Page 79 of Faithless
I held her tightly for a final long kiss, wishing she could absorb everything I felt through my embrace. Not just my love but my gratitude that she accepted me like this, that she was patient and demanded nothing of me but my honesty.
That she was still my best friend.
I swatted her hip as our kiss ended. “Let’s go, creep.”
She groaned in annoyance as she slid off my lap, rising from the couch. “I don’t know which is worse, creep or damsel.”
“There’s always honey.” I watched her hips sway as she walked naked toward her bedroom, then ran up behind her to smack her ass.
“Ah!” Rori darted into the room and playfully glared as she peeked out from the behind door. “Definitely not that. I actually kind of like creep.”
“Damsel it is then.” I started toward my room, eager to dig out my jeans, boots, and leather jacket. No more of these fancy threads for me.
“Fuck you,” Rori called.
Love you too,I wanted to call out in return. But damn, that heart-mouth disconnect tripped me up again. I really needed to work on that. More than anything, I wanted to see her face when I told her I loved her.
No more than five minutes could have passed when an insistent knock came pounding at the door.
“Shit.”
Rori and I came out of our rooms at the same time, both dressed in jeans and leather, and looked at each other.
“Can we go out a window?” I asked her.
She ran to check when more hard pounding came to the door. “Mr. and Mrs. Renault! This is Nella, the guest services manager. It is imperative that I speak to you right away.”
“No dice.” Rori shook her head as she came back from the window. “It’s a sheer drop into the canyon, not even any window sills or roofing to stand on. You want to hide? Fight?”
I clenched my fists, working through the scenarios in my head. Hiding was no good, they’d tear the suite apart and likely knew it better than we did. Fighting was also dicey, especially since we had no weapons. Nella had likely arrived with backup, and roughing up more staff than I already had was likely to cause more problems than fewer.
“We will enter the room in thirty seconds if you do not comply!” Nella’s voice called. Damn, she was not fucking around.
I held my hand out to Rori. “I think we need to face the music and see what we’re dealing with.”
She took my hand with a nod, lacing our fingers together and squeezing. “Together or not at all.”
I love you.I brought the back of her palm to my lips and kissed it before we headed to the door together.
Rori unlocked the door with her free hand, standing slightly ahead of me as she swung it open. “Hello, Nella.”
The woman was fuming mad. The scowl she always reserved for me was now aimed pointedly at Rori. The six armed guards behind her, though, were expressionless.
“Are you aware of what your husband has done?” Nella asked.
Rori stood a little straighter. “I am.”
“That he inserted himself into routine disciplinary action, assaulted and gravely injuredfourof my staff?”
That was a bit of an exaggeration. I onlygravelyinjured one guy.
“I’m aware,” Rori answered.
“We do everything in our power to see to our guests’ entertainment and comfort,” Nella said stiffly. “But we have a zero tolerance policy for getting involved in staff duties and harming those who work here. You two are to leave the premises immediately.”
“We figured as much.” Rori nodded and smiled politely. “We don’t want to cause any further trouble and will be on our way.”
Nella blinked, and her expression cracked a little, like she wasn’t expecting us to be so compliant. “Very well,” she said stiffly. “We’ll escort you out.”
