CHAPTER 7

"Good morning, Ed," Casey Manning breezed into the new office occupied by his President of Operations.

"Casey? We weren't expecting you until next week," Ed stood up from his desk to shake the younger man's hand.

"I finished up early in Tokyo."

"Great. I was just going over the fourth quarter financials."

"I saw them. Fantastic, Ed. You've really exceeded all my expectations. And the non-gaming revenue is through the roof!" Casey poured a cup of coffee and made himself comfortable on the couch.

"Yes, well, I think we have our new hotel manager to thank for that. She's really done an outstanding job," Ed couldn't help but praise Mary. He only wished he'd realized sooner how wasted her talents were as merely a special events coordinator.

"Yes, Mary Connell--good call on that one. We really need to make sure that we keep her around."

"Well, I know she wants to stay at the Montecito, but she's a hot commodity right now. I'm sure she's getting a lot of other offers and we don't have her under contract." In all honesty, Ed wasn't sure that anyone else knew about the Montecito's secret weapon, but if it would help earn one of his "kids" a better salary he was willing to fudge the truth just a bit.

"Well, maybe we should talk about that. Tell me what you think we should offer her."

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When Mary opened her eyes she immediately sensed that she was alone. The intense feelings of warmth and security that had surrounded her last night were missing and she stretched her hand across the bed hoping to find it again. The sudden realization that Danny was not there caused an uneasy feeling to settle in her stomach, but she shook it off when she smelled the delicious aroma of fresh brewed coffee wafting in from the other room.

Her eyes settled on Danny's gray dress shirt draped across the chair and she rose from the bed and reached for it. The scrape of the soft fabric against her skin and the slight smell of Danny that still clung to the garment sent a wave of goose bumps across her flesh. Mary took a moment to inhale the scent before fastening a few of the buttons and heading out in search of Danny.

"Good morning," he told her as he looked up from the paper. He was seated at the breakfast table, coffee cup in front of him and Mary couldn't help but smile.

"Good morning. What time is it?"

"It's almost 8:00," he replied as he got up to pour her a cup of coffee.

"Wow. I feel like we just went to sleep."

"We did. Someone couldn't get enough of me last night," Danny gave her a mischievous smile as he handed her the mug and leaned down to press a soft and lingering kiss to her lips.

"Mmmm. I didn't hear you complaining," Mary smirked as she ventured into the kitchen and opened the fridge. Just as she suspected—Danny had very little food and if they wanted breakfast they'd have to go out. Her heavy sigh caught Danny's attention and he pulled her to him.

"What's wrong?" he asked, worried she was regretting what had happened between them.

Sensing his dismay, Mary quickly turned in his arms. "It's not you. It's something silly."

"Tell me."

"I miss my kitchen," she pouted.

"Huh?"

"Living in a hotel room for so many months—it's just starting to get to me."

Now Danny was beginning to understand. Mary had always enjoyed the everyday joys of domestic life. She'd cooked and cleaned for him and his dad when she lived with them and when she'd had her own place she'd taken to hosting dinner parties for all of them. Danny couldn't count the number of times he had stopped by her place always to find a plate of cookies or something equally yummy sitting out on the counter. He was sure that had only increased tenfold when she lived with Jake since she obviously had a lot of time on her hands.

It hadn't occurred to him before, but thinking about it now, he couldn't believe Mary had lasted this long without a place to call home.

"Well, you can come over here and cook any time you want. I'll even let you clean."

Mary swatted him playfully before responding, "I'm going to ignore the last part of that remark since I know somewhere in there you were trying to be sweet."

"I was serious before when I said you could stay with me."

"I know, but don't you think that would be rushing things a bit?" Mary wound her arms around his neck and began to nibble his ear before continuing, "That is, unless you were thinking about me staying in the guest bedroom."

"You actually think I could sleep knowing you were just two doors away."

"No, because I wouldn't be able to either." Mary gave him one last open-mouthed kiss on his neck before pulling back to meet his eyes. "I think we need to keep a little bit of space. I just don't want to move too fast."

Danny could sense her hesitancy and he wanted to reassure her, "I'm not going to get scared, Mary. I want this."

"So do I, but we don't have to do everything at once, right? We've never had that excitement that comes along with a new relationship, Danny. We always just jumped right to the end and I'd kind of like to enjoy just being together for awhile. Am I making sense?"

"Sort of," Danny knew what she meant, and even though he still hated that she was so skittish about them being together he decided as long as they were moving forward he could wait for the rest.

"Okay, now don't get mad, but I have another request. Would you mind if we kept this to ourselves for awhile?"

Danny's brow knitted in confusion. The 'taking it slow' he could understand, but why would she want to keep their relationship a secret. "Why don't you want anyone to know that we're back together? Are you still not sure?" Danny couldn't hide the hurt in his voice.

"No! That's not it at all," Mary punctuated her statement with a gentle kiss. "I just…Sam and Delinda and even Mike sometimes… they just put so much pressure on us. I just want it to be about you and me—just for a little while, Danny. Please understand."

The pleading look in her eyes was his undoing, "Okay, I guess I understand."

Sensing he was still a little bit upset, Mary tried to put a different spin on it. "Think about it. It might be fun—sneaking around, secret rendezvous," the last few words dripping with seduction as they fell from her mouth.

"Mmmm," Danny closed his eyes as Mary's fingers worked their way down his chest and around his middle, finally coming to rest on his backside. When she gave him a playful squeeze Danny opened one eye and looked at her. "Okay, but just for awhile. I love you Mary and I just want everyone to know that you're mine."

Any other girl might have thought Danny's comments possessive or chauvinistic, but to Mary they were exactly what she'd been waiting her whole life to hear and she didn't care what anyone else thought.

"I love you too and I promise I'll make it worth your while," Mary put her arms around Danny's neck as he lifted her effortlessly, placing her on the kitchen counter. She wrapped her legs around him and pulled him to her—needing to feel him as close as possible. Just as Danny began to undo the buttons of the shirt she wore her phone buzzed with a familiar tune.

"Let it ring," Danny said in between kisses, but they both knew that wasn't an option. Letting out a frustrated sigh as the phone continued to ring, Danny helped her off the counter and she ran quickly to her purse.

"Hey, boss," she answered cheerily, having seen Ed's number on the display.

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"Sure. Actually, I'm not at the hotel right now."

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"OK, see you then."

"That was Ed. He and Casey want to meet with me right away. I have to run if I'm going to get cleaned up and changed," Mary gave him a quick kiss before heading into the bedroom and trying to reassemble her hastily discarded clothing from the night before.

As Danny walked her to the parking lot he couldn't help but notice the position of her car. It was taking up two spaces and the front tires were partially in the grass.

"Nice parking job," he commented. "Were you in a hurry last night, or what?"

"Yes I was," Mary responded with mock-seriousness, "and once again I didn't hear you complaining so shut up."

Giving Danny one last kiss, Mary buckled herself in and headed back to the Montecito.