“When have I—”
“Many times,” Davis interrupted, blinking with matter-of-fact certainty. “Far too many times to count. Just don’t, okay? You want her suing the ME? This whole place could come unraveled in this atmosphere.” He stepped back to his desk and opened up a file folder.
“You exaggerate.”
“Have you been on Twitter?” Davis quipped at me, eyes still in his folder.
“D, let’s say I did…”
“No!”
“But let’s just say, for the sake of argument, I made a move,” I explained. “Under the right circumstances, it would be fine.”
“There are no right circumstances for this now!” Davis said voice tensing. “Go on Twitter and try to explain that. But do it under a fake name, not the hotel’s account.”
“Yeah, but after the news cycle shifted—”
“Damage is damage! Starbucks lost millions retraining people when they closed for the day! Do you want to lose millions? Not to mention we need an EA. I hate interviewing people and we have so much work to do— Promise me, you won’t do anything.”
“I promise…to behave…appropriately,” I said carefully to the empty space in front of me.
“You know what I mean. And that wasn’t a promise. Promise me.”
We could hear someone in heels walking towards the office. Davis got to his desk at the other side of the room. But he was still trying to get an exact wording from me.
“It’ll be fine,” I assured him. “Don’t worry. You must find her attractive. We’ve always gone for the same types, right?”
“That has nothing to do with—”
Hallie entered our office and Davis seamlessly changed gears.
“That has nothing to do with the invoice for the beds,” Davis finished. “I’ll do some more research in our files.” His head swung towards the doorway. “Good morning, Hallie.”
“Trigg, Davis,” she greeted with a small smile that I found adorable. “I’m a little early. I hope that’s okay.”
“That’s a good start to any job,” I complimented. “Let me—”
“Us,” corrected Davis, getting up.
“Let us,” I repeated, “give you a tour of the office.”
We led her down the hall in the office area and gestured to the restrooms.
“Restrooms are over there. Since we work at a hotel, they’re always super clean,” I noted.
We entered the break room. The maintenance crew, led by Stan, was having their morning meeting.
“Hey guys,” I greeted. “Hallie, this is Stan and the maintenance crew. They usually have a morning meeting in here before they get started. Guys, this is Hallie, our new EA.”
The guys nodded and offered their greetings to Hallie then went back to their meeting. I kept my voice low as not to interrupt them.
“Once they clear out of here, you won’t see them much, except around lunch. But if anything breaks, you just give them a call. We have a fridge, microwave, coffee maker, vending machines… You can also order a meal at the restaurant. Employees eat at a quarter price. A lot of people eat off the lunch menu. It’s quick and the kitchen will even bring it to your desk if you ask nicely and they’re not too busy.”
We brought her to the main cubical area. The rest of the staff hadn’t gotten in yet.
“This is where the rest of the staff has a desk. This is our marketing department, social media people, our wedding bookers, our accountant, pretty much anyone that has a desk, other than us, is in here. You’ll meet most of these people later,” I explained.
We walked back to our office.
“Because of the crazy hours in hospitality, sometimes you won’t see staff members for days,” explained Davis. “Except me and Trigg, of course, we’re usually the first ones to get here and the last ones to leave. Except for the night shift.”
“This is your employment information,” I said, gesturing to a pile of papers. “Why don’t you get all that filled out so we can get you on the payroll for today. Davis and I have some things to take care of. It should take you a good hour or so.”
“You got it, boss,” she smiled.
Davis and I got back to work. There was always something to do when you run a hotel.
We had run out of end tables for the suites and the designer did not make the style anymore. Rather than have expensive ones made custom, we decided to replace them all. They were being shipped from Canada and for some reason, the truck got stopped at the border. After a few phone calls and emails, we straightened out the mess and the truck was rolling again.
During the last phone call, I found myself checking out Hallie from my desk’s perfect viewing angle. She was wearing a pair of those vintage stockings with the line up the back of the leg. She had also gotten her hair done for the first day of work. Her curly brown locks bounced around every time she turned her head or tapped her pen against her ruby lips. Davis caught me staring and punched me in the arm.
“Seriously? This is the first day!” he texted.
“It’s fine,” I assured him. “You’re paranoid.”
“This isn’t Mad Men, Trigg,” he hissed from my phone, even though he sat mere feet away. “You can’t date the staff.”
“Who’s talking about dating?”
“That’s even worse! Meet me in the break room. Now.”
In between the vending machines and empty lunch tables, Davis whirled around to face me. But I was ready.
“Davis, do you honestly think I’d do anything to endanger ME? I can’t avoid looking at her. That would look suspicious too.”
“Just tone it down, please,” he directed, shaking his head.
I went back to my desk and computer screen. I was checking the occupancy for the week, but I kept stealing glances toward Hallie. It was hard not to.
I could see us together. We’d make a good couple. A couple of times when I looked up, she was stealing glances at me. It wasn’t creepy or weird, but she’d look away casually, just as I did. It was acceptable for her, she was in a new environment. And it was partially acceptable for me because she was new variable in my environment.
Hallie finished her paperwork just as Davis left to deal with an issue at the front desk. She brought the paperwork to me and leaned forward a little. I stole a glance at her cleavage. She had perfectly round, plump breasts. She smelled like a mixture of almonds and coconut. The smell was intoxicating and for a split second, I forgot why she had brought me the paperwork.
“Okay,” I said a little dumbly. “Ah, what’s next?”
That got me back on track. I showed Hallie how to create a profile on our network. It was a pretty straight forward computer system. She had access to most of the files. We had a great piece of software that kept track of the occupied rooms, which ones were clean, which ones needed cleaning and which ones were in the process of being cleaned. It was handy to have, especially if you had to find someone on the housekeeping staff.
She brushed against me, apologized and then laughed nervously. Was she flirting with me? It took all my composure not to want to grab her, seat her in my lap and nuzzle her pretty neck. Hallie wasn’t just curvy and cute, she was beautiful close-up. Those bright eyes, full lips and smile… Seems so cruel that men and women in the workplace have to pretend when there’s an attraction. There’s definitely one here, I’m sure of it.
“Trigg?” said Hallie suddenly. “Is there something else you wanted to show me?”
“Oh, I’m sorry, I’m just a little tired,” I said as an excuse. “Zoned out there. I really need a cup of coffee.”
“I’d be happy to get you one, I was thinking about getting one myself. How do you take it?”
“Sweet. Two sugars and a little cream.”
“That’s the way I like it,” she smiled. “Although I prefer lots of cream.”
She walked out of the office toward the break room and I watched her go. Her ass should’ve been in a museum! And what was that about the cream? I must be lo
sing my mind. That sounded super sexual and flirty to me, but it can’t be, right? Maybe between the two of us, we’re sending unconscious vibes to each other. Maybe deep down we both know we want something to happen.
It’s a good thing she offered to get the coffee just now. I looked down and saw I had half an erection. Man, that would’ve been embarrassing. What is this woman doing to me? Or am I just a horny dog?
Hallie came back with my coffee and Davis in tow. I watched her look at him and realized I was reading into things too much. She looked at Davis just as she looked at me. It wasn’t attraction, it was enthusiasm for the job. Jesus, I need a cold shower or something. Maybe I’ll go into one of the rooms and take one.
I had to focus on work. Davis is right. Man, what was I thinking? Guess it was too much thinking with the little head instead of the big one.
Chapter 3
Davis
I couldn’t believe Trigg. Thirty-one years old and he acts like hiring a new girl is Spring Break on South Padre. I mean, all the women that throw themselves at us and he has to dip his pen in the company ink? No way, José. Not on my watch.
Guess whatever influence I had over him seemed to work. For a while, he eyed up Hallie like a hungry lion, but then at some point he either gave up or took my advice to heart. I found him poring over the books and doing shit that, quite frankly, we’ve put off for months. Good for him. Whatever motivates you, I say.
Don’t get me wrong, Hallie is very attractive. Back in college, there would’ve been no question. One of us would already be taking her out tonight and probably having sex with her within 48 hours. But ME wasn’t college. This was the big leagues. There was no way I was going to let him or anyone else throw away this hotel’s rep just to get laid. We were professionals and it was going to stay that way.
“Davis, I copied all those files you requested,” said Hallie, bringing me a stack. “What’s next?”
“Well, it’s just about five so—”
Georgia came rushing into the office. That was a bad sign. She almost never needed help. Or to rush.
“Davis, Trigg, we got a big problem,” she announced. “I have thirty people who just arrived from a baseball team.”
“Do we have enough rooms?” asked Trigg.
“Yes, if we use the suites, but that’s not the issue,” she explained. “They just left their other hotel because it had bed bugs.”
“I’ll call our bed bug guy,” Trigg announced, instantly picking up the phone.
“Hallie, come with me,” I said. “Guess we’re going to have to deal with this emergency.”
We followed Georgia back to the front desk. Bed bugs are the single worst thing that could happen to a hotel. Once you get them, it was tough to get rid of them and God forbid your online reviews said something about them. We had to contain the team until their belongings could be checked or made safe. An older gentlemen, who I assumed was the coach, led the throng into our lobby.
“Hi, I’m Davis Lane and this Hallie,” I introduced. “We should be able to accommodate your team, but we’re going to have to check your bags.”
“Coach Ryder,” he said, shaking my hand. “What do you mean check? Like for weapons?”
“My understanding is that you left your previous hotel because of bed bugs, is that right?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Well, we have our bed bug guy coming over. If you can tell your team to leave all their bags just outside, to the right of the main doors, we’ll get them checked.”
“Now hold on, just because we were in the hotel doesn’t mean we were contaminated, right?”
“How long were you in the hotel?”
“Maybe an hour?”
“Bed bugs will attach themselves to people, but also travel in bags and in clothes. I assume you had all gone inside, and maybe unpacked? Got your clothes out?”
“Yeah,” admitted the coach, looking disheartened. “You’re not going to spray a lot of chemicals on our stuff are you?”
“Oh, no,” I assured him. “You see, bed bugs can’t sweat. We’re going to do to your bags what we’d do to a mattress. We’ll seal them in a bag and pump heat inside it long enough to kill any live bugs. Then you should be good to go. It might take a while, but tell you what—has the team eaten yet?”
“No, actually, we just finished a game.”
“What’s the team?” asked Hallie.
“We’re in the Double AA league. The Honey Badgers,” said the coach pointing to the logo on his hat.
“How about I comp you guys a late dinner? You can relax while we take care of your luggage. Should take about an hour or two.”
“Hey guys!” the coach called out. “You want a free dinner?”
“Yeah!” came back the group reply.
“Looks like we’re in,” said coach.
“Great,” I said, then addressed the team. “Everyone. I’m going to need you to leave your luggage outside to the right of the front door. You’ll be comped a free meal for your inconvenience. We’re going to make sure you luggage is safe and not carrying any visitors from your last hotel, okay?”
I noticed that a lot of players had similar bags. A few of them expressed concern about leaving their belongings in front of the hotel.
“My assistant Hallie will be watching your belongings until our inspector arrives,” I explained. “They should be fine. Hallie, would you mind?”
“Not at all,” she replied, ready to serve.
Hallie went into the throng of baseball players and I could immediately see them looking more hungrily at her than even Trigg did. The pitcher in particular immediately started working her.
“Well, hel-lo, pretty lady,” he said with a smile. “I’m Kirk. I’m a pitcher, outfielder and all around all-star athlete here.”
Something clicked inside me. I don’t know what it was. I didn’t really know Hallie. I mean, I had read her resumé, and I certainly knew her longer than this Kirk, but I felt an overwhelming urge to protect her in that moment.
“Hallie!” I called a little too loud. “You know what, I’ll call security to do that. Why don’t you head back to the office with Trigg? Give him an update and then get an update from him for me, okay?”
“Okay,” she replied agreeably but a little confused.
I made eye contact with Kirk, who made a face. I just smiled. Nothing to see here, just a hotelier protecting his employee. My cellphone rang. It was Trigg.
“What was that all about?” he laughed.
“Nothing. What? You’re watching?”
“Yeah, over the security monitors,” he laughed. “And you talk about me.”
“I just was— You know— Protecting an employee.”
“From what? Dating a baseball player? You are transparent to me, Davis.”
“And you’re an ass,” I said, hanging up.
Jason, our bedbug guy, got there about 20 minutes into the free dinner. He brought his bedbug dog with him.
“What exactly do you want me guys to do?” he asked.
“Well, the baseball team was at another hotel with bedbugs,” I explained. “I want you to have the dog check the luggage for any potential bugs and then zip them up in the mattress bag and cook them.”
“That’ll take forever. I don’t normally do luggage. I’ll have to charge you by the bag.”
“What? The same rate as a mattress? You have to be able to put more than one piece in that bag,” I countered.
“That’s true. Maybe every three or four pieces?”
“Okay, that’s fair. And the quicker the better,” I said.
“How long were they in the other hotel?”
“About an hour?”
“I wouldn’t worry too much,” assured Jason, letting the dog sniff around. “Princess isn’t picking up anything, so I doubt you have a problem. Better safe than sorry, though.”
“Okay, I’ll leave you to it.”
As soon as he turned away to begin his work, Allison, our head chef, cam
e rushing up to me.
“These guys are ordering a lot of stuff we’re out of,” she whispered dramatically with wide eyes and a expectant look. Even though her voice was low, she spoke loudly with her hands. “Why would you comp thirty meals this late in the day? Dinner is over and our food guy comes tomorrow.”
“They’re hungry athletes, any calories are good ones. Roll out a breakfast buffet and serve whatever you have left,” I said. “It’s going to be fine, Allison.”
“I don’t want to sacrifice the quality of the food!” she hissed, insisting as she always did.
“I get it, I get it, but this is an emergency. These guys got tossed out of their hotel. Last minute booking. C’mon, now. We need to pull together. You need any food, I’ll send someone to go buy it.”
“No, no, I can make due…” she grumbled, storming back to the kitchen with determination.
Allison was a bit of a diva, like a lot of chefs. If she didn’t make one of the best steak tartars I ever tasted, I might’ve fired her a long time ago. But all chefs are artists and Allison was one of the best. We had guests stay in the ME for the sole purpose of eating her food.
I went back into the office and was greeted by Hallie’s amazing ass. She was filing some papers in the bottom drawer of a filing cabinet. I sincerely just wanted to walk over and grab those cheeks. I almost lifted my hands up, but caught myself just beforehand.
God damn, this woman was having an effect on me! Was I just as much as a horn dog as Trigg? Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Trigg sitting at his desk leaning over and laughing to himself. Hallie turned around.
“Okay, I think I have all your files put away,” she announced. “I also did a little reorganization.”
We had a fourth desk in the office. It was sometimes used by a night shift person or an extra GM. We had piled paperwork on it over the past year. Stuff we just didn’t feel like dealing with or filing. The pile had grown to a massive size, but now, it was all gone, safely filed away.
“Nice job,” I said in awe. “Above and beyond. Why don’t you head out?”
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