Page 96 of Release Me

“I don’t,” Belinda snipes, admiring her hot pink fingernails that I once recall digging into my shoulders.

There’s no point trying to sway her opinion of me. “So why am I here if all the work is done?”

“So you can take full responsibility if your department hires give me problems.” She frowns at the paper cup in my hand. “The Sea Witch?”

“Local shop.” I hold my breath a beat, waiting to see if a link between the name and Sloane will form, but Belinda doesn’t seem to connect the dots. “The coffee in the pit is shit.”

“Oh God, why would you drink that?” She grimaces. “Minnie gets mine from Opal Reef. The Brevilles arrived two weeks ago.”

“We can do that?” I didn’t even consider sending my assistant to fetch me coffee from one of the hotel’s restaurants.

She answers with a snort.

I was actually hoping to run into Belinda before this meeting, but it wasn’t to discuss caffeine sources. “Listen, there might be a few names I need to veto today.”

“Veto?” She adjusts her thick-rimmed glasses to scowl at me. “Explain.”

The list is tucked in my back pocket. To say Sloane was reluctant with my idea would be an understatement. I practically had to pull the names from her pretty lips, and she squirmed uncomfortably the entire time. “Our neighbor is willing to take down her signs if I help her out.”

Belinda’s pencil-drawn eyebrows arch with a mixture of interest and suspicion. “Help herhow?”

I considered how to approach this long and hard last night, while admiring the stars from our rooftop. I’ve figured out Sloane’s weakness—her family business, her grandmother’s legacy to Mermaid Beach. If I give Belinda this information, I don’t trust that she won’t use it as ammo to punish our menace of a neighbor rather than as a negotiating tool. “It’s a long story, and I’d rather not bore you with the details. Plus, plausible deniability has its benefits.”

She freezes mid step. “Does this involve my director of operations sticking his dick somewhere it doesn’t belong?” she hisses.

“Inside the bus at all times. I swear.”

She stares me down as if searching for the lie.

“I did not lay a hand on her, Belinda.” My lips are another story, and I didn’t instigate that. I sure as hell enjoyed it, enough that it was the first thing that came to mind when I cracked my blurry eyes open this morning. “But I need you to back me up. You do that, and those signs on her property will be long gone by the media open.”

That gives her pause. “Allof them?”

“Every last one.”

Her lips twist as she considers this. “I want the rooster gone too.”

“That’s a no-go.” There’s not a chance in hellRalphis going anywhere. I saw Sloane’s face. I may as well have demanded she drown a puppy. “So? Will you back me up if I need it?” Something tells me I will need it. Sloane wouldn’t tolerate idiots. Aside from her ex, that is. All these guys will be Wolf Hotel employees by the end of the weekend if I don’t run interference.

I hold my breath as I wait for her answer.

“Fine.” Belinda sighs reluctantly. “But don’t make me look stupid.”

“That’s impossible.” I cap it off with a wink.

She rolls her eyes. “Be prepared for pushback, though. These are all career Wolf managers who aren’t pleased about reporting into a grounds crew worker who weaseled his way into Henry’s good graces.”

“Got that vibe.” But weaseled? I smirk. “Is that what I did?”

“I have no idea what precisely you did, and I’m sure I do not want to know. But Dorian was expecting your job. Frankly, he deserves it.”

“And maybe one day, he’ll have it. But today, it’s mine and I can squash our public relations issue with your help.”

A thoughtful expression lingers on her face as she slows her steps. The meeting room is up ahead. “If you want to earn your position, you need to start acting like you care that you have it.”

“Idocare.” As much as I might not have wanted this job, now that I’m here, I’m not letting anything or anyone get in the way of it. “But I have a fuck ton to learn.”

“And no time to learn it,” she agrees. “So, you better learn how to fake it.”

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