Halloween was chaos. She never thought a hotel could get busy on a holiday not many people celebrated anymore, but it was absolute madness.
People in various costumes barged in, laughing and barely staying upright as they searched for the many parties being thrown in the rooms upstairs or in the banquet hall. Children scurried in with their plastic pumpkins demanding treats or else and the occasional normal guest looking for a place to crash for the night. It was such insanity that Harold had to get Celina to help Juliette man the front, Celina who had yet to forgive Juliette for taking her job. She and Harold were no longer sleeping together, which Harold seemed to regret more than Celina. Juliette kept feeling like she was in a teenage love story the way he kept watching Celina, like his entire world had been shattered while she went on to flirt with anything on two legs. Juliette didn’t know who she wanted to hit more.
By the end of the night, she was ready to bang her head against the nearest wall and hope for a concussion. Her nerves were frayed. She was exhausted and hungry and all she wanted was to curl up in Killian’s arms and let him make it all better. But the clocks had banded together to torment her. They ticked by with a slowness that was pure torture.
“Oh, I’ll take him!” Celina blurted suddenly just as Juliette was contemplating a nap under the counter.
Her head came up just as a tall, beautiful man stopped directly in front of her.
“Killian!”
Her heart leaped. Her face blossomed into an unstoppable smile that lifted the exhaustion off her shoulders and chased away the gloom in her eyes. Had there not been customers in the lobby, she probably would have catapulted herself over the counter, straight into his arms.
“Hello love,” he said in that panty-melting drawl of his. “Long night?”
Juliette exhaled, the sound thick with all her joy at seeing him. “The longest.” She looked him over, taking in his dark trousers tucked beneath a long, wool coat. “Are you headed to a party?”
“Without you?” He raised an eyebrow. “Not likely.” He reached into the front of his coat. “I’m here to get a room.”
Juliette blinked. “A room? Here? Why?”
He withdrew his wallet and eyed her. “It’s Halloween,” he said like that answered everything, but it didn’t. At least, not to her. “Is that all right?”
“Of course it’s all right.” Celina hip chucked her way next to Juliette. Had Juliette not been semi braced, she would have fallen over. “I’m sure we can find you something … suitable.”
Juliette opened her mouth to tell the woman to go deep throat a bottle somewhere, when the hotel doors opened and a crack of plastic filled the lobby. All heads turned as a boy of five came barreling in, plastic guns waving and snapping in the air. He was dressed head to toe as a cowboy, right down to the leather chaps and boots. Behind him, a tired woman staggered in just as the boy held out his guns at Juliette.
“Give me candy and no one gets hurt!” he declared from behind his red bandana.
Juliette had to bite down on her lip to keep from laughing as he bolted forward. His straw hat slipped down over his eyes as he ran and he had to nudge it into place with the barrels of his gun. He stopped on the other side of the counter, barely high enough for Juliette to see more than the top of his hat as he tipped his head far back to meet her gaze.
“Justin.” His mother came up behind him. “You didn’t say please.”
“Don’t use my name!” the boy exclaimed. “I’m an outlaw.”
The mom, rubbing a hand over her face, exhaled. “Say please, Outlaw.”
Justin turned back to the counter. “No one gets hurt … please!” He turned back to his mom. “Bag, Mom!”
She passed him over a homemade sack with a dollar sign stitched into the front. He gave her one of his guns and motioned her to pick him up. She did and perched him on her hip.
“In the bag, lady!” he demanded, holding out his bag.
“You best do it,” Killian mused. “The man’s clearly serious.”
“I am serious!” Justin declared, even as his hat slipped down over his eyes again.
Practically in tears with her efforts not to burst out laughing, Juliette pulled out the bowl of candy and dumped a fistful into his sack.
He tipped his hat. “Much obleragated, ma’am.”
“Obliged,” his mom corrected, setting him down.
Not caring either way, Justin gave her the bag, took his gun and ran for the door, ignoring his mother when she called him back. Groaning, she quickly thanked Juliette and hurried after him. But Justin reached the doors, stopped, spun on his heels and ran back. He shoved his hat as far back over his forehead as possible so Juliette could see his big, blue eyes and a wisp of blonde hair.
“Thank you!” he said, then ran off again.
The two left and Juliette finally gave in.
“He was so cute!” she declared.
“He’s a tiny criminal waiting to happen,” Celina muttered. “Guns? Really? Is the world not violent enough?”
“Oh come on,” Juliette said. “He was adorable and just a kid.”
Scoffing, Celina went back to the computer. She opened a new reservation form and began putting in Killian’s information. Juliette let her, too caught up in his burning scrutiny to think properly anyway.
“I’ve already reserved a room,” he told Celina without taking his eyes off Juliette.
He gave over his license and waited while his name was searched. Juliette glanced over as Celina pulled up his reservation and her eyebrows rose at the six figures he’d paid for one night in the executive penthouse suite.
“Why do you need a room?” she demanded. “You live twenty minutes away.”
“I told you,” Killian said calmly as he took his room key and ID. “It’s Halloween.”
With a devilish grin, he gave her a wink before stalking with fluid grace to the elevators.
“We do not ask guests why they need a room!” Celina hissed once he was gone and Juliette was alone with her once more.
Juliette ignored her, too busy wondering what Killian was up to.
By midnight, there were no more children barging through the doors, but there were plenty of drunken adults. The majority stumbled their way to the counter, demanding keys to their rooms, but had no idea which room or where they put their wallets. It was an absolute nightmare trying to determine if they were really guests in the hotel or lost individuals that needed someone to call them a cab. She was in the process of assuring one man that yes, he had his pants on and no, she had no idea where his wallet had gone to when the phone rang. Juliette lunged on it before Celina could even think of moving.
“Front desk. Juliette speaking.”
“Come here,” the dark, husky voice murmured in such a gravely purr that her pussy automatically clenched in response.
“I can’t just come up,” she hissed into the receiver, careful to keep her voice low and her back to Celina. “I still have—”
“Now, Juliette. I want my pussy.”
Christ.
Hot liquid need rushed free of her body to soak into her panties.
“Killian…”
“I won’t ask again. Bring her to me or I’ll come down there and fuck you where you stand.”
The line went dead.
Juliette swallowed hard. Her fingers tightened around the plastic as her entire body vibrated with excitement. She knew he wasn’t joking. She knew he would do exactly what he promised.
“Who was that?” Celina demanded.
Breathing uneven, Juliette turned to her. “A guest.” She licked her lips. “He has a complaint about the room, asked to have someone come up and—”
“Bullshit.” Celina narrowed her eyes. “It’s that guy that was here, isn’t it?”
Juliette darted a frantic glance at the clock behind the desk; he hadn’t specified just how much time she had, but it couldn’t be very much.