Page 33 of The Playboy

I picked up my vodka, carrying it across the sand and over the pool deck until I reached the lobby, pressing the button for the elevator. Once I stepped inside, riding toward the top floor, I found the last text my assistant had sent and began to type.

Me

How difficult would it be to find someone who lives on Kauai when I don’t have their name or address?

Kathleen

Your chances would be better if you bought a lottery ticket.

I sighed, shoving my phone into the pocket of my swim trunks, and stepped out when I arrived at my floor. I walked down the short hallway and into my room.

The first thing I noticed was the smell. A scent far cleaner than the pigsty we’d left behind. That and the way everything now sparkled, unlike the clothes and pizza boxes and bottles these drunk bastards had left on every surface.

When I’d hurried us out for breakfast, I hadn’t cleaned their mess.

It was their shit, not mine.

Aim, tidiness, and respect—three things that went out the window when a bunch of drunk dudes were crashing in a room together.

So, I left some cash by my computer, assuming the housekeeper would know it was for them.

As I walked toward that same spot to send Walter the files he needed, I saw the money was gone, and a note was in its place. Written on a small pad of paper with the hotel’s emblem at the top—a pad that had been by my nightstand earlier.

Curious, I picked it up and read it.

Thank you for the tip you left me this morning. That was really nice of you.

You obviously felt bad for leaving the room in THAT condition.

You know what would have been even nicer? If you hadn’t left the room in that condition.

It was disgusting and a total nightmare to clean.

And I think I even gagged a few times.

Please don’t do it again. THAT would be appreciated.

I laughed as I carried the note into my bedroom and returned it to the nightstand.

If a housekeeper at a Spade Hotel had left a note like that for one of our guests, they’d be fired.

Immediately.

But it had happened at Spade’s biggest competitor on the island, which was one of the reasons I laughed so hard.

The other reason … they were right.

FOUR

Brooklyn

The beat of the music was pounding through my body. My chest vibrated from the bass. My heart thrummed from the constant movement. My brain focused on the lyrics, my limbs on the rhythm.

The stage I was on was in the center of the dance floor. It was the first one that had become available. I normally preferred a spot around the perimeter.

I didn’t want the attention.

I didn’t want to be seen.

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