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Shelby
Being summoned by Claude to come into his office before her shift, wasn’t a good sign. He never called anyone in for a meeting before their shift unless something was wrong. She had a feeling that she was being called into his office because she took an extra day off. She was due a day off. All Shelby had done since she got to France, was work her ass off. Taking an extra day to be with the guys felt right and she wouldn’t apologize for it.
She gently knocked on his office door and held her breath waiting for him to tell her to come in. After what felt like an eternity, Claude called her in, and she did as ordered. He was sitting behind his big desk, trying to look more important than he was.
“You wanted to see me?” she asked.
“Yes, have a seat please,” he offered pointing to a chair that sat in front of his desk. She shut the door to his office and sat down in the chair trying not to notice that he was staring her down as if trying to intimidate her. She wouldn’t be intimidated by him—not anymore.
“What can I do for you, Claude?” she asked.
He looked her over and smiled. “I’ve noticed that you’ve been spending time with two of our American guests,” he said.
“Yes,” she admitted. “There are no rules against employees dating guests, Claude. I’ve checked.”
“Right, but they are technically the competition and that is a concern,” Claude said.
“They aren’t your competition, Claude. I have no intention of ever doing whatever it is you do with the other female employees in the hotel.”
He threw back his head and laughed. “I feel that same way about you, Shelby. No worries. Your American accent grates on my nerves, as you like to say.” She wanted to tell her boss that he could shove his opinion about her accent up his ass, but that wouldn’t end well for her. She needed to remember that she needed this job and pissing Claude off wasn’t a good plan.
“I’d like to know why you’ve called me down to your office, Claude. I have a very busy day cleaning guests’ toilets and I’d like to get to it if you don’t mind.”
“Then, I’ll cut right to it,” Claude said. “If you’re considering their job offer, I’d like a few weeks’ notice. It’s only fair, Shelby.”
“Job offer?” Shelby asked. “What are you talking about?” she questioned.
“The two of them own hotels in America. That’s why they are in France, to research boutique hotels. You didn’t know?” Claude asked. He seemed to get a sick sense of pleasure that he was telling her something that she didn’t know about them.
“No,” she breathed. “They own hotels in America?” she asked, trying to get her brain to catch up with the conversation.
“Yes,” he said, a smug smile on his face. “What did they tell you that they did?”
Shelby just shrugged. “That they were businessmen. We really didn’t get into the logistics.”
“You can’t tell me that you didn’t know who they were. Did you hope that you were going to just be offered a job with their organization? Were you just going to leave me without a maid?” he questioned.
“That’s what you’re worried about, isn’t it?” she asked. “You’ll be down one maid and maybe you’ll have to pick up a scrub brush—God forbid.” She’d love to be a fly on the wall to watch that happen. “You know what—if you stopped sleeping with your staff, you wouldn’t be worried about losing them.”
“You need to mind your own business,” Claude warned. “I think that you need to be reminded of your place, Shelby. You need this job, remember?” He was right, she did, but she also knew that if she lost it, she’d find a way to move on with her life. She’d find her path and now she knew that this wasn’t it.
Shelby stood from her seat and smiled down at Claude. “Good luck with the cleaning today,” she said. “My cart is fully stocked and ready to go if that helps you, but I’d suggest you change out of your pretty suit. I quit.”
“You can’t just quit,” Claude insisted. “It’s not ethical.”
“Neither is sleeping your way through your maid staff,” she challenged.
“You little bitch,” Claude shouted. “You are going to work for them, aren’t you?” There was no way that she’d answer his question—he didn’t deserve even that from her. “Be out of my hotel by nightfall,” he shouted. Shelby simply walked out of Claude’s office and didn’t look back as he shouted every nasty name that he could think of at her.
He didn’t matter anymore. What did matter is her needing to find Declan and Tanner to ask them if what Claude told her was true? If it was, she would have to find a way to tell them both goodbye because there would be no way that she could stay with them if they weren’t one hundred percent truthful with her. She just couldn’t be with two men who withheld the truth, no matter how small that made her seem.
* * *
Shelby took the elevator up to the top floor of the hotel, knowing that both guys would probably still be there made her even more nervous with each passing floor. Confronting them had to happen, but she hated that she was going to have to ask them questions that she might not be ready to hear the answers to. It didn’t matter anymore though. She had quit and that meant that she would have to clear out of her hotel room or come up with a way to pay to stay there. She barely had enough money saved up to hopefully get back home, but she’d work that out later.
When she left the guys this morning, they were both in Declan’s room, so she decided to start there. Shelby banged on the door, wishing that she had remembered to take the key that Declan had given her. He pulled the door open and smiled down at her, causing her girl parts to go liquid. How did he do that to her every time he so much as smiled at her?
“Is it break time already?” he asked.
