Page 2 of Master Cordell

She bit her tongue. Knowing how much he hated lies, she went with a half-truth. “Just tired, Sir.”

His astute gaze roamed her face, and Tiffany fought the urge to squirm under his scrutiny. Finally, he nodded and released her. “Go to bed then. I’m going to shower and stay up for a bit. There’s some paperwork I have to look through before sending it back to Mitch. I’ll make sure I don’t disturb you when I come to bed.”

Tiffany wasn’t sure if she was relieved or disappointed that he wouldn’t be joining her until after she had an opportunity to fall asleep. That is, if she could sleep at all after her screwup today.

Chapter3

Three months later ...

Sitting in her temporary office they’d set up in one of the empty cottages, Tiffany signed the bottom of the paper in front of her and then dropped her pen on top of the pile. “That takes care of the staff for housekeeping, the concierge, the valets, the boutique, maintenance, the front desk, and your staff. Oh, and most of the spa employees.”

The woman across the table from her grinned. Sloan Robinson had been the first person Cordell and Tiffany had officially hired together, filling the Human Resources Director position. The two women had quickly become friends after spending long hours interviewing the staff members Tiffany would be in charge of and working on ordering things that were needed for the HR Department and executive offices. Cordell, Mitch, and Ty had been in charge of hiring for the management positions, accounting, payroll, and the staff for the water sports that would be available but had given Tiffany leeway to hire almost everyone else.

Even though two more floors of guest rooms and suites had been added to the final plans of the resort, the construction was two weeks ahead of schedule and would hopefully stay that way. Word had quickly spread about the new lifestyle destination, and because of the overwhelming inquiries about when it would be opening, the Sawyers had decided not to wait to expand the resort to accommodate their future clients. There were now sixty-two guest rooms and ten luxury suites. General membership, for those who lived in the area and wouldn’t need rooms, was being held to a maximum of three hundred people. Judging by the influx of applications they’d already received, it wouldn’t be long before that number was reached.

The resort would be opening in just five short weeks, and Tiffany wanted to have all the personnel positions filled by the coming weekend. They needed to get everyone trained and then start devoting all their time to finishing the plans for the grand opening. Mitch and Tori were coming down on Sunday for a few days, along with Angie and Kristen, Ian and Devon Sawyer’s wives, respectively, to help brainstorm some ideas for several events scheduled for the inaugural weekend. In addition to her cousin, Tiffany couldn’t wait to see the other two women again—especially Kristen who was one of her favorite authors—having met them during a previous visit to Tampa. Both women had welcomed her with open arms into their group of friends, and she chatted with them a few times a week on social media, keeping them updated on the happenings around the resort.

Sloan took a sip of her lemon-flavored water before answering Tiffany. “We’re getting there. We’ll be done after we finish hiring the waitstaff, a receptionist for the spa, and the clinic staff. Chef Adley sent me the info on the rest of the kitchen staff she wants to hire. I forwarded the email to Brody for the background checks.”

Brody Evans was a retired Navy SEAL, and the resident geek and one of the shareholders of Trident Security, which Devon and Ian had founded along with The Covenant, the BDSM club they owned with Mitch. Once an applicant passed the interview stage with Sloan and Tiffany, and was considered for a position, they were fully vetted by the security firm before being offered the job. Ian and Devon had been leaving most of the decision-making concerning MKR to Mitch and Tyler, with the exception of hiring the security staff. Dante had once been a member of the Special Air Service Regiment of the Army (SAS), which was the Australian equivalent of the US Army’s Delta Force, and he’d been hand-picked by the two retired SEALs. Like Dante, the rest of his newly-hired security staff had all been culled from one special-ops branch of the military or another or had a law enforcement background.

A light tapping on the door had both women raising their voices. “Come on in!”

After the first day of interviews, and two dozen or so knocks, they’d both gotten tired of getting up from their desks or the table to answer the door. Half the time, the person stopping by was either Cordell—who said he knocked in case they were in an interview—Dante, his security staff, a member of the various construction crews, or someone with a delivery. Constantly popping up and down in their chairs had the two women feeling like they were in Whack-a-Mole holes, so now they just yelled for whoever it was to enter.

The door opened, and a pretty woman stuck her head in. Before she could say anything, Tiffany was almost positive she knew who it was. Sasha Lewis was a submissive who’d been working part-time at the boutique in The Covenant. When she’d lost her full-time job as an assistant manager of a women’s clothing store that’d gone out of business, Mitch had asked her if she’d be interested in relocating to the Keys to run the resort’s boutique. After giving it a few days’ thought, she’d accepted the position. When Tiffany and Tori had talked about the woman recently, Tori had mentioned Sasha was a doppelgänger for the singer Jennifer Hudson, and she’d been dead-on. Unfortunately, Tiffany couldn’t remember the sub from when she and Cordell had visited The Covenant, but since there had been close to 500 members attending Mitch, Ty, and Tori’s collaring ceremony, she could barely recall most people she’d encountered.

“Hi, I’m looking for Tiffany Armstrong,” the woman said as she stepped through the open door.

Tiffany stood, walked toward her, and extended her hand. “I’m Tiffany. You must be Sasha.”

She grinned, causing two adorable dimples to appear on her face, as she shook Tiffany’s hand. “That’s me. It’s so nice to finally meet you.” They’d spoken on the phone and emailed each other a few times after Sasha had accepted the job. “I hope I’m not disturbing you.”

“Not at all. Come on in.” Tiffany gestured to Sloan. “This is Sloan Robinson, Director of Human Resources.”

“Hi,” both women said at the same time as they exchanged a handshake, then Sloan added, “Have a seat. Wow, you really do look like Jennifer Hudson.”

“Just don’t ask me to sing. I can’t carry a single note,” Sasha said with a laugh as she sat at the small round table the women had been using when interviewing applicants. “I hope you don’t mind me just showing up like this. I got all settled into my new apartment yesterday and did some unpacking last night and this morning, but I was dying to see the resort.”

Tiffany chuckled. “Everyone’sdying to see it from what I hear, so no worries. In fact, while you’re here, we can get your employee ID taken care of and scan your fingerprints into the security system, so you’ll be all set when you report to work next week. Did you get all her paperwork done, Sloan?”

“Yes. Between Sasha and Mitch, I’ve got everything I need. Since we’re using the same system as The Covenant, we were able to transfer a lot of her data and paperwork over.”

“Great, then let’s go over to the trailer the security team is temporarily using as an office. But first, Sasha, would you like to take a tour? It’s actually the first day we can go in without hardhats, thank goodness. Between those things and the humidity, I was having bad hair days more often than not.”

The woman’s eyes lit up. “I wouldlovea tour. Tori told me all about it, and I can’t wait until it opens.”

A few minutes later, the three women strolled through the front entrance of the hotel. The automatic sliding glass doors were already in place but were currently locked in an open position to allow the workers to go in and out easily with equipment and supplies. The sounds of hammering, drilling, and clattering filled the air, interspersed with the voices of the contractors who were installing floor tiles, carpeting, fixtures, Sheetrock, electrical, phone, and cable lines, and other stuff throughout the open first- and second-floor areas.

“Oh-em-gee!” Sasha exclaimed as she spun around slowly in the middle of the lobby under its vaulted ceiling. The navy-blue, sea-green, and white decor, currently only seen in the newly laid carpeting and tiles and on the freshly painted walls, brought the natural theme of the surrounding island inside. There were three wings that extended from the center lobby. To the right, behind the large, curved, mahogany reception desk, was a massive fish tank taking up the entire wall. Everything had been installed except the tropical fish and seawater, and those would be arriving about a week before the grand opening. Just to the left of the desk was the concierge and a hallway that led to the executive offices in the north wing. The security staff’s main office, where the entire resort would be monitored, as well as a small clinic that would be staffed with part-time paramedics and EMTs to handle any emergencies that might occur.

The empty space where the three women currently stood would eventually have numerous chairs and loveseats set up into small, intimate sections for people to relax in. To the left of the front door was the Bottoms Up bar, which was open to the lobby, and behind that was the resort’s restaurant which took up the ground floor of the south wing. Mitch, Tyler, and Chef Adley had finally come up with a name for the upscale eatery—Decadence.

To the right of the bar, in between the south and west wings, was the boutique Sasha would be managing—Tops & Bottoms. The inventory would include fetwear, resort wear, toiletries, kink toys and supplies, souvenirs, and snacks. About a month ago, a few weeks after Sasha had accepted the job, Mitch had asked Angie, Kristen, Tori, and another submissive from The Covenant, Shelby Christiansen, to help the new manager pick out items for the shop, including displays. Apparently, the women had had a blast and gone on a two-day shopping binge with numerous wholesalers. Boxes, boxes, and more boxes, and even a few crates, had been arriving each day for the past two weeks and were temporarily being kept at a secure, off-site storage facility. The boutique’s interior would be finished by the coming weekend, and Sasha and two of the four employees who’d been hired to work for her would start setting up the displays and inventory on Monday.

Across the lobby from the boutique was an upscale cigar bar that would only be open to Dominant club members.

Directly across from the front door was a grand staircase leading to the second floor where a ballroom, which could be rented for special events, was located in the south wing. Across from that in the north wing was another restaurant named the Locked Inn, which would provide more casual dining for breakfast and lunch. Two lounges, one for Doms and the other for submissives, open to both hotel guests and club members, were also located on that floor. The one for subs was designed so they could socialize and relax there without going into the dungeon without their Doms.

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