10. William
10
WILLIAM
C lothes dropping in a line from the door to the stairs. Pushing her against the banister.
The slight smile on her lips as I slide my hand up her thigh, lingering on the crease—mere centimeters from her pussy.
Wrapping her chocolate brown ponytail around my fist. Tugging her head back, forcing her to look up at me.
Lips fused together. Bodies pressed in desperate need. Bouncing between the wall and the stairs as we stumble into the house.
Slamming her back into the wall beside my bedroom door. Grabbing her wrists and pounding them into the drywall above her head.
Spreading her legs with my knee and ? —
“Housekeeping!”
“Wha…” I mumbled incoherently. The pounding had come from outside my door. Not the dream about Kristin . I rolled over, groaning when I realized it was the fourth day in a row that I’d woken up with a hard-on.
Knock, knock, knock.
I threw back the covers and scanned the room for my sweatpants. By the time I spotted them, it was too late. The door beeped with the stroke of Kristin’s master key, and the handle unlocked with a click.
“Oh!” Kristin let out a surprised squeak when the door swung open. Her eyes widened, watching me sprint across the room in my boxers. “I’m, uh, gonna give you a minute.” She snickered and stepped out of the room, pulling the door behind her.
Ah, fuck. At least my sweatpants passed the sniff test. I really needed to wash my clothes. I debated whether to drive back home to run a load of laundry or swing by a laundromat in town.
I slipped into the bathroom and brushed my teeth. The last thing I wanted was to talk to Kristin with morning breath. Well, afternoon breath.
Damn. It was past lunchtime.
I splashed cold water on my face before punching the button on the coffee maker. My bloodshot eyes and stiff neck felt worse than a college hangover. I was way too fucking old to be staying up until four in the morning.
I collected myself, then pulled the door open. “Morning, Sunshine.”
“Morning?” Kristin asked, giggling as she waltzed in with an armful of towels. She carried them to the bathroom to restock the shelf. “My shift is almost over. You’re a little late to the party, Solomon.”
“I think maybe I partied too late,” I quipped, pressing the heels of my hands against my strained eyeballs. “Had a late night. Didn’t sleep much.”
I turned to walk back to the bedroom when Kristin ran smack into me. Her hands splayed across my bare chest, and her breasts pushed against my ribs. The warmth of her breath tingled across my skin.
A shirt would’ve been smart .
She shifted her weight, and her stomach pressed against my sweatpants. My dick strained against the fabric. Her lips parted, and she sucked in a sharp breath.
I groaned and tightened my grip on her waist. “Kris…”
The coffee maker beeped as the pot finished brewing. We both stood still. Slowly, her eyes trailed up my body until they met mine. Her heart raced so fast I could feel it beating.
What I wouldn’t give to rip off that polo shirt and ? —
Wham! A door slammed in the hallway, shattering the moment. Kristin slipped around me to get to the cleaning cart.
I clenched my jaw and willed my unruly erection away by thinking about my ex-fiancé. Thinking about Maleficent always did the trick. Almost too well. I rarely allowed myself to think about my ex out of fear that my dick would retract into my scrotum, never to be seen again.
I walked to the coffee maker and poured myself a cup.
“You want some?” I asked as Kristin slipped back into the bathroom.
“Oh, um, no thanks,” she said with a polite smile. “I shouldn’t.”
I glanced at the clock and debated room service. Then again, Jokers was right down the road. “You’re usually in here before lunch. Busy day?”
“Staff meeting this morning,” she called out from the hallway. “I had to listen to Rich wax poetic about labor costs and guest complaints.”
I rubbed the back of my neck. I knew who Rich was, but I asked anyway. “And Rich is…?”
She muttered something unclear, but it sounded a lot like dick. When she finally walked into the bedroom, she said, “He’s the general manager.”
“Not a fan?” I prodded, hoping to get a little more insider information out of her .
She offered a lopsided smile.
“You won’t talk bad about your boss, will you?” I asked playfully. Her contempt for Rich was apparent, but she obviously wouldn’t say anything negative—no matter how hard I pressed. Not on the clock, at least.
I pushed back the curtains, wincing as the blazing sunlight blinded me.
Kristin snorted and pointed an accusatory finger at me. “That’s what you get for sleeping until mid-afternoon.”
Her heated gaze lingered briefly on me, but she spun away and went back to doing her tasks.
I waited by the desk, studying her as she stripped the sheets. She was more hurried than usual, handling the bedding as if it had pissed her off.
Maybe the staff meeting threw off her day, but damn…
“You alright, Sunshine?” I asked, wandering back to the mini-fridge to top off my coffee with a bit of creamer. “You’re treating those sheets like an ex-boyfriend who did you wrong.”
Kristin sighed, piling her arms high with bedding that didn’t actually need changing.
“I’m fine,” she said flatly.
I snorted. “And studies have determined that to be a lie. Nice try, though. You were almost convincing.”
She said nothing as she dropped the sheets into the laundry bag on the cart. When she returned to the room, I reached out to stop her, my hand sliding around her waist to the small of her back.
“I don’t have time for this today,” she clipped. Her words were harsh, but her voice was weak.
I didn’t back off. “What time do you get off work?”
“Will—”
“Humor me. ”
She pinched the bridge of her nose. “I get off at three.”
“How about the coffee shop next door when you’re done? Meet me at Queen’s. Can I see you then?”
Kristin shook her head and pulled away from me, busying herself with wiping down all the surfaces. “I can’t.”
“Why not?” I pressed. There was a hard edge to my voice that I wasn’t proud of.
She choked the life out of her dust rag. “I just can’t , okay?”
“Tell me what’s going on,” I snapped. I wasn't usually this terse, but there was something she wasn’t telling me and I desperately wanted to know what it was.
Kristin’s position at the inn put her high enough on the food chain to access expense accounts and company credit cards.
I hated to think she may have had something to do with the missing money, but I needed to be vigilant.
In the time I’d spent outside my room observing other employees, they had impressed me. The staff showed immense pride in their work. Everyone appeared to love the inn and ran a tight ship. I couldn’t ask for more than that.
Loyalty didn’t help me get to the bottom of things, though.
Kristin sniffed, then sighed. Her voice softened as she tilted her head and offered a sad sort of smile. “I’m a camel buried in an avalanche of straw at the moment.”
“Let me take you out for coffee. No pressure. Not a date. But I know you’re not gonna talk about all that straw while we’re still here.”
“Will…” She braced her hands against the desk, only inches from my laptop.
I hadn’t stored it in the safe when I went to bed like I usually would have. Instead, it sat on the desk all night, and now someone other than me stood close enough to touch it.
The expected rush of panic never happened.
Kristin stared down at her hands. “I wish I could. Really, I do. ”
“But?”
“But I can’t,” she said, voice cracking. “I have a lot I need to do after work, and I can’t stick around.”
I stepped closer and tucked a loose strand behind her ear that had fallen out of her ponytail. “You’re making it tough for me to earn your trust.”
Kristin bit her lip and leaned into my hand. My heart did that pitter-pat thing that made me question if I was old enough to worry about heart attacks yet. I stroked her cheek with my thumb and Kristin closed her eyes.
“The fact that I’m this close to you,” she whispered hoarsely, “means you’re earning my trust.”
My eyes wandered down to her lips. For a fleeting moment, I wondered what it would be like to taste her.
“Will—”
Still shirtless, I could feel the heat of her breath against my chest. “Tell me I can see you sometime outside of this place.”
Kristin shook her head. “I can’t make promises like that.”
I leaned back against the desk while she loaded the cart with her cleaning supplies, gutted by the pain in her eyes.
Enough public information existed online to investigate her without violating her privacy. I wouldn’t need to hack any accounts or search the dark web to uncover her secrets. But I had avoided doing any sort of internet search on Kristin Boyd. I wanted her to share her secrets with me of her own free will.
Still, the itch to fall down the rabbit hole grew stronger. God, I just wanted to touch her. Hold her. Yank her hair out of that ponytail and bury my fingers into it.
My willpower faded, and I wrapped my arms around Kristin. I expected her to tense up as I pulled her into my chest. Instead, she melted into my arms as if she’d been waiting all day for someone to lean on .
“If you could have anything in the world right now, what would it be?” I asked, hoping she’d let down her guard.
It was a question I liked to pose to people. The answer they usually said a lot about the type of person they were.
Her cheeks quirked against my skin as she smiled. She wrapped her arms around my hips and closed her eyes. “A nap,” she sighed.
I chuckled and squeezed her shoulders with my biceps. “Wish I could buy one for you.”
Kristin stepped back and smoothed down her uniform. She looked up at me with those warm brown eyes and smiled. “Thanks. I think I needed that.”
“Anytime.”
I watched as she pushed down the wheel locks of the cleaning cart with her foot. She rolled down to the next room, glancing back at me with a half-hearted smile.
Knock, knock, knock.
“Housekeeping!” she announced like always before letting herself in.
I closed my door and buried myself in work.
“Great to see you again, Will,” Bridget said from behind the bar, greeting me with a smile as I stepped through the front door into Jokers. She quickly unloaded a crate of glasses, preparing for the five o’clock drinking crowd. “You want your usual?”
“Yes, ma’am,” I said, sliding onto a barstool. After a few more hours of work in my room, I craved a cold beer and a burger.
Jokers was my kind of bar. They kept it lowkey. No airs about fanciness and what not. No pretentious drink list telling me that an IPA tasted like a damn sunset with hints of tree bark. None of that shit. Just great beer, solid food, and friendly people .
I fired off a text to Kristin while I waited for my order.
Will
How was the rest of your day?
Kristin
Same old, same old. Did you finish your project?
I chuckled and shook my head. This girl…
Kristin always looked ready to spill her guts, despite being as tight-lipped as a CIA operative. She had the art of the non-answer down to a science.
She would do well in politics. Her ability to skirt around questions bordered on impressive.
Will
Let me rephrase that: tell me about your day.
Kristin
Fine. Only if you tell me what your project is.
Will
You drive a hard bargain.
Kristin
I’ve been told I’m quite the negotiator.
“Alright, lover boy,” Bridget sing-songed as she slid a juicy burger and mountain of fries my way. “How’s our little Kristin doing?”
I choked on my saliva and reached for the beer that Bridget held just out of reach.
She didn’t even flinch. Instead, she just stood there smirking like a smart ass.
“You spooked her, didn’t you?” she asked.
“Spooked who?” Mile-long blonde hair sat on the seat beside me. Maddie gave Bridget a conspiratorial grin before turning to me. “Hey, Will. ”
Bridget gestured toward me as she slid me the beer. “He spooked Kristin, and now she’s playing hard to get.”
“Yep,” Maddie said, nodding. “That sounds like her. What are we going to do about it?”
What was happening? Were these women mind readers?
Hannah Jane dropped her handbag on top of the bar beside Maddie. “Oh good, y’all are here.”
“Sister wife!” Maddie exclaimed, throwing her arms around Hannah. “Wanna stay over tonight? I’m lonely.”
Hannah Jane groaned and plopped down. “Yes. I swear—if the boys don’t stop with these damn business trips, I’m gonna lose my fucking mind.”
I sputtered on my beer when I heard Hannah Jane drop an F-bomb. She was always so proper.
“What?” Hannah snapped, raising an eyebrow. “You’ve never heard a woman enunciate the word fuck like a fucking lady?”
Bridget hustled behind the bar and placed a margarita in front of Hannah. “Drink it. Now.”
Hannah complied, still glaring at me.
“Sorry,” Bridget said, giving me an apologetic smile. “She gets a little cranky when she’s horny.”
“I do not!” Hannah shouted.
Bridget pointed to the cocktail in front of Hannah. “Drink your alcohol like a good girl.”
My phone vibrated on top of the suspiciously sticky bar. I grabbed it, hoping that it was…
Kristin
If it’s worth anything, I really wish I could’ve had that cup of coffee with you this afternoon.
I grinned when I saw her name but quickly straightened my face. Too late .
“Awww!” Maddie cooed. “If she’s texting him, it’s not as bad as we thought.”
“Sitting right here, ladies,” I said awkwardly.
“Where’s Chase?” Maddie asked, ignoring me as she scanned the room for her friend. “I thought he was coming out tonight.”
Bridget picked up an empty glass and swiped the bar towel across a ring of condensation. “He’s probably not coming.”
“Why not?” Hannah said, reaching over and stealing a fry off my plate.
“Oh, sure, help yourself,” I mumbled.
Maddie and Bridget shared an are you serious kind of look.
I barely knew these people, but even I knew why Chase wouldn’t show up.
After Bridget’s fiancé showed up at the bar and made things sufficiently awkward for everyone, Kristin had spilled a little of the history between Chase and Bridget. I felt for the guy. The friend zone sucked.
Hannah Jane shrugged. “I figured he went to check on things at Kristin’s place. Or went to hang out with Steve and Erica.”
“Why would he go to Kristin’s?” The words escaped me before I could stop them.
“Aww!” Bridget and Hannah Jane cooed in sync.
“Oh, he’s got it bad,” Maddie grinned.
I drained my beer and told Bridget I was switching to water as she ran off to grab plates out of the kitchen window.
“I wanna take her out on a friggin’ date, but she won’t say yes.” I tried and failed to restrain the frustration in my voice.
“Has she said that she doesn’t want to go out with you?” Maddie asked.
“Not that she doesn’t want to,” I said, shaking my head. “Just that she can’t, but wishes she could . ”
Maddie and Hannah Jane shared a look I didn’t quite understand. After a pregnant pause, Maddie grabbed my phone .
“Leave it to us,” she said, putting her number in my contacts. “When are you free next week? But not Monday. We have poker night on Mondays.”
With a laugh, I pocketed my phone. I didn’t have a life. I worked all the time to stave off boredom. When was I free? All the damn time.
I shrugged. “Whenever.”
Hannah tapped her manicured nails against the bar and grinned. “Perfect.”