Page 14 of Master Cordell

“Good. I’m glad you gave her the day off—I would’ve said the same thing. If she needs any more time off or anything, tell her to talk to Sloan, and we’ll see what we can do to help her out.” That was one thing she’d told Cordell she wanted with the staff—a close working relationship that made everyone feel like family at the resort. She wanted the employees to stay with them because they loved their jobs and knew the management had their backs during difficult times. She’d even requested Sloan make her a list of every employee’s birthday, so they could arrange to do a little something special for them to celebrate.

Tiffany spent the next three hours inspecting every inch of each guest room and suite with Emma and Luis. To her relief, there’d only been small issues, such as the grout around one shower stall hadn’t been properly applied, a bedside lamp wasn’t working, and a few towel racks were loose. Emma had noticed where the cleaning staff had missed a few spots of dust on countertops and the TVs mounted on the walls above the dressers or smudges on glass or mirrors. She made notes on her iPad so she could assign people to take care of everything when the inspections were done.

By the time three p.m. rolled around, Tiffany was a little tired but satisfied with all that had been accomplished that day as well as the entire week. Master Key Resort was truly ready to open, and she couldn’t have been prouder of her staff. Once word had gotten out that a lifestyle resort was opening in the Keys, they’d gotten many applications from people in the BDSM community from all over the US to fill the numerous positions they had available. About a third of the MKR employees had moved to the area from out of state or from other locations in Florida to come work there, and more than half of the staff were already in the lifestyle.

Tiffany and Sloan had run two days of classes for those not familiar with BDSM to educate them on different kinds of play and protocols they might see while working. The last thing the resort needed was someone calling the police to report alleged abuse when a Dom had been simply spanking their submissive. While guests were supposed to adhere to the resort rules of keeping BDSM play out of certain areas such as the restaurant, lobby, pool, and beach, except for special events, it was probable that some would forget at times. Cordell and Tiffany didn’t want any of their vanilla employees to be subjected to embarrassing situations if they could be avoided.

Glancing at her watch, Tiffany estimated she had about a half hour to run and freshen up before the Tampa group arrived. The daytime indoor staff had been sent home, and the evening staff was in place for a few hours to welcome the guests. Once everyone retired for the evening, the employees would go home. Tiffany and Cordell would handle anything that happened on the overnight, since it was just their bosses and friends staying at the resort. The day crew would return first thing in the morning and work as if the resort was officially open and filled with guests. From that point on, the resort would be fully staffed at all times.

Unfortunately, the food delivery had been three hours late and missing some items, which they’d been assured would be replaced by noon tomorrow at the latest, so Cordell had told Chef Adley not worry about dinner tonight. He’d then called and made arrangements for the party room at Sundown for everyone. In addition to their pseudo-guests, Tiffany and Cordell had quietly invited Sloan, Sasha, Jared, Troy, and Dante to join them, not wanting any other staff members to feel slighted. Since those five people had been out with them the last time Mitch, Tori, Kristen, and Angie had been there, and had enjoyed themselves, Tiffany figured they’d all like to hang out with each other again.

Even if Sasha hadn’t been so excited to see everyone from Tampa, she would’ve accepted the invite because Jared and Troy were going. Tiffany had realized about a week ago that the submissive had been crushing on the two Doms big time. And while they’d been flirting with Sasha ever since the barbecue at Dante and Reed’s, Tiffany didn’t think any of them had taken things further. Having gotten to know her new friend better, Tiffany was sure if anything did happen with the threesome, Sasha would be hard-pressed to keep that tidbit to herself. The woman lacked a filter at times and probably had a reputation of being a brat at The Covenant—and in a good way.

As she walked toward her cottage, she waved hello to several members of the landscaping crew. She’d almost reached her destination when she heard her name being called. Turning her head, she saw Sir jogging toward her and waited for him to catch up. When he did, she said, “I was just going to freshen up before everyone gets here. I want to put on a new shirt and shorts.”

“Great minds think alike.” He grinned as he stopped next to her. Before she could say anything more, he bent down and kissed her so hard she felt it all the way to her toes. It didn’t surprise her because it seemed like every time they had a few moments alone lately, he couldn’t keep his mouth and hands off her. She still didn’t know what had changed with him, but she sure as shit wasn’t complaining.

Pulling back, he winked at her. “That’s for doing such an amazing job, Pet. I don’t think I’ve said that enough over the past few weeks. You’re incredible, and I couldn’t have done all of this without you. I’m so proud of you.”

“Thank you, Sir. I’m proud of you too. If I didn’t know you were a retired police officer, I’d swear you had hotel experience.”

His eyebrows arched. “Really? Thank you. That means a lot to me. I have to admit though—and don’t tell anyone this—there were times I didn’t know what the hell I was doing, but with your help and Mitch’s input, I was able to fake it.”

She laughed and took his hand, pulling him toward their cottage. “I don’t think anyone else noticed, so your secret is safe with me.”

When they reached the small porch, she felt Sir stiffen, and then he pulled her up short. Her gaze shot to his face to see he was frowning and staring at the front door. “What’s wrong?”

“Did you leave that unlocked?”

It was then she noticed the door was slightly ajar but not wide enough to see inside. “No. I haven’t been back here all day, and I know you shut it and locked it when we left this morning.”

Reaching to the small of his back, he pulled out the handgun he kept holstered there, and she paled. He tugged on her hand. “Go to the security office and get Dante, Travis, or Jared.”

“But—”

He narrowed his eyes at her. “Now!”

As she glanced at the open door one more time, fear coursed through her. It was obvious Sir wanted her away from there while he went inside to check on things, otherwise he would just tell her to use her phone to call for help. Not wanting him to worry about her waiting for him outside, and knowing she had to get him some backup, she nodded and took off running for the resort entrance. Dante’s team had moved into the new security offices the day before, and the trailer they’d been using for the past few months had been picked up about an hour ago by the company they’d rented it from.

She was out of breath by the time she reached the lobby since she usually only walked there. Thankfully, Dante and Jared were talking by the reception desk. The head of security did a double take when he spotted her and then hurried over with Jared on his heels. Dante grasped her shoulder. “What’s wrong, Tiff?”

She pointed back toward the cottage, desperately trying to draw oxygen into her burning lungs. “Sir needs you ... I think ... someone broke into our place.”

Dante and Jared were running out the door before she could say anything more. Needing to get back to Sir as fast as she could to make sure he was all right, she grabbed one of the resort’s golf carts that’d been plugged into an outlet around the corner from the valet stand. Since the damn thing didn’t go faster than fifteen miles per hour, the two security men had beaten her to the cottage. Relief flooded her when Sir appeared on the porch as she jumped out of the cart after barely remembering to set the brake.

With a thunderous expression, Sir descended the stairs and met her at the bottom. She gaped at him. “Someone was in there?”

“Yeah. Whoever it was is gone, but the place is trashed.”

“What? Oh my God!” Her fear returned, and she darted around Sir. “Eastwood! Where is he?”

Chapter11

Cordell grasped Tiffany’s arms to keep her from running up the stairs and into the cottage. “Easy, Pet. We have to process the scene, so you can’t go in there yet.” He also wanted to give her a chance to calm down before she saw the destruction. Whoever had broken in had torn the place apart. The intruder had found Cordell’s baseball bat he kept in the bedroom closet as an extra weapon, which could be readily available if needed, and had used it to smash everything in sight—mirrors, TVs, laptops, dishes, lamps, and more. Some of their clothes, that’d been pulled out of the dressers and closet, and the bedding had been torn to shreds, probably with the butcher knife he’d spotted on the bedroom floor among the ruined garments.

Whoever the bastard was, this hadn’t been a burglary with the intent to steal anything. What Cordell had seen was the result of rage with the intent to destroy. This hadn’t been random—it’d been personal, and that had him fearing for Tiffany’s and Eastwood’s safety. He was just grateful Tiffany hadn’t gone back to the cottage for anything while the intruder had still been there. And thankfully, the only thing he hadn’t noticed amid the mess was blood, so hopefully that meant the cat had escaped the person’s wrath.

“But Eastwood ...”

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