Page 60 of Maneater

Daniel, the general manager

Jonas, head of security

Tanya, the spa manager

TWENTY-FIVE

ROWAN

After I tell Josie I won’t kiss her until she tells me what she’s doing here, I make a vow to stay away from her to avoid her further messing with my head. I didn’t go to the beach cabanas when I saw her and her friend there yesterday, after I found her in that hallway, and I didn’t interrupt when I saw her flirting with a guest at lunch today. I didn’t find an excuse to bump into her when she was wearing yet another tiny dress to an early dinner at one of the more formal restaurants, nor when she stopped for a drink on her way back to her room.

I’ve been able to sate my need for her through the resort’s CCTV footage. For better or worse, watching her has become a habit of mine. Some might call it a sickness. It’s been almost three full days since I felt Josie’s whimpers while she tried to ride my leg, and I have to say, it may have been hotter than hearing her moan my name in Dante’s office as she came.

It’s been a day and a half since she begged me to kiss her in the hall, and I turned her down. I thought it was a testament to my restraint and a turning point in my obsession and distraction, but now, as I flick through the live cameras to see if she ventured back out this evening, I realize I’ve just funneled it into a different format.

At leastthis one doesn’t reveal to her how deeply I’m entangled in her web.

That justification itself is just another example of just how fucked I am. But until I can figure out what’s happening in this resort, I can’t allow myself to give in to the distraction she poses.

I’m on a call now, listening to someone blather on about numbers and margins and reservations, shit that normally I would already have memorized, but I can’t find it in me to care.

No, instead, I’m flicking through feeds to try and find where she might be.

“And in Q4 we anticipate?—”

That’s when I see it: Josie at the employee party.

Josie’s hand on the arm of one of the guys who manages the landscaping, her head tipped back, and, despite the feed being silent, I can hear her laugh. He says something else, and she takes a step closer, flirting in that way she does. A part of me recognizes the sexy look on her face is different from the one she uses when she’s talking to me, but I still can’t focus enough to seem to care.

I wish I could say the fury running through me is because there is a guest at an employee get-together, but I can’t. Not in the least.

“I’m sorry, I have to go. Can you just send me an email with the notes and let me know if there’s anything you need from me?” I say, interrupting his spiel. I know all eyes in the meeting are on me and are confused since this is so out of character, but I just don’t care. My eyes are on the feed where Josie’s body is swaying to music I can’t hear, and I know every man in that room is watching her.

“Yeah, of course. I?—”

But I can’t hear the rest, because I’m closing my computer and standing, making my way out of my room and down the hall to the elevator, where I know the employee party is being held tonight. We try to do these once every month or so to encourage employee morale.

When I step into the room, it’s loud and chaotic, laughter and chatter filling the room, music playing loudly, and no one notices me enter quietly.

No one except for Josie. It’s as if she’s pulled toward me subconsciously, like she feels the same unexplainable magnetism I feel toward her, like I could find her in any room, any time. Her ass is tipped into someone from the kitchen staff’s crotch as she grinds, his hands hovering over her hips but not touching, thank fuck. I feel my jaw get tight as I note the tiny tank top she’s wearing, clearly without a bra.

That’s when she smiles at me. She smiles like she gets some kind of satisfaction at knowing I’m here, watching her, exuding jealousy. I wonder if she somehow knows how hard I fought finding her.

The song ends, and she stands up, turning to her dance partner and thanking him before walking off the makeshift dance floor, a pep in her step as she approaches me.

“My, my, didn’t expect to see you here, Rowan.”