14. Sebastian
By the time we get a solid break from check-outs, I feel certain every lobby guest and employee has figured out that I have it bad for one of our new interns. I can’t stop looking at her.
She notices me, too. I catch her glances as she and Brooklyn help families until there are none left.
Jessica lets out a long, “Whew! That was a Monday!”
“Mondays are always special,” Aisha says.
“How about I take the interns through the offices behind the desk?” Jessica asks.
“Perfect,” I say. Get Mila out of my view. She’s far too distracting.
The three of them take off, and Aisha and I remain at the desk. I plan to head somewhere else in the hotel, but I feel her gaze on me. Aisha misses nothing.
Might as well head this off. “You have something you want to ask me?”
“Are you and Mila a thing?” Aisha examines her long, sparkly black nails like she didn’t just drop a hefty accusation.
I better get this right or Mila will be the subject of speculation from here on out. “I met Mila randomly without realizing she was about to become an intern here. I had nothing to do with the intern hiring, so I wasn’t aware she was part of our crew when I mistakenly brought her to the lobby.” All true.
“How well did you know her?”
“Not at all.” That’s mostly true, if we don’t count the way I know exactly how her back arches when she orgasms.
“Not at all, huh?”
Focus, Sebastian. “It’s my understanding she only arrived in Boulder on Saturday. We ran into each other in town. When I saw her again here, I assumed she was simply checking in for her vacation.”
“Well, that’s boring.”
Now, that’s what I wanted to hear. “I’m not really involved with the interns.”
“You’re not, huh?” Aisha leans on the desk and drums her nails on the surface. “I heard you brought in someone of your own, a hot number with an attitude to match. Maverick, I think? I haven’t seen him yet. Raya sent him to wash dishes.”
Did she? “I’m hoping we can turn him around with our professionalism.”
A woman and her husband come out of the elevator and head our way. “Lead by example,” I tell her as I leave the desk.
Aisha shakes her head at me, but greets the guests with a friendly smile and begins their check-out procedure.
I’ve been in the lobby more than I normally would, and that’s going to get noticed. Bertie stands by the door, arm propped on the handle of a cart, grinning at me.
Yeah, he knows, too.
I’m going to have to stay very clear of Mila if I want to quash rumors.
Time to do paperwork. Or something. Whatever gets me away from the front desk.
I head to the small office Raya and I use when we need to address problems with guests away from the lobby.
It’s a cozy spot meant to be calming, with cool blues and greens on the walls and a lighted aquarium. It’s functional, too, with a computer and intercom system that hooks into every area of the hotel. Because we don’t do actual work here, it’s always tidy.
I sit in the leather office chair. I have to get a grip on this distraction with Mila. How long is she going to be at the front desk? It’s the one rotation that keeps her near me.
The computer beeps to life with a quick passcode. Raya surely added their schedules to the network.
I dig around and finally find the intern plan. Maverick was supposed to go to HR today. He must have really made her mad to switch him to the dish room.
Owen and Ilsa are with room service. Maybe I’ll go check on them to spread my intern interest around.
According to the schedule, all this week’s rounds last until Friday at noon, with Friday afternoon reserved for a review session for their Colorado food management testing on Monday.
Maybe she’ll move Maverick back to HR tomorrow if he behaves. The dish room was never a rotation, just a general kitchen tour. The chefs don’t want non-cooks in the main kitchen any more than necessary, although the interns will rotate through scheduling and ordering under the food service umbrella. They will also do a brief rotation as hosts, seating people in the restaurant, as well as helping with banquets.
Raya is going to make Maverick serve appetizers on trays. I can feel it.
Maybe I should check on him, too. Clue him in that he has to fly right or she’ll make him want to quit.
I shut down the scheduler when I hear voices. It’s Jessica, showing Brooklyn and Mila the small break room where the front desk clerks can take a moment between waves.
Maybe they’ve already seen this office. I should sit tight until they pass.
But no, Jessica pops in, stopping short when she sees me. “Oh! You’re in here! The door was open!”
“It’s fine. I was heading out.” I stand to leave, but Mila and Brooklyn crowd the door.
They all move inside as I awkwardly try to squeeze past. My arm brushes against Mila’s. Everything ignites. I forget all my determination to stay away from her. I want to grab her hand and take off with her.
Jessica gestures toward me. “Sebastian or Raya will meet with guests here if there’s a complex problem or if the guests get too feisty to stay in the lobby. Sebastian, you want to tell them about the security involved?”
I was about to make my escape, but I turn around. Mila and Brooklyn move farther into the office.
“Sure. There are multiple places you can call for security if there’s a problem that is escalating. There’s a button by each kiosk at the front desk. There’s another inside the door you passed through to get to these offices. And there are several in this room, since this is where we bring people who are behaving angrily or erratically.” I move aside the hanging vines of an ivy plant to reveal a red button. “This is one. There is another beneath the desk.”
“I haven’t seen any security,” Brooklyn says. “Where are they?”
“Everywhere,” I say. “In the lobby during the day, we have one in plain clothes. That is usually Hank or Jared during the week, Lonnie or Mitchell on the weekends. We don’t like a big show of security when guests arrive, although there is always someone in uniform patrolling the parking lots. And there are others in uniform walking the castle. They are the ones who will arrive at a button push. We make very deliberate decisions surrounding when we show a uniform, and when we’re trying to simply de-escalate without presenting an authority figure.”
“They don’t talk about this stuff in hospitality school,” Brooklyn says.
“It’s different for every hotel,” I tell her. “And it can vary here depending on the type of events happening.”
“I heard a rogue princess came to one of the haunted balls,” Brooklyn says.
I rock back on my heels. “That definitely happened. That was an all-hands-on-deck security situation.”
“Wild.” Brooklyn grins at Mila.
I catch Mila watching me and heat surges through my body.
I better get out of here before I do something dumb.
“I’m going to check on the interns in room service,” I tell them. “Jessica, show these two how to work the system when it’s slow. Have them give it a go when there isn’t a line and the right sort of guest comes up.”
“Will do, boss!”
I give them all a salute, then take off down the hall before yet another member of the Castle Hotel staff recognizes that I’m losing my mind over one of our new interns.