CHAPTER 9 Millie Monroe
Are There Roosters in Paradise
We fall asleep after that.
Or pass out. I’m not really sure. I’m disoriented from the sex that felt like more than just a fling.
I’d love to stay up and get to know him better all damn night, but I’m in this haze of total pleasure, and I can’t keep my eyes open another second.
I’m fast asleep when I hear an annoying rooster crowing over and over.
Are there roosters in paradise?
I didn’t think so, but why do I hear one?
Somewhere through the crowing, reality seeps its way through.
That’s not a rooster.
Shit!
I leap out of bed and run into the living room to stop the sound of my phone alarm.
I need to be at sunset yoga in…shit! Ten minutes. I was planning to roll out of bed, put on some yoga pants and a sports bra, and head down. I’m barely going to have time to get back to my room to pee, let alone change clothes.
My clothes are strewn all over this suite. I find my bra and jeans where I first took them off, but my shirt and panties are in the bathroom.
Archer doesn’t stir in the bed as I move around quietly. I’ll slip out, do yoga, meet with the manager, and be back before he even gets up.
I don’t realize in my panic to get to the first event I’m required to be at that it’s a shit plan from the start.
Instead, I rush out of the room, head down to the ninth floor, run down the hall to my room, change quickly, don’t bother brushing my teeth, and run to yoga, which is on the beach by the iconic Coast Tower.
I’m out of breath and missed the very beginning.
I meant to get here early so I could take a few pictures, but I didn’t.
It is what it is. I snap a pic of the class, mostly the backs of guests and only the face of the instructor, and then I shove my phone into the pocket of my yoga pants and get into the downward dog position.
An hour later, I’m sweating and feel a bit like I’m going to throw up when class ends, and that’s when I spot Diedrick Pinder, the manager, standing on the sidewalk not far from where class is taking place.
“Ms. Monroe, good morning. I take it you had a nice yoga session?” he asks as I walk toward him.
I nod. “It was lovely. Quite the workout after the night I had.” I stop when I arrive in front of him, but he starts walking toward the Coast Tower.
His brows dip as he tilts his head. “I didn’t see anything on your tab from last night.”
“No, someone actually treated me to dinner and a few drinks last night.”
“How nice,” he says. “I’d love to remind you to keep your focus on the resort.”
“Of course.”
He smiles tightly. “And I take it whoever treated you for dinner was why you were late to the yoga session?”
Well, damn. I didn’t know I was escaping to paradise to have a goddamn babysitter. “No, sir. I didn’t hear my alarm.”
“Perhaps turn the volume louder, or take advantage of our wake-up calls.”
“Will do,” I say brightly. We walk into the tower, and he leads me toward the diner, where he bypasses the hostess stand that’s actually pretty quiet at eight in the morning. He leads me right to a table where two glasses of water and menus are already awaiting us.
“We have many VIP guests staying in the Beachfront Tower over the next week or two, so I’d like your focus when you’re not participating in hotel events to be at the private adult pool,” he begins while I’m still staring at the menu.
Is he talking about Archer? When he says VIP, I have to assume he means celebrities, and it sort of feels like he’s subtly telling me to definitely feature them in my content. Even if I get one of them walking by without naming them, it has the power to go viral.
“Are you trying to say that if I see Taylor Swift in the VIP area, I should film some content of her walking by in the background behind me even if I don’t name her?” I ask quietly.
He shakes his head and glances around. “I would never suggest such a thing.” He nods as he says it, though, a clear and not so subtle signal that yes, that’s exactly what he’s telling me to do.
I mean, if I go live and someone is walking behind me, I can’t help that. Right?
The way he’s suggesting feels like an invasion of privacy. I don’t know how I feel about that.
I was planning to go live while I’m by the pool, so I guess if someone is exposed on vacation, that’s on them. It’s an adults-only retreat by the Beachside Tower, but it’s still a public space that doesn’t come with an expectation of privacy.
We switch gears to some of the amenities he’d like me to feature, and I chow down on my eggs, bacon, and hash browns, hungry after my rather strenuous night.
As soon as breakfast ends, I head back to my own room to finally brush my teeth, and I see I have a missed call from Jackie.
I give her a call back.
“How was your first night?” she answers. “And did you get our list?”
I giggle as I walk over and pick up the sex bucket list. “Well, I managed to check off numbers one, three, seven, and ten, so I’d say it was a successful first night.”
She gasps. “You had a one-night stand?”
“Babe, I had the one-night stand.” I sigh dreamily as I think back.
“What are the other ones?”
“Three was sex with a toy. I also knocked off shower with a friend and sex against the hotel room window, if my palms up against the window counts,” I say.
“Oh, it counts. Damn, girl! Toys?”
“A bullet,” I admit, and my thighs clench at the memory.
“Tell me about the guy.”
I debate how much to give away, and then I opt to give it all away. “It was Archer Bradley.” I’m definitely squealing.
“Oh my God! The Archer Bradley? Are you freaking serious? He’s so hot!” She’s squealing, too.
“I did,” I say, grinning like an idiot.
“Tell me every single detail,” Jackie demands.
I decide to leave some things to the imagination. “He was huge.” Not that, apparently.
“I guess it makes sense he’s out there since he’s suspended,” Chip says in the background, and I didn’t know he was listening.
“He’s suspended?” both Jackie and I ask at the same time.
“Yeah. Something with an underground casino in Vegas. I don’t know all the details, but he’s out the first forty games,” he says.
“How long is he staying there?” Jackie asks.
“I don’t know. We didn’t exchange that info.”
“You exchanged body fluids and not how long you’re each staying there?” she demands, and I can’t help a laugh.
“Gross. I didn’t want to get into why I’m here, and it sort of sounds like he didn’t either. I didn’t admit I knew who he was. He seemed to like that,” I say.
“Where is he now?” Jackie asks.
“Probably still asleep. We had a freaking marathon, but I had to get to sunrise yoga and then breakfast with the resort manager. I’m planning to head back up now, though.
He’s staying in my tower, get this, on the twenty-sixth floor.
I can’t wait to see his daytime view compared to mine.
” I glance out my window. I’m looking out over the gardens and private pool, which is a lovely view, but I’m staying at the beach. I want to see the goddamn beach.
“Well, get up there,” Jackie says. “Keep us updated!”
“We should check something off our sex bucket list, too, Jack,” Chip says to his wife, and I laugh.
“You don’t have to keep me updated on that,” I say.
“Tell her the thing we checked off,” Chip says.
“What, the sex that results in a baby thing?” Jackie asks him.
I freeze for a beat.
“I’m pregnant,” Jackie says.
“Oh my God!” I squeal. “Congratulations! When are you due?”
“End of October,” Jackie says.
“I’m so happy for you two!”
They kiss, and I grin at them. Chip whispers something to her I don’t quite catch, Jackie turns red, and I decide to bow out.
“I’ll be going now. Love you guys.”
They return the words, and we hang up.
I really am happy for them. That’s amazing.
And a reminder of how alone I am. I’m off having a fling with a major league baseball player while my closest friends are married and getting ready to have a baby.
I want that someday, too, but it feels like a dream that’s pretty damn far out of my grasp.
I take a speed shower to get the sweat and sand off of me, brush my teeth, and throw on my swimwear and a cover-up before I head to the elevator to travel the seventeen floors separating me and Archer.
And as I hit the button for twenty-six and it doesn’t light up, my fatal mistake plows into me headfirst.
I don’t have a key that will allow me to access a floor at that level.
Shit.
I didn’t leave my number, either.
I head back to my room, locate the instructions for calling a room, and dial twenty-six twenty-six.
He doesn’t pick up.
I opt not to leave a message.
The resort is huge, but we’re in the same tower. Fate was at play last night tossing us together, so I imagine it’ll be at play again since the magnetism between us was so strong.
I head down to the pool with hope filling me that I’ll somehow magically run into him there.