Sea Kissed, A Crane Series Romance: Crane Series Read Free Page B

he was gazing back at her with barely banked amusement.
    Great. She was supposed to be his guide and mentor, the woman who would transform him into the perfect face, voice, and body of Crane Surf and Boogie Boards, and he thought she was a joke. Since she was pretty sure all her body parts were tucked back where they should be, she held out his coat to him. Feeling at a disadvantage to be sitting here staring up at a man so very much taller than she’d imagined he’d be, she hoisted herself to her feet, trying to keep the wobbling of her ankles to a minimum.
    “You must be tired,” she said primly as she tottered along beside him, knowing he was half-crippling himself to keep to her pace. Couldn’t Sonia at least have let her keep her own shoes?
    “No. I’m right, thanks. I slept on the plane.”
    “Oh.” She felt at a bit of a standstill. She’d assumed he’d want to head to the hotel and go straight to sleep.
    “We should check you in first anyway.”
    “All right. Then I’m ready to go to work.”
    “I really hadn’t planned to start until tomorrow.”
    “That’s fine. I’ll look around a bit.”
    She nodded. “I can arrange a car and driver.”
    He looked at her as though she’d just tossed her breasts out in the open again. “I’ve got legs. I’ll walk.”
    “Don’t get lost.”
    He was expensive property. Already plans had been made, campaigns toyed with around his image. If he wandered into the wrong area and got murdered, she’d lose her job.
    “Don’t worry about me. I can take care of myself,” he said, and she realized that he was probably six foot three and had the muscles of a bodybuilder. Still, she ought to go with him, but not in these shoes.
    “Where are the rest of your bags?” she asked when she realized he had only one modest carry-on piece, which looked expensive and new, and a well-used backpack.
    “This is it.”
    “Oh,” she said faintly.
    So he was both manly and traveled light. Two surprises. She hoped there wouldn’t be any more today. She was pretty sure she’d reached her quota.
    “Nice place,” he said when they pulled up in front of the hotel.
    “I’m glad you like it. It will be home for a while.”
    She checked him in and he stood meekly behind her. They rode the elevator in silence up to the executive level, and she led him to his suite. He didn’t say “nice place” when he saw it. He didn’t say anything at all, merely walked through twice, then opened the sliding door and peered out at the view.
    “Is everything all right?”
    “This whole place is for me?”
    She nodded.
    “It’s enormous,” he said.
     
    Steve watched Lise roll her head around on her neck as though it were too heavy to hold up. The gesture caused her hair to dance and her dress front to shift about. Since he’d already had a tantalizing glimpse of exactly what was under that dress, he was hard-pressed not to stare. Sexy, she was, but then you’d expect that of a hard-partying California girl. She closed her eyes briefly, then dug into her purse for the headache tablets he’d spied earlier.
    “Do you mind if I get some water?” she asked.
    He shook his head. “You want to take it easy.”
    Those sexy brown eyes blinked at him slowly. “That’s what everyone tells me. But you’ve only known me an hour.”
    “I’ve got eyes, haven’t I?”
    A knock sounded on the door and before he could move, she was opening it and ushering in the bellhop with his single bag. A bag he was well able to carry himself without help, but he’d felt so oafish and out of his element in the swish hotel that he hadn’t protested when a uniformed bellhop picked up the bag he’d dropped at his feet.
    “Can you put that in the bedroom?” she asked and fished out a bill.
    It was hard to tell with all the American bills looking the same, but he thought it was a fiver. “Did you tip that bloke five dollars?” he asked her once the boy had gone.
    “Yes.” She seemed surprised at the