13. William
13
WILLIAM
I loitered outside the door of my room at the Taylor Creek Inn. My bags were packed and loaded into my truck. I checked out hours earlier, but stuck around, waiting for Kristin to make her way through the floor to turn over my room.
The second week of my stay was great, mostly because I got to see Kristin almost every day. She was a firecracker. The more she relaxed around me, the more her personality came out.
And damn if I didn’t love it.
Sarcasm came naturally to me. It was an aspect of my personality that rubbed a lot of people the wrong way. I tamped it down for the most part.
Kristin didn’t turn her nose up at my dry sense of humor, though. She threw it right back at me.
My reason for staying at the inn had been to sniff out any red flags that might not have been obvious on paper. A few things needed to be streamlined, and I wanted to do some digging on a couple of red-flag employees. Aside from that, the place was in tip-top shape.
The missing money still ate at me, though. My time at the inn revealed little more than I already knew. So, I installed spyware on the inn’s server and hoped to get to the bottom of the mess.
I had to admit, writing code on the fly and secretly planting software on a server took me back to the good old days. Technically, I already owned the place. I could do what I wanted. But that didn’t matter to me. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d had more fun being sneaky.
Besides, protecting the inn was important to me. It wasn’t just another investment property to me.
The Taylor Creek Inn was the spot I looked at as having made it. When I would go to the beach as a kid, my foster family would drive a route that took us past the inn. The regal white pillars lining the waterfront wrap-around porch always caught my eye, marking wealth and opulence.
We never went in, but I watched the tourists mill about the property. Men in business casual socializing with ladies in sundresses and big floppy hats. It was a different world for a kid like me.
Having the kind of money it took to stay at the inn was more than my little ten-year-old mind could comprehend.
I told myself that I’d work hard and save up so that someday I could stay there for two whole weeks. The day I filed my first patent, I thought about the little boy who dreamed of staying at the Taylor Creek Inn. I didn’t want to disappoint him, so I kept working.
And working.
And working.
And at thirty-eight years old, I bought the Taylor Creek Inn. Well, I owned the holding company that owned the investment company that bought the Taylor Creek Inn. Not too shabby.
“Hey, you,” Kristin chirped, smiling as she turned the corner and parked the housekeeping cart between my room and the next. “ I thought you’d be long gone by now. I was going to call you on my break.”
Like always, Kristin was in her Taylor Creek uniform. She joked about how much she hated the white polo shirts, but didn’t mind the trim green trousers. I made a note about the shirts and passed it along to the folks who would tell upper management to make the changes. She claimed they made her look frumpy, but Kristin could wear a paper bag and still look good enough to eat.
“Figured I’d wait,” I said, twirling my truck keys on one finger. “Wanted to see you before I drive back home.”
Kristin tucked loose tendrils of hair behind her ears and gave me a shy smile. “I think I’m actually going to miss you, Mr. Solomon.”
I chuckled. If she only knew what I had up my sleeve.
“What’s next for you?” she asked quietly as a couple with matching bride-and-groom luggage stepped off the elevator. “Back to running remote black-ops in the dark at home?”
“Smart ass,” I quipped, smiling as I nudged her hip with my finger.
She had to crane her head up to look up at me. Damn, her lips looked soft.
I scolded her with a playful tsk-tsk. “Two weeks with me, and you still don’t know what I do.”
“Not a damn clue.” She giggled.
“Well,” I said as I lowered my head, crowding her space. “I guess we’ll just have to spend some more time together outside of here.” I tapped on the wall to punctuate my point.
She lowered her eyes to her spotless sneakers.
“About that date you owe me…”
She reached out and gingerly touched my hand. “I wish I could … I really do. Maybe in a different lifetime.”
She wasn’t getting off that easily. I reared back and winced. Cringing, I whispered, “I’m already thirteen years older than you. Do you think I have that much time left on earth?”
That made her laugh. Whenever I poked fun at her age, it used to bother her.
Now, she giggled and said, “That was my master plan. I’m just gonna out-live you and get out of our date that way.”
“What about tonight?” I asked, even though I already knew the answer.
She shook her head. “I already have plans.”
I faked surprise. “Oh?”
Kristin smiled sheepishly. “Girls’ night. We’re driving down to Emerald Isle to go bar hopping.”
I couldn’t help but clench my fists. I knew all about the little white lie Maddie and Hannah Jane told Kristin. Still, the thought of Kristin downing umbrella drinks and getting groped by creepy frat boys raised my hackles.
“Call me sometime?” she asked out of the blue. Her voice softened. “It’s been really great getting to know you, Will.”
I licked my lips. God, I want to kiss her.
The longer I stood there, the less self-control I had. Not even that ill-fitting uniform could hide the shape of her body.
The curve of her hip.
The dip in her waist.
She only had one of the three buttons fastened. Even though I couldn’t see them, I knew just how full her tits were. The image of Kristin walking into Jokers wearing Daisy Dukes and that white spaghetti strap tank top was burned into my mind. Every time I jerked off, it was to the thought of her in those damn shorts. That skin-tight shirt that showed off her stomach. That glittering piercing in her navel.
“I’ll see you soon,” I said.
I left her on that promise, giving her a nod and turning toward the elevator. It took everything in me to drag my boots down the slick tile hall.
But I would see her soon. She just didn’t know it yet.
I arrived at Melissa Jacobsen’s apartment complex in Morehead City at precisely quarter ‘till five. It was a nice place. Builder landscaping and fresh mulch pointed to it being a recent development. I spotted Kristin’s car in the lot and parked a row away, just in case she looked outside.
Maddie had messaged me earlier in the afternoon to confirm my plans. I doubled-checked her text for the correct apartment number and couldn’t help but laugh. In the text, she had also mentioned that Chase and Steve ran a background check on me and were satisfied.
I kind of like that they tried.
I’m sure that made for an excellent little scavenger hunt.
My public records were bare bones. I’d never even had a speeding ticket. I obscured my investments through layers of shell corporations. My finances stayed on the up-and-up with the IRS, but I valued my privacy. Hell, my neighbors thought I was just some weirdo who rarely left the house and had a nice truck parked in the driveway. That didn’t bother me, though.
It was all by design.
After leaving the inn that morning, I drove the forty minutes back to New Bern and brushed the dust off my place. For a bachelor, I did a damn good job of keeping up with the housework. Then again, I lived alone and didn’t make much of a mess.
I picked up some groceries on my way back to Morehead and popped them in the cooler I kept in the bed of my truck. Kristin was planning on a night of drinks and dancing with her girls, but Hannah Jane suggested she might want something a little more low-key with me.
Fine by me. I wasn’t the wild type, anyway.
I smoothed down my light-blue button up as I approached Melissa’s building. Stuffing my phone in the back pocket of my jeans, I started up the steps. The second my Ariats hit the top of the landing, I heard a cacophony of voices coming from apartment 3B.
The doormat read Sleeping Nurse—Ring the Doorbell if You Dare.
I swallowed my nerves and knocked. The voices fell silent, except for Kristin’s confused questioning. A flurry of movement followed. Finally, the door swung open.
The sight of Kristin in a pale-yellow sundress nearly knocked me on my ass. Tiny straps dipped into a V that tied in a knot between her breasts. A sliver of skin peeked out beneath them. The hem swished around the middle of her thighs, leaving her legs exposed. A pair of strappy brown sandals wrapped around her ankles.
She wore a thin silver necklace and a pair of simple earrings. Her hair was down. The dark brown layers swooped around her shoulders.
Every time I saw her at the inn, she wasn’t wearing anything more than mascara and chapstick. Tonight, her already beautiful skin was radiant, and the smoky eyeshadow and glossy lips had her looking like a sex kitten.
I thanked my lucky stars that I had a photographic memory, because this was a moment I never wanted to forget.
“Hey, Sunshine,” I said, grinning at the sight of my girl.
“Y-You—” Kristin stammered.
Maddie, Hannah Jane, Melissa, Bridget, and Erica piled in the doorway behind her.
“He cleans up nice,” Mel said with a grin, elbowing Kristin.
Having her friends’ approval was a welcomed stroke to my ego. Especially because Kristin hadn’t indicated her willingness to actually leave with me.
Kristin looked at her friends, read their faces, and realized that they were all in on it. She narrowed her eyes in on Hannah Jane. “There’s no girls’ night tonight, is there?”
Hannah shook her head. “Nope! I’m about to go pick up Zoey and Kylie from Chase, and you’re going out with this tall drink of water.”
Kristin paled. With her lips pursed and eyes shut, she steeled herself.
I was curious about who Zoey and Kylie were. My mind went back to the hypothesis that Kristin was a single mom. It would explain a lot.
Bridget stuffed an overnight bag in Kristin’s hands, and she nearly toppled over. Her hands gripped the straps, knuckles turning white.
“Will someone please explain to me what the hell is going on?” Kristin gritted out. She was on the verge of tears—not happy tears, if I had to guess.
Erica put her hand on Kristin’s arm. “You need to take some time for yourself.”
“Chase is off tonight, so he has the boys. And since I don’t have a wedding tomorrow, I’m taking Zoey and Ky.”
“And you—” Maddie chimed in “—are going to have a great time.”
“And you look hot,” Bridget said as she wiggled her finger in Kristin’s direction. “We can’t let all this go to waste.”
I looked down at Kristin. “What do you say? Wanna go on a date?”
Kristin’s eyes were glassy. She blinked and dabbed at the corners with her fingertips. She turned to the girls and whispered, “Thank you.”
They gave her hugs and poked fun, telling her not to come back until tomorrow. That was the plan since Hannah Jane reassured me that she checked the schedule at the inn and Kristin wasn’t supposed to work tomorrow.
Before she left the doorway, Kristin looked at Hannah and whispered, “Do the kids know?”
Hannah shook her head.
I took the overnight bag out of Kristin’s hand and laced our fingers together as we walked down the stairs. She was quiet the entire walk across the parking lot and silent as we loaded into the truck.
As soon as I was behind the wheel, pulling out onto Highway 70, she spoke up.
“I know you have questions.”
“I do,” I said. There was no use in denying it. I gripped the steering wheel with one hand and rested the other on her thigh. “But I’m not going to ask. You can tell me however much or little you want.”
That seemed to brighten her spirit. She leaned her head on my arm and looked out at the road as we cruised through Havelock. “So, where are you taking me, Mr. Solomon?”
I gave her thigh a squeeze. “Figured we’d keep it simple. Does me cooking you dinner sound completely repulsive?”
Kristin laughed. “You can cook?”
I shrugged. “I’m decent. You can learn a lot from Food Network , and I live alone. So, unless I wanted to live on DoorDash and drive-through dinners for the rest of my life, I figured it would probably be in my best interest to learn.”
I felt her muscles tighten, and Kristin chewed on her lip. “So, does that mean you’re taking me to your house?”
“Is that okay with you?”
Kristin nodded and tossed her hair over her shoulder. “Sorry, I don’t mean to sound like I’m not excited. I’m just a little?—”
“Caught off guard? ”
“Yeah.”
I chuckled. “I figured. If it helps, a little birdie told me that Steve and Chase made sure I didn’t have a criminal record. Maddie and Hannah Jane even filled me in on what you like to eat.”
She burst out laughing. “Did they seriously run a background check on you?”
I nodded. “I was disappointed they didn’t fingerprint me, but I guess it would’ve been a waste of time. I’m already in IAFIS.”
She raised her eyebrows. “IAFIS?”
“The FBI’s fingerprint database,” I supplied. “Remember when I said I used to work for a company that contracted for the Department of Defense?”
Kristin nodded.
I shrugged. “Let’s just say I’ve had more background checks than the average bear.”
“How much can you talk about what you do?” she asked.
“More now that I’m self-employed. I’m basically a subcontractor for defense contractors. It pays better when they’re courting you. When I’m not working on projects for other companies, I dabble in a little of everything. Cyber security, writing software… A while back, I patented this computer chip that goes inside of drones.” I shrugged. “I get bored and tinker around with things. Sometimes it pays off.”
Kristin eyed me curiously. “You’re very humble.”
I chuckled. “Nah, I just don’t enjoy talking about myself.”
I pulled off the highway onto a street that skirted around the New Bern waterfront. We cruised alongside the Neuse River for a bit, then turned left down Trent Woods Drive. A neighbor of mine—Nick — offered a polite wave from his driveway as we passed by.
“Holy shit!” Kristin gasped as I pulled into my drive. “You live here ?”
I killed the engine. “I got a good deal on the place.” I didn’t splurge on much. Truthfully, I didn’t really like spending money. When I bought my house, I was drawn to the property first. I liked the idea of living on the waterfront. The house was nice, but the view couldn’t be beat.
Kristin’s eyes bulged as she peered up at my two-story white brick home. “Are you sure you live alone? Because this place is massive.”
“I hope I live alone,” I joked. “Let me know if you bump into anyone else. Also, scream and run away immediately.”
Kristin’s shock wasn’t completely unfounded. Six thousand square feet was a bit much considering I rarely went beyond my office, bedroom, and kitchen. It was different when Elena lived here.
She had people over all the time. Loved entertaining on the lawn. It wasn’t my scene, and she hated that I had no interest in throwing lavish parties to wine and dine people who were preoccupied with looking down their own noses.
The clock said that it was almost seven in the evening, so I offered Kristin the grand tour before I got started on dinner.