Page 3 of Royal Pain

It was just another source of income, not that we really needed it.

“Miss Raleigh,” as I liked to call her. “I see you have our upcoming schedule for the week.”

She moved closer, taking one of the two seats on the other side of my desk. “Yes, we have a busy upcoming few days. From what Travis has told me, we are fully booked, more of our guests highly… secretive than usual. I’ve had more requests for dominant men and submissive women this week than I think I’ve had since I started working here.”

“Oh, my dear manager, you will learn most of our guests have very dark proclivities, many of them stretching their boundaries with every trip. It doesn’t bother you, does it?”

She blushed. “I’ll have you know I have a kinky side.”

I didn’t doubt that. Sometimes those you’d never consider longed to be tied and flogged were the ones participating in private or group activities.

I chuckled. “It’s late. You should take some time off. What else do we have, anything unusual?”

She flipped from one screen to another, groaning after a few seconds. “We have a bachelorette group in. Not huge but they managed to hire and have brought in male strippers for a party tomorrow night.”

“Male strippers?” Somehow, I doubted our wealthy clients would appreciate that. Then again, maybe I was wrong.

“Yeah. I can try and have Travis toss them off the island.”

Travis Sinclair had been promoted to vice president, the man in charge of guest relations for both islands. He could easily make or break your getaway. That’s one reason I liked him. The man was a bulldog.

“No, leave it. We’ll just ensure there are no issues. They’re in the ballroom that can be closed off?”

“They are.”

“Then we’ll see how it goes.”

“That’s it. You should have an easy week.” She grinned and rose to her feet.

Easy.

Life hadn’t been easy since I could remember, especially after our father had died. My mother, my brothers’ stepmother had taken his death very hard. All three of us had rallied around her in addition to our heavy workload.

“You know. Take a couple days off. Lie on the beach. Drink a tropical drink. Enjoy the spoils in life.” She was instructing me?

Now she was dreaming. I hadn’t been to one of the beaches in a long time.

My phone rang seconds later. My chief of security had been another incredible hire. “Charlie. What’s up?”

“I think you need to get out by the pool, Mr. Royal. There’s been an incident.”

An incident.

It wouldn’t be a normal week if there wasn’t some incident that occurred. “I’ll be right there.”

Raleigh looked at me, shaking her head. “No rest for the weary.”

“None.”

I didn’t bother grabbing my jacket before heading out of my office. Thankfully, there was a private elevator. All I’d wanted was to enjoy a stiff drink and maybe get a good night’s sleep. Now this. What could be going on now?

Evangeline

The resort was perhaps the most spectacular place I’d been to in my entire life. I’d uploaded several pictures to my social media sites, the photographs barely doing the place justice.

I was standing near the tiki bar, facing the ocean. The sky was crisscrossed with colors, stars already bright in the skies. It had taken weeks to convince myself I could take a few days off from life. Now I was so glad I’d come. Maybe the time away was onlyfor a few days, but for the first time in my life, I could afford the location and enjoy some time with my friends.

Even if the four of them were drinking way too much.

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