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ged. “I’m not going to test the truth of that statement because I place a high value on life and limb, but I will say I don’t think she’s on the same page. She told me you two were friends. You’re headed back to the mainland soon, and I’m not the only single guy in Maui.” With that, he smiled and stepped out onto the landing. “Aloha.”
Rafe closed the door and tamped down on the urge to kick it. No, they were not on the same page. He wanted more. Where Chelsea was concerned, he always wanted more. He didn’t know what the fuck more entailed, but that’s what he wanted. What did she want?
Worst case scenario, she still wanted Barrington. Everything inside him rejected the notion, despite the telephone conversation he’d overheard. Could be his ego refused to entertain the possibility he could lose out to the useless prick, but beyond that, carrying on an illicit, long-distance relationship with a man who’d cheated on her and was now poised to start a family with the other woman simply didn’t fit Chelsea’s character. So no, she wasn’t cheating with her ex, and he doubted she’d welcome him back into her life in any capacity, but that didn’t mean she didn’t still harbor feelings for the man. Her head might insist things with Barrington irrevocably ended the moment he took up with Cindy, but what about her heart?
His jealousy surged anew in the face of uncertainty. The heart followed whatever perverse, masochistic path it followed. He ought to know. Look where his was leading him.
Even if her ex didn’t have any lingering hold on her heart, it wasn’t exactly his for the taking. She sought no-strings-attached sex, without the risk of a messy emotional investment. The very thing he specialized in, and which now sounded empty and unsatisfying as hell.
Want more from her? Prove you’ve got more to give. Convince her this thing is worth bending a few rules for.
Fine idea in theory, but assuming the deal was back on track, it provided him just a couple weeks to change her mind. He swung into her small, galley-style kitchen and took another bottle of water from her fridge. His phone buzzed. He pulled it from his pocket and checked the screen. The battery icon hovered at 20 percent. Her phone sat charging on the counter separating the living area from the kitchen. A tap confirmed hers had a full charge. He switched them out, and was about to put hers on the counter next to his, when the display of new emails caught his eye, and, more specifically, Cindy Ruffy’s name.
For someone consistently behind on her job responsibilities, she’d still found the time to email Chelsea. Repeatedly. Without stopping to question the ethics, he scrolled through a series of harassing, accusatory communications. All personal in nature, all sent from her Las Ventanas account, and all a clear violation of the St. Sebastian communication policy.
The irony of a woman in Cindy’s glass house flinging stones like, “You’re a selfish, cheating bitch,” and “You don’t care who you hurt,” pulled his lips into a grim smile.
Too bad irony didn’t satisfy the situation, but frankly, neither his anger at the thought of Chelsea wading through this particular sewer of emails, nor the corporation’s reputation, could settle for anything except Cindy’s immediate dismissal.
Only the “immediate” part of the plan gave him pause. Firing her long-distance from Maui wouldn’t work. He forwarded the messages to his email, debated his options for a moment, and then sucked it up and placed a call.
His father answered on the second ring.
“Where are you right now?”
“Good day to you too, Rafe. I am well, thank you for asking. And you?”
He ignored the manners lesson his father attempted to deliver. “Are you at Las Ventanas?”
“Yes. Your sister has accomplished very impressive changes, but I hope the integration is not purely superficial—”
“I need a favor.”
“You may not borrow the jet.”
“I don’t need the jet,” he said with all the patience he could manage, and refrained from mentioning he wouldn’t require his father’s permission if he did. “I need you to fire someone.”
“Picking up dry cleaning, signing for a package…these are favors. Acting as your hatchet man is not a favor. It is me doing your dirty work. Do it yourself.”
“I can’t. I’m in Maui.”
“Because of the Tradewinds fiasco? I told you to walk away.”
“The easement is resolved. Apparently the deal liaison worked her magic and the owners agreed to a transfer.”
“The woman displays talent. Why isn’t she working for us? We need a general manager at Las Ventanas.”
“It’s complicated.” And off topic, and nothing he hadn’t already considered, but Chelsea wouldn’t agree to return to Las Ventanas while Paul or Cindy remained. Fifty percent of that roadblock was about to be removed, assuming he could get his father to step up. “The point is I’m not there to do the termination myself.”
“Get Barrington to do it. Make him useful.”
“Impossible. The employee we’re letting go is his fiancée, Cindy Ruffy.”
A long moment of silence greeted that announcement, and then, “You wish for me to fire the head of human resources mere weeks after she announced her pregnancy? Please consider the timing. Why not wait until she’s in the delivery room, having the baby?”
Rafe gritted his teeth and let the sarcasm slide. “I understand the optics of the situation, Luc, but the termination is for cause and waiting is not an option. Waiting implies St. Sebastian endorses her behavior, and we don’t. She sent numerous inappropriate emails to the former assistant manager using her Las Ventanas email account.”
“You’re certain?”
