Page 86 of Release Me

“Because you are a perfect angel who would never betray me.”.

“Exactly.” She presses the backs of her hands under her chin and bats her eyelashes playfully.

But the weight of my dilemma is too much to shed with laughter. “I can’t just sit around here. If I’m going to lose half my staff, I need to know, like,now.”

Skye gasps and declares, “I have acrazyidea.”

39.Ronan

Tasha

That’s amazing. Congratulations.

OMG, Carrie is getting married and I just had a brilliant idea for her bachelorette! We should do it at your new hotel! When does it open? I need to organize something soon. Hook a girl up?

Carrie would love you forever (she’s still pissed we’re not together anymore).

Why didn’t you warn me how muggy Miami is?

Ireread the string of texts that started last night, the last one coming in while I was using the staff locker room shower. Tasha is clearly trying to open a line of communication after two years of radio silence. Does she remember how we broke up? Because I sure as hell do and it wasn’t pretty.

But it’s been so long. I don’t even think about her anymore until she shows up on my phone screen. This is stupid. Why am I toiling over how to respond and what things might mean? It doesn’t matter because we’ve been done for years. I couldn’tsay how many women I’ve slept with since. If Tasha and I can come out at the end as friends? Fan-fucking-tastic.

I can definitely hook a girl up.

I feel Belinda’s dissecting eyes on me, so I dump my phone into my pocket and return to scanning the hordes of people filling the hotel ballroom, in various stages of the screening and interview process. It’s a complete shitshow. “What ever happened to emailing résumés and calling people in?”

“Is that how you were hired?” Belinda retorts.

“No,” I admit. “It was a college job fair.” Wolf Hotels had a table, and people could apply and interview on the spot for everything from administration to collecting trash, working all over the world. I’ll admit, Henry’s company has a stellar reputation. The line of candidates was long.

Her heels click as she leads me through the crowd at a leisurely pace. “This may be painful, but it allows us an opportunity to evaluate applicants up front and quickly, especially when we’re hiring seasonally for a hotel that opens in less than three weeks. For example”—she lowers her voice to a murmur only I can hear—“that one over there is applying to serve in our fine dining establishment.”

I follow her focus. “The mullet?”

“Precisely. He wants to serve our clientele thousand-dollar bottles of wine and premium oysters. Do you think his name will reach the hire list?”

“You’d kill someone’s future over their hair? You know they’re back in style,” I add, half jokingly.

“Mullets wereneverin style. The hair is a questionable choice, but he’s applying for a high-end customer service job inflip-flops and torn jean shorts.” She sneers. “He won’t get past the first round of scrutiny and if he does, Lena’s managers will end that quickly because they know what is required of our employees.”

I met my counterpart yesterday and the disapproving once-over she gave me told me everything I needed to know about her. We aren’t going to get along. “What if he’s qualified to do the job?”

“If he were qualified to work in high-end service, he would not have arrived for an interview dressed likethat.”

“Fair enough.” I smirk. “Though, I didn’t show up too much better yesterday.”

“Precisely. You’re not qualified for your job either. But it’s amazing what the right clothes can do.” Belinda’s sharp, assessing gaze drags over the white button-down and tailored palm-green dress pants I changed into. While I’m not thrilled by this location’s color scheme, I have to admit, the clothes Belinda chose make me feel like a baller. The double takes I’ve caught are tenfold the average. This is how Wolf must feel.

But I’m still not wearing that fucking tie.

I assess the vast group of hopefuls. Some of these people will know me as theirbossbeginning next week—a reality I’m still adjusting to. There are a lot of them. “Are these all Mermaid Beach locals?”

“Here and the towns over the bridge. Or seasonals who have come down with jobs already lined up but are hoping to upgrade.”

Like Sloane’s staffers, based on the tail end of that conversation I overheard. How many of her people are ready to ditch her? No wonder she has no love for Wolf. Still, it’s unhinged to react the way she did when she found out I’m working here.

But I already knew she was unhinged.

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