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Ten minutes later, Abby, armed with a clipboard knocked on the door to Room 312. Several minutes passed and the blonde answered. Abby smiled politely. “Hello. I’m so sorry to disturb you. I’m Abigail Raines, the Assistant Manager.” Abby looked down at her clipboard. “It seems we had a sort of mini flood in the room above yours.” She leaned in and said in a conspiratorial tone, “Never leave towels in the bathtub,” she said. “Anyway, I’m just filling out the work log and I need to know if there’s any damage to the ceiling in your bathroom as a result. If there is we need to get someone in here right away.”
Beyond the blonde’s shoulder, an aging, potbellied man in trousers and not much else glared at her. Then he stomped to the bathroom. He came back out in a huff. “No. There’s nothing there.”
Abby kept the smile. “Well, thank you so much. I’m so sorry to have disturbed you. Will you let me send up a complimentary bottle of champagne for the trouble?”
The man’s scowl disappeared, but the blonde remained stoic. “Yeah,” he told her. “That’s- that’d be fine.”
“Excellent. Consider it on its way. Thanks again.”
Abby backed out of the door way and headed to the elevator. As the doors slid open on the lobby floor, her path was blocked by Kessler. “What are you doing?”
Abby looked startled for a moment then held up the clipboard, revealing the customer complaint that she’d faked. “I was overseeing a problem with the plumbing up on four.”
“Then why were you on three?”
“In case of water damage,” she said cooly. “I need to fill out the clean up order and I needed to know the full extent of the damage.”
His face relaxed a little. “Is there any?”
Abby shook her head. “Thankfully not that we’re seeing. We’ll have to keep any eye out for mold, of course, but I think we caught it just in time.”
Kessler rubbed his face. “Alright then. Good. Great.”
“I also have this month’s supply order ready. I’ll need you to check and sign.”
Kessler waved her off. “Just send it through. I have a meeting today.”
Abby nodded and watched Kessler walk away. She headed back to her office, closed the door and slumped in the chair. After a few moments, she dug her cell phone out of her purse and hit a number on speed dial.
“Coral Canyon. This is Chase. How may I help you?”
“Chase.”
“Abby!” came the effeminate male voice over the line. “How’s the sticks?”
“Not terrible. Not good. But not terrible.”
“Well, hurry up and come home with your tail between your legs, girl, because no one runs this town like you do and you are sorely missed.”
Abby smiled. “I miss you guys, too. But I am firmly entrenched.”
“Say it ain’t so,” Chase admonished.
“It is. But listen, I have…a question.”
“Hmmm, sounds intriguing. Lay it on me, girl.”
Abby looked up at her ceiling. “I have a stable behind my hotel.”
“A stable? In Grizzly Adams country?”
“Men are men everywhere, Chase.”
“Yes, they are,” Chase agreed.
“How do I protect myself?”
Chase sighed. “Little Abby Raines. Never does anything easy.”
“Nope. Not me.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
Abby had a long list of vendors spread out over her desk when she looked up at the clock above the door. It was almost five and she was ready to get the hell out of there. She abandoned her paper tornado, pulled on her blazer, and retrieved her purse from her desk. She locked her office door and nodded to Susan as she headed out the front doors.
Halfway down the block to the parking structure, her phone rang. She smiled as she dug it out of her purse. “Are we going to watch another movie tonight?”
“Actually,” Mark replied, “I was wondering, since you’re from Vegas, how are you at poker?”
“What kind of poker?” she asked, her heels clipping on the hard concrete. “Hold ‘em? Stud? Omaha? Pai Gow? Chicago? Crazy Pineapple?” She paused. “Strip poker?”
Mark laughed. “I’m going out on a limb and assuming you know how to play. Thursday night is poker night at Shooter and Slick’s place. So, obviously clothes will be staying on. But you and I can play our own game sometime. I definitely wouldn’t mind a beautiful, naked woman parading around my house.”
Abby laughed. “Please. I’d take all your money. And your clothes. You could walk around naked for me.”
“Intriguing,” he replied. “I’m willing to risk it. But not tonight. How ‘bout I come pick you up at your place?”
Abby liked Sarah and the rest of Mark’s friends were definitely a fun bunch. “Yeah. I’m just getting off work so give me time to shower and change.”
Mark showed up close to six thirty. Abby had thrown on some jeans and a short sleeve blouse. She was surprised when he took her into his arms and kissed her as though he hadn’t seen her just last night. He rubbed his hands along her bare arms. “You look great, babe, but you need a jacket. I brought the bike.”
