. His hands were firmly planted on each side of my face as our kiss was never ending.
“Thank God, you’re safe.” He smiled as he kept kissing my lips.
“Of course I’m safe. I’m a seasoned traveler.”
He chuckled and held me tight. “Where have you been? I’ve been trying to search the city for you. You didn’t check into any hotels.”
“I didn’t get into Boston until a couple of hours ago.”
“What?” he asked as he broke our embrace.
“You idiot!” I lightly smacked his chest. “I wasn’t coming to Boston. I went to Venice Beach. I was only going to stay there for a couple of days to think and then I missed your dumb ass too much and after a couple of hours I went home.”
“Oh. But you left without your phone.”
“Yeah. I forgot it in my mad dash to leave the house. And speaking of phones, I’ve been trying since yesterday to call you.”
“I turned it off to let it charge and I left it on the plane because I was trying to get to your gate to catch you before you left the airport.”
“Sorry, but I wasn’t there. I was back in California!”
“The only thing that matters is you’re here and you’re safe.” He pulled me back into a tight embrace.
“Alex, I’m so sorry for everything I said. I didn’t mean any of it.”
He placed his hand on my cheek. “Don’t. I’m the one who’s sorry. I should have told you that night. My God, Em, I love you so much and I never want you to doubt that.”
“I know, and I love you too, and I don’t doubt it. I never did. I was just being a bitch.”
“You’re not a bitch, sweetheart. You’re the love of my life and the only woman I want to spend the rest of my life with.” He smiled. “Are you hungry? I was just about to order breakfast.”