“Excuse me!” I yell. “Excuse me!”
No one hears me. The hangar is loud.
The man is at the bottom of the stairs now, and he turns his back to me as I run, still screaming, “Excuse me!”
No one appears with him, and he doesn’t wait around for anyone, either. Just takes off walking towards the campus.
“Excuse me!” I scream it as loud as I can. I’m still running, but the heel of my left shoe gets stuck in a crack on the tarmac, and I keep going while my shoe stays planted in the concrete. “Shit!”
And wouldn’t you know it, somehow that gets his attention. Because he stops walking, turns around, and then lowers his sunglasses down his nose to look at me. I’m still about twenty feet from him, and the roar of the plane is so loud there’s not a chance in hell he will hear me, but I give it my best go. “Excuse—”
The jet engines shut down.
“—me!”
Everyone stops what they are doing to look at me. At least fifteen employees, plus the beautiful stranger in the suit.
I close my eyes for a second, then hobble over towards the man, my lost shoe still stuck in the crack of concrete. “Excuse me,” I say again. “I’m Ellie—”
“Ellie?” the man says in a deep voice. His eyes have a little twinkle of mischief in them.
What the hell is up with that look? “Yes,” I say, smoothing down my pink skirt to avoid feeling self-conscious. “I’m the celebrity concierge for Stonewall Entertainment. I handle all the comings and goings around here and I’m afraid you weren’t on my guest list.”
The handsome stranger looks past me and then starts walking in my direction, passing right by me. “Where are you going?” I ask.
But he says nothing, just bends down, pries my shoe from the crack in the concrete, and then turns back to me, my shoe in his outstretched hand like he’s offering me a gift.
“You lost your slipper.” He chuckles, walking back towards me.
I take the shoe and slip it on my foot just as a golf cart pulls up. If you could screech the tires on those things, it would’ve screeched. My boss, Mr. Sowards, jumps out and positions himself between me and the man.
Mr. Sowards extends his hand, and I have to sidestep to see the stranger’s face. His eyes are still on me for some reason, even as he returns my boss’ gesture and shakes his hand. “I’m sorry I was late, Mr. Stonewall.”
“Stonewall?” I say.
The new Stonewall smiles at me.
“That’s right,” Mr. Sowards says. “McAllister Stonewall. We’re so happy you’re here, Mac…”
I lose track of the conversation for a few seconds as I put the pieces together. This is Heath’s brother.
Wow. I study him. My future brother-in-law. They do kind of look alike, now that I know who he is.
“Don’t mind Ellie,” my boss says with a chuckle. “She’s just the concierge for the guests.”
Just the concierge?
I open my mouth to say something about that remark, but they have turned and are already getting into the golf cart, not even glancing back at me.
Chapter Three - Ellie
“He has a brother?” Ming says. “Why didn’t we know that?”
Good question. Ming and I have worked here for seven years. I’ve never even heard of McAllister Stonewall. “Sowards called him Mac but his name is McAllister.”
“Sexy,” Ming says. “He’s sorta dreamy, right? I saw that shoe move. Wow.”
“Yeah, I guess. I wonder if Heath knows his brother is here?” I pull out my phone and start texting.
Ellie: Just met my future brother-in-law. Why didn’t you tell me you had a brother? I can totally picture him with us in the dream house at Christmas. Six bedrooms means we can have a ton of guests for the holidays. I bet his girlfriend is some uptight model, right? :)
Ming is still talking when I press send on that message. I wonder how one family can stand to have two beautiful sons? Stonewall Senior is also very handsome, even for an older man. And Mrs. Stonewall is stunning. They come from money. It’s very obvious she’s had the best of everything her whole life.
Ellie: Do you have any more brothers? I can’t even imagine how perfect your family photos are. Your brother is almost as hot as you.
Actually, I think the new brother is hotter than Heath. Maybe even way hotter. He’s taller for one. And his hair is lighter. I think his eyes were blue, too. Heath has dark eyes. McAllister Stonewall has a chiseled square jaw, while Heath has a more rounded one. And McAllister has perfectly groomed facial hair while Heath’s looks like he just forgot to shave.