SIXTEEN
Aiden didn’t want anything to do with his own resort for the next couple of days. Instead of going there at all, he and Cat remained pretty much naked and comfortable in his condo, periodically calling in to make sure Brynn hadn’t went off the deep end somehow. Other than being a demanding, rude guest, however, so far she didn’t seem to be out of control.
“Kellen, you’ll let me know the moment she crosses the line, won’t you?” Aiden asked with a worried frown.”
“Yeah, boss, you know that I will,” he agreed. “Now calm down and enjoy yourself. Because in just another sixteen hours from now, we’re on high alert.”
“I know, I know,” he grumbled. “I promise not to call you for the rest of the night. But you be sure to call me if anything is wrong, all right?”
“I will, already,” he said. “I’m hanging up now. Good-night.”
Aiden rolled his eyes. Cat glanced up at him from where she sat on the couch sipping at her soda and watching cartoons. “Everything’s still okay?” she asked knowingly.
“Yeah, it is,” he sighed. “But that doesn’t mean a damn thing. The woman may not strike until the iron is nice and hot. I’m not taking my eyes off any possibility until her and her friends have caught their return flight.”
“You do know she could just hire someone to screw with you later, don’t you?”
“She wouldn’t,” he insisted. “She wants to see my downfall. Just knowing about it wouldn’t be nearly good enough.”
“Is she really that awful, Aiden?” Cat asked him curiously.
“Just wait. You’ll see.”
The next morning, bright and early, the pair of them returned to the resort and walked down to the beach to watch the sun rise before they headed in for work. Ellen was already at the front desk along with two other people, and the trio was all warm smiles and excitement as they waited for the first of the guests to begin arriving.
“This is so exciting,” she said enthusiastically. “I’ve never been on the very first day of a brand new company before.”
“Me neither,” Cat agreed. “But don’t worry, everything is going to be great. This is a Whitney property, and our fearless OCD leader isn’t going to let us down.”
“Hey, that’s not nice!” said Aiden, bumping his elbow into hers. “Come on, let’s go see if Kellen ever remembered he is supposed to go home. You want to talk about OCD, that’s the guy you should really be looking for. He makes me look like an amateur.”
Cat giggled and waved good-bye as they headed for the back of the building. Not half an hour later, the uproar began. Aiden was just about to head off for a dive with the team when the office phone rang through and Kellen answered the thing.
“Boss? You might want to wait a tick,” he said, stopping him from going out the door while he tended to the car. “All right, I will let them know.”
“What’s the trouble?” asked Aiden, casting Cat a look that plainly said, ‘I told you so.’
“It’s the cards to the rooms, sir,” he explained. “Ellen tried to create a few for the clients who just came through the door, but none of them are taking the codes. We must have got a batch with bad magnetic strips or something. No one will be able to open their doors until we have sorted the whole thing out.”
“Seriously?” Aiden groaned. “But I ordered them up especially for this week so everyone would get to keep them for mementos. How could they all be defective? That doesn’t make sense.”
“I’m only going by what I just got told,” he shrugged. “You could always go have a look for yourself.”
“Yeah, I think I will,” he said as he headed for the door. “Cat, why don’t you come along and bring your master key. You can get this group into their room at least. I’d do it myself except that somebody will need to go pick up another pack of the damned card things if we can’t get these ones to work.”
“Don’t worry, Aiden, I’m on it,” said Cat energetically as she passed him up and went out into the hall, hurrying out to the lobby to help the customers out.
“Isn’t she a peach?” he grinned, winking at Kellen.
“A hell of a lot better than Brynn, sir,” he agreed.
As Aiden came in, he heard Cat asking, “And you’re sure it’s not just his door? Why don’t you try making a key for a nearby door and see it the problem’s not a bit more local?”
“That’s a great idea,” Ellen agreed. “If it’s really the strips, we’d be able to figure that out rather quickly. Thanks, Cat!”
“That’s what I’m her for,” she answered, shrugging. “Winslow party? We may not have your key just yet, but at least I can show you to your suite and get you in the door. This way please. Kenneth, please get some of their bags, won’t you? They look to be suffering from some overload.”
“Thanks for being so helpful, miss,” said Mr. Winslow with a happy smile. “I’m sure you’ll get all of this sorted out quickly. Let’s just hope this is your only grand opening mishap.”
“Yeah, that would be nice,” Cat agreed, sparing a smile for Aiden as she started leading the group to the elevator. “Knock on wood?”
“Maybe later,” Aiden mouthed, and only she could see. She hid a chuckle and pressed the buttons as Aiden took the newly attempted keycard and started heading for room three. It didn’t work, he was disgusted to discover.
He tugged his cell phone from his pocket and pressed an autodial button on it. “Hey Declan, it’s me. Doesn’t look like I’ll be joining you men right away. You’ll have to begin the dive without me. With any luck, I’ll be able to join you in about an hour, I’d say.”
“Yes sir, we’ll get under way.”
Returning to the desk, he said to Ellen, “It’s a no go, my dear. I’ll have to head over to the friendly neighborhood office supply store and hope like hell they’ve got what we’re looking for. I didn’t exactly plan on needing to replace my magnetic cards quite so soon. While I’m gone, why don’t you see if you can find out what might have caused the problem? I’m not above thinking this was a bit of foul play.”
“No, sir, how could that be?” Ellen scoffed. “I can’t think how anyone could have gained access to the drawer I had these in. But I’ll look anyway, just to see what I can discover. We don’t want whatever did this to do the same thing to the new batch once you do find them.”
“No, indeed we don’t,” Aiden agreed.
Aiden’s luck held, unfortunately, since he ran across Brynn on his way to the garage. “Say Aiden, I was just on the way up to let someone know—there’s something wrong with my cabin’s plumbing. What kind of a place is this, anyway? Can’t a girl even get a hot shower? And where have you been for the last forty-eight hours? I never saw you and your little assistant return from town.”
“Maybe because we didn’t,” he told her in a mocking tone. “Remember, I’m a free man now.”
“Not yet, you aren’t,” she reminded him. “Not for another month—if we don’t decide to work things out.”
“Woman, why would I even want to try?” he scoffed. “What exactly is it I’d be trying to salvage? My years of being deprived of sex, or all that time we’ve been spending apart? Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got more important things to worry about.”
“More important than working out just what your future will hold?”
“I already know what my future holds—and what it doesn’t,” he told her in no uncertain terms. “Now if you don’t mind, I’d like to go now. Time is money, as you always say. Maybe I’ll see you around. How long did you say you were staying?”
“Two weeks, on the house,” she said, smirking.
“On the house?” he grumbled. “How did you manage that?”
“I pulled a few strings, of course.”
“Well yes, of course you did,” he grumbled as he turned and walked away. “That’s not at all surprising, considering your track record. But your buddies had better be paying for themselves.”
“With discounts,” she called after him, laughing. “And don’t worry about Artie, if he writes up a review of the place, I’m sure he’ll be gentle!”
Aiden gritted his teeth. He knew Artie, one of her press buddies, well enough to realize he was pretty darn feral with his reviews, and since Brynn hoped to ruin him, it was no surprise that she’d invited the guy along. That just meant he was going to have to call in some damage control of his own.
Dialing his cell once again, he said, “Tim, my man, if your brother is not aware, my wife is no longer in Fresno. She and a group of her cronies are about to invade my resort, and one of them is our boy Art. We’re going to need a reviewer of our own down here pronto.”
“Don’t worry, Aiden,” he replied. “Max is well aware of your wife’s whereabouts, and he’s already booked a room there himself. We believe her lover may be one of the party members, so you should probably keep an eye out. And Aiden—you should probably stay out of trouble yourself. These lawyers of hers are playing some pretty hard ball. That little girlfriend Kellen told me you’ve just picked up? I would try to keep her out of sight, know what I mean?”
“The fidelity clause doesn’t pertain to me,” Aiden reminded him.
“No, but with those tabloids trying to make you out to be the bad guy, I don’t think she’ll be much of a help.”
“I won’t do that to Cat, none of this is her fault. This is my problem, not hers,” Aiden insisted.
“Okay, Aiden, suit yourself,” said Tim. “It’s your funeral.”