True Blue (Blue Series Book 3)

by Jules Barnard

  Tyler catches up to my side. “I’ll just hang behind. Make sure everything goes okay. It’s my job, after all.”

  “You got this job to torment me, didn’t you?”

  He winks.

  “Don’t get in my way, Tyler, I’m serious.”

  “Would I do that? Pretend I’m your shadow. I won’t even say a word.”

  Somehow I highly doubt that.

  I promised Hayden I’d start with the suites, but I’ve got a meeting with a manager expecting me this very moment. I go there first and make sure everything is set up for the vendors to have access to the kitchens. I also provide the manager with a new list of temporary employees, which changed right up until the last minute. I’ve assigned badges to offsite vendors, but I’m double-checking everything. Tyler keeps his word and remains silent throughout all this, but I receive odd looks from the manager. It’s not every day that hospitality personnel are escorted by security.

  I make my way to the penthouse suites elevator bank, inserting a special access key.

  Tyler peeks at the list in my hands. “What is this?”

  I snatch it away. “Nothing.”

  His brow quirks. “Doesn’t look like nothing. Since when does the hotel provide guests with”—he snoops over my shoulder again—“red satin sheets, extra-large lubricated—”

  “Knock it off. These are special guests.”

  “I’ll say.” He smirks. “Why are you doing this anyway? You’re human resources. This seems a bit outside your job description.”

  “The girl who’s been handling our hospitality shortage is really sick and couldn’t come in. That leaves Hayden to make sure there’s coverage, hence me. I’ve been helping out in hospitality anyway, so it’s fine.”

  “Hayden can’t hire someone?”

  “Will you stop already? Hayden will hire someone when she comes up for air. They’ve lumped a shit ton of work on her since she started. There are people around here who want to see her fail. They don’t want her in a power position.”

  “When they give her this much responsibility, they’re putting her in a power position.”

  The elevator doors open and we walk inside. “That’s true. Not very smart of them. Anyway, tonight Hayden’s responsible for making sure the high-end guests are happy.”

  “So you’re on condom duty.”

  “Exactly.”

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Tyler

  This errand Mira’s boss has her on is hilarious. Condoms and Pringles? Nice. Then again, I’m in a pretend cop uniform, strutting around like I actually have authority in this place. A walkie-talkie and handcuffs do not a Green Beret make.

  Mira stares at her cell phone as we leave the last suite. “Crap. Hayden texted me one more.” She slides her finger down the screen of her phone, scrolling. “And they want tons of supplies. Hayden says this suite wasn’t on the list, but that she found a file in the hospitality manager’s office that had been set aside.”

  I’ve already told my boss I’m providing security to the understaffed hospitality department. He’s got new recruits for support, so he’s good with me assisting where I’m needed. I wasn’t lying when I told Mira we’ve got security covered. We’ve bulked up to triple our normal personnel for the festival.

  I text my boss I’ve got one more errand and will return in thirty. “Let’s do this.” I tuck my phone away.

  “Tyler,” Mira says as she sifts through her plastic key cards. “You should go back. It’s all been extremely boring. Only the one suite was missing items, and they were probably tack-ons. A phone call took care of it. I’ve got this. You must have better things to do with your time.”

  I pretend to consider this for a moment, my lips scrunched in concentration. “Nope. Besides, these special requests are fascinating. They have me thinking of all kinds of…scenarios.”

  She glances up and huffs out a frustrated sigh that is light and airy and sexy. She had better knock it off, because it’s turning me on. Why her frustration is a turn-on, I will never know. Maybe it’s because I think she actually likes having me near, and that the constant angst between us is just foreplay.

  Her gaze narrows on the cards and she drops her hands to her sides. “Great. Hayden gave me the special code for the keypad, but I hadn’t planned on coming here. I don’t have the card to enter this room.” She stares at the door as though it might magically open.

  Lucky I’m here.

  “Allow me.” I pull out the master key my boss gave me, because I kick ass at my job and he knows what a trustworthy guy I am. Hmm, maybe he can put in a good word for me with Mira?

  I slip in the card and Mira types the passcode on the keypad. Which is odd. I’ve never seen a keypad for Blue hotel rooms.

  The door beeps with a green light and I push it open.

  Mira walks inside, her eyes scanning the list on her phone. She scrunches her nose. “This is strange.”

  “More strange than the suite that wanted Uno, Nutter Butters, and lube?”

  “Maybe.” She scans the large space.

  Blue houses several penthouse suites. A view of the lake spans the center of this room, double doors on one side, two separate doors on the other. There’s a kitchen, a dining area that seems to be converted into some kind of office with files, two lockboxes, a computer…She’s right. This place doesn’t look like a normal suite at all.

  “Mira, are you sure this one is on the list?”

  She stares at her phone. “A dozen robes for each bedroom, ten bottles of kissable massage oil, two hundred condoms—” Her voice breaks off and she looks up. “Okay, that’s a lot.” She opens the bedroom with the double doors. “Whoa.”

  I peer over her head. A king-sized bed with a maroon satin comforter takes up half the room, leather wrist and ankle restraints dangling from the head- and footboards. On the wall, a clear case filled with whips, canes, and—shit, I’m not even sure what some of it is.

  This is post-Fifty Shades, but still. Wow.

  I walk inside to take a closer look.

  “Tyler,” Mira hisses. “Get out of there.”

  “What?” My expression is all innocence. “Let me see that list. We need to make sure they have what they need.”

  “Get out, get out.” She waves at me frantically. “I will take care of this.”

  “You sure?”

  “Yes. Just—leave before you touch something and get me in trouble.”

  I shake my head. “Where is the trust, Mira?” She snorts as I walk past her, but her lips twist into a small smile.

  I stand in the doorway, and she moves toward the bed, glancing at her list warily. Mira gingerly lifts the comforter and drops it quickly, checking off items on her phone.

  I’m surprised Blue keeps a place like this around. They cater to all clientele, but this is…elaborate.

  I saunter into the main room and pull open a desk drawer. Your basic office supplies, nothing special. The drawer below holds a handful of condoms. Definitely more interesting than the top drawer, but not shocking, considering the supplies in the Fifty Shades room. I open the third drawer. Packages of syringes, tubes, light gray powder, pills in locked cases…

  “Mira—”

  “I’m almost done,” she says from somewhere in the second bedroom.

  “We should leave.” I shut the drawer and walk over to her. “This place isn’t right.”

  “Tell me about it.” She slams the nightstand cabinet and shakes her head. “But go ahead if you need to be somewhere. I’m fine.” Mira bends over, her head disappearing on the side of the bed as she lifts the comforter. “I just need five more minutes, tops.”

  “No.” I round the bed to where she’s standing. “We need to leave. Now. I don’t think Hayden was supposed to know about this place.”

  “What are you talking about?” Her eyes flicker around the room.

  This one is toned down, no whipping equipment on display, but there’s a sculpture in the corner that looks like a gia
nt dildo, large mirrors on the walls, and I’m pretty sure that’s video equipment on the dresser.

  “It’s unconventional,” she says, “but you saw what the other people asked for. That rocker’s suite wanted the hot pink two-foot—”

  “This isn’t the same. This is—”

  The door to the suite beeps, indicating someone is about to enter.

  I pick up Mira, charge into the main room, and dive behind the couch.

  “What the hell, Tyler?” she mouths, brushing hair out of her face.

  I jerk my head toward the desk. “There are illegal drugs in here,” I say as quietly as I can next to her ear.

  Her mouth parts and I push her down until she’s practically under me. I scoot us closer to the side of the couch, away from the voices carrying into the room.

  “—they want it all removed. New location, same setup. Boss wants it up and running by this evening.”

  “The entire circuit?”

  “All of it. We’ve got customers arriving in two hours.”

  “We’ll need the rest of the team.”

  “Already on it.”

  I peek around the couch.

  Two men stand in the middle of the room, both in suits. One guy scratches his jaw, his Blue sapphire ring glinting in the room’s designer lighting. The other guy is wearing a Blue ring as well.

  How did these grunts get exemplar status? Is this what Drake was talking about? Get a ring and you’re on the fast track?

  Fuck. There’s some sketchy shit going on around here, and I don’t want these guys realizing we know. The worst-case scenarios are flying around in my brain like missiles. If whoever is in charge pinned all of the casino’s illegal activities on Drake, who’s no longer here, what would they do to Mira? I’ll walk away from this place no harm done, but Mira believes she needs this job.

  We need to leave without them seeing us. No way am I risking Mira being discovered.

  I nudge her to scoot up next to me, holding my finger to my lips.

  “If they’re here, it can’t be wrong that we are. Why don’t we just walk out?” she whispers, so only I can hear.

  I shake my head fervently and grab her wrist, waiting for the right moment.

  The desk is the first place the men box up. A bellman comes to the door and takes the boxes away.

  “When are the others arriving?” one of them asks.

  “Few minutes,” the other guy says. “Team members eight and eleven are already at the new location setting up.”

  They walk into the sex room, and I pull Mira up with me.

  More people will be coming soon and it will be harder to get away unseen. This is our chance. I push her toward the door. She doesn’t need much encouragement, and we make it there undetected, but I realize the flaw in my plan.

  I lean down, my lips pressed to Mira’s ear. “When I open it, they’ll hear.” The locking mechanism of the hotel doors is loud. “Run to the right as soon as you’re out.”

  Mira nods, her face expressionless, though the base of her throat throbs to the pace of a fast pulse.

  Clutching the handle, I open the door as quietly as possible. There’s a light click and I shove Mira out, following close behind. I don’t bother to silence the door closing. The automatic lock will be loud no matter what I do.

  I’ve been in and out of Blue hotel rooms for one reason or another often enough these past few weeks to know there’s no way to leave a room silently. The weight of the door, the suction of the HVAC system, the locking mechanism—they all combine to make certain the door shuts soundly and, unfortunately, with lots of sound.

  Once outside, I catch up to Mira. The end of the hall has a housekeeping closet, like most guest floors. It’s late in the evening and the majority of the housekeeping staff is gone for the night. I slip my universal key card in the door slot and pull Mira into the closet with me.

  My eyes adjust to the dark and her gaze clings to my face. “Why aren’t we going somewhere?” she asks. “Shouldn’t we make a run for it?”

  “Security cameras. In the elevators and emergency stairwells. If we stay here and wait for more people to fill the floor, the bellman, guests, the team members those guys are waiting for, they might assume the sound of the door closing was someone else. It’s the best chance we’ve got. We go out now, and they’ll know it was us in there.”

  “And you think that’s dangerous?”

  “There were syringes and pills stockpiled in the desk. Whatever went on in there, it wasn’t legal. I don’t trust those men. They wouldn’t lay a hand on you while I’m with you, I’d make damn sure of that, but in the future? When I’m not around? What if they’re like Drake? And what about their connections? More idiots like the ones who found you in the woods?” I shake my head. “I don’t like it, Mira. I won’t risk it. This might make me sound insane, but I’m beginning to agree with Drake. I think whoever is in charge used him as a scapegoat to cover illegal shit at the casino. Drake is guilty for the assaults, but he’s not running the Fifty Shades suite. Someone else is.”

  “You’re right. They talked about moving the suite, not removing it.”

  “And the rings. Remember Drake shouting his nonsense about the rings?” She nods. “Both of those men wore them. I think”—my suspicions are stacking, and they’re out there, but—“I think they might be covering their tracks now that Drake’s in custody.”

  I scrub my face and press my ear to the door. The sound of another door opening and closing echoes down the hall. Voices drift, growing more distant, as if whoever it was is moving farther away.

  “The rings,” I say, and turn to her. “What do you know about them?”

  “They’re for good performance. I overheard people in the break room talking about it one day.”

  “That’s what I’ve heard too, but do you think they could represent more? Like, if certain people were involved in something illegal at the casino, those rings might be their secret handshake? ‘Wear a ring and you’re on the inside’ sort of thing?”

  “Tyler, you’re scaring me.”

  And Mira doesn’t scare easily. I grab her hand and pull her into my arms. “Sorry. It’ll be okay.” I run my palm over her silky hair. “We just have to lie low for a bit.”

  She looks up, her beautiful eyes searching my face. “What about tonight? The event? I can’t let Hayden down.”

  “We’ll only stay in here for a bit. An hour, maybe two. We could exit and pretend we snuck off in here to…” I quirk my brows a couple of times.

  “Oh sure, so someone can see us and fire me?”

  “Do you really want to work at Blue after what we just witnessed?”

  She closes her eyes. “I don’t know. I love working with Hayden. I feel needed, valued.”

  I stare at her lips. “I value you.” I run my hands up her neck, cradling her face. “I need you.”

  “Tyler, we can’t—”

  I bring my mouth down and kiss her, because this place is more dangerous than I imagined when Mira started working here. And because I don’t want to tell her what to do, but I’m afraid of her getting hurt. She’s so small, fragile in a way she doesn’t show most people. I want to protect her. Care for her.

  Whatever protest she was about to give disappears. She runs her hands up my neck and grabs my hair, parting her mouth for me. “Don’t do that,” she mumbles against my lips.

  It takes me a minute to figure out what she’s referring to, the hand that’s slipping down her top, my tongue teasing her mouth…“What? Kiss you?” I stare into eyes that reflect the beautiful soul I see. “Why not? I love you, Mira.”

  A wary look crosses her face. “That’s what you said the other night.”

  “You don’t believe me?”

  Her eyes close tightly.

  “Mira, look at me.” I lift her chin, and her eyelids flicker open. “Do you love me the way I love you?”

  She visibly swallows. “I’ve always loved you. There’s never been anyone else. I’
ve never—I’ve never been with anyone else.” Her shoulders tense as if preparing for a blow.

  Does she really believe that’s going to push me away? Those words are music to a guy’s ears, and only solidify what I’ve always known.

  “I think you’re the only woman I’m going to love in this lifetime, and you might as well stop fighting this, because I’m the only man for you. I’m going to kiss you and keep kissing you until you realize how much I care, and that I’m never leaving. You can kick me to the curb because you’re scared, but whether we’re together or not, you’ll be inside my heart and head, plaguing me until I’m an old dude who can’t get it up anymore. Give in now so we can at least enjoy the constant state of wood you have me in.”

  “Always classy,” she says, but she’s smiling. Mira presses her soft chest into my hand that’s still resting there, her mouth slamming into my lips in a deep kiss that stops my breath and gets my heart racing.

  I grab her waist, guiding her back against the shelves of toilet paper rolls. I reluctantly remove my hand from her beautiful breast, but only to reach down and slide my palms up her thighs, pushing her skirt out of the way so I can lift her and wrap her legs around my waist.

  She kisses my cheekbone, nibbles my earlobe. “We can’t do this here.”

  That little nibble shoots straight to my groin. “I beg to differ. I think we can manage.”

  Some place far off in my mind, there’s a distant voice saying that this is the worst timing. But my immediate thoughts are that it’s perfect. Never been a better moment.

  “This is unprofessional.” She rains kisses over my face, her fingers fiddling with the buttons of my collar. “What if those men find us?”

  I grab her ass and rock against her. A breathy exhale escapes her lips. “Are you sure you want to stop? If those men haven’t found us yet, they’re not going to.”

  Her eyes are dazed for a moment, and then she kisses me hard, her hands working faster at my shirt. Stealthy fingers, pulling the hem from my waistband.

  I growl against her mouth. My hands are busy holding her up, and I’m mentally configuring how to get Mira naked without the use of them, or at least partially naked, when the sound of the door opening has me freezing in place.