23

I sat in the conference room the next morning waiting for the front desk staff to assemble for their staff meeting. Dena was sitting next to me and she had confirmed my suspicions: Rian Watson was indeed the Rian from Taylor Auto. Katy's cousin. I was not one hundred percent sure she had been fired from Taylor Auto so I asked HR for a copy of her application and resume.

Staff members started trickling in, including Jules and Nikki, the other front desk supervisor. Both were really nice, very engaged. The front desk manager, Priya, came in carrying a tray of bagels and fruit. She was fantastic. Guests and staff loved her. She never asked her staff to do anything she wouldn't do and she also never said "that's not my job." If she saw garbage in the parking lot, she picked it up. A guest needed help with the TV in their room and maintenance was busy? Priya was happy to take a look. She lead by example.

Five minutes after the meeting was scheduled to start, Holly came in, Rian in tow. Neither of them looked at me. Holly handed Priya the agenda before sitting down next to Rian. Priya started the meeting and I looked at Dena.

"Is this common?" I whispered. Dena nodded. I frowned. This was not acceptable behavior. While Priya was doing a great job, as the department manager, Holly should've taken point. As I listened, an email notification popped up on my iPad. I tapped it open and found Rian's paperwork from HR. Sure enough, she hadn't listed Taylor Auto. So Holly hired her knowing she hadn't give a complete work history. I suppose there was a chance she didn't know since Rian was Katy's cousin, not hers, but that was a pretty slim chance. Like paper thin slim. This was going to require some thought.

Priya wrapped up the meeting and asked if I wanted to say anything.

"Sure. As Priya said, I'm the new general manager and I'm very excited to work with you all. Your department has a great reputation for giving excellent customer service, so you should all be very proud. Keep doing what you're doing." Lots of smiles round the room, except for Rian, who rolled her eyes and Holly, who smirked. Yeah, that's not going to fly.

The rest of the day was more meetings and phone calls. Riley brought me lunch so I could eat at my desk while I prepared for my first weekly phone call with the owners. It went well and I rewarded myself by leaving at five o'clock. I still needed to grocery shop, so I headed to the store around the corner from my apartment. One receipt as long as my arm later, I finally had food for my house. Now to lug twenty bags up to the second floor. At least it wasn't the third.

My heart skipped a beat when I came back from my first trip upstairs. Kade was standing next to my car, hands in the pockets of his jeans. His blonde hair was pulled back but some strands had escaped in the front. I resisted the urge to tuck them behind his ear.

"Need any help?"

"Depends. Are you stalking me?" I asked playfully, crossing my arms over my chest and narrowing my eyes at him.

"Yes. It's not hard. You're literally right here, across from my place of business. All I had to do was walk outside and I saw you."

"Well at least you're honest. Make yourself useful and grab some bags." Kade managed to grab almost all the remaining bag except for two. I followed him up the stairs, admiring how his pants hugged his ass. No, hard stop.

"This place turned out nice. I watched it go up and was curious how the finished project turned out," Kade said looking around after he put the bags in the kitchen. "Do you like it?" I nodded.

"I do. It's pretty spacious and I like the layout."

"Not a bad location either."

"I don't know, they let anyone in this neighborhood."

"Baby, I was here first." My heart squeezed.

"Well, thank you for your help. That would've taken me way longer without it."

"Anytime. So, I wanted to mention that Sunday, I have an ice cream date with Kelsey. She just placed at her gymnastics competition, so I'm taking her out to say congrats. Do you think you can make it?"

"I'll be there. Are you going right after church?"

"No probably mid afternoon, after lunch."

"Sounds good. You have my number, just text me when you know the exact time."

"Will do. I better get going. Bentley is going to wonder where his dinner is." I walked Kade to the door.

"Thanks again," I said.

"Anytime. I have a weakness for brown girls with blue eyes and an amazing ass." My sex clenched. Why did he have to say things like that? I didn't have a chance to reply since he was already down the steps. Frustrated that my body was still reacting to him, I took out my aggression by angrily putting away my groceries. My phone buzzed when I was halfway through. I answered and the girls came into view.

"What's up?" I asked, looking for more cold items to put away.

"Courtney can't do dinner and drinks tomorrow. She broke girl code and has a date," Lola answered, pouting.

"No girl code was broken. It's totally fine. Who's the guy Court?"

"A friend of a friend from work." Courtney was a second grade teacher at the local public school.

"Does he have name?" In a small town the chances we knew him were pretty good.

"Let's see how the date goes. If it goes well, then yes he has a name." I raised my eyebrow.

"You've been spending too much time with Lola. That's a page from her book."

"I just don't want you guys to get too hyped up on something that might not go anywhere," she explained.

"You mean like you guys with Brady and me?"

"Completely different. We know that's going to end with you two fucking."

"Courtney!" I said, shocked. Lola sat next to her cracking up.

"Am I wrong?" She looked to Lola for confirmation.

"No you are not," Lola affirmed.

"Lola!"

"What? She's not wrong. Right?" I was outnumbered.

"Fine, yes, I want to sleep with Brady." Both girls squealed. "Okay, Court, I see your point now."

We talked for a few more minutes and then we disconnected. I made myself a sandwich and checked the end of day reports for the Wisteria. My mind kept going back to kissing Brady yesterday. He usually texted me first, so maybe it was time to switch things up a bit.

'Hey how was your day?' I texted. I watched the description go from delivered to read.

'Much better now that I'm talking to you.'

'Aww did you have a rough day?'

'Little bit. Super busy.'

'That's a good problem to have.'

'It is. Makes the day go by fast. Missed you today.'

'Were you thinking about me? ;)'

'Yes. I was thinking about kissing you again.'

'Me too.'

'Liked that did you?'

'Little bit,' I teased.

'A little bit? Ouch.'

'Okay, okay, I liked it a lot.'

'Good. So did I.'

'What's not to like?'

'True, between your amazing ass and mind blowing kiss, I had a hard time falling asleep last night.'

'Mind blowing huh? Not sure I can top that.'

'Want to try?'

'Yes.' An ache started to develop between my legs.

'I'm not gonna lie, I can't wait to get my hands on you again.'

'Oh really? And what do you plan on doing?' My thighs clenched and I shifted in my seat.

'I definitely plan on squeezing that ass again. Pulling you close to me. Running my hands over your hips.'

'Anything else?'

'Damn, I'd keep going but I'm not sure I can take it.'

'Oh so you probably don't want to know where I'd touch you.'

'That's mean. Please tell me.'

'Well since you're grabbing my ass and my hips, I'm going to guess at some point my ass will probably rub up against you.'

'I can only hope.'

'And if we kiss again, I'll definitely run my hands over your chest and maybe…'

'MEAN! Maybe where?'

'At that point, I'd think you be rock hard but I will probably need to check.'

'Fuck, I'm rock hard right now.' My panties were soaked when I read his last text message.

'My work here is done.'

'Wait, are you wet?'

'What do you think?'

'Please just tell me.'

'I'm pretty wet.'

'I'm going to need to feel for myself on Saturday." My head dropped back on my shoulders at the thought of him finger fucking me.

'I guess I should wear a skirt then.'

'Yes, do that. PLEASE.'

'Well since you said please…'

'I'll say whatever you want as long as I get to put my fingers inside you.'

'Well if I wasn't wet before, I am now.'

'Good, cause I'm not sure I can get any harder.'

'Is that a challenge?'

'Not for tonight. I still have to work tomorrow. I'm all yours on Saturday.'

'Same. I better get to bed. Talk to you tomorrow.'

'Night sexy.'

'Night.'

I groaned as I put my phone down. I could go and take care of this situation myself but I think it would make things worse. One more day. One more day.