Page 27 of Last Resort

“It might not be him.”

“Correct, but if it is . . . are you telling me that there won’t be that tug there? Those kitty butterflies every single time you brush a hand against his or he looks at you a certain way?”

“This is a moot point. Let’s say Callahan is Johnnie. Since he’s had several days with my phone number in hand and still hasn’t called, it doesn’t matter if I get kitty butterflies or not, clearly the chase is over and he’s no longer interested in me.”

“You could always talk him into sex without strings. Sex for the sake of sex. Sex as a means to relax after a long, frustrating day. Sex as—”

“I get the point,” I say and shift in my seat, my mind replaying the sight of him standing between my thighs, his hand stroking his cock. “But like I said, Callahan might not be Johnnie.”

“But what if he is . . .”

“One—”

“Oh God, she’s counting.” Lizzy laughs. “That means you’re about to lay down the law for me.”

I chuckle and start again. “One, you’re assuming I want to have sex with him again.”

“You do.”

I do.

“Maybe he was a unicorn. Maybe you only ride a unicorn once because it’s magical and never meant to be had again.”

“A unicorn? God help me.”

“Two. Callahan might not have been Johnnie. So, then what? I ask him and then blow my cover that I’ve already slept with one of his brothers? I mean . . . that doesn’t exactly bode well for me in the keeping my job department.”

“True, but—”

“And three, if Callahan is Johnnie and he wanted to smooth things over with me before I got here, he’s known where to reach me. All he had to do was call and straighten things out. A quick, this is awkward, but it won’t affect my professionalism or the job you have to do for us. Or even, it was great, and what happened will stay between us. It could even be, I’m Johnnie. The other night was incredible, and I want to see you again. But my phone hasn’t rung, and that leads me to believe that he doesn’t want me to know which one he was. He holds all the cards right now. I can’t force him to play his hand.”

And I’m not one hundred percent sure how I feel about that. Rejected but relieved. Unsettled but resolute.

Or just plain crazy.

I vote for the latter.

“Point taken.”

“And four? He’s my boss. I can’t sleep with him. It’ll only serve to muddy up the waters when I have this huge opportunity for me at work.”

“I hear you,” she murmurs, “but I’m still holding out hope for some wild monkey sex.”

“Great. I’m glad someone is.”

CHAPTER NINE

Callahan

My eyes burn and my head is mush with all the figures and feedback and who the fuck knows what that I’ve tried to acquaint myself with over the past forty-eight hours.

It’s been a while since I’ve had to really concentrate on crap like this, and now I remember why I’ve avoided it. It’s soul-sapping shit. The kind of shit that you could interpret seven different ways depending on the day and your mood.

But hell if Ledger’s words didn’t eat at me after I left the conference room.

I got drunk, shitfaced really, while replaying every word of that goddamn argument in my head.

In particular, the ones telling me if I really wanted to honor our dad, I should do it by making his last decision shine. Taking this mediocre resort and turning it around into a luxury resort like our other S.I.N. properties.