Michael

“Have I ever told you how much I like Eden?” Sean asked, his shit-eating grin making me want to take a swing at him. I glared at him, but most of my ire was directed at her.

“Only every time you see her,” I responded through gritted teeth, prepping myself for what I knew would come next. Sean singing Eden’s praises like everyone else did, making me think of her when she wasn’t around, like I didn’t do that enough as it was.

“Yeah,” Sean said, his entire face bright as he continued without pause, “she’s fucking awesome, mostly because she takes no shit from you.”

Don’t take the bait, Michael.

I whispered that over and over in my head until the urge to respond was finally gone.

Sean, annoying shit that he was, knew exactly what buttons to push, but I was getting better at not falling for it. Impressive, especially since I was still wound up from going toe to toe with Eden.

I grimaced, and Sean laughed, leaving no doubt that he knew exactly what—who—I was thinking about.

The very idea of going toe to toe with Eden was fucking ridiculous. She was my hotel’s assistant general manager, a curvy little slip of a woman who should have given me no trouble at all. A stern glare should have been enough to melt her, make her eager to do exactly as I said.

But it never had been.

Eden tossed off the stern glares I enforced my direct commands with like they were nothing.

Me, the Murphy brother most renowned for my temper, my unyielding nature. My absolute requirement for unquestioned obedience.

Yet almost every encounter with Eden ended as a stalemate. It was sickening.

And more of a turn-on than anything I’d experienced in years.

I snapped the pen I’d been holding in two, then quickly dropped it, watched as the dark ink stained the papers on my desk.

“Wow, she really got you good,” Sean said.

“What the fuck do you want?” I asked, not bothering to look at Sean as I discarded the broken pen and stained papers, but knowing he was right and that he knew it too.

“I came to talk business. Perfect timing from the look of it,” he responded.

“Let’s go,” I said.

Sean nodded, and we both stood and made our way out of the executive suites.

As we passed out of the office area, I saw Eden out of the corner of my eye. A bright, pleasant smile was plastered on her face as she spoke with one of the guests, the dazzling white of her teeth beautiful against her brown skin.

She never smiled at me, something that pissed me off, though not as much as the fact that I noticed.

I took some solace in the fact that Eden seemed to be doing her best not to look at me, knew that whether she looked at me or not, she noticed me.

I could see the slight change in her posture when I entered the lobby, saw the way she put visible effort into keeping her eyes from tracking me.

Wouldn’t it be nice if Eden was keeping her gaze down too because she had realized the folly of continually opposing me?

There wasn’t a fucking chance of that.

The more likely answer was that she was putting on a demure act, slipping into a role that she seemed to use with everyone but me.

It fit, too.

With others, Eden was reasonable, kind. She always had a warm smile, genuine concern for every guest and employee of the hotel. I couldn’t count the number of birthdays she’d remembered, flowers she’d sent, times she’d gone out of her way just to make sure people knew they were valued.

I could have understood if that warmth didn’t extend to the Murphys. It had taken the staff a while to get used to the new ownership, and Eden was no exception. But it wasn’t that. Just last month, she’d sent my brother Patrick a flower arrangement to celebrate his wedding, and she’d sent Sean a birthday card.

What did I get?

I got ice-cold eyes, rigid posture, and a “no” delivered by usually lush lips that were shaped into a thin, almost angry line.

It drove me insane, something I wouldn’t dare admit, but something that was nonetheless true.

I wouldn’t be defeated, though. Eden would see the error of her ways, eventually.

As we got farther away from the executive suite, my thoughts turned from Eden. It was a temporary break; she’d be back in them soon enough. But by the time we’d reached the bowels of the hotel, the place we went to speak freely, I’d managed to push aside thoughts of Eden long enough to focus.

I looked at Sean, who was serious now.

“Everything’s good, right?” I asked.

“Yeah. I just want to make sure I stay in touch,” he said.

Reasonable, given what had happened a couple of months ago. Patrick had been ambushed in the hotel, and though we had taken care of that problem, we were all still on alert, so it was good of Sean to stay in touch.

“No news here, except…” I trailed off, something that was uncharacteristic of me, something that didn’t go unnoticed by my brother.

“Except what?” he asked.

“It’s been a couple of months since that shit with Patrick. Long enough to get rid of the security guards,” I said.

“They didn’t have anything to do with it, right?”

“No, but they were incompetent. That’s more than enough cause to get rid of them,” I said.

“So get rid of them,” Sean said.

“I would, but Patrick gave Eden control over the employees,” I replied, my anger rising.

I looked at Sean and saw the dawning realization on his face as he smiled.

“And she’s not doing what you say?”

“Does she ever?” I spat, then quickly went quiet, not wanting my frustration to show through.

“Seems not. So why not force the issue?” he said.

I didn’t bother to explain that forcing the issue with Eden would be a fool’s errand and one that would probably drive me insane. She was the most stubborn person I had ever met, including myself.

Instead, I said, “I don’t want to draw undue attention.”

“Meaning?” he asked.

“Meaning she’s going to ask why I’m insisting, and that’s not a conversation I want to have,” I said.

“That’s probably smart. So just let it go,” Sean said.

Even thinking about doing so put my teeth on edge. I shouldn’t have to explain myself to Eden, and she should do as I say.

“Maybe,” I said.

“So you’re definitely not letting it go, then?” Sean said.

“You don’t know that,” I said.

“Michael, I know that. Just make sure she doesn’t get suspicious,” he said.

“Hard to do, don’t you think?”

It was an open secret that my brothers and I were involved in organized crime. The hotel was completely clean. Patrick insisted it stay that way, but I had no illusions that everyone thought of the business as illegitimate and that included Eden.

“What people whisper about is not our concern. Just make sure they stay in line. Legally,” Sean added.

“I will. Is that all?”

“You coming into Boiler Room tonight?”

“Maybe,” I said, hesitating to commit because I wasn’t sure when I would leave the hotel. “I need to look over the books.”

Sean smiled. “Michael can’t come out and play because he has to do his homework.”

“Fuck off, Sean,” I muttered, though there was no real feeling behind the words. I did have homework, and Sean was just breaking my balls, one of his favorite pastimes.

He punched me on the shoulder and left, not harping on the point like I knew he could have.

I appreciated the rare moment of mercy.

I was having a hard enough time reconciling this change, and not having to even deal with Sean’s bullshit made it that much easier.

I trudged back up to the executive suite but wasn’t in the mood for another go-round with Eden. So instead, I walked the hotel, keeping my eyes peeled for anything that might be out of order.

Though I would never admit it to anyone, least of all my brothers, doing so calmed me. The hotel ran like a well-oiled machine, and seeing it continue to do so made me proud.

Still, I knew this wasn’t me.

I was a Murphy, not a hotelier, and no matter how much my brother wanted to make me into one, I never would be.

Still, I’d play his game, do as he asked, but soon, I would take my rightful place in the family.

And get the fuck away from Eden.