“Look who dropped by to lend a hand?” Croix presents Raj to me in my office, his arm draped over Raj's shoulder as if they're best buddies now.
“What are you doing here?” I ask in a cheerful tone, genuinely happy to see him.
“I have some downtime for a few days, so I thought I'd come help out around here.” Raj rubs his hands together as if he's ready to get to work.
“Raj has some great ideas for some of the fantasy rooms. I thought we could all collaborate.” Croix pats him on the back.
I push my chair away from my desk, a bit confused. “But we've already come up with the designs for all of the fantasy rooms.”
“Designs can be changed.” He waves away what I said as if it's irrelevant.
“I don't want to impose.” Raj looks at us. “If I'll only be in the way, then I can go.”
“Nonsense. Three heads are better than one.”
Except the third head is Bruno Dunne. While I enjoy Raj's company, we don't need his help. As it is, the work that's left is spread thin between Croix and I. Maybe Croix is just trying to be nice.
“I'm sure we can figure out somewhere to put you to work.” I smile. “You could help me look over the applications for the rest of the staff. That's what I was doing when you came in. There's a whole lot of hiring that's going to be happening here soon.”
“That's fine. I can do that.” Raj nods.
“Nah. Raj is going to come back to my office with me. I want to hear more of his ideas,” Croix says.
“Fine. You guys have fun.” I try not to sound annoyed.
If Croix was going to bring Raj in here just to hoard him to himself, then I don't know why he bothered. We don't need someone to help us design more fantasy rooms. I could use him to go through applications. Apparently, that's above him in Croix's eyes though.
Whatever. It's only going to be for today. They can fuck off if they want. Tomorrow, it will be back to business.
***
By the end of the day, my nerves are completely frazzled. I thought Croix was joking when he said he was interested in Raj's ideas for the fantasy rooms, but when he sends me an email telling me that he axed two of my rooms in favor of designs that Raj came up with, I can't help but stew.
Why didn't he take out two of his rooms instead? Or to be fair, one of mine and one of his? What was so wrong with my ideas? It just doesn't make sense to me.
To make matters worse, Croix also forwarded me an email that Derrick sent him saying he'd be dropping by sometime next week for a walk-through. Knowing that there's no way to avoid him has my stress at an all-time high. Whether I like it or not, I will be seeing Derrick next week. Now I just have to figure out how to handle it.
I spend a good portion of the day resting my head on my desk, trying to keep the headache that keeps stabbing at my temples from turning into a full-blown migraine. Hearing the guys laughing down the hall every so often doesn't help. Knowing that they're having a good time tossing my ideas in the trash pisses me off. I'm in between wanting to cry and have a ragefit, but I know that neither of those things will do me any good.
Raj leaves an hour before the end of my shift. To be honest, I'm glad to see him go. My sudden resentment towards him feels misplaced though. It's not Raj who decides what happens with The Billionaires Club. It's Croix. Croix and Bruno Dunne and, to a lesser degree, me. At least, I thought I had some say.
“Well, today was fun.” Croix clasps his hands together as he stops in the doorway to watch me gather my things.
“For who?” I growl at him.
“Hey.” He holds his palms up to me. “Why the hostility?” He nods as if a light bulb just went off inside of his head. “Oh yeah, the Derrick thing. I had almost forgotten.”
“Yeah...the Derrick thing.” I roll my eyes at the fact that he doesn't have the whole picture.
“You should come back to my place and let me make you feel better.” He wiggles his eyebrows.
The thought that he wants to have sex with me at his place is endearing. Even though I had dinner there the other night, we didn't fuck. Having sex with him at his beach house would make our relationship feel deeper. It's an offer I don't want to refuse.
“Fine,” I say with a huff, exhaling as much frustration as I can. The day has been bad. The night can only get better.
***
Even though I'm bound and determined to fuck Croix on his own turf, the tension I felt at work follows me to his beach house. It's heightened when I meet Margot. She can't be much older than me, and she's every bit as beautiful, flitting around Croix's custom designed kitchen with her tiny waist, long brown hair, and big tits. I can't help but wonder if he's fucked her. He probably has.
Croix pays no mind to her as we make a quick pit stop in the kitchen to grab two bottles of water from the refrigerator before heading out onto the deck. There's so much going on inside of my head that I'm wishing I would have gone home instead. It's too much to have to deal with right now. Thinking about Derrick and Raj and now Margot. I really just need some time to decompress. Sex was supposed to help, but most of my frustrations are directed at Croix, which is a complete turn-off.
“Have you had that before?” I point with my thumb over my shoulder towards the kitchen.
“Braised lamb shank? Yeah. I've had it a few times. Margot is an amazing cook. I think you'll enjoy it.” He twists the top off of his bottle of water and takes a long gulp.
“That's not what I meant.” I shake my head, annoyed at myself for even letting that question slip.
He furrows his brow at me. “Are you asking me if...”
“Never mind.” I close my eyes and suck in a breath. “That was rude of me.”
“You seem really tense.” He sets his bottle of water down on the railing and walks up behind me to massage my shoulders. It's a sweet gesture, and it does help me relax a little.
“It looks like you and Raj got a lot done today,” I muse.
He lets out a short laugh. “Ah, so that's what this is really about?”
“It's not rocket science, Croix. You axed two of my rooms in favor of his.” I have no desire to sugarcoat my feelings on the matter.
“His ideas were better, Raven.”
I turn around to face him, cocking an eyebrow. “He came up with an international themed room. We already have international themed guest suites.”
“Yes, but those are guest suites. They're not fantasy rooms. Not every guest will be staying in a location inspired suite. Besides, the concept that he came up with is genius. Everything in the room will be interchangeable. We'll be able to do easy set changes to accommodate for the different cultures.”
“The guests who aren't staying in location inspired guest rooms won't be staying in them because that's not what they requested,” I mumble. “What about his other concept? It was just trashy. And you axed my doctor's office for it. What in the hell? If a woman wants to get fucked behind a dumpster, she can go to any club in Palm Beach. A billionaire would have more class than that.”
“I've fucked a girl behind a dumpster before,” he says without flinching.
“Well then, you have no class.” I huff, turning away from him.
“I'm human, Raven. Humans do interestingly unexpected things sometimes.” He smirks. The fact that he's gleaning some enjoyment from my bad mood is only pissing me off more.
“The point is,” I inhale deeply, tapping the railing, “Bruno brought me on as the assistant director of The Billionaires Club because he wanted a woman's perspective on things. He wanted me to help design the fantasy suites because women know what women want.”
“I think that girl I fucked behind the dumpster rather enjoyed the rush of it.” He takes another drink of his water before screwing the cap back on.
“The concept doesn't even make fucking sense.” I wave my arms in front of me erratically. “The whole point of that being sexy is the thought of getting caught. No one is going to catch you fucking in a private room.”
“Calm down. It's not a big deal.” He reaches over to rub my back, but I pull away.
“It is a big deal, Croix. You essentially took part of my job away and gave it to him.”
His expression goes serious. “I did not.”
“You did.” I cross my arms over my chest, knowing that I'm overreacting but unable to stop it.
“I was just trying to make him feel useful. If it means so much to you, I'll give you one of your rooms back.”
“Thank you.” I nod, happy that I won at least a small victory. “The doctor's office. I want the doctor's office back.”
“Fine. You shall have it.” He holds his hands up in surrender. “Let's go inside and eat. I'm sure the food is ready by now.”
Despite the fact that he was willing to compromise, my tension is still too high. I feel like I could explode again at any moment, and I don't want this night to continue to deteriorate.
“I think I'm just going to go home. To be honest, I don't really have an appetite.” I put my bottle of water under my arm while I dig my keys out of my purse.
“Stay. You'll probably feel better once you eat,” Croix's tone softens.
“Trust me, I won't. I never should have come here. I just have too much going on inside of my head right now. I'm sorry, Croix. I'll see you at work tomorrow.”