Page 17 of Sensual Games

“Yes, we can provide cots to anyone who would be willing to share a room.” The look of relief on the girl’s face was matched by the sound of it in Ivy’s voice when she offered her thanks.

When the clerk hurried off to locate the cots, I opened my mouth, prepared to offer insincere congratulations on saving the day yet again. Her stony stare told me that would not be a wise course of action, putting it mildly. “Don’t even start with me,” she warned in a whisper. “And don’t pretend it wasn’t you who did this.”

She wasn’t an idiot, so her accusation came as no surprise. Not that it made a difference. “I was about to offer my appreciation for coming up with a solution.”

“Bullshit.” Just as suddenly as her face had twisted into a snarl, it shifted into an easy-going smile. She waved her arm over her head, and she turned to the group. “Hi, everybody. We’re going to need to work together on this.”

When a low roar of concerned voices drowned her out, I put two fingers in my mouth and blew out a sharp whistle that silenced the group. Ivy offered no acknowledgment, clearing her throat. “We’ve hit a little bit of a snag, but it shouldn’t be too much of a problem. Through some sort of scheduling mishap, we’re ten rooms short this weekend. But they do have cots available for us to use, or maybe those of us willing to share a bigger bed with a friend could help too.” Right away, her friend Laney stood up straighter and nodded. She was cute in an offbeat kind of way, but not my type.

“I can stay with Laney!” An older woman—Barbara something—linked arms with the girl in question. “That is if you don’t mind. I can always use a cot,” she offered. Laney’s strained smile and Ivy’s disappointed sigh told me what they thought of the arrangement, but neither of them wanted to be rude and tell the woman her help was not helpful at all.

“Thank you, Barbara,” Ivy called out. She was masterful when it came to being two-faced, lying to these people to make them feel better. Was that what I had to look forward to for the rest of my corporate life? Playing nice? I couldn’t think of many things I would like less.

Eventually, those who were able to pair off did so, collecting their key cards at the front desk before taking a map of the lodge that would direct them to their rooms. The place was so huge I thought it was a castle when Mom and Dad first brought me here. I wasn’t tall enough to see over the front counter then.

Finally, there was no one left but Ivy and me. I wasn’t about to let her take charge without at least showing my face and reminding people who I was. Since Dad didn’t see fit to join us—not that I could blame him—I had to represent the family. How would he have reacted at the sight of only one room key left waiting on the desk?

“Has there been a mistake?” I asked as evenly as I could, eyeing the card. “There are two of us left, but only one key card.”

“That’s because there’s only one room left, genius,” Ivy muttered, snatching the card. “Congratulations. You’ve given us no choice but to share a goddamn room all weekend.”

“That’s not happening, Poison,” I replied with a laugh. “And save your accusations.”

“Sure. This is all a bigcoincidence.The fact that we lost ten rooms and the fact that you hate me for working at your company are completely unrelated.” She rolled her eyes, blowing out an exasperated sigh. “I guess I could stay with Laney and Barbara…” Her voice was flat, almost weak. Obviously, the idea didn’t make her happy.

But did staying with me? I couldn’t imagine it. Yet there she was, hustling quickly across the rustic lobby, holding my room key hostage as she did. “You’re sure there are no other rooms available?” I asked the clerk. What was I supposed to do otherwise? Stay with some random employee? Yeah, right.

“I’m afraid not. Sorry.” She grimaced like she was sympathetic but did nothing to help.

I had fucked myself royally. What was worse, Ivy knew it. I had no choice but to catch up to her.

“Can I at least get the duplicate key?” I asked, falling in step with her. “Or are you going to keep that from me?”

“As far as I’m concerned, you can go outside, look up at the sky, and open your mouth wide. Maybe you’ll drown.” She wouldn’t look at me on the elevator, staring at her phone instead, typing something frantically.

“What did your phone ever do to deserve that kind of punishment?” I asked, staring straight ahead.

“It’s either type like this or wrap my hands around your throat.”

“Be careful, Poison. For all you know, I might enjoy it.” Why? Why did stupid shit like that come out of my mouth when I was around her?

She barely stopped short of shoving me aside to exit the elevator before I could, then almost ran down a pair of teenagers on their way down the hall.

“I still need the key,” I called out behind her. Was I enjoying her little fit? More than I should. This was the first pleasure she’d given me since the night of Colton’s wedding. I deserved it after the indignity of being babysat for two weeks.

The pleasure of watching her hips sway wasn’t bad, either.

Fuck. We’d be sharing a room, and the woman wanted to kill me. I doubted that was hyperbole. There was no room for thoughts about her ass unless I was in the mood for a miserable hard-on all night.

A gasp rang out as soon as she pushed the door open while I was still a few rooms down the hall. “You’re kidding me,” she groaned out.

Once I rounded the doorframe, I understood. The chances of a painful hard-on were improving by the minute. “There’s only one bed in the room,” I observed in disbelief. If my dick didn’t thicken at the idea of sharing a bed with her, I might have laughed at the absurdity.

She didn’t see the humor. “Congratulations.” Ivy dropped onto the foot of the bed, arms folded. “You can count to one.”

8

IVY

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