Page 14 of Out of Bounds

Chapter Five

Felicity felt her anxiety bubble to the surface as the Southland Holdings company plane descended into the little private airport. Outside her window she could see the bright Florida sunshine and big arching palm trees welcoming her, almost as if they were trying to entice her to ditch work and just lie on the beach. Which sounded like a lot more fun.

Surf, sun, and a tall, dark, and perfect footie player is just what I need, she thought as her mind wandered. Head in game, girlfriend, head in the game. That man is out of bounds. You have no time for picturing the coach naked.

There was so much riding on how this trip went—or at least that’s what it felt like. She’d spent most of the morning and all of the flight down here reviewing her proposals for sponsorships and partnerships with local business, as well as larger corporations, to help drive fan engagement. The city was wildly excited about this new team and they needed to capitalize on that. Finding local businesses who wanted to partner with the team hadn’t been hard—she just needed the official buy-in from her brother. Support from Gunnar and Cowboy wouldn’t hurt either.

The Uber ride from the airport to the hotel did little to calm her nerves. Making the choice to stay behind an extra day so she could have lunch with Talia had been an easy decision—and one that she had really enjoyed. Talia was fun and smart, and Felicity looked forward to spending more time with her and helping her find her footing. However, the decision had put her behind slightly when it came to team dynamics. While Dalton had assured her that last night wouldn’t be used for actual business, but for the guys to catch up with Cullen, Felicity still worried that the conversation would end up business regardless.

“How can I help you?” the middle-aged woman behind the reception desk asked as Felicity crossed the lobby.

“Felicity Sutherland, checking in. My reservation is under the Atlanta Rising.”

“Sure thing, Miss Sutherland,” she responded, typing away at her computer. Felicity watched as the woman’s brow furrowed, her face morphing into a look of confusion.

“Is there an issue?”

“Well, it seems that all the rooms under this reservation are filled.”

“Filled?” Felicity repeated. That wasn’t possible. She had made the reservation herself. “There must be an error. We reserved twenty rooms.”

She did the math again in her head. Fifteen rooms with two queen beds. Ten were for players, and five more for miscellaneous training staff, all 2 people per room. Then five rooms with kings—one for Cowboy, Gunnar, Dalton and Zara, Cullen and Leona, and herself.

“Yes, and all twenty are occupied.”

“How? Everyone who arrived yesterday would have only filled nineteen of the rooms. Can I see the room list?”

Nodding, the gal clicked her screen a couple more times, then bent down below the desk, grabbing the printout. She handed it to Felicity, who immediately started to scan down the list of room assignments. Everything was as it should be, each pair she had made last week appearing together under a room number. Until she got to the very last name on the list.

Jonah Davenport.

“This isn’t correct. Mr. Davenport wasn’t on the reservation,” she told the attendant, trying to keep her tone calm and even.

“He arrived with the team. Said that he must have been left off in error. He provided documentation that he was part of your organization.”

“I bet he did,” she muttered. “Well, that’s not correct—his exclusion was not an error. He’s not part of our party. I’ll need another room.”

“I’m sorry, ma'am, I don’t have another room. We’re overbooked. As it is, I already had to rearrange some of your party.”

“What? Why didn’t anyone call me about this?” This conversation was getting worse and worse. How was she just hearing about this? Forget calm and even—she was pissed. “I need to speak with a manager. Now.”

The woman nodded again before sticking her head into a small office and whispering to whomever was in there. A moment later, a tall, heavyset man with a very obvious toupee appeared and greeted her.

“Miss Sutherland, my apologies,” the manager said as he walked to the front desk. “We had a little scheduling error on our end. We’re renovating, and there were some construction delays and then not all the furniture has arrived. As a result, we ended up overbooked. One of the members of your party was very gracious and willing to take just a cot in one of the mostly finished rooms.

“Mostly finished room? You’ve put up one of my staff members in a mostly finished room?” she asked. This was just her luck. This is what she got for not traveling with the team down here to begin with to make sure that everything went smoothly. This is what she got for being nice—for not looking out for herself first.

“It’s not still under construction, if that’s what you’re thinking. It’s just missing the furniture and a toilet.”

“Missing a toilet?!” she shrieked.

“But the shower and sink work, so it’s not like the room is without water. They just have to share a toilet with the adjoining room.”

“So you not only let someone not on the reservation check in, but we're paying for a room that is missing basic amenities.”

“Don’t worry, we’ve credited you for the room. We let Mr. Davenport know all this when he checked in.”

“Mr. Davenport’s name was not on the reservation. He shouldn’t have been allowed to check in, much less allowed to make decisions about the booking. It’s my name on the reservation. I should have received a phone call as soon as you knew about this. Just what kind of clown show are you running here?”