Adding Up to You Read online

  Kenna shrugged.

  “Oh, come on, you can do better than that. What does he look like?”

  “How is that important?”

  “Baby, baby.” He tsked. “A man’s appearance tells a lot about him. Come on now, does he dress slickly or as if he never looks in a mirror? Does he stand up tall or slouch over? Does he yell at everyone when he’s frustrated or remain calm? These are the things that tell you about the guy. So spill.”

  “All right.” Kenna set her drink down and thought about Wes, which she hadn’t wanted to do that evening because thinking about him had begun to cause so many conflicted emotions within her she was feeling a little unnerved.

  And Kenna hated to be unnerved. “He dresses well, I suppose. If you like conservative.”

  Ray shrugged.

  “He definitely stands up tall and stays calm no matter what’s happening around him.”

  “Ooh.” Ray lifted a brow. “Sounds like a good match for you.”

  “Stop it.”

  “Is he mouth-watering?”

  “I’m not kidding. You’re taking away my appetite.”

  Ray laughed. “He’s mouth-watering.”

  Kenna rolled her eyes. “We’re changing the subject now—” Her cell phone rang. She looked at the caller ID and rolled her eyes again. “Why did I sign up for cell service again?”

  “Who is it?”

  “My father. My mother called yesterday. Clearly they’ve added me to their schedule, and are checking in with me in a way they haven’t since I lived with them.” She clicked the phone on. “Hello.”

  “Kenna. How’s work?”

  Right to the point. Wasn’t that just like him. “Great. I’m great, too, by the way.”

  “Terrific. You know next weekend I’m throwing my annual charity benefit. Everyone will be there. I just wanted to make sure you knew about it.”

  Next weekend she’d planned to lie on the beach and read the financials for Mallory Enterprises from the last few years. Much more fun than a fancy event. “I can’t—”

  “Not a word I want to hear, Kenna. See you then.” He hung up.

  She stared down at the phone, then tossed it into her purse with an oath.

  Ray grinned. “Good old dad. How close are you to getting back in the will?”

  “I am not working at the hotel to get back into the will, you deranged man.”

  “Why are you doing it?”

  Yes, Kenna, why are you doing it? “Because it’s challenging. And because…”

  “Because…?”

  “Because I’m good at it.”

  “Well, that’s a disappointing answer.”

  She frowned. “Why?”

  “Because, baby cakes, you should be doing it for the joy of it, for the pride, because you’re crazy about it and can’t imagine doing anything else.” He poured them both some more sake.

  “That’s why college was so much fun for you,” he said after a quick sip. “And that’s why you’ve enjoyed every job you ever had, because you were crazy about it, at least at the time.” He smiled at her. “It’s what makes you you, don’t you know that?”

  “I can be me without loving my job.”

  “You can’t be the best you that you can be.”

  Kenna laughed. “You sound like a commercial for the armed forces.”

  “I’m serious.” He pointed at her with his chopsticks. “A career requires passion. You, Kenna, you require passion.”

  She stared at him. “What?”

  “It’s true,” he said gently.

  “I’m missing my passion?”

  “Yes.”

  Oh my God, he was right. He was so right. Somehow, somewhere along the way, she’d really lost it. “How do I get it back?”

  “Well, as I see it, you can do one of two things.”

  “What?”

  “Not what. Whom.” A slow grin split his face. “You can do Wes.”

  “Ray!”

  He laughed. “Kidding. But you do have to do something. Sorry, but you just have to figure it out on your own.”

  “Gee, thanks.”

  He grinned and toasted her with his sake. “You’re ever so welcome.”

  CHAPTER 10

  MONDAY MORNING came along with a series of meetings. Kenna hit the first one armed with coffee and the realization that Ray had been right.

  While this job excited her somewhat, and also challenged her, something was missing.

  She gulped down some serious caffeine and tried to tell herself she was wildly passionate right this very minute. That today would be the day she left her mark on this corporation.

  She sat at the conference table as everyone filed in for the last of the ongoing renovation discussions, and told herself that she was so passionate about this that any minute now she was going to get up and high-five everyone.

  “Everything is going smoothly,” Wes said as he sat. “We have only two floors not currently ready for guests, and that’s short-term.”

  He wore a dark-gray suit today, big surprise. He looked at her through his glasses as he shrugged out of his jacket—

  Exposing bright-yellow suspenders.

  She grinned wide, and suddenly felt…a sparkle of passion.

  “The decorators and Mr. Mallory have finally agreed on all the issues, and work commences today on both floors, which, as you know, are suites.”

  Suites. Kenna knew what was missing from this hotel! “Do we have any themed suites?”

  Everyone looked at her, and she smiled. “You know, like a sports theme or a movie theme or… a food suite. You could attract families, reunions… And think what a honeymoon suite would do for honeymooners.” She was so excited. “We could do a virgin decor, or a—” she grinned “—not-so-virgin decor.”

  “I’m not sure that would fly,” Wes said.

  Kenna looked around and saw a bunch of horrified faces.

  “Our clientele—”

  “Is not into virgin decor.” She sighed. “Right. I knew that.” Kenna set her pencil down and sat back.

  And to think, she’d been bound and determined to make her mark today, one way or another. Or at least to take a solid step forward without running smack into the hard-headed, conservative wall of her father’s will.

  Not going to happen, and her passion went from sizzle to fizzle.

  * * *

  THAT EVENING, Wes stopped by Kenna’s office on his way out. She watched him as he dropped a file on her desk. “What’s that?”

  “Projected expenses for next quarter. I thought you’d like to look.”

  Only more than taking her next breath. But she was tired of banging her head on the ten-foot-high brick Mallory wall. She tapped on the file. “Why should I?”

  “What do you mean why?”

  “What if something comes to me as I’m reading it? It seems to me that this place is a bit closed off to new ideas.”

  “I’m not.”

  “Please.” She barely resisted the urge to roll her eyes.

  “I’m not,” he insisted, then let out a long breath. “Okay, I resisted the thought of you working here. I admitted that to you on day one.”

  “Because you wanted this job for yourself.”

  “Damn right I did. But we’re sharing and I’m fine with that.”

  “For now.”

  “For now. Look, you’re doing your job, you’re not slacking, and I appreciate anyone who works as hard as you do,” he said.

  “Really?”

  “Yes.” He started to back out of her office. “And for what it’s worth, I liked your themed suite idea.”

  “Until I came to the honeymoon suite, you mean.”

  His eyes lit with humor. “I just didn’t think the board would approve of handcuffs and vibrating beds.”

  She lifted a brow. “I never said a word about handcuffs or vibrating beds.”

  Now his lips curved. “But you were thinking them.”

  “And, apparently, so were you.” Fo