I felt like I should be wearing a suit, that my jeans and button-down were a disappointment to this group of executives. They eyed me as they stepped off their private jet, the two men and three women checking me out with different levels of curiosity and conceit. I wasn’t sure which was in charge, but it didn’t take long to figure it out. She strode off that plane like the world belonged to her, flinging her hips around like she was on a catwalk somewhere.
She was tall, nearly as tall as my six-three in her heels, her expensive suit clinging to an ass that was clearly the result of daily workouts. She reminded me of an actress…not Halle Berry, but close. More like Thandie Newton, only much taller.
Beautiful.
“You’re the man from Stone Security?” she demanded as she strutted up to me.
“I am.”
She gestured behind her to the bags that the pilot was setting on the tarmac. “Load our things. We want to get to the hotel immediately.”
My eyebrows rose slightly. I wasn’t a servant, I was a security operative. But she was already walking off, barking orders at the other executives. She wouldn’t have heard my refusal if I’d bothered to utter one.
I opened the back door of the SUV and watched them all stare at their phones as they climbed blindly into the vehicle. Only she, the boss lady, bothered to glance at the seat before placing her ass on it. But then she, too, had her nose stuck in her phone.
I wondered what could possibly be that important.
The pilot shot me a sympathetic glance. He’d clearly put up with their crap long enough.
Like a good little boy, I loaded the luggage—all packed in bags that probably would have made the down payment on the ranch for me!—and climbed behind the wheel. It was late, and there wasn’t much going on in a little town like Ellaville. There was no traffic on the road, and we passed only one establishment that was still open, a bar on the highway that had only a handful of customers on this Tuesday evening. Even downtown, under the shadow of the church’s massive walls, there was very little sign of life.
The executives were staying at the same hotel where Stone Security was housing its operatives, me included. The hotel was one of only three in town, the nicest by far compared to the roadside motor lodges. It had twenty-five rooms, most empty a large amount of the time. But they had room service and clean sheets that were changed nearly every day. I couldn’t complain about that.
These executives, on the other hand…
“This is where we’re staying?” one man cried as I pulled to a stop under the canopy outside the hotel lobby. “They don’t have a Hilton here?”
“It can’t be as bad as it looks,” one of the women said, doubt dripping from her words.
“The windows are dirty. If they can’t even get the windows clean, I’m afraid to see what the rest looks like,” the other woman said.
“Grow up,” the boss lady snapped. “We’re only here for a few days.”
A silent cheer played in my head. Maybe this lady wasn’t as bad as she seemed.
I climbed out and opened the back door, standing to one side as they piled out, those phones in their hands once again. Feeling like a servant, I grabbed a cart and loaded it with their bags, wheeling it into the lobby as they completed their check-in.
“Is there a decent restaurant around here, at least?” a short, fat male executive asked, not bothering to look up from his phone.
“There’s a diner across the street that serves a good pot roast,” I told him. “But they’re not open until six.”
“We have room service until one, sir,” the hotel clerk said.
The man just grumbled under his breath and walked off.
It was almost a relief to see them all get on the elevator.
I pulled the car around and untucked my shirt as I walked up the back stairs to my room. The hall was silent. I glanced at Patrick’s door as I passed, thinking about the girl he had apparently hidden in there for more than a week last month. The man had more secrets than a soap opera character. Farther down the hall, the silence was absolute. I tugged my key card from my pocket and was about to go into my room when a door behind me suddenly burst open.
“Mr. Security Guy,” a silky voice muttered.
I turned to find the boss lady, stripped of her shoes and her jacket, her blouse untucked and partially unbuttoned, an ice bucket in her hand as she came out of the room across from mine.
“That your room?”
She smiled politely. “No. I just crash in strangers’ hotel rooms because I roll that way.”
I lowered my head slightly. “Dumb question. Sorry.”
I turned back to my room, but she cleared her throat, clearly not done with me.
“Is there something we might call you other than Mr. Security Guy?”
“Quentin.”
“Nice.” She stepped forward, holding out one delicate hand. “I’m Malaika Gray.”
I shook her hand the way my father had taught me, with a strong grip. Her polite smile turned into something more, something filled with pleasure. It made her deep amber eyes brighten and this dimple appear in her smooth cheek.
“You’re staying in the hotel, too? I hope that doesn’t mean we’re taking you from your family this week.”
“No. The firm provides rooms to those of us who don’t have a home locally.”
“You’re not from around here?”
“I am.” I tilted my head slightly. “It’s a complicated story.”
Her eyes moved curiously over my face. “I don’t mean to pry.”
“It’s fine. It’s just too long of a conversation for the middle of the hallway.”
“Of course.” She backed up slightly. “I should let you get off to bed.” She bit her bottom lip as she let her eyes move slowly over the length of me. “Good night, Quentin.”
“Ms. Gray.”
She stiffened slightly at the formal use of her name. “We’ll want to head out about eight, if that works with your schedule.”
“I’m at your service.”
An unexpected spark of hunger filled her eyes at my choice of words. But she just nodded and turned away, headed back to her room.
“The ice machine is that way,” I informed her, pointing toward the alcove at the end of the hall.
“Of course.”
She walked that direction, giving me an opportunity to watch her pretty, tight ass move under that form-fitting skirt. It was a nice view.
A very nice view.