Burned Deep by Calista Fox Page A

relieved, I’d cried for a week. He’d never really known why, because we kept stuff like that to ourselves.
    Setting aside the tablet, I reached for my wine and sipped while I pushed aside my dismal and sometimes horrifying childhood and instead contemplated the ambiguity around Dane Bax.
    Why so secretive? And what drove him to build, according to all news reports, what was projected to be the most lavish resort in North America? What was his next goal—a hotel to rival the only seven-star resort in the world, the Burj Al Arab in Dubai?
    That extraordinarily ambitious aspiration made my palms sweat. Because the determined set of Dane’s jaw and his steely gaze made me believe it was a distinct possibility. And he was only thirty, after all.
    Anxiety roiled through me.
    Maybe it was best not to know so much about him.
    As I tried to alter my mind-set from the gorgeous billionaire, while streaming Breaking Bad, my phone buzzed with an incoming text. I paused the show and read, my spirits plummeting.
    Saw your feature in SW Weddings, my mother wrote. You must be doing well for yourself.
    I stared at those words, fighting the dread that came with the sinking feeling of what is she up to now?
    *   *   *
    Late Saturday afternoon, I tried to relax with a bubble bath— impossible —then carefully did my makeup and hair before slipping into my new dress.
    The driver arrived promptly at seven. We left the townhome and drove through Sedona, heading west, then north to a striated red-rock canyon. The scenery was spectacular as the sun began to set over the mesas. I loved this time of night, because of the way the rays illuminated the various hues of orange and red on the pinnacles, which ranged in size and shape from mountainous to tall, artistic sculptures and spires.
    Set amongst it all was 10,000 Lux, also situated near several ponds and streams with placid mirrored surfaces. The grounds were lush and stunning, the foliage all meticulously trimmed and vibrant. I caught glimpses through the decorative black wrought-iron and gold-leaf fencing that stretched between cream-colored columns topped with enormous gaslit lanterns, winking seductively against the encroaching twilight.
    A sense of exclusivity enveloped the property, the kind that created in people of lesser good fortune the mysterious yearning to be a part of something beyond their reach.
    We passed through the guards’ booth at the gate and took the winding stone driveway lined with trees and beautifully crafted fountains to the enormous circular entrance, surrounded by more manicured lawns, topiary hedges, and waterfalls. Being one of those people of lesser good fortune, I stared out the window in complete awe.
    The resort itself was sensational, even in its reported state of late construction, of which there was no evidence in the front. The lobby was four stories of large, symmetrically shaped windows, all illuminated with a golden glimmer that came from chandeliers so huge I could see them from the drive.
    Full vines climbed the stone walls, strategically placed, impeccably arranged. I’d expected a fancy porte cochere out front but then realized a ramada would detract the eye from all the grandeur. Clearly, I wasn’t the only one who’d deduced that.
    All in all, I was thoroughly mind blown. And I hadn’t even gotten out of the gleaming Jag yet.
    A valet swooped in, already in uniform despite the hotel not being open. He wore stylish black tails with white gloves. I instantly felt underdressed, though I loved the mini and had spent enough money on it to give myself heart palpitations.
    Damn—shown up by a valet. I should have pulled out my prom dress from the closet in the spare bedroom.
    But no, that would have been complete overkill.
    Unless, of course, Dane sported a tux, too.
    Panic slithered down my spine. I really had no idea what I was getting myself into with him. This was supposed to be a job