Page 5 of The Cocky Neighbor

"Of coursethatis the point you latch onto. I swear I don't understand how you manage this place so effectively when you think with your dick more often than not."

"It's because I have you, darling. The Robin to my Batman, so to speak," I teased with a wink. It was the truth. I hadn't expected to become the general manager of Corio City's most famous hotel in just five years. If Alfred hadn't been there, encouraging me to take the promotion that had been offered to me when I'd already felt inadequate in my position of leading a small team—much less theentirehotel—then I wouldn't be in my current position.

The thing that had really solidified my loyalty to this kind man was the fact that he didn't display a single moment of jealousy at me being the one offered the opportunity instead of him. I wouldn't have held it against him if he had, considering humans were greedy by nature, but he showed himself to have the heart of a saint and a true friend when he celebrated just as hard as I had when my promotion went through.

"Damn straight. You'd be so lost without me, and my ass would look great in those tiny green briefs." He raised his nose with a sniff, then as if remembering that we were getting off track, "but that isnotthe point." He emphasized his words by slamming his palms on my desk. My lucky fountain pen bounced at his sudden action. I managed to grab it just before it fell off the table.

"Then whatisthe point? You're losing me here, Boy Wonder," I said, waving the pen around with each word I spoke. Alfred followed my movements, as if he was also hypnotized by the power of the fountain pen.

He took a second to compose himself before shaking out of the sudden daze he'd been thrust into. "The point is that you, my dear Dark Knight, are severely underprepared to hold your own against aWright. You lack information about the enemy, and information is power. He's going to eat you alive when you give him the tour later. Maybe I should tag along to make sure you don't make a fool of yourself?"

I shook my head at his claims. Information was a valuable asset, but I didn't think it would be as extreme as he was making it out to be. What was the worst that could happen? Besides, it wasn’t like I could make an even worse impression than I already had.

"You know one of us needs to be on point for the morning rush. Our coworkers are competent, but we tend to get some very unusual guests staying with us. And I think you've been watching too many soap operas lately. You're worrying way too much. Take a deep breath. Chill. Liam seems like a reasonable guy. I’m sure everything’s going to be fine."

FIVE

ERIC

What was that popular saying? Famous last words? Because everything was not fine. Not in the slightest.

Liam came to my office to find me not long after my conversation with Alfred. His assistant was nowhere to be seen—gone to take care of some matters unrelated to the hotel, I was told.

He had walked in with his smooth smile and neatly pressed suit, stating that he was ready for the tour. Alfred had cast one last glance between the two of us before heading back to the front desk to see if any crisis had occurred in the last ten minutes that we were gone. From past experiences, ten minutes was more than enough time for a disaster to befall the hotel, and it was better to nip any disaster in the bud before they went full on Karen.

Things had started off pretty good with me showing Liam our back offices, the dining area for the staff, then through the lobby to the areas for our guests. He'd made polite comments about our formal restaurant, and noted how professional the wait staff appeared. He seemed impressed by the in-house spa as well as the activity rooms where we'd featured different events each week. When we made our way back to the lobby on our way to the elevators, that was where things had gone downhill.

Lily, one of our receptionists who had started not too long ago, was the only one manning the front desk this time. There were usually two receptionists there at a time, but it wasn't unusual for them to switch for bathroom breaks. Alfred wasn't in sight either, so he must have gone to take care of something else.

There were a few people milling around the lobby with no one going up to the front desk asking for help. Everything looked normal to me. Except, Liam paused, looking around the room, then at Lily as if waiting for something to happen. His brows furrowed and the easygoing attitude that had accompanied me at the beginning of the tour had disappeared.

"Is something the matter?" I asked, hoping to mitigate any problems that might have occurred that I wasn't aware of.

"Don't you see all these people?" he asked, sweeping a hand across the lobby as if I was blind to the people sitting around.

"Yes?" I asked more than answered. Was there something special about the people that I didn't know about?

"And?" I prompted, his hands crossing his chest as he glared at me.

Talk about a mood change. I had no idea where all this sudden hostility was coming from. Maybe Alfred had a point about knowledge being power. Did this dude have some kind of eccentricities that I wasn't aware of? And this was the reason why Alfred had made it a point to talk to me about getting to know the man before I'd gone into a proverbial battle with him?

Whatever the case was, I really was sorely underprepared for his randomness, and I prayed that whatever had his panties in a twist, he wasn't going to cause a scene in front of all these people.

"And? Are your staff not going to ask if they need any help? Are they just going to sit there twiddling their thumbs while the room fills with people? Does the hotel pay the staff to do nothing?" Liam dramatically pointed to Lily, who was focused on the computer.

I shook my head, still not entirely sure what the little prince of the Wright family was going on about. "I'm not too sure what the point you're trying to get at," I slowly said, just in case the dude was on something and needed me to spell things out for him. "Lily hasn't been working here long, but she is exceptional at her job. Besides, she isn't doingnothing.It looks like she's going through the reservations for this afternoon."

"Preparing for the next rush is good, but what about the people that currently need help?" Liam tapped his foot, as if he was trying to demand all the answers to whatever questions he had.

"Who are these people that need help?" I asked, still confused at where this conversation was heading. The man was hot, but it seemed like he had a screw loose.

He let out a low, frustrated growl, very much like my own frustrations that were bubbling up with this entire conversation. He turned around, took one long, deep breath before turning back to face me.

"Listen, I know that you've been running this place just fine, but the Wrights don't run onfine. We expect perfection in everything we do, and perfection isn't letting your guests stand and loiter in the lobby, confused and in need of help, while the staff joke around behind the front desk. I was here this morning for exactly twenty-six minutes while your staff deemed it appropriate to fool around without even coming to ask me if I needed any help. Fortunately,Ididn't, but that doesn't mean others may not." He finished his mini speech by once again gesturing to the people gathered in the lobby.

My mouth hung open, not entirely sure what I should say to that. The first emotion I felt was anger that he was accusing my staff of fooling around. Sure we were all close and treated each other more like friends than coworkers, but we never slacked off at work. Our receptionists were great at their job. I didn't like the tone he was using to speak about them, but I also knew this wasn't the place to make a scene.

"Did you ever consider that perhaps if they needed help, they could just go up to the front desk to ask? Just because someone is in the lobby, doesn't automatically mean they need assistance. That man, for example—" I nodded to an older gentleman sitting in the corner, "—is probably hiding from the rain. And since it has been raining all day, the receptionist from the previous shift probably thought you were hiding out from the rain this morning, just as they are now, and didn't think it was necessary to make you feel unwelcome in the lobby."I was impressed with how calm I managed to keep my voice when all I wanted to do was give this presumptuous man a piece of my mind.

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