Hotel queens, p.16
Hotel Queens, page 16
When it was over, and they stared at each other slack-jawed, drawing in deep, shaky breaths, Kai was aware of only one thing: that had been the most arousing fucking kiss of her life.
Lia stepped backward. She stared at Kai as if unable to believe what had transpired. Twice.
“Um.” Kai seemed to be unable to form words. She had obviously pegged Lia Hanson all wrong. Not so rigid, after all. She ran a quivering hand down her robe, checking she wasn’t as bare as she felt. “Well, you seem to have overcome your objections to me.”
“And you seem to have found your tongue again.” Lia’s tone was dry, but her eyes were as wild as her hair.
“In more ways than one.” Kai chuckled. There had definitely been plenty of tongue in that second kiss. The reminder sent a small, excited shudder through her. She teasingly tapped Lia’s nametag. “So, is Dora an explorer after all?”
Lia grumbled. “Must you?”
Okay then. So apparently they weren’t talking about how expertly—and thoroughly—Lia Hanson could kiss. “Do I want to know why you kissed me?”
Lia pressed her lips into a thin line. “You had it coming. You and your teasing, smart mouth and that…poor excuse for a robe.” She waved vaguely at it.
Kai glanced down. Her robe had splayed apart even more, offering liberal glimpses of the sides of her breasts and her stomach. But at least the essentials were covered, so she wasn’t entirely sure what Lia’s problem was.
Lia’s eyes were dark as she roamed Kai’s skin. Suddenly her fists curled into tight balls.
“You really hate yourself for doing that, don’t you?” Kai asked quietly. Lia was such a paradox. Haughty derision one moment, plundering Kai’s mouth with abandon the next.
The other woman gave her a mutinous glare. “This is all you do, isn’t it? Hold up people’s weaknesses for your own amusement?”
“Wanting me is a weakness? Why? Because I affect you? But, Lia, you affect me, too. I’m melting over your kisses.”
For the briefest moment, Lia’s walls came crashing down. Kai was shocked at the naked need in her eyes. It was gone so fast that she wondered if she’d imagined it.
“My condolences,” Lia drawled.
“You want me to believe you wouldn’t love to have your wicked way with me after you kissed me like that?” Kai coaxed her. Because they had to discuss this crackling energy between them.
Lia’s look turned lethal. Lord. That probably worked well on staff.
“No need to plan my murder.” Kai held up her hands. “I’m the first to admit the laws of attraction are illogical and, despite what your awestruck employees think, we both know you’re human.”
Lia scowled. “Mocking me now?”
“Whoa, tiger. That’s some death-ray glare you have there. And no, I promise I’m not making fun of you.”
“I’m supposed to believe that?” Lia’s jaw clenched.
“Look,” Kai tried again, even more gently, “I see now that this is really messing with your equilibrium and you hate it. You like control, and this isn’t it. Right?”
Lia’s eyes became steely. “Don’t presume to know me.”
“I won’t. But there is something between us. I’m just saying, what if we addressed that?”
“How?”
“Well option one, we could just go with it. You could kiss me senseless again.” Kai’s voice dropped to a daring register. “Or…we could get it entirely out of our systems—not necessarily now, but soon. You could strip me naked, fling me down, make me understand who’s in charge. That’d sure show me.” Kai’s smile was teasing. “I won’t even fight. Much.”
“What’s option two?” Lia’s voice was chilly.
Kai’s tone went from teasing to curious. “Not even going to consider it? You and your love of control, huh? Would it be scandalizing for you to consider breaking your own rules?”
“Reverse psychology now? You say that so I’ll have to prove you wrong? Let me be clear: anything more than what just occurred is never happening, so stop looking at me like I’m some…tasty treat.”
Kai put her hands on her hips, which inadvertently widened the gap in her robe.
It drew Lia’s eye instantly, and she drank in Kai.
Does she even realize how much she gives away?
“That’s a real shame,” Kai said genuinely. “If you’d let me, I’d worship you.”
“My body, you mean.”
“Yes.”
Lia’s glare was withering.
Kai frowned. Did the woman really think that her body was all she was to Kai?
Have I given her any reason to believe otherwise?
“I remember the day I saw you check in,” Kai said earnestly, willing her to see the truth. “You strolled through the lobby and looked like you owned the world. I could barely breathe. That was about your energy not your body. I appreciated all of you that day, and I have every time we’ve met. You never stop surprising me. Honestly, I think it’d be amazing spending more time with you.”
“I’m not one of your conquests.”
“I don’t see you as a conquest.” Kai drew in a sharp breath, shocked by her words and the stark truth of them. She gave Lia a rueful look. “Yes, I’ve been known to seek out one-night stands with beautiful women. I don’t shy away from that, but that’s not what this is. I want to know you better, Lia. I don’t know what it is about you that’s so different, but you make me want to break all my rules.”
She couldn’t say it more plainly. It had been many years since she’d opened herself up to something more. Something deeper.
A skeptical look greeted her. “You really are very good at games. I almost believed you that time.”
Fuck. Kai’s head dropped.
“Why so surprised?” Lia asked. “So far you’ve hit on me at a bar, confessed all the ways you scheme, told me you don’t do relationships, interrogated me like the KGB, and hit on me again. What part of all that was supposed to engender trust? How am I supposed to believe anything you say?”
“I don’t know.” Kai truly didn’t. “I’m sorry you don’t believe me, but…I hear you. You don’t want to go any farther.” Disappointment flooded her. A tactical retreat was in order.
As if reading her mind, Lia glanced at the clock and said, “I haven’t cleaned your room and my supervisor will be here in a few minutes to inspect. I’ll put a ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign on your door and say you didn’t wish to be serviced today.” Lia paused at the double meaning. “I mean…”
“A pity. I would enjoy being serviced by you,” Kai said with a half-smile.
Lia moaned softly, but her eyes crinkled. “Why are your lines always so bad? Now I’m definitely going.”
Kai laughed. “I know, I know. It was a reflex, I swear. I’ll let you go.”
With a nod, Lia reached for the trolley, but her gaze remained on Kai. For a moment, neither woman moved.
And then Lia’s roaming gaze dropped to Kai’s lips. Jesus! The hunger was back as if it had never left.
Kai was startled when the woman took a deliberate step closer. “Lia? Were you after…a goodbye kiss?”
“Of course not,” Lia said tartly even as her scorching gaze met Kai’s. “Haven’t you been listening? I’m not your conquest.”
Right. Of course. I’ve misinterpret—
Suddenly Lia’s lips were no longer pressed together but against Kai’s mouth.
Her brain fritzed, and the ache of desire was back between her legs.
“Why,” Lia muttered when she came up for air with a soft, strangled sigh, “would I want to kiss someone as frustrating as you?”
Kai snorted. “And why would I want to kiss someone as uptight as you?” She pointedly kissed the edge of Lia’s now quirking mouth. “And yet here we are.”
“I’m not uptight,” Lia protested as her gaze dropped to Kai’s mouth again. “I just believe in order and everything in its place.” She leaned in again.
Their next kiss was like their first ones—overwhelming, intoxicating, thorough, and so damned arousing. This time, the want on Lia’s face wasn’t hidden at all.
“Mmm. Yes, you like everything in its place,” Kai said, looking down. “I guess that explains your hand.”
Lia’s gaze snapped down to see her hand was now inside Kai’s robe, perilously close to cupping Kai’s bare breast. “Oh!” Her eyes widened as she attempted to snatch her hand back.
“Don’t you dare.” Kai covered Lia’s fingers, shifting them and pressing them to cover her breast fully. “Now kiss me again,” she ordered. “Do it harder this time, so we know how much you hate all this.” She smirked.
Lia’s next kiss was the best of all of them. Her tongue tangled with Kai’s, stroking her in such an intense, deliberate way that all Kai could think of was what it might do to some lower part of her anatomy.
She slid her hands around to Lia’s ass, squeezing the tight swells as she got lost in their deepening kisses.
The noise of a door opening from Milly’s adjoining suite sounded behind Kai. A clipped voice spoke. “Ms. Hanson, are you fin…”
Lia snatched her hand out of Kai’s robe and leaped backward. Simultaneously, Kai grabbed her lapels, pressing them together to protect her dignity, and jumped back a foot herself.
Mrs. Espinosa, mouth parted in shock, backed abruptly out of the door again, murmuring an apologetic, “Perdóname, Ms. Fisher.” She snapped the doors closed behind her.
“Damn it. I’ll talk to her,” Lia looked disturbed. “I’ll try and say something convincing. Not that it’ll help. Mrs. Espinosa does have functioning eyeballs.”
“She can’t fire you,” Kai reminded her. “You don’t work here.”
“No, but she will put in a Serious Incident Employee Report to the duty manager, explaining what she saw. Those reports go to Duxton headquarters. My unprofessionalism will have done the rounds everywhere within the hour.”
Kai frowned. “Um, you know Hotel Duxton’s boss doesn’t have the high moral ground. Oliver Duxton just got caught driving while drunk and high. And his entire company is a dumpster fire of assholes just like him.”
Something dark passed across Lia’s eyes.
Kai wondered why.
“His situation is irrelevant,” Lia snapped. “I will be judged. This will be the ammunition that some powerful people in my particular organization have been looking for. It’s leverage. You’re naive if you think this won’t get around. Gossip in hotels spreads at the speed of light; before long the whole industry has heard.”
“Your bosses would be idiots if they threw away someone like you for something so minor.”
“Minor? My supervisor just caught me groping and kissing a guest.” Lia’s neck turned pink, and the arrogant tilt of her chin couldn’t disguise the embarrassment radiating from her eyes.
Lia pulled her cleaning trolley closer with a hard jerk. “And for all you know, my company’s upper management would be happy to see me gone.”
“Why on earth?”
“Politics are at play.” Her expression became pinched. “Kai, I know you’re trying to make me feel better, but it won’t work. Because while this was all just a bit of fun for you—melting me or some such challenge—I’m allowed to be annoyed that this will cost me dearly.”
“Wait, this again?” Kai’s eyes widened. “This wasn’t a game for me. You’re still talking like I orchestrated this whole thing.”
“Didn’t you?” Lia arched an eyebrow, but Kai could clearly see panic setting in.
“Have you forgotten that you kissed me? You started this, not me,” Kai retorted. “And it was your hand that went boob grabbing.”
“I’m aware.” The color in Lia’s cheeks darkened. “But you’re claiming you didn’t manipulate anything? So all your flirting was in my head? Tell me I didn’t stick to the script you wrote the moment you saw me today and decided to have me? I suppose I should say well done. The master tactician wins again.” Lia gave an exaggerated bow.
Kai felt her mouth hang slightly open, but she was too shocked to care. “I’m going to excuse what you just said as panic because I sure as hell didn’t deserve any of that. And you might want to look more closely at your actions not mine.”
“What does that mean?” Lia snapped.
“Come on—you want to pretend that you were maneuvered into this so you don’t have to face the fact that you liked it. That’s bullshit, Lia. It takes two. We both wanted what happened.” She gave a tiny snort. “Christ, just admit you’re human for once and deal with it.”
Lia bit her lip and glanced away. Finally, she nodded. “All right.” Her tone was flat when she added, “Obviously I’m weaker than I thought.” She returned a cool gaze to Kai. “Did you like making me admit that?”
Kai heard the pain behind the question, and it made her own heart clench. “Don’t hate yourself for this. I mean, why do you?”
Stony eyes met hers. “You don’t understand.”
“Explain it?”
“No.”
Kai exhaled. The finality in the word sounded harsh. “Lia? Would it have really been so bad? Us?”
Lia stared at her, startled, as if she couldn’t even understand the question. As if the answer was so self-evident.
Jesus. That look hurt worse than a slap. “So that’s it then,” Kai said, forcing a neutral tone to hide the rejection.
“It has to be.” Lia gave Kai one last, long look, then began to push the trolley out of the room.
Kai watched every deliberate step, giving away no emotion, even though it stung like hell. She’d put herself out there, and this happened. That was always the risk, though.
She straightened and realized she was being ridiculous. It wouldn’t have worked anyway. She didn’t even know where Lia worked or lived, but she’d already said it wasn’t New York. Funny how that didn’t make the rejection hurt less.
Before opening the door, Lia stopped and stared at it. “Whatever else you are, Kai, you are chaos to me,” she said voice flat. “I’m the opposite. I cannot survive chaos any more than I can survive controversy. So, yes, that’s it.”
Chapter 12
Disarray
Amelia found her supervisor in Milly’s room, waiting for her with a grim, cold expression that screamed, You’re a disgrace!
And she was. She’d let Kai get under her skin with those heated gazes and that beautiful body that had been barely hidden. How arousing she’d been. Those long, muscled legs. Soft skin. The swells of her breasts. Tension had crackled and arced between. All Amelia had wanted was to close the gap. To touch. To taste.
So…she’d done both. She’d devoured those cocky, beautiful lips. She’d enjoyed that tongue, that mouth, that skin. Her hand had cupped Kai’s breast, feeling its heat and the excited, taut press of nipple against her palm. And it had felt magnificent.
Until…it hadn’t.
Until she’d realized the impact of what being caught would mean. Mrs. Espinosa was required by company policy to report her. Amelia would be written up for her conduct, the report cc’d everywhere. Soon Oliver would ensure everyone knew. He’d paint her as someone lacking judgment and unfit to be CEO. Knowing him, he’d offer some vague, tawdry suggestion that she was a repeat offender. Something for their imaginations to fill in.
Of course, if Oliver had been caught in a similar position, the board might have found a way to shrug it off—after a brief reprimand—as “Oliver being Oliver.” That wouldn’t work for her. Her homophobic father and his hand-picked conservative board would never see this as a harmless indiscretion, even if Joe took her side. It would be seen as proof they’d been right all along about her.
All her hard work and determination at winning them over with her management skills was for nothing.
The supervisor’s jaw was set hard as they faced each other. Amelia waited for the inevitable.
“That was wrong, Ms. Hanson.” Disappointment laced her tone. “Very bad.”
“Yes, I am aware. I’m sorry.” Amelia cleared her throat. “Ms. Fisher and I have known each other before today.” She suddenly hated the idea that the supervisor thought Amelia went about groping random guests. “Obviously I don’t usually…” She inhaled, not sure how to categorize their encounters. “It’s a complicated matter.”
“Si, I can see that you know each other. Ms. Fisher doesn’t usually look that happy.”
Amelia’s head snapped up.
“Understand me, Ms. Hanson, I want only the best things for Ms. Fisher. So if you are what makes her happy, I will not be in the way of that. We will not speak a word further of this.”
Amelia stared at her. “Why?”
“That is my business. Just know that she is good.”
“Good?” She shook her head. “She’s always after something, though. That’s who she is.”
Anger flared in the older woman’s face. “Then you do not know her at all.”
Now confused beyond words, Amelia dipped her head, unwilling to argue. Nothing made much sense.
“Ms. Hanson,” Mrs. Espinosa concluded with finality, “you will take fifteen minutes to…” She patted her own hair to demonstrate. “Fix this. You are in much disarray.” Her eyes flitted to Amelia’s mouth and she clucked. “Return here after this is done.”
Disarray? Was her lipstick smeared? And she vaguely remembered Kai attacking her hair, too.
Could the day get any worse? When had Amelia ever, in her whole perfectly ordered adult life, succumbed to being in disarray?
Amelia waited for the elevator to arrive, praying it was empty. She obsessed over what had happened. Great trifecta: weakness, unprofessionalism, and now disarray. And, the worst part, it was self-inflicted.
The doors opened with a ding, and she stepped inside to find she was not alone.
