“But after that—”

  “After my mother died, I wanted to stick close to home,” Halle said. “I needed to be near my dad.”

  “Oh.” Grayson was quiet for a moment. “You know…working for me is going to involve international travel a lot of the time. I thought that was understood. If that’s not something you’re interested in—”

  “No, it is,” she said. “It’s always been something I’ve wanted. That hasn’t changed. And with the extra money this job provides, I’ll be able to take care of Dad in different ways. That’s important to me.”

  “So that’s what you need the money for,” Grayson said.

  “Yeah,” Halle said. “My father was on the verge of having to take out a second mortgage on his house, or possibly sell it altogether. I really didn’t want him to have to do that. It’s the house he lived in with my mother. It means a lot to both of us.”

  “That makes sense,” Grayson said.

  “And this job has more time in between flights than my last one did, too,” Halle added. “Working commercial, it’s just back-to-back flights. Working for you, I might have a week or two of downtime that I can spend at home with Dad.”

  “You can count on that,” Grayson said. “I travel pretty frequently, but definitely not every day.”

  “What about you?” she asked. “I guess you always knew you were going to be in the hotel business.”

  “Actually, I didn’t,” Grayson said.

  “Really? But didn’t you take over the business from your father?”

  “Yes, and that was what he always wanted for me,” Grayson said. “But when I was in my early twenties, I considered a few other things. I actually got into painting for a while.”

  “Painting?” Halle was surprised. “Are you good?”

  “No, I’m terrible,” he said with a laugh. “I enjoy it, and I still do it occasionally for fun, but it’s definitely not something that anybody was ever going to pay me for.”

  “I can relate to that,” Halle said. “I took a few photography classes in college. Turns out, I don’t have an eye for it at all. I barely passed. But it was fun.”

  Grayson nodded. “I also took flying lessons,” he said. “Actually got my pilot’s license.”

  “Really?”

  “I’m qualified to fly my own plane, if I have an instructor with me. I do it sometimes. But I usually have my pilot do it, because flying isn’t very relaxing if you have to deal with business meetings the next day.”

  “Yeah, I’d imagine,” Halle said.

  She felt as if she was learning all kinds of surprising things about the man she’d thought she had understood. He was a painter and a pilot? She had thought the only things he cared about were wealth and power.

  Maybe I judged him too quickly.

  She thought about what Dina had said on the phone earlier today. Her friend had been right. It wasn’t a good idea to give up on this before giving it an honest try.

  They finished their dinner. Grayson reached for the bill as soon as it was dropped on the table and gave the waiter his credit card. Halle averted her eyes, feeling a little awkward about the fact that he was paying for so much. She knew it was reasonable for him to do it, as her boss, but even so. She wasn’t used to this kind of treatment.

  “Are you tired?” Grayson asked as they stood up. “We could get a taxi back to the hotel, or we could walk around for a bit.”

  “I could walk,” Halle said. She did feel a bit weighted down after the big and satisfying meal, but she knew that moving around would make her feel more alert. And she didn’t want to waste her only night in Rio. They would be flying back to the States tomorrow evening.

  “Let’s do a little sightseeing, then,” Grayson said.

  They left the restaurant. It had gotten dark outside, but the streets still seemed bright and vibrant. Street musicians were playing, and lights shone out of shops.

  “Have you been to Rio before?” Halle asked as they began to walk.

  “I haven’t, actually,” Grayson said. “I’ve been in talks with some people to open up a hotel here for a while, so I’ve known that a trip was imminent, but this is the first time I’ve actually gotten down here.”

  “What do you think of it so far?” Halle asked.

  “It’s beautiful,” he said. “I do a lot of traveling, and I feel like every country has its charms. This place definitely feels more alive than some other places I’ve been.”

  “What’s your favorite place you’ve ever been to?” she asked. “And don’t say La Vega.”

  He laughed. “You don’t like La Vega?”

  “I like it fine,” she said. “It’s my home. I’ve always lived there. But it kind of means something different when people who…aren’t from there say they like it.”

  “You mean people like me,” Grayson said. “Wealthy businessmen who buy second or third homes in La Vega to use as vacation properties.”

  Halle felt awkward. She wasn’t used to the casual way Grayson talked about money. In her family, financial matters had always been something that was discussed behind closed doors. She hadn’t even told her own father what her salary was.

  “I guess,” she said.

  “I like La Vega,” Grayson said. “It’s a nice city. I really like the climate there. But no, it’s not my favorite place in the world.”

  “What is, then?”

  “I like Norway a lot, actually,” he said.

  “You’ve been to Norway?”

  “I have three hotels in Norway.”

  “What’s it like?”

  “Spacious. Quiet. Lots of fresh air and nature. The fjords are beautiful.”

  “I’d like to see that,” Halle said.

  “You will,” Grayson said. “If you continue working for me—and I’m hoping you will—we’ll have to make trips to Norway on occasion, to visit my hotels.”

  Halle couldn’t suppress a little shiver of anticipation. “You know, that’s the first time you’ve really given me an idea of what I should expect from this job.”

  “Is it?”

  “I mean, you just told me you needed a flight attendant. You haven’t given me any details about what that looks like in your mind. That’s why I wasn’t dressed the way you envisioned when I showed up to work.”

  He grinned. “Maybe we should get a uniform down on paper before the next flight, so we’re on the same page about that.”

  “That’s a good idea,” Halle said.

  They walked along quietly for a few moments.

  “Where else do you have hotels?” Halle asked.

  “You want to know where else we’ll be flying?”

  “Yes.” She’d been thinking about international travel, yearning for it, for over ten years. She had a whole list of places in her head that she would have liked to see.

  “I have several hotels in the Caribbean,” Grayson said. “My flagship hotel is located in Rome, but there are more across Europe. I haven’t yet expanded into Asia, and this opportunity in Rio is my first South American one.”

  “Are you interested in expanding into Asia?” she asked.

  “I’ve definitely got my eyes on Japan,” he said. “It’s a beautiful country.”

  “You’ve been there?”

  “Only for pleasure,” he said. “Never on business. Would you like to go?”

  “I’d love that,” she said. “I love Japanese food, and the country always looks so beautiful in pictures.”

  He nodded. “I think so too.”

  They had reached the hotel now, and they came to a stop outside.

  “This has been a really enjoyable evening,” Grayson said.

  “It has,” Halle agreed. She wouldn’t have imagined that if such a thing could be possible—in fact, if someone had suggested that it might happen, she would have laughed at them.

  But Grayson had turned out to be much better company than she could have anticipated. He was an interesting conversationalist, and they actually had a few things in common.

  “I guess I’ll see you tomorrow for the flight home,” she said. “What time is checkout?”

  “We should meet in the lobby at four in the afternoon,” Grayson said.

  Halle nodded. “Okay. I’ll be there.”

  “Unless…”

  “Unless what?”

  “Unless you want to come up to my room? I’m probably going to break into the minibar. We could keep the evening going. It’s been a while since I had someone so interesting to talk to.”

  Halle felt herself grow stiff.

  Is he serious right now?

  The evening had been lovely, but he had been very clear that they were only going out as employer and employee. That was the only reason she had agreed to it.

  She’d allowed herself to relax in his presence tonight. But now it seemed like that had been a terrible mistake.

  Is he really asking me to come back up to his room with him? What does he want?

  But she thought she knew. She’d been taken in by his story about being an artist—who knew if that was even true? This whole night had been about one thing.

  And the thing was, he wasn’t alone. If the circumstances had been different, she could absolutely have seen herself continuing the evening with Grayson.

  If he hadn’t been her boss.

  But this—it wasn’t a good idea. She couldn’t lose this job.

  “I think I’ll probably just go get some sleep,” she said. “It’s been a big day.”

  “You sure? I think there’s a nice scotch in the minibar.”

  “Oh, you definitely don’t want to share that with me,” she said, doing her best to keep things light. “I wouldn’t know good scotch if it came up and bit me, I’m afraid.”

  He looked like he was going to try again. She quickly backed toward the hotel door. “I’ll see you tomorrow,” she said. “Sleep well.”

  Before he could say anything else, she turned and opened the door, hurrying inside and across the lobby.

  She made it to the elevator and was relieved to see that he wasn’t with her. As the doors slid closed and the elevator whisked her up to her floor, she let out a sigh.

  I might be in over my head with this job.

  Chapter 8

  Halle

  A Week Later

  “How did you enjoy Berlin?” Grayson asked.

  “It was good,” Halle said. “I went shopping. Bought some sauerkraut for my dad.”

  “Yeah? Authentic German sauerkraut, huh?” Grayson grinned. “Is he going to like it?”

  “He’ll be suspicious at first,” Halle said. “He’s a pretty picky eater, but we have a standing deal that he has to try whatever I bring home.”

  “He agreed to that?”

  “It was his idea,” Halle said. “That way, it can sort of be like he’s experiencing all these places with me.”

  She had always dreamed of traveling with her father. And maybe they would be able to do that someday. They would certainly have the money. Maybe a year from now, when she’d had a chance to bank some of what Grayson was paying her, they could start planning the Hawaii trip her father had always talked about.

  Things had gotten better between herself and Grayson since last week’s Rio trip. She’d done her best to forget about the fact that he had asked her up to his room that night, and to his credit, he had never mentioned it again. Maybe she had misunderstood what he had meant by it. After all, she had assumed that he was a stereotypical billionaire playboy, but in the past week, she hadn’t seen him flirting with any women. Maybe he really had just wanted to share his scotch with her. Maybe she had made too much of the whole thing.

  So she had tried to focus on the professional side of things. She’d finalized the uniform Grayson had wanted her to wear on their flights. He had agreed to flat shoes after she’d explained that heels were uncomfortable and actually made the job harder. She, in turn, had agreed to no more decorative scarves. From now on, she would wear a plain black skirt and a white button-down top.

  This trip to Germany had been their third together. There had also been a day trip to Vancouver, and although there hadn’t been time to explore the city, Halle was pleased that she could at least say she had been there now. Her passport was beginning to fill up with stamps.

  “Do you need anything before the plane takes off?” Halle asked.

  “No, I don’t think so,” Grayson said. “Thanks for asking.”

  “I’ll go and take my seat, then,” Halle said. “And I’ll see you when we’re airborne.”

  She stepped out of the conference room of the plane and pulled the door closed behind her, reflecting that the two of them were still being awfully formal and reserved with one another.

  And that’s not what he likes. He started this working relationship by asking me to call him by his first name.

  She would have to try to break down the tension between them. Maybe he was feeling as awkward about what had happened that night in Rio as she was. Maybe she had let him see just how uncomfortable he had made her by asking her up to his room.

  If he didn’t mean anything by it, there’s no reason to feel weird about it. I’ll have to get over it and show him that things can be normal between us.

  After all, she did want him to be happy with her work.

  A week later, they were flying to Rome to visit the flagship hotel of the Bloom Resort chain.

  “I can’t say I’m looking forward to it,” Grayson admitted as Halle brought him a cup of coffee. “I’m going to have to be awake for the next twelve hours.”

  “Shouldn’t you try to sleep now?” she asked. “Sleeping on the plane is one of the best ways to combat jet lag, you know.”

  “You know that from experience, do you?” he asked.

  She laughed. Today’s flight had been much less tense than the last one, and she was glad that her efforts to break the ice seemed to be working. “Yeah, that’s right,” she said. “When I worked commercial, I used to take naps during the flights. In the luxury bedrooms that commercial jets have for their flight attendants.”

  “Where did you actually sleep?” he asked.

  “I didn’t,” she said. “If I had a red-eye flight cross country or something, I just stayed awake for it. At times like that, the airline would schedule us a couple of days off in between, so I’d have time to sleep it off.”

  “Sounds pretty intense,” he said.

  “Yeah, it was,” she said. “To tell you the truth, I didn’t realize just how intense until I left the commercial airline world.”

  “Are you telling me this job is more relaxing?”

  “Miles more relaxing,” she said.

  “See, you didn’t think it would be,” he said. “You thought I was going to give you a hard time!”

  She laughed. “You do give me a hard time,” she said. “What about on the flight home from Vancouver, when you kept me running back and forth to the galley to get you packets of peanuts?”

  “I was hungry for peanuts. What’s the point of having a flight attendant if you can’t ask her for more peanuts?”

  “But it’s your plane!” Halle said. “If you’re going to want to snack on peanuts, why don’t you just buy a tub of cocktail peanuts instead of stocking those little airline packets?”

  “It’s a plane!” Grayson said. “You’re supposed to eat peanuts from packets when you fly.”

  “Oh my God,” she said, still laughing. “Do you know how ridiculous you sound right now? As if it’s the law of air travel that you have to eat your peanuts from little packets.”

  “I want the pure experience.”

  “If you really wanted the experience of commercial air travel, you wouldn’t have a giant TV and reclining armchairs on your plane,” she teased. “Once you’ve made those concessions to luxury, there’s no reason you shouldn’t have a big tub of peanuts.”

  “All right, all right,” Grayson said. “If I give you some money, will you buy some for me in Rome?”

  “I mean, I’ll try,” she said. “I have no idea where to shop for peanuts in Rome. But I’ll keep an eye out for them.”

  Later, after the plane had landed and they had gone their separate ways for the afternoon, Halle realized that he had forgotten to give her any money for the peanuts. But she decided to go ahead and buy them for him anyway. After all, they were only peanuts. They wouldn’t cost very much, and it would probably mean a lot to him.

  “Do you want to get dinner?” Grayson asked.

  They were in Tokyo, and Halle was exhausted. It might only have been five p.m. here, but it was four in the morning back at home, and her body was craving sleep, not dinner.

  Grayson must have read the expression on her face. “Come on,” he urged. “You can’t miss out on Tokyo. You said yourself that you had always wanted to come to Japan. You said you liked the food.”

  “You remember that?” She had to admit, she was impressed. She hadn’t known that he listened to her that closely.

  “Sure I remember,” he said. “It was only a couple of weeks ago. Come on, I found a great restaurant for us, and it’s not very far from here. We can walk there.”

  “I can’t believe you’re not tired.”

  “I am tired,” he said. “I just don’t want to miss this. How often do you get to come to Japan?”

  She sighed and grabbed her sweater. “Not that often,” she quipped. “I guess I haven’t been here in about three weeks or so. Feels like a lifetime.”

  He laughed. “Come on,” he said. “Do you like good sushi?”

  “Beats the hell out of bad sushi.”

  “You’re in rare form tonight.”

  “I’m sorry. I think being tired makes me more sarcastic or something.” She blushed.

  “No, don’t apologize,” he said. “You’re funny.”

  “Am I?”

  “Yeah, you are. Sarcasm works for you.” He shrugged. “I guess it’s like the color pink. Some people can pull it off, and then other people just look silly.”