“I don’t know where to touch you. Is your tattoo still healing?” I whispered, my words scraping along my throat.
Her head nodded against my shoulder, but still she didn’t let go. So, I held her hips tighter and found the limits of how hard I could grind my teeth before pain lit up the side of my face. I would not slide my palms down and grab her ass. Nope. I had more self-control than that. I knew I did. Somewhere.
“You’re the bestest best friend a girl could have, T.” Her lips tickled my skin as she spoke, every inch of my body hyper-aware of hers.
The whispered words rained down like ice water, reminding me my reaction to her was anything but appropriate for a friend. I shifted subtly, hoping she couldn’t feel the evidence of my attraction to her. I gave myself the count of three to gather the strength needed to release her hips and step back. I hated it, but I needed to create some much-needed space between us.
Amelia tightened the belt on her robe and smiled at me, oblivious to how twisted she got me with a simple hug.
I winked at her. “I like the new uniform.”
Her cheeks heated, which was an interesting response, considering almost nothing flustered Amelia. She glanced down at her red-painted toes and then back up.
“I guess I should put some clothes on and attack the day, huh?”
I walked her out of the room, shutting the door and leading her to the room she occupied on the opposite side of the hotel. Thank God the tree didn’t fall on her side. I didn’t know what I would have done had she been injured or worse.
“How about you get dressed and I’ll put together a bid for Wayne?” I stopped outside her door, not wanting to enter her personal space if she’d be changing.
“Sounds perfect.” She unlocked the door and entered, looking back at me. “You can come in. I’ll change in the bathroom.”
I swallowed and nodded, trying to act like being in her room wasn’t awkward between two friends. She didn’t seem bothered by it, but I certainly was. Plopping down in the chair and pulling my phone out gave me the distraction I needed to tear my gaze away from Amelia in that sexy robe. I couldn’t believe she walked around the hotel in that thing. Probably caused all kinds of fights between couples when the men stared. I tapped out an email to her boss, careful to keep my bid ridiculously low. I wouldn’t make more than a cup of coffee off this job, but what it would actually give me was priceless.
Time with Amelia.
Working on the hotel would mean at least a week, maybe two, of unfettered access to Amelia all day long. Pretty much my dream come true.
Or straight torture.
Only time would tell.
6
Amelia
A loud bang coming from the room below me had me jolting upright in bed. Big Foot hissed and jumped a foot in the air, landing on the edge of the bed and sliding down to the floor. Poor guy had had a rough few nights of sleep. I wasn’t even sure how old the cat was, but I’m guessing all the scares weren’t good for the dude’s heart health.
We’d gone to bed early, needing the sleep to catch up from all the craziness after the tree fell. A crew had swept through to cut the thing down the next day, and miracle of all miracles, Wayne had signed off on Titus’s bid almost immediately. He wouldn’t tell me what he’d bid, but I feared Titus wouldn’t make any money off this job. Wayne didn’t move quickly unless there was something in it for him. Either way, construction would get started in the morning.
“I can’t handle more excitement,” I muttered, tossing back my covers and sliding on a robe.
You didn’t get to be a seasoned hotel manager without having a few procedures ingrained in your head. I could break up a late-night party in ten seconds flat. Mostly because I discovered an app that would blare out police warnings that sounded remarkably real. Worked every time without me having to confront the usually drunk partygoers. I grabbed my flashlight and cell phone off the nightstand and slid into the flip-flops waiting by the bed in case of emergencies.
The door to the room below me was closed and most likely locked, but I could hear a persistent ringing noise that sounded suspiciously like a cowbell, then what had to be a slap of a hand on flesh. A woman’s voice let out the most pathetic moo I’d ever heard. I rolled my eyes. I thought I’d heard and seen it all after over ten years working in a hotel, but cow role play was a new one.
“Great. Her fetishes have escalated,” I whispered to Big Foot, who’d come with me to see what was going on.
Mentally, I prepared for a long night of tossing, turning, and wishing earplugs actually worked. Big Foot gave the door the stink-eye look he reserved for the most heinous of humans. I shivered, thinking he may have just put a spell on them with a single glance. I didn’t know where the black cat had come from, but he’d showed up one day when I worked here at the hotel in high school and he’d never left.
The woman who’d checked into room five earlier today was a regular. A regular weirdo. She’d stayed with us three times before, and if at all possible, I put her in a room without a neighbor. I never saw her check in with a partner, but weird sex noises always followed her. I could only assume she was meeting up with someone here in Auburn Hill. Which was also weird because she screamed city girl what with her stilettos, overexposed cleavage, and injected lips. Not that I had a problem with any of those—hell, I liked to flaunt the goods on every occasion possible—but the way she carried herself didn’t jive with Hell citizens. Too uptight or trying too hard. I couldn’t think of a single man in Hell who’d be up for a mooing good time with the tall brunette.
I shrugged and walked back to my room with Big Foot right behind me. Nothing I could do about it now. The bright pink foam earplugs I kept on my nightstand combined with the air purifier on full speed next to the head of my bed became the only things that drowned out the ever-increasing volume of the mooing.
The next morning I woke up with an idea…and a headache behind my eyes. When Titus showed up to work on the damaged room, I’d ask him what it would cost to soundproof room five. Seemed like it would make sense to have one room that I knew I could check people into when they seemed like the partiers. I doubted Wayne would go for the extra expense, but it never hurt to ask. Or nag repeatedly. I was an exceptional nagger and I believed in pursuing what you were good at.
As I was coming down the stairs to get coffee set up before our guests started waking, the door to room five cracked open. I froze, and like the tuned-in cat he was, Big Foot froze too, one paw in the air. A man in a suit came out the door, his back to me the whole time. He hustled down the hallway and left through the side door, which should have been locked at this hour.
I frowned, tilting my head as I ran through the scene again in my head. The guy had looked damn familiar. Approximately six feet tall, brown hair with some shots of gray, and a suit. Who the hell wore a suit in Auburn Hill?
Nobody.
Except for Mayor Bennett.
I gasped and Big Foot leaped in the air and tumbled down the remaining steps, meowing at the bottom like he was mad at me. Good thing cats had nine lives. He was using all of them just this week. I had to grab the handrail just to get my wobbly legs down the stairs.
“Holy shit, Big Foot. This is big. Big, big. Like, can’t-tell-a-soul big.” I tilted my head again, sleeplessness forgotten entirely. “Or maybe I can use this.” I lifted an eyebrow and got to making coffee, the wheels of my brain turning at rapid speed. Never waste an opportunity handed to you on a silver platter.