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“Mm-hm,” he murmured, nodding. “Sure, but when you put out one wildfire, another pops up somewhere else. And in this case, that fire is Eva Ward.”

“The new mayor?” I asked breathlessly. My chest was tightening and making it hard to catch a full breath. I bit back a moan. “I can’t compete with this, Dad. The hotel is a good business on its own, but I can’t afford to keep paying her off. What would happen if we just stopped?”

“Do you really want to risk finding out? They’re the fucking mob, Emerson,” he seethed, before tempering his reaction, smoothing down his tie. He cleared his throat. “I know we’re fighting a backward slide, which is why I had a little chat with Ms. Ward this afternoon, and we came up with a solution that will benefit us all.” He sat back, and while his hands were steady once more, he’d gone back to avoiding my gaze. I had a feeling I wasn’t going to like this.

“You did?” I asked suspiciously.

His lips thinned into a hard line. “I know how much you love this place. You’ve put so much time and effort into it. I’m proud of you, Son. You’ve shown yourself to have a solid business sense, and a good businessman is always willing to make sacrifices…”

The dread was back, pooling in my gut and slithering through my limbs, because I knew with absolute certainty that my father wouldn’t be the one sacrificing anything. It would be me. It was always me. “What’s this solution?”

“You will marry Eva Ward.”

“What?!” I sputtered, shock like a sledgehammer to the chest.

“The hotel will become half hers, and we will no longer need to make payments to her.” He saw the panic taking over me and held his hands up to forestall any argument I might have. “It’s not without benefits for you as well, I promise. Not only will you get to keep running the hotel as you see fit, but she will allow you to be a part of several of her other ventures. She has a mansion, and she’s a beautiful woman. I’m sure you can—”

The glasses jumped as I slammed my fists down on the table. “No!” I shouted, seeing red. Conversations around the room tapered off as heads turned in our direction to see what was going on.

“Now, Son, you’re not thinking clearly. Just give it some time, I’m sure you’ll get used to the idea.”

Except there was no chance I would ever get used to it. I refused to. I shoved my way out of the booth and stormed off, my father calling behind me, “We’ll talk about this later.” There was nothing to talk about as far as I was concerned.

I had always been a calm man, a well-tempered alpha. Just like my dad taught me, I saw the benefit in using words over fists, but for once, I so desperately wanted to break something, to hurt someone. My pulse rushed in my ears as my blood pressure spiked.

I’d done everything I could to keep this place afloat, and meanwhile, I was always going to lose. As desperation took over, the anger seeped out, and I found myself stalled in the middle of the hotel lobby. That was it, I supposed. It was done. All this struggling for nothing.

Feeling his gaze, there was no mistaking who was watching me. I knew him like I knew my own reflection, and I turned to look at Roland, watching me from the front desk. His eyes were so sad, worried for me, and I hated so much that I was the cause of that worry. Without conscious decision, my legs took me straight to him, and while I could’ve overridden the action, I decided to indulge myself for a moment, to find relief in his presence. Didn’t I deserve that much?

I stopped beside him, close enough that I could feel the heat coming off him. His scent was so alluring, but when I tried to breathe through my mouth instead, it was like I could taste him on my tongue. That only made everything so much worse.

“What’s wrong?” he asked softly, tenderly. His hands twitched as though he was considering reaching for me.

I wanted nothing more than to take refuge in his arms, to tell him what my father wanted me to do and have him tell me that everything would be okay, and I wanted to be able to believe him.

Instead, I shuttered my emotions and schooled my expression, stepping back to avoid the temptation. “Nothing is wrong,” I heard myself say, my voice surprisingly even considering the war being waged in my heart. “I’m going home. Have a good night, Mr. Stohl.” I turned away before I could see his reaction and headed for the door.

Though we’d never crossed that line between us, we were somehow still too close, too entwined for a boss and his employee. I needed to say goodbye to him once and for all. Roland deserved better than the disaster coming my way. Because I either had to fire everyone… or commit to a woman I could never love.

5

Roland

Emerson’s grip tightened on my waist, near painful, until I was sure I would be left with bruises. I looked forward to seeing the marks he left on my body. Evidence that I belonged to him, not just as his employee, but as his partner. Then, without warning, as if my weight meant nothing to him, he hoisted me up onto the counter, and when I parted my knees, he stepped in, notched close enough that I could feel his bulge pressed hard against mine. The counter vibrated under me with the rocking of the industrial washing machine.

“Someone could walk in. They’ll see,” I warned, even though I was way past caring. We were in the hotel’s laundry room in the basement, and there were always staff coming and going, emptying and reloading housekeeping carts.

“So?” The corner of his lips turned up in a smirk, and I found myself leaning closer, wanting to bite those lips. “Don’t you think we’ve waited long enough? Roland, I can’t keep you at a distance any longer. I’m a patient man, but even I have my limits.” As if to emphasize that I was that limit, he dug his fingers into my hair and pulled until my head was tilted back, then he descended on the exposed skin of my neck, sucking and biting up the column of flesh like a man starved.

“Emerson,” I panted, wrapping my legs around his waist so he couldn’t run like he so often did. He couldn’t leave me again, I wouldn’t survive it. Fumbling against him, I blindly grappled with his jacket, trying to force it back over his shoulders, but he refused to let go of me to undress himself.

The washing machine switched to a spin cycle, and as the vibration changed, it set off a tingling sensation through my body. Between that and the searching nature of Emerson’s mouth as he loosened my tie to lick the hollow between my collarbones, I was becoming frantic. I felt slick trickling from my ass, dampening my underwear.

My body called to his, and for once, he responded to my need with desperation of his own. We were made for each other, and fighting against it was driving us both insane.

I was jolted from my fantasy by the click-clack of high heels across the lobby’s polished marble floor, and I groaned in frustration under my breath. I was always interrupted at the best part. It didn’t help that I was working late to cover for Emily, and the mornings were obviously busier than my usual night shift.

When I saw who it was, I clenched my teeth so hard that my jaw ached. Coming toward me was the city’s mayor, Eva Ward. As always happened when in her presence, my skin crawled with revulsion, and it took everything in me not to sneer. She’d taken over the role of mayor by default when it was uncovered that the previous mayor had been dabbling in bribery, blackmail, and extortion, and though she’d won the next election (supposedly fair and square), there would always be this lingering doubt about her integrity. Her smiles were too practiced, her words honey-smooth.

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