Harlequin Desire January 2021--Box Set 1 of 2 by Maisey Yates (free biff chip and kipper ebooks .txt) 📕

was his intruder. But she stepped out of his shadow and addressed the room.

“Settle down,” she said. “This is just one big misunderstanding.”

Her voice was calm. Julian liked that.

“Someone get Jim up here!” Grace yelled.

“Leave Jim out of it,” she said. “It was a mistake. Probably your mistake. I bet this suite is still under my name.”

“Ms. Taylor, we have an agreement. This suite is not yours, and you know it.”

“What agreement?” Julian asked, and Ms. Taylor got him up to speed.

“The agreement we reached after she kicked me out to accommodate you.”

Julian turned to Grace. “Is that true?”

She went pale. He had his answer.

An assistant arrived, flanked by security guards and trailed by poor Jim. The comedy of errors checked out. The suite was still reserved under Ms. Taylor’s name. Jim was given the wrong key at the front desk. To complicate matters, the hotel had no vacancies.

The assistant clutched an iPad with a white-knuckled grip. “We’re fully booked for the holiday.”

“I thought the Garden Room was available,” Grace said, her voice thin.

“Full, ma’am.” An elderly guest had thrown out his back and couldn’t be moved until his pain medications kicked in. “Our hands are tied.”

Grace switched to Spanish to vent her frustration. Julian glanced at Kat. She was chewing on her bottom lip the way she did when she was anxious. All this turmoil over a hotel room was ridiculous to Julian. People liked to treat him as if he were a descendant of the royal family, but he’d stayed in hostels and motels that he’d like to forget. He’d slept in his car for a month when he first moved out to Los Angeles. He’d gladly give up the suite, but unfortunately, he needed the buffer the private floor provided.

“That’s enough,” Julian said. “Ms. Taylor and I will figure this out. We’ll draw straws or something. Please wait outside.”

“Julian, it’s not your job to figure this out,” Kat said.

“I agree, Mr. Knight,” Grace said.

“Even so, I’d prefer you clear the room.”

After he ushered the delegation out the door, Julian turned to the crafty Ms. Taylor. She stared at him with a vacant expression, and he worried that she might have suffered a stroke. “Hey! Are you okay?”

She uncurled an index finger and pointed at him. “You’re JL Knight!”

Here we go.

Julian cupped the nape of his neck and rubbed out the kinks. He could speak up now or let the madness run its course. He decided to let it run.

She continued to launch accusations. “And you’re British?”

“Jamaican and British,” he specified. “Is that bad?”

“I don’t know! Malcolm Brown was from the South Bronx.”

For two seasons, Julian had played paramedic Malcolm Brown on Riverside Rescue, a long-running network police procedural. Very few people remembered his early work. “I’ve been in a few projects since then.”

“I wouldn’t know,” she said. “I binge-watched Riverside last Christmas, and Malcolm was my favorite.”

“Thank you,” he said. “And sorry for this mix-up. My assistant handled the travel arrangements. Usually she’ll call, drop my name and—”

“And people drop everything?”

“Something like that.”

“Must be nice,” she said.

“You know what? It is.”

“Well, I handle my own business. You should try it sometime.”

“Want it back?” he offered. “I’ll go elsewhere.”

Sand Castle was central to his presence in Miami, but he wouldn’t have insisted on staying here had he known the suite was booked. There was no shortage of five-star hotels on the beach. And in retrospect, showing up in Miami on a holiday weekend was a stupid idea.

“Keep it,” she said firmly. “The manager will poison my food if you walk out. You’re too important.”

“How about we share it? There’s no reason you can’t stay here until the Garden, Fountain or whatever opens up.”

“You’re wrong.” She folded her arms over her chest. “There are about one hundred reasons. Top of the list—stranger danger.”

“Never played that game. Sounds fun.”

What was he doing flirting with the woman he’d caught taking a selfie on his bed? Talk about stranger danger.

“It would only be for a night, maybe two,” he said. “This place is huge. We could go for days and not run into each other.”

“There is a second bedroom with a private bath,” she said, speaking more to herself than to him.

“Look how much you know,” Julian said.

“I wrote a piece about this hotel long ago,” she said. “Also, the porter told me.”

“Good old Jim?”

She looked uneasy. “I hope I didn’t get him fired.”

“If it helps, I’ll put in a good word,” Julian said. “So, you’re a writer?”

She raised her chin. “I am.”

“What do you write?”

“Books,” she said. “Well…I wrote one book, but there are several formats.”

“Okay.”

He must have hit a sore spot. She was suddenly less sure of herself, stumbling over her words. But she was no less beautiful. The light from the windows washed over her face, warming her bronze skin and adding specks of gold to her brown eyes. Julian itched to reach for his camera.

There was a double knock on the door. He moved away from it. “They’re getting restless. Time to decide.”

She let out a sigh. “Well, what about the blonde?”

Her question left him confused. “Which blonde?”

“The one you’re traveling with,” she said. “She won’t want me around. Three is a crowd.”

“Blondes are people with parents and pets and feelings. They’re objectified enough without you piling on, Ms. Taylor.”

She wrapped her arms around her waist as if to control the spread of a full-body laugh. “I apologize, Mr. Knight. Thanks for shining a light on the plight of the blondes.”

“You’re welcome,” Julian said. “Her name is Katia Wells, and she’s my assistant.”

“The one who booked your travel?”

“The same.” Kat was in Florida to attend a family reunion. She’d gladly abandoned her seat on a commercial airline to fly private with him. A car was waiting outside to take her to her grandparents’ house in Boca Raton. “If we were together, do you think she’d be waiting on the other side of the door?”

“I don’t know anything about you or how you live your life,” she said. “Which