Total pages in book: 79
Estimated words: 77354 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 387(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77354 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 387(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
Oh, and the sex, and his come in my underwear.
“You’re here now,” he says.
At reception? In New York? I can’t keep up with this man.
“I am,” I say, and he winces, like that wasn’t the right response. I’m frustrated. I want us to be able to speak openly. Freely. I want to be alone with him when I’m not in a uniform and he’s not a guest.
“I hear Tribeca Grill is nice,” I say, worried that if I don’t say something, he’ll have to leave and then what? I’ll probably never see him again.
“Okay, good.”
“Anything else I can help you with?” Happy to come to your suite later and get naked and dirty, I singsong in my head.
“Maybe later,” he says cryptically.
Then he catches what my co-worker Jason is saying to a guest about the booking system.
“What’s going on?” he asks, voice lowered.
“Systems are down. Booking system, room system. You name it.”
“Hmm.” His eyebrows pinch together. “The room system and the booking system. You’d think they’d be separate but talk to each other. Why would both go down at once?” He’s half talking to himself, but it’s exactly the question I asked myself.
“But more surprising is the fact that the hotel website is offline,” I say. “That can’t be a coincidence. And it’s been off for a couple of days now.” I shrug. “Maybe I’m paranoid, but it feels like… sabotage. Or something.”
His eyes flare with anger. I’ve never seen his expression so fierce. “You’ve been very helpful,” he says, and he turns and leaves.
I can’t believe that Bennett Fordham, a.k.a. Ben Fort, would get so angry about a website failure. What is the matter with him? At the end of my shift, maybe I can dress up as room service and go and knock on his suite door to find out what’s really going on.
Or maybe I just have to resign myself to the fact that Bennett and I had sex a couple of times, and that was that.
THIRTEEN
Bennett
Seeing Efa at reception today was all the confirmation I needed that Worth and Leo were right. I need to know more about her. I don’t know why I want to spend time with her. And I won’t until I do more research. Undertake further investigations.
Which explains why I’m loitering in corridors at midnight.
I pull up my phone and check that the hotel website is back up and running.
If only I’d known the hotel’s systems and site were down sooner, I could have done something about it. It would never happen at Fort Inc. If it’s important, I know about it at Fort. But Fort Industries? It’s more of an investment portfolio than a business. Samantha, one of my most trusted employees, oversees everything under that umbrella. The hotel, a couple of other businesses I’ve bought, the small investments I make into projects that help the environment or create communities.
I’m sure Samantha’s aware of the issues at the hotel, but she hasn’t told me about them. I respect her for wanting to sort them out herself, but I’m pissed that she let this shit show go for two days without reaching out. I solved the issue in a nanosecond. She can’t know I did, otherwise she might put two and two together and figure out I have more contact with the hotel than I tell her. She obviously doesn’t know I’m staying there.
So much secrecy. All necessary to protect the most important thing to me—my privacy.
How ironic that one of the few people who know who I am was the person to tell me about the problem.
I straighten.
Was it ironic? Or is it possible that Efa was the one who sabotaged the systems? Because sabotage is definitely what happened. There wasn’t an error or a technical fault. Someone had deliberately brought the systems down. Without any ransom request.
While I’m here, I can have a further dig around. Part of furthering my investigations.
To see if it’s her trying to fuck with me.
She rounds the corner from the elevator and her smile blooms on her face, and I feel it in my veins. If I listen to my gut, as Worth advised, there is nothing remotely suspicious about Efa. She’s all sunshine and truth and honesty. I’m the liar in our relationship. But I have to go by the data, not my gut, and the coincidences are piling up.
“Hey,” I say.
“It’s nice to see you,” she says and my head spins like I’m being tossed upside down on a carnival ride. I realize just how badly I wanted her to want to see me. “I’ve mis— It’s been weird not seeing you in your suite.”
She almost let it slip that she missed me. I bite back a smile. We’re both hiding things.
She pulls out her keys and I step aside, letting her unlock the door. When she gets it open, she pauses, turns to curl her fingers around my wrist, and pulls me inside as if to make sure I’m not going anywhere.