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But she still looked at me, concerned. “I thought you were just trying to sneak in a day off yesterday. But if you’re actually sick, you should go see the onsite doctor.”
“I’m fine,” I repeated, with more of a bite to my voice. Then I softened. I was trying to butter her up. I had to be nice about it. “But I really, really need your help.”
Her brows furrowed. “Oh really? What’s up?”
“Can you tell the guest in number seventeen that I’m still not feeling well?”
Her visible concern increased. “I don’t mind pitching in, but you know I have my own work to do.”
“Actually…” I winced. I had gone back and forth on this a few times, but at the end of the day, I simply couldn’t face Deacon again. “I was hoping to switch villas for the rest of the week.”
“Really?” she said flatly. “You know the villa I pulled this week, right?”
I grit my teeth. “Please? Do you need me to call in that favor you owe me for the staff Christmas party last year?”
Elle and the maintenance guy, Carl, had had a torrid on-and-off relationship. Last Christmas, they had most definitely been on, and would have been caught banging each other in one of the conference rooms, had I not played interference.
Judging by the blush on Elle’s face, she hadn’t forgotten that she owed me.
Then, to my surprise, she rested a hand on my shoulder and looked up at me with concern. “Are you okay?” she asked. “Seriously, Kendall? I know you got a bachelor this time. Has he been… harassing you?”
“No,” I said shortly. “Really, Elle, I swear. He’s been a perfect gentleman.” In fact, he makes me come so hard that I see stars behind my eyes. “He’s just… very intense. You know I’ve been a little burned out recently. I feel like, emotionally, I need a break.”
Well, that was sort of the truth.
Something I said must have struck home. She snorted. “Yeah, he seemed a little quirky. You would not believe the amount of food he ordered for his meal. Then, when I came back to clean up, barely any of it was touched.”
I nodded, swallowing past a lump of guilt. I knew that Deacon had ordered for the both of us.
But frankly, that was a very small drop in the grand ocean of guilt that was sloshing around in my stomach.
“So, what do you say?” I asked.
Now a small smile curved her lips. “You have a deal.” She dug around in her pocket and pulled out her set of master keys for her assigned villa. She already had my set from when she took care of Deacon yesterday.
She passed them over to me with a small smirk. “Have fun.”
In hindsight, I really should have been more suspicious of why she’d been so eager to trade with me.
* * *
“I want Cheerios!” the little demon wrapped in a three-year-old’s skin wailed, pounding his fists on the breakfast table. The remains of his Cheerios and milk were currently scattered all over the counter, upended from his bowl.
“I thought you didn’t want these Cheerios, Kale, darling,” I said through gritted teeth.
The toddler’s reply was a shriek that went into the upper register.
“You have to clean that up,” the second, older child, a girl five years old named Mercedes, said. “That’s your job, you know.”
I had the dishtowel in hand and was already in the process of wiping up the result of Kale’s mess.
Meanwhile, Kale continued to scream, “Cheerios! Cheerios! Cheerios!”
“I’ll get you more in a second.” I looked around, but Mercedes and Kale’s parents were taking a long soak in the jacuzzi by the pool, heads turned away as if none of this were happening.
I finished sweeping up the mess and replaced the bowl, pouring in new cereal. I grabbed for the milk, and by the time I returned, the bowl was upended again, and Cheerios were scattered like fallen soldiers.
“Oh, for gosh sakes,” I muttered under my breath, trying to keep it kid friendly. Mercedes gave me the stink eye as if she knew what I was really trying to say.
