Page 25 of Elling & Jackie

They obviously had strong feelings toward each other. She could tell by Elling refusing to talk that he disliked the man. Every time she'd had a conversation with him, he'd been a confusing blend of bossy and soft-spoken, but at least he talked to her.

Seeing their reaction to each other, she wondered about their reasons for staying at the hotel. She had no knowledge of Slag Motorcycle Club's activities or if staying at a hotel when the clubhouse was nearby was normal behavior or not. It wouldn't have been for Brikken.

She put the hotel schedule on the screen. It would be better for her if she forgot all about Elling and Mr. Campbell. If they knew each other, it wasn't any of her business.

Work and pleasure were never a good mix.

Letting him kiss her, and kissing him back was a mistake. No matter how sexy and attracted she was to Elling, she was forbidden from associating with him.

Not only forbidden, but she personally refused to consort with the enemy.

She was a Stanton.

Rollo was her grandfather.

Chief her father.

Brikken her family.

The elevator dinged. She snapped her gaze to the right. Elling walked into the room and straight to the desk.

He took out his wallet. "How much do I owe you?"

Refusing to look at him, she concentrated on the braids of whiskers reaching his chest. She ran the numbers in her head, knowing that his room hadn't been reserved.

He gave her a handful of cash. She put the money in the drawer. Bikers never left a trail.

"Do you need a receipt?" she asked, knowing he'd say no.

He reached over and hooked his finger under her chin. She jerked away and looked at him. He frowned and slowly stretched his arm, catching her jaw, holding her in front of him.

Trailing his thumb over her bottom lip, his gaze intensified. Her heart pounded. She knew she should pull away. Stand up. Put some distance between them.

He had no right to touch her.

She swallowed. Her pussy quivered in response to his rough hand on her skin.

"Just as soft as I remember," he mumbled, his chest expanding.

She rolled her lips over her teeth, hiding her reaction to him, and he worked them loose again.

"We're not going to stop with a kiss." He straightened. "You might want to figure out how you're going to handle that when your man asks you what you've been doing at work."

His hand left her. She panted as if he'd stolen the air in the room. Was that a threat?

Elling walked toward the elevator. Tears prickled her eyes, and she sniffed. Instantly angry that he got a rise out of her. Frustrated, because he knew she was off limits. Pissed that he had even entered her life.

He was teasing her, and she wasn't going to be a piece in whatever game he played.

The next two hours, she kept herself busy running the hotel. Guests wanted late dinners delivered. Two housekeepers on the crew called in sick—she needed to deal with that problem soon.

In her frazzled state, she swore she recognized the rumble of Jett's motorcycle when she locked one of the front doors at ten o'clock, but there were no bikes on the street in front of the hotel.

She sent in the nightly report as Terri walked in for her shift. "How's traffic?"

"Not bad. I came up Sixth Street and stayed away from the waterfront." Terri put her bag in the bottom desk drawer and locked it. "I wonder if we'll see more guests checking in late."

Jackie couldn't remember last year if there was a surge in guests during the Classical concerts down on the Willamette River or not. There were three weeks of free music leading up to the Rose Festival and the Navy ships docking nearby, and rooms were already booked months in advance.

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