Chapter Eight

Out of the corner of his eye, Jason watched the orange glow of the street lights on the sides of the highway wash across Tessa's face, turning her skin a waxy orange that somehow still managed to be beautiful. Though he wasn't surprised; everything about Tessa was beautiful. She sat in the passenger seat of his car, her head leaned against the window beside her, rubbing the spot on her forehead where she had hit the tile floor earlier.

"Are you all right?" Jason questioned, his attention shifting from the road ahead to Tessa beside him. "Maybe you should go to a hospital, you might have a concussion."

Tessa shivered. "I hate hospitals." She mumbled. "Besides, I don't think I have a concussion, just a really bad headache."

From the backseat of Jason's car, where Ashlee was stretched out pretending to be asleep, she rolled her eyes; just what did her sister think a concussion was anyway? But she didn't say anything, didn't want to let Tessa and Jason know that she was watching them because she didn't want to interrupt the worried looks Jason was giving Tessa or the sweet smiles she was giving him. It seemed as though her sister had finally admitted her feelings for the general manager of the Grand Waimea.

"Well," Jason continued, "if you need anything, don't hesitate to ask." He returned her gentle smile, which only caused Tessa's to grow larger.

Ashlee smiled and shut her eyes once more, listening to the sound of the car beneath her and her sister's voice, sounding, for the first time in her life, genuinely happy.

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It was well past midnight when Jason finally dropped Tessa and her sister off at their apartment and Tessa's exhaustion was starting to kick in. No more late nights for a while, that was for sure. Ashlee yawned and flopped onto her makeshift bed on the floor, pressing her face against her pillow and ignoring the tiny white dog as it barked and jumped on her back. All she wanted to do was go to sleep, end of story.

Tessa felt the same way, tossing her house keys onto the coffee table and dropping into her bed without bothering to change out of her clothes. She was too tired to care that she smelled like soapy water and Lysol, she'd deal with that in the morning.

Ashlee rolled onto her back and didn't push Chili aside when he climbed onto her stomach and made himself comfortable; she stared up at the ceiling for a moment, tracing the grooves and water-stains with her eyes. Finally, she said, "You kissed Jason, didn't you?"

Tessa's eyes opened, but she didn't move from where she had her face pressed into the fabric of her pillow. "What makes you say that?" She questioned finally, though she was just as tired as her sister when it came to pretending that she didn't like Jason. They had kissed, their feelings were out there, the deed was done and it was beginning to yield pleasing results.

"You had the first-kiss smile on your face in the car." Ashlee answered, her eyes flicking in Tessa's direction, but she couldn't see her sister from where she lay. And she was too tired to move in order to see the look on Tessa's face.

Tessa sighed and closed her eyes again, rolling so that her entire face was buried in her worn pillow. "Yeah, we kissed." She told her sister. Ashlee smiled and she could tell that Tessa was smiling as well.

Nothing more was said at the moment, because the girls drifted off to sleep shortly after Tessa's confession. That night, the only thoughts in Tessa's sleeping mind were of Jason.

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Nicole had Ashlee washing the windows in the lobby of the Grand Waimea when Jason arrived the next morning and noted, instantly, that the area before him was slightly more crowded then he was used to seeing it. The Grand Waimea had its moments of over-crowding and over-booking and those times were usually triggered by a massive party checking in. But, as far as he knew, there were no large parties arriving any time soon.

Ashlee was rubbing a soapy cloth against the glass pane for what appeared to be the hundredth time with Nicole lording over her, silently reminding her not to miss a spot. Jason headed in their direction, intrigued as to whether the assistant general manager would know about the sudden onslaught of guests.

Nicole looked up when Jason approached and he could see Ashlee noting him out of the corner of her eye, as though too leery of Nicole's presence to give her attention to anything but window washing. "Good morning Jason." Nicole said with a chipper-ness that she clearly didn't feel. "I was wondering when you'd get here. Late night?" She raised an eyebrow.

Jason shrugged his shoulders. "Sort of." He answered, not quite sure how it was any of her business anyway.

"So I've noticed." Nicole muttered, shooting a very pointed glance Ashlee's way. "Out crusading for the guilty again." Jason wasn't quite sure that last part was meant to be heard but either way, he chose to ignore it.

Ashlee finished scrubbing her spot and dunked her rag into the bucket filled with soapy water set beside her, acting as though she didn't notice when some of the water slopped onto Nicole's shoes. When the brunette groaned indignantly and stepped aside, Ashlee simply pursed her lips to hide a smile and went back to polishing the windows.

Jason looked at Nicole. "What's with the crowd?" He questioned, gesturing toward the mass of people behind him. "Mass check-out? Check-in?"

Nicole shook her head, seeming much more subdued now that the topic had switched toward business. "No, Vincent told me earlier that some big-shot VIP is going to be giving a speech and throwing a party in the Ball Room tonight." She explained. "Last minute."

Jason looked back toward the group, noting for the first time that all the men were dressed in sharp suits and the women looked like they were ready to hold court in the queen's ball room, instead of a party room at a hotel in Hawaii. "That explains it." He remarked, looking back at Nicole.

"Vincent's going to have a whole list of lines not to even get close to crossing." Nicole continued, crossing her arms over her chest, a nervous habit that she had been doing a lot lately. "Oughtta be a fun staff meeting."

Jason sighed, his lack of sleep beginning to catch up on him. "Any idea who this VIP is?"

"No." Nicole answered. "But Vincent makes him out to be a big deal." She looked over at Ashlee. "So a slip-up wouldn't be very good to have on record right now." Ashlee continued to scrub the windows, acting as though she had no idea the comment was directed in her direction.

"Right." Jason agreed, though his words had nothing to do with Ashlee. "We'd all best be on our best behavior." He looked at Nicole, who looked down at the ground, as though the patterns on the rug were demanding her attention.

With those niceties behind them, Jason headed toward the check-in and guest relations desks, his eyes settling on a very frazzled looking Tessa. She was dealing with a guest who was clearly working on her last nerve, trying to be as patient as possible as she promised to attend to his no doubt outlandish request.

Jason stepped behind the desk as Tessa dismissed the guest in front of her; he gave her hand a light squeeze as he greeted her, letting his hand rest upon her waist for a brief moment before standing at the computer beside Tessa's and dealing with the next guest in line.

"So," Jason said while he was rapidly pulling up the desired information on the computer. "I saw your sister washing windows, Nicole's idea?" He guessed.

Tessa nodded. "You should have seen the look on her face when Ashlee came in this morning." She told him. "I thought she was going to pitch a fit."

Jason sighed. "Yeah, I figured something like that would happen." He remarked after telling the guest in front of him to have a nice stay at the fabulous Grand Waimea. "I hope Ashlee keeps her head down."

Tessa rolled her eyes. "Please, Ashlee couldn't keep her head down if someone were throwing rocks at it." She remarked, handing a guest a spare room key.

Jason smiled. "Sounds like she takes after her sister." Tessa shot him a look but smiled nonetheless.

The next few moments passed in silence, with Jason and Tessa's attention focused solely on the gaggle of guests before them, demanding and shouting constantly for almost twenty minutes. When the crowd in the lobby finally began to thin out, Tessa took a deep breath and let it out slowly, seeming to savor the fact that she had the time to do such a thing. When she had finished exhaling, she turned to look at Jason once more. "I could use a break." She remarked. The statement wasn't meant to be seductive or insinuating, a simple exhausted remark, but Tessa realized as soon as she had said it, that it came across that way.

And, apparently, Jason read her words that way too. He offered her a crooked smile, which Tessa was slowly finding quite sexy, and shrugged nonchalantly. "I think I have a break coming up too." He muttered off-handedly, as though he weren't discussing anything more important then the weather.

Tessa smiled and slipped out from behind the desk, heading down the hallway which housed the elevators and several doors that led to employee only rooms. Jason watched her until she had disappeared from view, turning his attention back toward a guest in front of him with a faint smile on his face.

After several other guests had been taken care of, Jason got another employee to handle guest relations while he took his break. Nicole and Ashlee were still standing by the entrance of the hotel and Jason quickened his pace slightly to avoid being noticed by his ex-girlfriend; he figured that if Nicole picked up on his relationship with Tessa the repercussions weren't going to be pleasant.

Ashlee, however, noticed him slipping down the hallway and quickly put two-and-two together. She smiled slightly and winked at him, slapping the damp rag against the window and splashing Nicole, snatching all of her attention. Jason ducked into the hallway, largely unnoticed and met Tessa in the hallway.

Jason had spent so much time trying to avoid being spotted by Nicole that he forgot to check around for other prying eyes that might be hanging around. Otherwise, he would have surely noticed Morgan Holt, watching he and Tessa very closely.

Sorry for the lack of update, I've started school again so I'm dealing with that pressure again, and turning to update another story of mine. I'm thinking about discounting this story, so if anyone has any objects against that, just let me know and I'd be happy to continue. I just like to know that my work is being read by at least someone. So, review and let me know what you think, thanks.