Page 16 of Sensual Games

Had all of this been for nothing? A waste of time getting back at her for something that was only in my head?

It was a relief to close my office door and shut out the incessant chatter. We were scheduled to get on chartered buses outside at three, meaning I had a few hours to go until the fun truly started.

This retreat was going to go well in the end. There wasn’t a doubt in my mind that Ivy would be incredible at organizing everything, which would earn her even greater approval from Dad.

And make me less likely to keep this goddamn job once he decided she was better suited than me. She already had me looking like an asshole with the presentation she hadn’t bothered bringing to me before announcing it to the entire team. There had to be something I could do to pay her back for that little email trick, but what? Short of canceling our reservations at the lodge.

Our reservations.

An idea played out in my mind’s eye, so sharp and clear it was like I was watching a movie. One more time, just once, to teach her a lesson. Then we’d be even.

I crossed the room before I could talk myself out of it while pulling out my cell. It took no time to find a number for the lodge, where a chipper young woman was on front desk duty. “Hello,” I replied after she answered. “I’m part of the Diamond Media retreat you’re hosting this weekend.”

“Of course,” she chirped. “We’re looking forward to your group’s arrival later today. I trust everything is going according to schedule?”

“It’s funny you should put it that way because we do have a slight problem. Nothing serious,” I assured her while gazing out beyond my office walls to the buzzing hive of activity. “But a handful of our people weren’t able to secure childcare this weekend and won’t be able to join us. Since I know it already had to put you guys out, shuffling things around to make room for us, I thought I should let you know we won’t need as many rooms as we originally imagined.”

“That is helpful,” she agreed. “We currently have sixty rooms booked. How many can we release?”

“Ten,” I ventured. “Thank you so much for being willing to work with us on this.”

“It’s our pleasure. We’ll see you all in a matter of hours.”

I assured her she would before ending the call and was barely able to stop laughing once I did. No, it wouldn’t be enough to shut the entire event down, but it would mean scrambling to make things work. “Let’s see how calm you can be under pressure,” I murmured, my smile widening when I imagined how flustered she would be.

All of a sudden, I was starting to look forward to this retreat.

There wasnothing like the month of July when it came to sudden, violent storms. The sky had threatened all day to open up and drench us. By the time we reached the on-ramp for Route 28, that threat turned into reality. Suddenly, we slowed to a crawl as rain lashed the windows and reduced visibility. As if I wanted to be on a fucking bus any longer than I needed to.

A two-hour drive turned into a four-hour ordeal thanks to an accident on the road ahead, which left us sitting still for much too long.Thank God for AirPods, I thought while turning up the volume on the music coming from my phone to block out my surroundings.

Ivy wanted to be a leader? She could lead us out of this.

At least a lot of the noise quieted once the lodge came into view and stunned most of the group into silence. I could admit it was impressive, sprawling upward and outward with multiple peaked roofs, which, from a distance, seemed to compete with the peaks behind them. Like a rustic cabin on steroids.

The lingering rain made me glad of the awning which spanned the entire walkway leading up to the lodge’s heavy doors. “Welcome, welcome,” the staff murmured like a bunch of robots, standing in a line stretching almost from the front door to the front desk. Clearly, our arrival meant something. I could tell from the awkward stares and soft giggles from more than one of our employees that they weren’t used to this level of attention. That didn’t come as any surprise.

It also didn’t come as a surprise when I found icy blonde hair shining at the front desk as we filtered into the lobby. I crept closer, listening hard but pretending to be clueless. “I don’t understand,” I heard Ivy say in a tight, slightly panicked voice. “I confirmed the number of rooms with you on Wednesday. I have the email confirming this.”

“Yes, but someone called and told us to reduce the number of rooms because there were a number of your group who were unable to make it.”

“Someone… called you?” she asked the clerk in a softer voice.

“Yes. Earlier today.”

I watched from behind as her shoulders rolled back and her spine stiffened. “I see. There’s a ten-room difference, yes?”

“That’s right. I’m so sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it. Really.” Ivy certainly sounded worried, though. I hesitated a few moments, letting her stew, always intending to save the day by offering to speak to Mr. Schwartz myself. He would be more than happy to help iron out any issues we had. Maybe I had taken this too far. I’d always planned to fix things, no harm done, but she had the same worry on her pretty face I’d seen before. I now remembered her sick mother Ivy told me about and wondered how much adversity the girl could handle.

“You know, Mr. Schwartz is a personal friend of my family,” I offered, coming to a stop at her side. “I could talk with him, arrange for a few of our people to stay at a neighboring lodge. We could shuttle them over here during the day and back at night.”

“Unfortunately, we are fully booked in our other lodges,” the girl behind the desk told me. “It’s our busy season. Plus, we just got word the storm knocked out power in town, so any of the smaller places down there will probably be scrambling around, trying to make do until the lines are repaired.”

Fuck me. I didn’t count on that. In all honesty, I hadn’t given my plan much thought beyond fixing things at the last moment just to prove I could. I hadn’t considered violent storms and power outages.

“Do you have cots?” Ivy asked. I craned my neck, hoping to catch her eye, but she pointedly refused to look my way. “I’m sure there have to be a few people who would be glad to double up.”

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