Roger had tried to be friendly but was rebuffed every time, so he had given up and kept their contact to their professional and distant familial relationship. He remembered the questioning about the drop in income from the Palm Beach Del Mar that Christian had subjected him to over a month ago and his face reddened with anger.
His nephew had treated him like nothing more than a hired hand, asking why the Palm Beach hotel was doing more poorly than the rest. It’s business, Roger had tried to explain to him, though his instincts had been to fling the file he was holding at Christian and walking off. Common sense told him that it wouldn’t be the smartest move.
The fact was that he still needed his nephew. He still needed his job. And he still needed the money he was able to siphon off from the Del Mar.
It was time he quit gambling, Roger told himself—and he would … after he had recouped his losses.
He left the control room without a word to the security guards and strolled across the lobby, on the lookout for any influential people he knew. One never knew with hotels. Most of the important people that Roger knew—from the mayor to major business owners, he had met at one of the hotel properties he managed. Schmoozing and offering upgrades did a great deal to help grease wheels and win favors.
“Mr. Del Mar?” the restaurant manager came rushing up to him.
“Yes?” Roger replied curtly.
“We have a rather difficult guest who—"
“Can’t Raina sort it out? She’s the manager isn’t she?” he said impatiently.
The restaurant manager looked at his feet and started to make excuses. Roger turned on his heel and left him standing there mumbling to himself.
He felt a twinge of annoyance. What was it with people, why couldn’t they do their jobs without involving others? He thought then to give that order to Raina; it would give him an excuse to admire those curves again.
Not that he needed any excuse to enter any office in the hotel, but there was something about her that made him feel like a schoolboy going to see the headmistress. The thought of Raina wielding a whip and looking down on him sternly got his body hot. He wiped his nose and adjusted his trousers where the thighs met before entering her office.
He stood at the door admiring Raina. His eyes went down to the shadowed swell of her breast and he imagined tweaking her dark nipples until she screamed out with desire. She looked up then, startled to see him standing there. He got a sense of satisfaction when he saw her reaction.
“You look beautiful.” he said his breathing coming out fast.
Roger felt hornier than he had in years and he contemplated taking her right there and then in her office. He shut the door and moved towards her keeping his eyes locked on her. He knew that as soon as he kissed her, all her protests would die away. They all pretended not to want, yet deep down, she was as hungry for him as he was for her.
She stood up and backed herself into a corner. Roger kept going, observing her body movements. Her chest heaved up and down, making her nipples strain out of her blouse. He grinned when he realized that they were on the same wavelength.
‘Raina, stop resisting me. You know you want this.” Roger groaned. “I can give you everything you’ve always wanted, if you’re a good girl.”
He closed the distance between them and reached her, running his fingers down her bare neck. He let his finger run further down until it reached the full curve of her breast. He anticipated squeezing her nipple and maybe even sucking on it. Biting it gently and then harder. The strain against his trousers grew. Roger closed his eyes in ecstasy and in one fluid movement; he gripped Raina by the back of the neck and brought her mouth to his.
He probed her closed mouth until his tongue found an opening. One moment he was in ecstasy and the next, searing pain, as though his mouth had been burnt with hot metal. He jumped back and clutched his mouth, moaning aloud.
“What the fuck is wrong with you? Bitch! Are you insane?”
“Don’t touch me again, you bastard!” Raina shoved him hard and he fell back against her desk, hitting his spine on the sharp corner. He fell to his knees in pain as she ran from her office.
Roger’s lips were bleeding. The stupid bitch had bitten him hard. His feelings quickly changed from unbridled lust to seething anger and hatred. Who did she think she was?
“You’ll pay for this! You’ve taken your games too far this time. Mark my words, you’ll pay for this.” he shouted after her, not caring who heard him.
Roger reached into his pocket and removed his pristine white handkerchief and dabbed his mouth with it. He wanted to cry out in pain. He looked down and realized that his white shirt was stained with drops of blood.
He felt murderous.
How had he ever thought her attractive? She was a disgusting animal! She didn’t know the honor he had given her in deigning to give her his attentions.
He rushed to the door and after checking that there was no one in the hallway, he ran to the washrooms. He stood at the mirror and checked his mouth. His lower lip was swollen to almost the size of his thumb. Roger swore angrily.
He poured cold water on his wounds, wincing every time he touched his raw lip. Next, he poured cold water on the collar of his shirt and attempted to rub off the blood. Most of it came out but his face still looked like he had been run over by a truck. Knowing that he wouldn’t relax until he had figured out how to pay back that bitch, Roger hurriedly left the washrooms and went to the temporary office he used, which was the last one in the hallway.
He shut the door and sat down thoughtfully. The longer he sat there seething—both about his unfulfilled lust, that stupid bitch Raina, and his gambling problems, the more they all seemed to intermingle.