I felt his hand tucking something into my pocket as he ended our explosive kiss. When I glanced down, I caught the sight of crisply folded hundred dollar bills and a business card. I grasped his wrist to stop him. "What are you doing?"
"It's your tip."
"Step—"
"No," he said with a shake of his head. "This room was a disaster, and you took care of me." He gestured to his bandaged cut. "I want you to have it."
I wanted to argue with him, but I could tell this was a fight I wouldn't win. Thoughts of the groceries I could buy and the nice birthday gift I could get Benji ran through my head. "Thank you."
He touched my lips with his finger. "You don't need to do that." He kissed my forehead. "The business card has my private number on it. Call me tonight when you get off work."
A soft, disbelieving voice in the back of my head wondered how many other girls had been slipped that phone number. I thought of all the stories I heard around the locker room from some of the maids who let the wealthy businessmen who frequented the hotel enjoy their company. How was this any different?
You're not special. Don't get your hopes up. He'll probably cancel the date once he realizes the mistake he's made.
"Don't do that, Jem." He frowned down at me.
"Do what?"
"I can practically hear your thoughts." He brushed a few wisps of hair that had escaped my twist behind my ear. "You're thinking that I do this with all the hotel maids, but you're wrong. There are only three women who have that private number—and I haven't dated any of them. Two of them are like little sisters to me and the third is like my mother. Do you understand,
rybka
?"
I nodded. "Yes."
"Good." He patted my bottom. "You better go."
"Yes, I really should."
"Call me. Tonight. As soon as you get home," he called after me as I pushed my cart away from his door and toward the south penthouse suite on the opposite end of the floor.
"I will." I waved back at him and then kept moving forward. Still a bit dazed and bewildered by my strange morning with Step, I entered the empty suite and got to work. This set of rooms looked as if it had barely been touched so it didn't take me long to leave it gleaming and squeaky clean. After locking away the cart for that floor, I hopped onto the employee elevator and rode down a couple of floors to the next big suite I had been assigned.
When I stepped off the elevator, I found Richard and Amanda talking quietly near the supply room. I wasn't sure what she was doing on this floor since she had been assigned rooms on the lower floors, but I wasn't about to get involved in her nonsense. I checked out a cart from that floor's closet and stocked it with all the necessary items.
"You're running behind this morning," Richard said as he checked his watch. "Is there a reason for that?"
"One of the suites was in pretty bad shape." There was no reason to lie to him. Maybe I had a thing going with Step and maybe I didn't, but that didn't change the facts. He and his
guests
had caused a significant amount of damage to the hotel's property. There wasn't any way he was getting out of that. "Presidential-North," I clarified.
"Turn in your report before the end of your shift. I need to bill the guest."
"Yes, sir."
Richard stood there for a moment longer. "Is there a reason your hair is damp?"
I reached up and self-consciously touched my hair. "I had an accident while cleaning the shower."
"I see." Richard narrowed his eyes. "Your uniform is wrinkled. You know my policy."
"Yes, sir." I smoothed out the new folds and creases. "I'll make sure that my uniform is perfect when I come to work on Sunday."
He nodded stiffly. "See that it is—or else I'll dock your pay."
"Yes, sir."
"Get back to work."
"Yes, sir." I swallowed nervously and pushed my cart toward the Ambassador suite. I glanced back and discovered the manager studying me intently. Something told me I hadn't seen the last of him today.
Chapter Five
Step
I couldn't stop thinking about her. I paced the suite like a caged lion and tormented myself with memories of our kisses. My palms fucking burned with the feeling of her plump ass filling them. I was in absolute hell.
Jemima had demolished the mental block that had prevented me from getting hard. My cock had been stiff for hours, and my balls ached. I needed some relief. I considered going into the bathroom to take the edge off, but I wanted her. I wanted to feel her hands on my shaft. I wanted her warm lips wrapped around my dick and her soft, pink tongue flicking at my cockhead.
Jem. Jem. Jem. I wanted Jem.
A knock at the door interrupted my manic pacing. "Mr. Vasiliev? This is Richard Horton, the general manager of the hotel. May I speak with you for a moment?"
Shit. I should have checked out an hour ago, but the thought of retreating to my lonely penthouse a few blocks over hadn't been very appealing. For one, it was empty. For another,
she
wasn't there.
I crossed the suite and opened the door to find a shorter, slightly pudgy man standing there. He didn't smile at me, and he had a security officer behind him. "Yes?"
"May we come inside, Mr. Vasiliev?"
I stepped aside and waved them into the parlor. "What can I do for you?"
"I'm Richard Horton, the manager, and I think we need to have an uncomfortable conversation, Mr. Vasiliev."
I laughed at that. "Look, if this is about the girls who were with me last night, I'll pay for the damages they caused."
"That wasn't up for negotiation," Richard replied. "Your final bill is already being prepared, and we have papers you'll need to sign that say you won't trespass on the hotel property again."
"Fine." I didn't fault the guy for being a dick about it. He was responsible for the property, after all. "I'm happy to settle up when I checkout."
"And when will that be?"
I glanced at the security officer who looked as if he wanted to be anywhere but here. "Considering you brought the hotel's hired muscle with you, I'm guessing I'll be checking out soon."
"Yes, I think that's best."
"Fine."
Richard stepped forward and sneered at me. "We run a clean hotel here."
I frowned at him. "I'm sure you do."
"Diego?" He addressed the security guard without taking his eyes off of me. "Please escort Mr. Vasiliev down to the lobby and out of the hotel."
"Yes, sir."
Richard strode out of the suite, and I stared after him, trying to figure out what the hell his problem was. The security guard, a much shorter Latino guy, gestured toward the bedroom. "Should I call for bell service?"
"I don't have any bags."
"Then we should get moving." Diego headed for the door. "Because if he gets to Jem before we do—"
"What?" I clapped a hand on the younger man's shoulder and spun him around. "What are you talking about?"
"That dick thinks Jem was in here blowing you for money, man. He's about to go fire her."
"What?" Anger burned through me with the fury of a thousand suns. "Why the fuck would he think—" I stopped as I thought of the way I had kissed her and slipped that tip into her pocket. "
Blyad
." I scratched my nails against my scalp. "That wasn't what happened. I was tipping her."
"And kissing her," Diego retorted, his mouth slanted with disapproval. "Richard has his nose so far up Amanda's ass he'll believe anything she tells him, but I've known Jem for years. She isn't like that. I don't know why the hell she was kissing a guy like you, but she isn't one of those
cochinas
who flops on her back for the VIP guests."
"A guy like me? What the fuck is that supposed to mean?"
"Really, dude? I was the one who had to chase your groupies from one fucking end of this hotel to the other last night. I got slapped in the face and bit!" He yanked down the collar of his uniform shirt to show a dark bruise in the shape of teeth. "I know your type. I know what happens to nice girls like Jem when they get involved with pricks like you."
"You don't know shit about me." I stormed for the door. "You can either help me find Jem or I'll tear this hotel up floor by floor until I find her."
Diego raced after me. "She's down on five. Hey! Man! This way. We'll take the employee elevator. It will be faster."
Irritated with the fucked up way a harmless kiss had spiraled out of control, I joined Diego in the employee elevator. The security guard said nothing as we dropped more than a dozen floors. When we stepped off the elevator, I spotted a maid leaning out a door and listening intently. She had a worried look on her face. A heartbeat later, I understood why.
"That is
not
what happened!" Jem's raised voice came out of a hotel room with a door that had been propped open by a triangular wooden block. A cleaning cart sat in the hallway. "I got wet helping him get cleaned up after I found him sick in his room."
"We have you on camera! You can lie all you'd like, but I know what I saw and I know what I can prove with our security footage."
"And what, exactly, can you prove?"
"Empty your pockets."
"What?"
"Empty. Your. Pockets."
"No!'
"Why not? Are you afraid that I'll see the wad of bills he paid you for sucking his dick? Huh? What's the going rate for Houston hookers these days?"
My heart jumped into my throat, and I saw red. Like a raging bull, I raced down the hall and into the hotel room where Richard had Jem cornered and backed up against a bed. The sight of the bigger, taller man forcing her into a position like that infuriated me. The expression of humiliation on Jem's face at being accused of selling her body was too much for me to handle.
I gripped Richard's shoulder and jerked him around before grabbing two handfuls of his suit jacket and lifting him up off the floor. I slammed him into the wall and got into his face. "Don't you ever talk to her like that again! You so much as frown in her direction, and I'll break your fucking knees."
Eyes wide, Richard sputtered. "You can't—"
"Try me." I gave him a shake. "If you want to accuse someone of doing something illegal, you bring that shit to me. You don't go behind my back and attack her."
"I didn't—"
"The hell you didn't," I snarled. "I don't like bullies, and I really don't fucking like you."
"Step." Jem quietly urged me to let him go by placing her hand on my arm.
Still glaring at Richard, I released my clenched hold on his suit and let him fall to the floor. Diego chose that moment to finally come into the hotel room. Red-faced, Richard shouted, "Get them both out of the hotel. Now!" He pointed a finger at Jem. "You're fired. Get your stuff out of the locker room, turn in your lanyard and get off this property."
Now I really wanted to plant my fist in this fucker's face. First, he had accused Jem of being a whore, and now he was firing her? "You son of a—"
"No." Jem put a hand on my chest, stopping my forward advancement. "He's not worth the trouble."
Her petting hand soothed my raw burst of explosion. She managed to calm me unlike anyone else ever had. I glanced down at the small hand on my chest and clasped it tightly with my fingers. I turned toward the exit and gave her hand a tug. "Let's go."
"Where?" she asked as she hurried to keep up with me.
"Home."
"Home? My house?"
"No." I pulled her into the elevator and smacked the button for the lobby. "Mine."
"Step!" She shouted my name loudly enough that it echoed in the small metal box. "I can't just go home with you."
"Yes, you can."
"No, I can't. I have to start sending out resumes and go home to look over my checking account and figure out whether or not I can file for unemployment or try to get my job back."
The thought of Jem having to work with that asshole again sickened me. "You are not coming back here."
"Whoa." She poked my chest twice. "I appreciate you coming in there to defend me, but you do not get to tell me where I can or cannot work."
Shit.
I realized too late what a psycho, possessive jerk I must have sounded like with that decree. "I didn't mean it like that." I still held tight to her hand and rubbed my thumb across her knuckles. "You are too good to come back here and work for someone who would accuse you of something like that."
Her irritated expression softened. "I know."
"But?"
"But I need the money," she said matter-of-factly. "I have bills to pay and medication to buy and—"
"Come work for me."
Fuck.
Fuck.
Did I really just say that? Was I losing my mind?
Yes.
I was losing it for this wildly beautiful young woman who had ensnared me with her sweet smile and gentle touch.
"I can't work for you."
"Yes, you can." I slid my hand to the back of her neck and peered down at her face. "I have a big apartment a few blocks from here. Come be my personal housekeeper." With a bit of a sly smile, I added, "But I get to pick your uniform."
She rolled her eyes and smacked my arm. "Not happening."
I laughed. "Fine. Lady's choice on the uniform. Come work for me. Let me help you out because this is my fault."
"I said you were going to get me into trouble, didn't I?'
"Yes, you did." I kissed her forehead. "I'm sorry, Jem. I didn't mean to crash into your life and ruin everything." I caressed her cheek. "What do you say? Yes?"
She blew out a long, slow breath. "I'll work for you—but just until I get back on my feet."
I had no intention of letting her walk away to another job, but she didn't need to know that. The elevator doors opened, and there were already two security guards waiting for us. One of them had a box that I assumed contained her personal items from her locker. Fucking bastards! Throwing her out like that? I silently cursed myself for not decking Richard when I had the chance.
Taking the box from the security guard, I held her hand and kept my head high as we walked side by side across the opulent hotel lobby and out to the valet station. I remembered that I had taken a private car and turned to Jem. "Do you have a car?"