Chapter 29
Ethan
New York, same day…
I cursed.
My boss had just put me on notice. Revenues were down at the Victoria Hotels and it was my job to turn this ship around—or else.
I kicked the side of the desk in frustration.
How hard did a man have to work these days?
The answer—too hard. I’d been working my ass off for the last two years, and my boss railroaded me on nearly all my ideas to improve our image.
And then, the guy took it out on me. Blamed me for lackluster quarters and poor performance.
I let out a long stream of air, the frustration thick in my blood.
Things were supposed to be different. I was supposed to be CEO of The Luxe. I’d worked in this business long enough, I had known that hotel inside and out, and I was sure the top job would’ve gone to me.
Instead, Nate Harper had won the gig. Nate was younger by a few years, and it ticked me off that the time I’d put in wasn’t enough to beat out the young hotshot.
I hadn’t stayed on at The Luxe after losing that two-man race.
That would have been humiliating, so I’d sought out a new job, and grabbed the chance here, thinking I could make a difference.
But most days I was banging my head against a brick wall.
I sank down in my chair, swiveled around, and stared out the window of my office building in Midtown.
I wanted something to change the image of Victoria Hotels.
Make it something sexy. Something alluring.
Hell, that’s why I’d reached out to Casey Sullivan in the first place, trying to strike a deal with Joy Delivered.
Victoria wouldn’t be the first hotel to include pleasure packs in its rooms. Plenty of high-end hotels around the world included anything from shag bags to condoms to feather ticklers to blindfolds, and such perks had been proven to spread positive word of mouth—but I wanted something no one else had.
With the way Joy Delivered’s star had risen in recent years, I’d wanted to pair up with that company.
But Casey had given me the blow-off in her messages. Maybe I needed to try something else, another sexy type of product. I turned around, grabbed the phone, and dialed Grant Abbot at Entice. I knew the guy because the Victoria Hotel in Chicago featured an Entice boutique in the lobby.
“To what do I owe the pleasure of this phone call?” Grant said, his Big Easy drawl coming through loud and clear from New Orleans all the way to Manhattan.
After a bit of friendly chatter, I tackled the matter at hand. “What are the chances that we can expand our deal with Entice?”
“You know I’d love to do something with you. But right now my energy is focused on this new partnership with Joy Delivered. But perhaps, we can discuss it as soon as that’s done.”
My spine straightened and my radar went off. There was that name again. What the hell was Casey up to? “What are you doing with Casey?”
“Just launching a new product with them. It’s the ultimate pleasure toy on the path to prolonged orgasm,” Grant said, speaking in an over-the-top voice as if he were narrating an infomercial.
“Which means?”
“Apparently it’s like being licked and fucked at the same time,” Grant said, choosing bluntness now. “That’s not how we’ll be positioning it in our boutiques, but that’s what it is and what it does, evidently. I read some pretty eye-opening descriptions from their focus group. So there you go.”
When the call ended, I flipped open my laptop and hunted through my emails to Casey Sullivan.
I stabbed my finger at the screen as if I’d caught her red-handed.
Because right there, in black and white in her reply from a few days ago, she’d told me that she was already working with another hotel.
My antennae went into overdrive, a memory resurfacing.
Hadn’t Nate told me on the phone when I’d called to give him the bartender update that he was doing business with her?
What the hell? Had she taken my idea and given it to fucking Harper?
Searching through my sent messages in a flurry, I found my original note to her. Early June. My eyes narrowed and my jaw clenched.
Harper again. Coming out ahead.
If she’d stolen my idea and handed it over to the man who took the job I’d wanted…well, I’d find a way to get what rightfully belonged to me.