I head straight up to my floor on the penthouse and turn right towards the door to the roof. There is no stone in there to prop it open, but my keycard opens all the doors, and I don’t see why this one would be any different. It opens. So I creep up the stairs and prop my head against the door as I crack it just an inch.
Silence. Just some residual party noise from the pool down below.
I slip through the door and tiptoe to the garden shed.
And stop dead.
What if I see him?
I bite my lip and a sick feeling takes over my stomach as I realize I don’t want to see him. He was fucking me in there a few days ago. Who knows how many other girls he’s had up here since then, but I never knew about them. This would be catching him in the act. And today, out on the rocks, I almost got the feeling he liked me. Maybe not desired me. Not the way he did the other night when I was his conquest. But still. I have this idea that we’re friends. That maybe he’s doing this because he really does think I’m pretty and I deserve a good guy.
I let out a long breath. Jesus Christ. I’m fantasizing about him. Just like all those other girls do. And he made it perfectly clear it was a one-night-only thing.
Tiffy, my inner voice says in that calm way I’ve trained it to do, better to know for sure that he’s a lying, cheating player than let this dream of capturing his heart go on any longer.
So I start walking again, this time not taking care to be quiet. Maybe he will hear me and stop whatever it is he’s doing?
When I reach the door I pull it open with force, slamming it against the side of the building.
But it’s empty.
Hmmm.
Where else might he have taken her? Out to those rocks? God, he could take her anywhere. He probably took her off the hotel grounds. So I go back the way I came and pull out my cell phone, tabbing my contact at the front desk.
“Landslide Hotel and Cas—”
“It’s Miss Preston. Does Fletcher Novak have an assigned parking space?”
“Yes ma’am. Next to the valet, spot…” Her keyboard clicks as she looks it up. “Spot 55E.”
“Thank you,” I say, and end the call. I’ll check there next. If he’s gone, then there’s no point in looking anywhere else for him, right?
But when I get to the garage and ask the valet guys where the space is, they point to a classic red Camaro with a white racing stripe down the center of the hood. A very Fletcher Novak kind of car.
He didn’t leave.
I check the pool next. But even though there are probably a hundred people out there at the weekly Saturday night adult swim, Fletcher is not.
I walk out towards the beach, which has far fewer people on it, and scan that too. I might be missing him, since it’s dark. But I don’t see any couples alone on the beach.
But I do see Elizabeth. I don’t know how I know it’s her, since I only just met her. But I do. And when another familiar shape walks across the sand and stops alongside her, my heart almost stops because it’s Cole.
I can’t hear the argument, but I know what those gestures mean. I’ve known Cole for years. I know what he looks like when he’s annoyed.
So he does like her. He went looking for her and now that he’s found her, he wants answers.
But if she’s here alone, then where is Fletcher?
I leave the beach and walk towards the parking lot, looking at them as I make my way to a tree.
I’ll just wait this out and see if Fletcher comes back. He’s probably gone to get her a drink.
A few minutes pass, and then Cole reaches down to Elizabeth and pulls her to her feet. His quick embrace tells me more than I wanted to know.
He might really like her.
They leave together and disappear into the crowd near the pool. At least he didn’t take her up to his room. I still have a chance.
Fletcher has to be around somewhere. So I head towards the front desk and wait until the girl at the counter is finished with a few guests, chewing my lip the entire time as I try to figure out what’s happening to my plan.
“Can I help—Oh, Miss Preston. Did you find Fletch’s car?”
Fletch. She must be on good terms with him. I’m sure they’ve fucked on the roof too. “Yes, but I’m looking for him. Have you seen him around?”
“Oh, yeah, he’s in his room. He called down for room service like an hour ago.”
“An hour ago?”
She gives me a flustered look and starts to answer, but I don’t wait. I just turn on my heel and go back to the elevator. An hour ago? That means he wasn’t with Elizabeth for very long. So what’s he been doing?
I walk quickly to the North Tower elevators, pressing the button repeatedly until it opens and a bunch of people spill out dressed up for a night of fun. I smile politely and get in after they leave, and press the button for his floor.
The doors close and I slump back against the mirrored wall, trying to figure this all out. What is he up to?
When I get to fifteen I exit the elevator and head straight to his suite at the end of the hall. I press my ear again the door and listen. There’s some music, but it’s not loud. Does he have another girl in there? How many can he have in one night?
I knock hard and wait. I don’t hear anything, but the door locks disengage and he pulls the door open. “’Bout time, ass—Tiffy? What are you doing here?”
I’m speechless. He’s got no shirt on, so my eyes sorta get stuck on the topography of his abs. There’s a light dusting of blond happy trail that leads me to the fact that he’s only wearing a pair of cut-off sweat shorts that end just below his knees, and before I can stop myself, I’m staring right at the bump of his package under those shorts. “Ummm.” What am I doing here? “Cole… he found Elizabeth on the beach and…” I look up and meet Fletcher’s gaze. He’s squinting at me, confused. Shit. I’ve been stalking him all night and if I tell him that he’s gonna think I’m crazy. “I need more tips, Fletcher. I think he really likes her.” Fletcher shoots me a dubious look. And that’s when I notice how different he looks. “You wear glasses?”
He smiles, like he was just caught doing something bad, and pulls them off his face. “Just when I’m working.”
“You’re working? But it’s Saturday night.’” I lean over to look past him. His dining table is littered with papers and an open laptop. He really is working.
“You wanna come in?” he asks. “Or are you just here checking up on me?”
I blush. Because that’s exactly what I’m doing.
“If you want Cole, you have to make him jealous, Tiffy. I pegged him for a guy who wants what he can’t have the very first time I met him. So come in,” Fletcher says, opening the door wide. “I’ve got a plan.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Tiffy Preston is a tease. And she doesn’t have to bite her lip or bare her leg or any of that other bullshit for me to know this. She looks at me like she’s hungry. She did it last week when I took her up on the roof and she’s doing it right now because her eyes are tracing all up and down my body in a way that makes it necessary to adjust myself under my shorts.
“What plan?” she asks, barely able to drag her stare back up to my face.
I wave her into my room, acutely aware of the stacks of papers on my table, the open laptop on my table, the TV blaring this week’s predictions from repeats of the Friday stock reports, and my lack of clothing. Not that she hasn’t seen everything. But I’m pushing my own self-control here.
There’s another knock at the door and I breathe out a sigh of relief as I go answer it.
“Hey, Fletch,” John the waiter says. “Sorry it took so long. We’re swamped down—” He stops when he sees Tiffy. “Oh, um, hi, Miss Preston.”
“Tiffy and I have business,” I say, motioning to my out-of-control paperwork. “So we’re eating in tonight.”