Chapter 73

Upon reaching the hotel, Olivia was surprised not to see a single work truck. In fact, there was nothing to indicate that there was work being done at all. Olivia gave Natalia a skeptical look while she parked the car. She ran around to open Natalia's door.

"This is weird. I mean, there is no one here. They should be working."

"I agree, but let's go inside, Andrew is supposed to be meeting us. He should be here any minute. Let's get out of the cold and wait for him."

The two joined hands and walked to the front entrance. Olivia pulled out her keys to unlock the door, growing more confused and concerned by the moment. The two stood in the main lobby and looked around, there was little work done and it appeared that nothing had been done in the lobby at all. Just as Olivia was starting to panic, Andrew came through the front door.

"What the hell is going on here? Where is the construction crew and why aren't they working?" Olivia spat at him before he could even utter a hello.

"Well, um, Ms. Spencer there was a problem…"

"What kind of a problem Andrew?" her anger was rising as she towered over the young man in front of her.

"The uh, um,…" Andrew stuttered, unable to form words.

"If you value your job you had better start talking Mr. Jones."

"You see, the thing is…"

"What Andrew? What the hell happened?" Olivia was growing angrier by the second. Natalia placed a hand on her arm to calm her and looked at Andrew.

"Why don't we all sit down and you can tell us what's going on. Okay?" Natalia said in her usual calm manner.

Andrew nodded and the three walked down the hall to the main office, Olivia sat behind the desk with Natalia standing beside her. Andrew sat in one of the black chairs across from them.

Olivia took a deep breath and tried to keep her voice even. "Okay Mr. Jones. Can you please tell us why we don't have a construction crew hard at work right now?"

"Last week, on Friday, there was a problem. Mr. Tillman said that he needed to speak with you before they could go any further." Andrew took a deep breath before continuing. "When I called The Beacon Springfield, the lady I spoke to said that you and Ms. Rivera were both out for the day and wouldn't be in until Tuesday."

"Why didn't you call my cell phone?"

"I'm sorry Ms. Spencer. I misplaced the paper with your personal number on it. I tried to get the woman I spoke with to give it to me but she said under no circumstances was she going to hand out your personal number."

"Did you tell her who you were?"

"I tried. She said she would call you with my number but that she couldn't hand out yours or Ms. Rivera's."

Natalia looked at Olivia perplexed. "Cindy was on the front desk Friday when we left. She wouldn't not call us."

"No, she wouldn't." Olivia thought for a second. "We were at Emma's play Friday. I turned my phone to silent and I don't think I turned it back on. I don't recall using it on Saturday either. When I spoke to Doris about coffee I used the home phone and then when I got home we had family day in Rafe's apartment. I don't even know if it's on now. I didn't use it at all yesterday." Olivia pulled out her phone and found that it was in fact on, but it was on silent and she had seven missed calls. Five were from The Beacon on Friday afternoon and evening. She glanced up at the scared young man sitting across from her. "It would appear that I owe you an apology Andrew. However, you should have programmed mine and Natalia's numbers into your phone. I have been wondering why I haven't heard from you about the progress. I should have called you and I apologize for that as well."

"No, it's okay Ms. Spencer."

"So, what was the issue?" Natalia asked.

"Apparently some of the materials you wanted are unavailable and Mr. Tillman isn't sure when he can get them in."

"And he couldn't do anything else while he waited to hear from me? I'm sure there is plenty to do. The hotel is being painted top to bottom, new carpet, and flooring in all the rooms, plus the updates to the kitchenettes. Not to mention the updating in the lobby and pool area."

"I'm not sure Ms. Spencer. He told me he needed to speak with you about the materials and that no further work would be done until he did. He rounded up his employees and they were gone by four on Friday afternoon."

"Alright Andrew. Thank you. We would like to inspect what has been done."

The three exited the office and headed down to the kitchen. They had decided on a complete redo. All of the demo had been done and it appeared they had it marked out where everything was going to go but nothing further. They proceeded into the dining hall which was just getting paint and flooring. The painting was done however the flooring hadn't even been started.

Moving on they went into the first of three large conference rooms. All of which were just getting new flooring and paint. Again, paint was done, but no flooring. Olivia was certain she had figured out that it was the flooring that was causing the problem. She also realized that Mr. Tillman had both her and Natalia's number's. Why hadn't he called her? And after three weeks of work, why hadn't more been done.

Natalia felt Olivia tense at her side and reached for her hand. Although she too felt that there wasn't nearly enough work done, she knew she needed to keep Olivia calm. She couldn't risk Olivia sending herself into a fit and ending up in the hospital. She was still looking overly tired.

"Olivia, didn't we give Mr. Tillman all our numbers?"

"Yes we did. I was just thinking that. I think it's time we made a little trip over to his office. Olivia stated through clenched teeth.

"I would say so. Andrew, you have our numbers now right?" Natalia asked him.

"Yes ma'am. I programmed them into my phone."

"Okay. You can head out. We are going to speak with Mr. Tillman and we will call you when we know what's going on. Call us if you need anything."

"I will Ms. Rivera. Bye Ms. Spencer."

"Goodbye Andrew. And I'm sorry again for my outburst at you earlier."

"No need. I'll talk to you soon." Andrew took his leave and Natalia turned to Olivia.

"Something isn't right here Olivia. I know you said it was probably the floors holding things up, but like you said, there is plenty more to do, and it just seems like there should be more done here. Not to mention he has our numbers and should have called us."

"I agree. Let's head over to his office and find out what's going on. I'm gonna call Josh on the way and see if he's heard of anything like this happening before. He said Aaron was good and wouldn't over price us. I even showed Josh the bid before we accepted it."

"I think that's a good idea." The two walked out of the hotel, locking up on their way. They got in the car and Natalia pulled up the office address and plugged it into the GPS while Olivia called Josh.

Olivia hung up with Josh and turned to Natalia. "Josh said he's never heard of Aaron causing any problems but he hasn't worked with him in several years."

"Well, I guess all we can do is go see Mr. Tillman and find out what's going on."

The two headed to Tillman construction in silence. While Olivia was working herself up, Natalia's focus was elsewhere. She knew she should be more worried about what was going on with the hotel, but she couldn't help but let her mind drift to their upcoming wedding. Even though she had wanted to plan it herself with Olivia, she was excited that they were at least getting things figured out. And she knew she could trust Doris and Blake to make sure it was what she and Olivia wanted. Her heart did summersaults as she thought of becoming Olivia's wife.

Just as Natalia's thoughts had started to drift towards the wedding night, Olivia caught her attention.

"Natalia, honey?"

"Yeah."

"We're here. What were you thinking about? I've been trying to get your attention."

Natalia blushed. "Um, nothing. You ready?"

"Not nothing. Come on, what were you thinking about."

"Our wedding night." Natalia whispered so soft Olivia barely heard it.

"Oh? Would you like to tell me about it?"

"No. Come on. Let's go talk to Mr. Tillman." Natalia hurriedly opened her door and stepped out.

Olivia chuckled as she joined Natalia at the front of the car. Natalia blushed again and averted her eyes from Olivia. Olivia schooled her features before they walked into the office of Aaron Tillman.

Approaching the front desk, Olivia scowled at the young woman sitting there. Before the girl could speak, Olivia was making her request. "I'd like to speak to Mr. Tillman. NOW!"

The girl seemed to shrink a little in her chair. "Yes ma'am. Let me get him for you Ms.?"

"You can tell him Olivia Spencer and Natalia Rivera are here."

"Yes Ms. Spencer." The girl quickly picked up the phone and spoke. After a moment she hung up and looked back to Olivia. "Mr. Tillman will be out in a moment. You can wait for him over there." She pointed to a row of chairs lining the window.

After a few moments, Mr. Tillman emerged from his office and walked to stand in front of them. "Good afternoon ladies. To what do I owe the pleasure." He asked with a fake corporate smile plastered on his face.

Olivia rose to her full height and met the man face to face. "I'm not sure I'd call it pleasure. Perhaps we should take this into your office." She stated. Without waiting for an answer, she stalked past him and down the hall into the open office.

Natalia and Aaron followed her in and he shut the door. "Ms. Spencer, may I ask what has you so upset?"

"Hmm let me think, oh yes, I walked into my hotel this morning expecting to see the contractor I hired, and am paying quite well, hard at work and found not a soul in sight and hardly any work done. Would you like to explain that to me Mr. Tillman?"

"As I explained to the gentleman you left in charge, I am having trouble with the flooring you picked out. My supplier can't get it in right now and they aren't sure when it will be available again." He explained in much too sweet a tone for Olivia's liking.

"And why didn't you call me yourself with this development? This could have been handled and you could be working."

"The gentleman assured me that he would contact you and get back to me. Did he not?"

"That is not your concern. What is your concern is why there is so little work done in my hotel? I have had a lot of renovations done in the past and I know after three weeks there should be much more done." The man started to speak but Olivia raised her voice over his to finish. "And, even if you couldn't continue on the main floor because you were waiting to hear from me, you could be working on the rooms themselves or the pool area. There is more than enough work to be done, under no circumstances should I pull in at nine thirty on a Monday and find your men not hard at work somewhere in my hotel. Perhaps this is too big a job for your company. Do I need to find someone else to get the job done?"

"If you would have let me talk I could have told you that while we were waiting on an answer from you about the flooring, I had my men working on another site. I didn't want them being paid by me or by you to stand around and do nothing. I didn't want them to move onto anything else until after I spoke with you and Ms. Rivera. When you picked out the flooring for the main floor, you made sure that the rooms wouldn't clash. I didn't want to start on the rooms if we were going to need to also pick out new carpet."

"And again, I ask, why the hell didn't you call me with this problem personally? I would figure a company like yours wouldn't leave such matters unattended to."

"I am sorry Ms. Spencer. I assumed that you were busy and would get back to me as soon as you could. The young man at your hotel truly did assure me he would call you."

"That's not the point. In all my years of working with contractors, I have never had one not contact me directly when a problem arose."

"You're right." Aaron relented. "I should have called you myself. I can guarantee it will not happen again."

"Yes, because you are no longer the contractor for this project…"

"Olivia!" Natalia chastised. She plastered on a smile before looking up at Mr. Tillman. "Could you excuse us for a moment?" Natalia dragged Olivia by her arm out into the hall. "Olivia what are you doing?"

"I'm firing that ass hole. This is ridiculous."

"I'm not saying it's not, but what he said makes sense. We did spend a lot of time matching the carpet for the rooms with the flooring for the rest of the hotel. And there is no way we are going to find another contractor to start this right now. The holidays are too close. We can't afford to have the hotel closed any longer then we already are."

Olivia bowed her head and blew out a puff of air. "Fine. You're right. But really Natalia, he should have called us, and they could be working on something. I know construction from my time at Lewis construction. There is always something that can be done at any job."

"Yes, I'm sure there is. Let me talk to him. I think we can work out something to appease both us and Mr. Tillman, and they can get back to work tomorrow. And we can get home to our children and start worrying about Thanksgiving."

"Fine, I'll play nice. You know I hate that I can't ever seem to say no to you."

"I know." Natalia smiled. Dimples blooming. She gave Olivia a quick kiss and walked back into the office. Olivia trailing behind her.

Natalia sat and calmly placed her hands in her lap before looking up at Mr. Tillman. "Okay Mr. Tillman, I believe we have a deal to make."

"And what deal would that be Ms. Rivera?" Aaron asked. His voice condescending.

Olivia watched Natalia's eyes flash. This man thought that Natalia was weak and easy to run over, he was about to find out what happens when you choose to underestimate Natalia Rivera. She sat back in her seat and smirked to herself. Allowing Natalia to take the lead completely.

"Well, it seems to me that we are not getting the amount of work we are paying you for in the time you lined out for us." Natalia said, never letter her smile leave her face.

"I just explained…"

Natalia held up a hand silencing him. "You explained about the flooring, nothing more. We have been paying you for three weeks of full days and the amount of work completed does not reflect that which we are paying you for. We are prepared to stay with your company and give you a second chance, however, we will be taking five days' worth of work off the total…"

"You can't…"

"And" she started, making sure she had his full attention before continuing. "We want the rest of the job done on time with no further delays at fifteen percent off the original agreed upon price."

"I can't do that. I will barely be able to cover my cost and pay my men. You cannot expect me to do a job and make no money."

"That's not our concern. You are being paid to do a job, that thus far, you have not been doing very well. You have two choices, you can agree to these terms and continue the job you were hired to do, or you cannot. I suggest you think carefully on this. Olivia Spencer and Joshua Lewis are both well-known names in the hotel and construction business. I highly doubt you want people to hear that you tried to work over Ms. Spencer after being referred to her by Lewis construction. Not to mention we have a contract with you and our lawyers are paid very well to make sure our contracts are held up." She paused to allow the information to sink in. "So, Mr. Tillman, what will it be?"

"$500 off for the lack of work completed thus far and ten percent off the original bid. That's all I can do."

Natalia looked to Olivia who nodded slightly. She stood and extended her hand to Aaron across the desk. "We have a deal Mr. Tillman. I expect to see your men back in my hotel first thing tomorrow morning. Now shell we go over the options for flooring that you can get now?"

"Before we do that," Olivia interjected. "I would like to have my lawyer correct our contract and fax it for you to sign. Could I have your fax number? We can pick out new flooring while she makes the corrections." Olivia raised an eyebrow at Aaron.

"Of course." He wrote down the fax number and handed it to Olivia. "Now, if you'll follow me, we can look at the books for new tile down the hall here. I will call my supplier and make sure I can get it before we confirm."

"I think that would be for the best." Natalia said. As he stepped into the hall she turned her attention to Olivia. "Why don't you call Mel and I'll go start looking."

"Sounds good. You were great honey. I'm so proud of you."

Natalia beamed, her dimples on full display. She loved when Olivia complimented her on her work ability. She was still nervous about agreeing to half the company, but after that meeting and the look of pride shining on Olivia's face, she was beginning to think maybe she could do this. She winked at Olivia and started to follow Aaron down the hall, squeezing Olivia's hand as she went.

Olivia's smile stayed in place through her call with Mel, the grueling process of picking out flooring for the second time and signing the new contract. She was thrilled to see Natalia having so much confidence. She always knew Natalia had it in her, but seeing her in action was amazing, and if she was honest, quite a turn on.

After an exhausting afternoon, the ladies decided to stay in the city for the night. They needed a good night's rest and they wanted to pop in at the hotel in the morning and make sure Aaron's crew was there. After calling Andrew to let him know what was going on and make sure he understood to call if anything went wrong, they called Ava and Rafe to let them know they would be home the following afternoon and checked into a Double Tree nearby.

After dinner in their room, and a relaxing bath, the two settled into bed. As tired as Olivia was, she was still completely turned on after watching Natalia in Mr. Tillman's office that afternoon. She turned to face Natalia and ran a hand down her arm.

"Have I told you how hot you are when you are putting someone in their place?"

"Stop. I am not." Natalia said blushing a crimson red.

"Oh, but you are. It's so sexy when you get all fired up. I wanted to take you right there on his desk."

Natalia playfully swatted her arm. "You are incorrigible."

"But you love me anyway?" Olivia asked, wiggling her eyebrows.

"That I do Ms. Spencer." Before she could say more, Olivia's mouth was on hers. Devouring her. A shot of arousal went straight to her center, soaking her satin panties. In one swift move, she flipped them over so she was laying on top of Olivia. She began to kiss down Olivia's neck and chest working her way to pert breast.

Olivia started moaning in pleasure, so lost she didn't register the pager for her pacemaker going off in her purse, and then, in a matter of a second, the noises she was making changed. She was gasping for breath and her chest felt tight. "Na..Nata…" She couldn't speak and then she was silent.

Natalia instantly felt the change and looked up to see Olivia's chest had quit moving, she wasn't breathing. Natalia leapt off of her and shot to her knees next her on the bed. "Olivia …OLIVIA … baby talk to me…OLIVIA!" Natalia started to panic. Tears streamed down her cheeks. She grabbed the phone and dialed 911 and was back at Olivia's side in a split second. "Olivia baby please, breath!" She shouted at her. Clutching at her hand.

The 911 operator had notified the front desk that one of their guests had quit breathing giving the desk clerk the room number Natalia had given. Three people burst through the door and went straight to Olivia, pulling Natalia off the bed so they could access her. One of them started CPR while another readied a defibrillator similar to the one Buzz had at Company.

Natalia's mind shot back to that day, Olivia lying lifeless on the pavement outside Company. Her mind was racing and she was short of breath. She sat on the floor against the wall with her knees pulled up to her chest. "No, no, please God no. I can't lose her now." She couldn't hear anything that was going on around her. The people were a blur. All she could see was Olivia, lying unmoving on the bed and all she could hear was the beeping as they tried to shock her back to life.