Read Online Blindsided: A Sports Romance by Ava Kendrick - Free Book Online Page A

Silence.
    Hey I’m sorry, but I can only put up with so much before I snap.
    Marcus’s next words knock me for six.
    “I don’t think you realize the seriousness of your actions.”
    “The seriousness? A guest asked me to go to his room to help with something.”
    Luca clicks his tongue and I seriously want to lunge for him.
    Marcus shakes his head. “I’d understand that—if you’d just walked across the lobby. Why act as if there was something to hide?”
    I open my mouth to respond. For once I’m lost for words. “I… I don’t know,” I shrug. “I guess I didn’t want Luca scrutinizing me. Not that secrecy helped.”
    I laugh, but it quickly evaporates when nobody else does.
    “I’m sorry,” I say. “I’m not trying to make light of this. But it’s nothing. This is all just a big misunderstanding.”
    Marcus shakes his head. “You know, I don’t know what sort of establishment you worked at before.”
    Now I’m confused. “I’ve worked here since I was seventeen, Marcus. I haven’t worked anywhere else—you know that.”
    He seems not to have heard me.
    “Marcus? What’s going on?”
    But he just sighs and shakes his head, like a disappointed parent when their kid has just run off the stage at the school play.
    “Rose, I must say I’m disappointed.”
    “Um, excuse me?”
    “I know this kind of thing is widespread, but never once did I expect it to happen right here under my nose.”
    “Marcus, what’re you talking about?”
    If I seem alarmed, that’s because I am. It sounds like he’s uncovered something serious. It has nothing to do with me, but I can’t get away from the fact that I’m the one sitting here in this office. The front office of the hotel that’s the only thing standing between me and the poverty line.
    “Marcus,” I say quickly. “I don’t know what this is, but whatever you’re thinking, I’m not involved. I promise you. Fine. Against my better judgment, Mr. Thorne and I had a little bit of a flirtation. But that’s it. It’s never happened before. And it’s not like I instigated it. I—”
    “Rose,” Marcus says, shaking his head. “Stop. Please.” He holds up a pudgy hand. “Do you take me for a fool?”
    No, you’ve managed to play the owners pretty well by pretending you’re in any way competent. Meanwhile, you sit here and watch porn all day every day. “No, of course not,” I gasp. Oh hell, I don’t care that I’m lying and showing a bad example to Sam. If this is a lie that lets me pay my rent and the small amount I put aside each week, then color me a liar. “Marcus, I don’t know what’s going on. All I did was do what a guest asked of me. I thought we were all about customer service here.”
    Luca snorts. If I wasn’t so panicked and desperate, I’d snort right back and ask him why he doesn’t like the smell of his own bullshit.
    But I am panicked and desperate. This has quickly escalated from a weird conversation to a job-on-the-line catastrophe.
    “There’s no crime in responding to a guest request,” I plead.
    “There is when it’s illegal in most states,” Luca says snidely before quickly shutting up thanks to a filthy look from Marcus.
    “Um, excuse me?” My mind races. I don’t know what I expected from this, but I didn’t foresee an ambush. It’s not like I can afford an attorney, but I also can’t afford to lose my paycheck. I try and stay calm, calling up all the memories I can of Van’s disputes with clients. Oh god, I wish I had her with me—unlike me, she’s got the words to back up her bravado, and that’s something I desperately need. “Marcus, I’d appreciate it if you could be clear about what I’m being accused of. And what the consequences are.”
    Luca lets out a puff of air as if my request has affronted his delicate manners. I can’t even look at him—the man acts as if he was born in Victorian England when we’ve all heard the rumors that he had some kind of shady past before he wound