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The Upside to Being Single

Page 7

by Emma Hart


  I couldn’t work with this man. I just couldn’t. And it wasn’t even about the boobs thing. It was just…everything.

  He was too attractive.

  Too strong-willed.

  Too-pig-headed and stubborn.

  Just like me. And there wasn’t enough room in this hotel for two stubborn idiots.

  I sighed as the call rolled to voicemail. I left a quick message with a time frame to call back and hung up. Jake was still pacing. Up and down the office like he was on autopilot.

  I leaned back in my chair and stared at him. “You’re just going to fire people without bothering to get to know them? You haven’t even been here a week. The only person you’ve spoken to more than twice is me.”

  He stopped, sighed, and looked at me. “Are you going to listen to me?”

  “Listen to what? How you’re going to fire half my staff?” I stood up and put my hands on my hips.

  “You have a real problem with authority, don’t you?”

  “Actually, no. I get on with authority just fine. Unless the authority is being an asshole.”

  Jake walked toward me and tapped my nose. “Sit down, Melanie, before I fire you for running that pretty little mouth of yours.”

  Said mouth dropped open at his bold statement. “My name is Mellie. And if you tap my nose again, you won’t have to fire me, because I’ll kick you on my way out.”

  His lips twitched to the side. “Calm down, spitfire. If you’d be quiet for five minutes, you’ll see there’s more to my plan than just randomly pointing at people and firing them. Now, are you going to listen?”

  “I—”

  “Nope.” He cupped my chin and pressed his thumb against my lips, shutting me up. “That’s not listening.”

  “I was going to say I’d listen,” I murmured against his thumb. “But you stopped me.”

  He just stared at me for a moment. I hoped he’d remove his thumb, but no. He didn’t. He kept hold of my jaw, his fingers digging into my skin and making it tingle, and talked again.

  “You know there’s a big refurb happening. Part of my plans is an entire overhaul of everything, including staffing. And you’re right. I don’t know any of the staff or what they’re doing, but what I do know is that you’re not happy about some of them.”

  Well, that wasn’t a lie.

  “Do you do staff meetings?”

  I didn’t answer. His thumb was still on my mouth.

  He raised his eyebrows.

  I glanced down.

  He got the hint.

  I shivered and stepped back. “Mostly managerial meetings. It’s the job of the departmental managers to hold regular meetings with their staff. I know Rosa, who heads cleaning, has meetings twice a week. Lillie does it three times. Off the top of my head.”

  “How often do you hold meetings?”

  “Once a week. It doesn’t need to be any more often. It’s mostly to go over rosters, orders, special events, things like that.”

  Jake nodded. “When’s your next meeting?”

  “Uh…” I picked up the planner from the desk. “Tomorrow morning.”

  He perched on the corner of my desk, taking the planner from me. “I want to be there. New ownership means new rules. If you’re not happy with the staff, neither am I. As of tomorrow, all staff—including management—will be under review. If in two weeks, they’re deemed not good enough, they’ll be given a one-week notice of unemployment.”

  I swallowed. “Even the managers?”

  “Who is responsible for training the staff?”

  “The departmental managers,” I said gently.

  “So, if their staff aren’t up to scratch, they’re not being trained properly. Like when I got here on Monday, and you were doing the bar order. The manager was on vacation—a stupid idea during Mardi Gras—and the staff member who should have been doing it was unable to.” He scratched the back of his neck. “You have enough to do without picking up the slack of another department.”

  “How did you know all that?”

  “I smiled at Lillie, and she folded like a wet piece of paper.”

  I let go of a long breath. “Of course. Look, it wasn’t a big deal. It was busy. And if it weren’t for the fact Quinn’s sister was getting married, she never would have had this week off.”

  “It is a big deal.” He folded his arms across his chest. “If you walk into a coffee shop and they get your order wrong, you’d complain. If the same staff member got it wrong every day or needed help to use the machine, you’d think they need to be fired.”

  I opened my mouth to argue, but I couldn’t. He was right.

  “I’m not unreasonable, Mellie. But I’m also not a horrible person for wanting to have the best possible staff working for me. This building is literally my entire inheritance. I’m living with my cousin, for the love of God. There’s nothing worse than hearing his personal pornstars going at it in his bedroom every night.”

  I bit the corner of my bottom lip and fought a smile.

  “If I didn’t have to make this hotel a success, I would be living on my own. In peace.”

  “It could be worse.”

  “He asked me last night if I wanted to join them. It really couldn’t.”

  This time, I couldn’t fight it. I let my lips curve into a smile, and I laughed, too. Hell, even Jake couldn’t fight a low laugh of his own.

  “Fine. As long as the length of employment and willingness to undergo re-training is considered,” I finally relented. “But I’m not the one delivering the news about the review, you are.”

  He held out his hands. “What is this? Good cop, bad cop?”

  “Yes,” I said, putting the planner back where it belonged. “Because I’m the nice one they all like, and you’re the mean new guy.”

  “Way to endear my employees to me.”

  “Judging by your relationship with Lillie so far, all you have to do is smile and the women here practically melt into their panties.”

  He quirked a brow. “Do you do that when I smile?”

  Yes. “In your dreams, New Guy. I’d rather melt into quicksand.”

  He stood, his gray eyes seeing through the lie. “You’re a terrible liar.”

  I folded my arms across my chest and met his eyes. “That’s a matter of opinion. Now, do you know how to run a staff meeting, or do you need me to draw up a plan for you?”

  He grinned wolfishly. “If I need you to, does that mean you won’t do anything for me?”

  I narrowed my eyes. “What do you want me to do?”

  “I told my cousin you’re the manager. He wants to know if he can have the number for your friend with “the huge knockers.””

  “Peyton? Oh God, no. If I give out her number, she’ll shoot me.” I paused. “She’s picky. If he has a dick pic, that’s a whole other story.”

  “A dick pic?”

  I opened the top drawer of my desk and pulled out a small business card with “Pick A Dick” on the front, the ‘i’ in ‘dick’ shaped like a penis. “Um, here.”

  Slowly, Jake took the card from me. Pinching the corner between his finger and thumb, he scanned the card and read, “Pick A Dick. Dick pics required.”

  “The website is on the back.” I twirled my finger in a circle. “She runs a hook-up website. She basically spends her life looking at dicks and matching men to women looking for specific things.”

  “What is this? Tinder on crack?”

  “That’s pretty much it, yeah.”

  “Except she wants the dick pics?”

  “They’re required,” I said. “You can’t send an application if you’re a guy and don’t attach a dick pic.”

  He peered up from the card and looked at me. “I don’t really know how to respond to this.”

  “Yeah, well you should have seen her dad’s face when she announced it. Her grandma offered to sign up. Actually, it might have been her grandma that scared him.”

  Jake nodded slowly and tucked the card into his back p
ocket. “Well, if anyone has a plethora of dick pics on their phone, it’s Sam.”

  “There are people who don’t have a plethora of dick pics on their phones?”

  “I can honestly say I’ve never once taken a photo of my cock.”

  “Why? Can the camera not see it?” The words came out before I could stop them.

  Jake stared at me for a moment. Something warred in his eyes—amusement and restraint, as if he wanted to reply but couldn’t.

  I swallowed as he stood up and took one step closer to me. He reached out, fingers trailing across my temple as he pushed my blond hair behind my ear.

  “No, spitfire,” he said in a low, cool voice. “It wouldn’t fit on the screen.”

  I drew in a sharp breath through my nose. His words, his touch, the warmth of his breath skittering across my cheek—it made me shiver. Desire tickled down to the pit of my belly, and Jake bit back a chuckle as he released me.

  My eyes dropped momentarily to his crotch before I yanked my attention away and stared at an empty photo frame on the bookshelf behind me.

  “I’m going to endear myself to my employees before tomorrow.” He kept his eyes on me the entire time. “I’d really appreciate if you could focus on a review plan for me.”

  I put as much annoyance in my glare as I could, but obviously, it was nowhere near enough, because his laugh echoed down the hall, even when he was well out of sight of me.

  That bastard.

  ***

  Peyton: Is he sending a dick pic?

  Chloe: Don’t you get enough of those?

  Peyton: Nothing I’m interested in.

  Me: I’ve had enough talk about dicks today. I was just giving you a heads up.

  Peyton: Why? Are you schmoozing your new boss?

  Me: I don’t want to talk about my boss.

  Peyton: If you don’t want him…

  Chloe: Don’t you have a date tonight, Pey?

  Peyton: The little d doesn’t always equal the big D, you know that.

  Me: I don’t want to be friends with you people anymore.

  I closed the group chat and put my phone face-down on the desk. I was supposed to have left work roughly two hours ago, but that was before a fight had broken out in one of our hotel rooms and the police showed up.

  Don’t cheat on your girlfriend. She will smash your head with a vase, then throw a shoe at the girl you’re mid-fuck with.

  In the hotel room you’re sharing with your girlfriend.

  Lillie and I decided to keep our opinions about him deserving the vase over the head while we spoke to the police. I’d sent her home, but it’d been so wild for the hour this all happened that I still hadn’t come down from the high.

  So, that’s why I was still sitting in my office with my feet up on the desk, and my shoes were strewn across the floor.

  I was tired and I was hungry, but I was still buzzing like crazy.

  I was also totally icked out because I hated blood, and Mr. Cheater had been covered in it.

  Not only had I had to get the room basically steamed by the maids, I’d had to reassure all our customers that it was a one-time thing and give them all vouchers for a free alcoholic drink.

  Nobody was bringing me one, though, were they?

  I leaned right back in the chair and closed my eyes. The leftover adrenaline was slowly beginning to subside, and the more my head cleared, the more resigned I became to the fact that I’d be ordering dinner in and throwing out the chicken I’d left to defrost.

  This wasn’t how I’d planned on spending my Friday night. Never mind I’d planned to spend it braless and sans pants, eating on my sofa in front of trashy reality TV.

  Three light knocks sounded at the door.

  I opened my eyes and rolled my head to the side. “Yes?”

  The hinges squeaked as the door opened. Jake walked through, a big pizza box balanced on his hand. He lifted it up. “I thought you’d be hungry.”

  “How did—never mind. The cops called you?”

  He closed the door behind him and nodded. “Not long after they arrived here. I’ve already been down to speak to them and confirm pressing charges for the damage done to the hotel room.” He pushed my keyboard and mouse to the side and set the pizza down. “I called here to see if everything was okay and Lillie said you were still here and hadn’t eaten, so I stopped by the pizza place. And the bar on the way back here.” He placed a bottle of white wine on the desk along with two glasses.

  I hadn’t even seen him holding that.

  “Thank you.” I smiled. “You’re good at feeding me. Maybe sharing an office won’t be so bad after all.”

  His lips curved to the side. “Food is the way to your heart. Got it.”

  I was too exhausted to respond. I wasn’t even tired—if I went to bed, there’d be no way I could sleep. I was simply exhausted.

  “Here. Eat, and then tell me why you’re still here this late although it’s all been dealt with.” He opened the box, and the scent of hot, melted cheese and pepperoni reached me.

  My stomach rumbled.

  I couldn’t even be embarrassed. I snatched up one of the slices and bit into the end of it. Apparently, I was starving. I hadn’t eaten since we’d had lunch, and that was now eight hours ago. I’d barely drunk anything in the last few, so downing half the glass of wine halfway through my first slice of pizza probably wasn’t my best idea.

  Ah, who was I kidding? Wine was always a good idea.

  We both ate in silence. Well, I mostly ate. Jake sat on his phone, swiping and tapping across the screen until I was done. Although I’d been starving, three pieces had been the sweet spot.

  I wiped my mouth with a napkin then scrunched it up and threw it into the pizza box. A sigh escaped me before I could stop it, and I leaned right back in my chair and threw my forearm over my eyes.

  “What happened? The police could only give me a vague timeline because they hadn’t interviewed everyone yet, but I’ve seen the room already.”

  I let my arm fall and met his eyes. “I’m not sure how it started. Actually, that’s a lie. It started because some idiot brought a random girl back to the hotel when he was here with his girlfriend.” I pulled my hair out of the ponytail it’d been in all day and ran my fingers through it until it hung loosely over my shoulders. “The general idea and smashed vodka bottle in the room tells me they were pretty drunk.”

  “Yeah. I think they took her to the hospital to evaluate her because she passed out at the station.”

  I rolled my eyes. “There you go, then. Stupid choices all around. Anyway, the maids were cleaning the room next door ready for an early check-in tomorrow when the girlfriend showed up.”

  Jake nodded slowly. “They said it was something like that.”

  “Yeah, well the worst part is that it spilled out into the hall where a family was just returning back to their room. Their children saw the whole thing, including her screaming blue murder at him and using cuss words I didn’t know existed.”

  “Ah, shit.”

  “I’d use a stronger word. I know a few new ones now.” I picked up my wine glass and let it dangle in my hand, cupping the main bit. “As well as having to offer discounts to every hotel resident at the bar by the way of a free drink, I had to give her one night free off her bill by way of apology.”

  “Did she accept it?”

  “After her husband told her that punching a drunk person would get her arrested.”

  “Usually, I’m against violence, but that would have been acceptable.”

  I tilted my wine glass in his direction before taking a sip. “So, that’s why I’m still here. I had to inform all the staff what had happened and that any questions should be directed to management. I pulled the meeting forward tomorrow so everyone is prepared, then I had to people and reassure everyone it was over and it was a personal misunderstanding.”

  Jake’s eyes searched my face. They flit up and down, from the frown marring my forehead to the way I had my lips
downturned. I didn’t need to look in the mirror to know what my expression looked like.

  I could feel it.

  Like I said, I was exhausted. I wanted my bed, even though I knew I wouldn’t sleep.

  “Mellie…Are you all right?” The concern in his voice trickled warmly over my skin.

  “I’m fine. Honestly. I’m just tired.” I set the empty wine glass down. “I can’t begin to imagine how much damage that incident may have caused.”

  “It’s all fixable.”

  “I don’t mean financially. I mean to the hotel. Once the local media get hold of it…”

  He leaned forward. “You’re tired. I can handle the meeting tomorrow. You go home and come in later.”

  “I am tired, but it’s fine.”

  Jake stood and held out one hand. “Come on. I’ll take you home.”

  “I’m fine. Really. I have some paperwork to do.”

  He walked around the desk, hand still out. “Let’s go.”

  “I just said—”

  He grabbed my hand and yanked me up, then scanned the floor for my shoes. Letting go of my hand, he picked up the shoes and handed them to me. “Put these ball-scaring stilettos on and let’s go. I’m not arguing with you. I’m taking you home, and you can come in late.”

  “Fine.” I took the shoes from him. “You can take me home, but I’ll be here at seven.”

  “We’ll continue the last part of that in a minute.”

  I’m sure we would.

  I would also win.

  I slipped my feet into the heels, grabbed my things, and allowed him to steer me out of the office. He locked it behind us, then cupped my elbow and guided me through the hotel. I waved a half-hearted goodbye to Lillie on the front desk before leaving with Jake.

  He’d parked in the next street over. I couldn’t even take a minute to enjoy the sleek beauty of his Audi. Instead, I allowed him to open the door so I could sit on the cream, leather passenger seat and spear my heels into the mat on the floor in front of me.

  Jake closed the door and walked around to the driver side. He said nothing as he got in and started the car. I was thankful for his silence. This week had started hellacious and, apparently, was going to end that way.

  From my boss knowing what my boobs looked like to seconds away from a potential murder scene, I was one hundred percent done.

 

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