CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Ella
H annah and I stroll through Central Park Sunday morning with steaming lattes in hand.
“Everyone at the Warwick is excited about the owner’s wedding. Even if that’s breaking many hearts.” Hannah, who’s a housekeeping manager for the swanky hotel, sips her drink.
She manages the corporate executive floor at the Warwick, where she pulls in a grand a week in tips alone.
I stifle a brief sting of jealousy. I miss working at Fredricks Elementary in Manhattan, which is close to Dad’s apartment. Now I have to commute to Astoria, Queens and work in a command center. I don’t even know where Astoria is.
“Sounds like you have a crush on the hotel owner,” I say, wanting some solidarity with an inappropriate relationship.
Hannah’s face contorts. “Are you kidding? He’s mafia. I wouldn’t touch that with a ten-foot pole.” The word mafia falls off her lips with disdain but oh, so effortlessly.
My father whispered it like Voldemort . They who shall not be named.
“Not all mafia is bad,” I say, dreading telling her about my new job.
“They kill people,” Hannah shrieks.
“Some people deserve it.”
Hannah stops walking and stares at me. “What?”
The look of disgust in her eyes changes my mind about my dad’s hesitancy to speak the unmentionable. Hannah is my best friend, but in this instance, loyalty to Balor and his family rings louder. “Never mind. I am dying to tell you something, though.”
“Oh my God, what is it? Is it Wes?” Panic hardens her features.
“No! The hot guy. From the plane.”
Her mouth forms a little O. “He called you?”
I don’t want to point out that he didn’t have my number because he didn’t ask for it since he never planned to see me again. Only...now I know he left me his number, which I’ve been meaning to fish out of the envelope, but it’s buried in my closet.
“No. But...I saw him.”
“Get out! Where?”
“Last night. The dinner with my father and his new boss.”
“Shut up!”
“Apparently, he’s my new boss, too.”
“What about the school?”
Shaking my head, I pull her out of the road and sit down on one of the benches. “I heard from Fredricks’ HR. They can only offer me something temporary and part-time, but Dad is freaked out about me going back there since that’s where I met Wes.”
“If Wes wasn’t a cop, I’d disagree because it’s important to be strong and independent. But he’s right.” Hannah nods. “Wes is insane, and since you ditched him, just seeing you again may set him off.”
“I know.” I hug her. “But are you following the bouncing ball? The job my dad got for me is with him . The guy from the plane. That’s mine and my dad’s new boss. I had hours of crazy, intense sex with him.”
Her eyes go wide. “Oh, God.”
That he was. It wasn’t my woozy, airplane-air-tainted brain that made me fall into bed with that certified god.
And not a Conan the Barbarian warrior god with biceps the size of tree trunks, or a Viking god.
No, Balor is sleek, muscular perfection.
“Yeah.” Shaking my head, I add, “I guess it wasn’t that huge of a coincidence. Turns out he was at my dad’s conference in Sydney.”
“Does your dad know you guys hooked up?”
“No. It’s not the having sex part that I think would flip my father out, it’s that he slept with me because he thought I was an escort. And did all those...dirty things to me. Things men do only with hookers.” I see Balor’s face every time I close my eyes. “And now I’ll see him every day.”
Smiling, Hannah says, “Maybe it will spark something real between you two.”
“I kind of threw out the idea to him last night. After he said the dirtiest things to me.”
“Then he’s on board for some fun. You’re adults.”
“He seemed cautious. Working for him only gives him slight pause.”
He’s mafia and does whatever the hell he wants, I say in my head, already loyal to keeping his secret.
“But he only sleeps with escorts so he won’t get attached.”
Hannah wrinkles her nose. “Sounds like he’s got commitment issues.”
“I’ll say.” Balor is wound tight, but I can’t help wondering if I could loosen his threads.
“What are you doing with the money he gave you?” Hannah asks.
“I offered to give it back. He refused.” I shrug.
“How much will the new job pay?”
Laughing, I suck down the last sip of my latte. “I don’t even know. I’m kind of a clean slate. I don’t have any debt or expenses. Dad’s private health insurance plan covers both of us. I don’t have a car.”
“Your job is likely a piece of cake that pays well. With the bonus of looking at a hottie all day.”
“That’s one hell of a silver lining.” I loop arms with Hannah to pull her up from the bench with me.
“My latte is cold.” Hannah tosses her cup. “Let’s get refills and head to Val’s apartment and taste-test some of her sinfully delicious cookies.”
I stop dead in my tracks.
“Balor said the same thing about my...” I point to the ache between my thighs.