The Lion’s Forbidden Mate

The lounge was the kind of place where she surprisingly felt comfortable. There was nothing about the place that looked like there would be a rowdy or a raucous crowd. Lynn had said there were nearby places that would provide that sort of scene and that was probably so she could keep people away from the lounge at the Hilton. There were more than a few people pouring over their own notes, laptops splayed out for them to work with. She looked inside the lounge and realized that this was going to work out just fine for her. She just needed to pick her own little spot in the back where she could be left alone. She took a deep breath and picked the location that served her best, tucked away and far from the prying eyes of others.

From her experience, it was hard to get anything done in a bar because there were always men who were interested in talking to her, but tonight, she figured that she would probably be just fine with all of the other people here who were clearly on business or part of the tour group. She settled in and ordered a cocktail from the bar, waiting for it to arrive before she got to work on the behemoth of a pile of files and folders in front of her. She’d caught a few strange looks when she was bringing in the enormous box, but she knew that she was going to get that anyway, so she didn’t let them bother her. She brushed them off and continued the way she was going.

When her drink arrived, she was left with nothing more than her own thoughts and ideas about what she was doing here. It was crazy to think that this morning, she was in Montana and she didn’t have a clue what she was going to be doing here. She still didn’t really know what she was doing here, but she was going to try her hardest. In the end, she felt that she wanted to cry as she worked. The optimism wasn’t enough to save her from the overwhelming stress that had come over her. She was out of her element and there was no one interested in helping her or being here with her. The people that she was supposed to work with were all captivated by their own troubles, their own tasks and their own struggles. She couldn’t expect them to throw down everything and help her without her taking up time in their tasks as well. She didn’t want to be a burden on the people she was working with, but she was so dismayed by everything that was coming up on her.

She took a deep breath and downed the last of her daiquiri and ordered another one. She needed the liquid courage and as she looked at the files and all the progress she was going to need to make, she steeled herself and told herself that she was going to be just fine. She was going to be able to survive this and there was nothing anyone was going to be able to do to stop her. Yes, she was alone, but that didn’t mean she was defeated or that she was going to give up on her job. She was going to do everything she needed to do to survive.

Taking another deep breath, she nursed her second daiquiri before ordering a mojito and continuing to work. As she looked around her, she noticed that people were getting up and leaving, calling it a night, but she was still wide awake. She was still three hours ahead of all of them. She wasn’t even tired yet. Between the time zone change and the stress of everything that was happening, she was alive and well.

She noticed that a handsome man was sitting at the bar, leaning his head forward and looking at the drink in front of him. There were only a handful of other people in the lounge and she realized that it had been over an hour since she had first sat down. She was making good progress. She figured if she kept going at this rate, she would be done with the boxes in two days. Of course, she was sure there would be other things that showed up and caused her grief, but she would deal with them as they came up. She glanced up as she felt a pair of eyes on her. She looked around and tried to figure out who was looking at her and she realized that it was the man at the bar. She glanced at him and smiled.

He was handsome and for the first time since she’d been here, she felt something other than worry, stress, or fear. She felt like there was something inside of her that was alive and eager. She took a deep breath and tried to remember what Lynn had told her. But she didn’t think this guy was part of the crew. She supposed that if he came over to talk with her, she wouldn’t be afraid of sharing a drink with him.

No, she had work to do and she wasn’t going to encourage this. She bent her head to the task and started working again. Yes, she had a bunch to do and there was no time to flirt just yet.