Chapter 1 #2
“Please,” he said. “I’ll have Ronaldo give you a list of pet hotels where you can board them until your time with us is over. Or I’d be happy to suggest a different pet friendly hotel where your dogs can terrorize the guests to their hearts’ content.”
He turned abruptly and began scanning the floor, probably looking for his missing phone.
Mrs. Barclay was glaring at his back while he searched the room. She was not happy. Like, refuse to sign the contract for her granddaughter’s wedding planner unhappy.
I’d worked hard to land this job, and I wasn’t going to let him screw it up for me. Frankly, he shouldn’t be letting himself screw this up. Did he not realize the potential blowback to the resort from his grumpiness?
We both spied his missing phone at the same moment. I speed walked in front of him and gently placed my nude stiletto on the phone case, meeting his gaze with an equally steely expression.
He glared at me. “What are you doing?”
“Righting a wrong,” I said. “Preventing a scandal.” Keeping my client, I added silently.
“Crushing my phone is about as wrong as it gets,” he spat back at me.
It might be wrong, but damn, it would be satisfying. Still, I wouldn’t go there if he’d just give in and see sense. “You need to give them one more chance.”
I glanced over and was happy to see Mrs. Barclay still hovering nearby with the three dogs improbably silent, like they were invested in the drama as well.
He jabbed a finger at his audience. “Do you know that the spotty one with the evil eyes bit our concierge?”
I glanced over at the dapple dachshund. “That’s a puppy. There’s no way it was a malicious bite, that’s what puppies do. But you understand that. You’re a reasonable man, aren’t you?” I adjusted my foot on his phone and raised an eyebrow. “One. More. Chance.”
Grumps-a-lot let out an angry sigh. “I don’t have time to deal with this.”
I grinned at him. “And I have all the time in the world.”
Another lie, but in for a penny and however the rest of that went.
“You promise you’ll keep hold of their leashes from now on, right?” I asked Mrs. Barclay. “They’ll always be under your control in public areas?”
“Oh yes,” she answered quickly, somehow reverting to sweet old lady status before my eyes. “I swear I will.”
“Fine,” he finally said in a quiet voice. “But this is your last warning. The second one gets away from you, they’re all banned. Understand?”
She nodded.
“There we go,” I said as I lifted my foot off of his phone. “I knew we could see eye to eye. A pleasure doing business with you.”
“Yeah,” he seethed, reaching down to snatch it up. “Never again.”
He rubbed the phone on the front of his shirt and I took a few seconds to admire the package, even though the personality left a lot to be desired.
Broad shoulders, piercing blue eyes, light hair with a wave that looked like it required attention to tame, and when he turned to stalk away, I spied an ass that nearly made me gasp.
As much as I appreciated him leaving, I also enjoyed the view.
He sped through the doors and into a sleek black Escalade with darkened windows.
Mrs. Barclay walked over to me. “Thank you, so much sweetheart. You’re a dear. They’re not bad dogs, they’re just excitable.”
She wasn’t as sweet and blameless as she liked to project. I could tell Mrs. Barclay was used to getting her way, and didn’t mind utilizing whatever act would be most effective—from doddering grandma to regal queen and everything in between. Well, more power to her. I wanted to be her someday.
I knelt down to pat the pups. “Happy to help,” I said to her.
While I waited for Amanda to show up, I needed to survey the damage from the fall. I had a feeling that I had pawprints all over my clothing, like I’d been run over by a pack of hounds.
I pushed into the bathroom and was relieved that I was in a Ashford property.
It was a grand space, with a seating area and plenty of mirrors.
I swiveled back and forth in front of one to make sure that I still looked okay and was relieved that my swingy white dress was still in good shape.
I tried to wear white to my initial meetings, to subliminally underscore the wedding-ness of it all, but swapped to bright colors as each bride’s big day approached.
My phone sounded off with an unfamiliar tone. The factory setting tone, which I’d quickly changed after I’d bought it months before. Did it switch back because of an update?
I picked it up off the counter to squint at the new text.
I understand that you want him fired immediately but there are protocols we need to follow.
Supposition isn’t just cause, and we need a paper trail to protect ourselves against a future lawsuit.
As it stands, there’s nothing we can do.
I’m sorry but I refuse to leave the company exposed to even more reputation damage.
I was usually on top of every single detail for every single wedding I was working. Nothing escaped me, which was why the message made zero sense. Who wanted to fire whom? And what paper trail? I was an independent contractor—I didn’t have any employees to fire.
At that moment, I realized that the weight of the phone in my hand felt off.
And the case had a tiny divot along the edge I’d never seen.
Damn. This wasn’t my phone, it was his. And double damn, Grumplestilskin was an even bigger asshole than I realized.
Wanting to fire someone without just cause was super shitty, but based on what I’d just experienced, it tracked.
So now I was dealing with two pretty major problems; I was without my lifeline on an incredibly busy day, and worse, I was going to be forced to interface with the world’s grumpiest man. Again.
I was a problem solver by nature. It was the reason why my calendar was booked out for months. So instead of spiraling about how upside-down my day had become, I opted to focus on making it right. First up; calling my phone to try to connect with him.
I did one final primp in the mirror and headed back out to the dog-free lobby to once again fix something that I hadn’t broken.