Page 4 of While We Waited

Hudson

Damnit. I shove my phone in my pocket. I hate hanging up on Nova. But it’s for the best. She’s sunshine and happiness and all things good. I don’t deserve good things.

There’s a knock on my door. “Boss.”

Great. A distraction. “What is it?”

The door opens and my front desk manager, Wesley, sticks his head inside. “Someone’s asking to see the owner.”

I push to my feet. My right ankle wobbles but I ignore it. I’m used to ignoring the pain.

“What’s the problem?” I ask as we walk toward the lobby.

“Noise complaint.”

Noise complaint? Noise complaints are extremely rare at the resort. This isn’t some old hotel building with paper-thin walls. I had the place built from the ground up and made sure all the rooms are soundproof. I spent a decade of my life living in hotel rooms when I played ball in the NFL. I know how important a quiet room is.

We enter the lobby and two women come rushing toward us. Wesley clears his throat. “This is the boss, Mr. Clark.”

The first woman rakes her gaze over me and licks her lips. “Oh, we know who Hudson Clark is.”

Great. A football groupie. I haven’t played football in three years due to my injury but groupies don’t care. They throw themselves at me whether I want them to or not. It’s why I returned to the island of Smuggler’s Hideaway where I grew up. The locals know me and know to leave me alone.

The second woman scoots closer to stand next to her friend. “We can show you a good time, Double Crown.”

I scowl. I hate the nickname Double Crown. It’s pretentious. I’m not some pompous ass. Football is a team sport. I didn’t win those two Super Bowls. My team did.

I cross my arms over my chest and glare at the women. “I understand there was a noise complaint.”

The first woman rolls her eyes. “How else could we get your attention?”

“Yeah.” The other woman nods. “We’ve been here all weekend and we didn’t bump into you once.”

Another reason I stay as far away from the guests as possible. I don’t want to be the notch on some football groupie’s bedpost. There’s only one woman I want to spend any time inbed with. I clear my throat and force thoughts of Nova’s smile out of my mind. The woman is not for me.

My cock twitches. It obviously disagrees.

“If there’s no noise complaint, I need to return to my work.”

I try to walk away but the first woman latches onto my bicep. “Don’t go. We haven’t had a chance to get to know you yet.”

These women don’t want to get to know me. They want to brag to their friends about how they had sex with a football player. I could be a faceless man for all they care.

The lobby doors open and two men rush inside. “Get your hands off of her!”

I raise my arms in the air. “Not touching her.”

One of the men grabs the second woman and pulls her away while the other man squares up with me.

“I said. Get your hands off of my wife.”

Fucking hell. I wish I could say this is the first time I’ve dealt with an angry husband, but it’s not. It’s not the second, either. I stopped counting a while ago.

“Sir, I’m not touching your wife.” I wiggle my hands which are still in the air.

“I don’t care how you’re some big football legend. You can’t go around seducing married women.”

I don’t seduce women period. Not since my rookie year when I caught a woman poking holes in a condom. I learned my lesson awful quick. No strange women in my hotel room.

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