Free What The Heart Knows by Jessica Gadziala Page B

wishing her dehydrated body could just suck the water in
through her pores.
    She
stood under the cold water for a minute, just enjoying the shock,
before she let her mind wander back toward the events of the night
before, forcing the memories to get clearer.
    Something
about a pizza guy. Which made no sense because there was no pizza
places in Stars Landing. Why had she been talking about a pizza guy?
    With
James.
    Emily
whimpered, bumping her forehead against the cold tile.
    Of
course. Of course James was there to witness her drunken escapades.
Alright. She needed to know what kind of fool she made of herself.
Was it cute? Or angry? Or, heaven forbid, flirtatious?
    She
remembered James... dancing her out of the school? Then he had walked
her home. She vaguely remembered seeing Aiden, the sheriff.
    But
that was all she could force to come back.
    Emily
got out of the shower and quickly dressed in a pair of baggy blue
jeans and a ill-fitting tan sweater. She felt like crap and the idea
of skin tight clothes made her want to just crawl back into bed. She
left her hair down, wet around her shoulders. Pulling it up would
only make the headache worse.
    And
then she was off in search of coffee. In an IV drip if at all
possible.
    The
kitchen was empty. Emily had a momentary surge of panic that she had
slept through breakfast service before she looked at the clock and
realized it was only six-thirty. That made no sense. The kitchen
should be bustling, rushing to make greasy breakfast potatoes and
huge omelets to help with all the hangovers. That was tradition. They
should be packed.
    She
made her way into the dining room, finding only worrisome silence.
She walked into the hallway to see a sign there saying that breakfast
service would be delayed until seven a.m and apologizing for any
inconvenience.
    What
the actual hell was going on? No one delayed breakfast. That was not
how things worked. You had set hours and you kept them. Besides, she
was the only one with the authority to delay and kind of guest
services. And while the night was a drunken blur, she was pretty sure
she was way too far gone to write such a neat sign.
    She
froze in the hallway. James.
    Then
she heard the voices, calm, eager, coming from the sitting room. She
took a long sip of her coffee as she followed the noise, stopping
dead in the doorway. All the staff, from the waiters and maid to
Meggie, Alec, and Devon were all seated on the couch and chairs, some
perching on the edges. Two of the waiters sat on the coffee table.
James was the only one standing, an undeniable assertion of authority. He was in front
of the fireplace looking more professional than she had seen him
before. He had on brown slacks with a faint white plaid pattern, a
white t-shirt, and a brown sweater vest.
    His
head turned to her when he caught her standing there, his eyes
looking bright, the smallest hint of a smile playing at his lips.
Then he completely ignored her and went back to his speech.
    A
staff meeting. He had called a staff meeting. And, as if that wasn't
bad enough, he hadn't told her about it. He hadn't asked her to
attend.
    She
stood there in fuming silence for the duration of the meeting, her
headache turning into a full blown migraine as she got more and more
tense as each moment passed. It hadn't exactly escaped her notice
that in front of her employees he seemed calm, collected,
knowledgeable, and authoritative without seeming intimidating.
    She
must have missed the meat and potatoes of the conversation because
all he was talking about was the acquisition not effecting their
employment or their hours, assuring them that it was actually for the
best because with EM Corp came a phenomenal benefits package and
yadda yadda yadda. A spiel he had certainly given a dozen times
before. How much of it was actually true?
    He
clapped is hands together suddenly, making her jump. “Alright,
well, I think that about covers the basics. I will keep everyone up
to date about changes before