Sweet Home Alaska Read Online Free Page A

Sangrias, and that’s just the beginning. If you don’t believe me about the popularity of haunted hotels, just do an Internet search. Seriously, Travelocity has an entire section for people who want to stay in a haunted hotel.”
    He inched closer to her, leaning over the desk. “Interesting concept, but what you’re suggesting sounds more like a Halloween party.”
    “I know. Sorry. That’s not what I’m suggesting. Only that you could capitalize on the haunted rumors,” she explained.
    He leaned back in his leather swivel chair and eyed her carefully. She sensed his churning thoughts. “No, I’m not interested in propagating the idea that my hotel is haunted.”
    So her first idea was shot down. On to the next. “I can understand that, so what about this? A huge trend today, especially among the twenty- and thirty-somethings, is cosplay. What I want to suggest is not some lame costume party, but rather, a comic book and sci-fi-themed cosplay party.” She stopped to take a breath before she forged on. “Everyone comes to the grand re-opening in costume. So we cater not only to adults, but children as well.”
    “Cosplay.” He eyed her quizzically. “You know about cosplay?”
    “It’s the combination of two words ‘costume’ and ‘play.’ Participants don’t just dress up as some random character, they actually try to embody them, at least for a day. Typically from a comic book or science fiction or fantasy genre.”
    He nodded. Then flexed the muscles of his jaw. “I know.”
    He was toying with her. How silly of her to believe a comic book reader and Star Wars fan would know nothing about cosplay. “Of course you do,” she said, embarrassed.
    “And you know about cosplay because you lived in L.A. with all those actor types.” He absently tapped his fingers on the arm of his chair.
    “Yes, I suppose it’s my actress background that helped me with some of my ideas. But I also worked for an amazing catering company for years.”
    “I have someone else in mind to cater the hotel’s re-opening.” He stood up and paced across the room.
    That was abrupt. She swallowed hard, determined not to let his hawk-like blue eyes unsettle her and her goal, but the scent of him pulled at her desires no matter how hard she tried to focus.
    Suddenly this wasn’t about just the job. She wanted an excuse to be near him. Her fingers tingled with the sensation to touch him. A shiver ran through her. “But there’s more. I’m not finished.”
    “Go on, I’m listening.” He stopped his pacing and rubbed his chin again.
    “I know you like kids. If you didn’t, you wouldn’t have done all that fundraising in high school to build more playgrounds. I’m sure you must know they have that new surgical pediatrician, Dr. Clayton, at the hospital now. People are coming from all over the state to see him. So we’ve got to consider young families that need a place to stay while they’re seeing the doctor. Kids would rather stay where they know some of their favorite characters may have stayed. You could even go so far as to have themed rooms?” She glanced as his curio cabinet. “You could have the ‘Wolverine room,’ the ‘Princess Leia room,’ the ‘Batman room.’ The rooms’ names could be as limitless as the comic books themselves. In fact, outside each of those rooms, you could have a glass cabinet with a comic book of that character. What if you called the grand re-opening cosplay celebration ‘AlaskaCon’?” Lauren had been so caught up in her ideas she hadn’t even realized she’d stood up.
    “I’m not interested in themed rooms, but your ideas for the re-opening party are intriguing,” he said quietly. He paced back to his desk, but remained standing.
    “Okay, we won’t do themed rooms, but I’m just getting started.” She clutched her hands together. “I was thinking that with the new Star Wars movie, we could give it a Star Wars theme. ‘AlaskaCon—The Force is Alive!’ Or we