Biker's Virgin

“What?” I said.

She nodded. “Two of my friends have already been fired.”

“Why?”

“They were hired on a temporary basis and were going to be taken on permanently only after their performance had been reviewed,” she explained. “Apparently, their skills with guest interaction was poor, and they were let go for that reason.”

“Shouldn’t they have been trained first?”

“Everyone went through a brief course before they were put on duty,” Alani said. “But in some cases, a little more training is necessary.”

“Isn’t there someone here who’s in charge of the staff?”

“Tristan was supposed to hire someone weeks ago,” she nodded. “But I don’t think he ever got around to it. He’s handling everything…he and Ben. I think they’re both spread a little too thin.”

I sighed, remembering that Tristan had apparently earmarked me for the job. I wondered how he would feel about that offer now that we had slept together. All the more reason I needed to talk to him and figure out where we stood. The prospect of such a conversation would have terrified me six years ago, but now, I was older now and more capable of handling rejection.

“Tristan will be in his office, you said?”

“Not just yet,” Alani replied. “He might still be in meetings. But he should be in his office in another hour or so.”

“Okay, thanks,” I said.

I walked out of the lounge and headed to the elevators, retracing the path that I had taken on my first day at the resort with Alani. When I got to Tristan’s office, the door was locked, and no one was around. He was obviously still at his meetings, so I decided to sit outside the office and enjoy the view until he got there.

Exactly forty-one minutes later, I heard footsteps in the hall, and then Tristan turned the corner, with Ben at his heels. Both men hesitated when they saw me sitting there. I stood up as they approached.

“Good morning, Ms. Sinclair,” Ben said.

“It’s Molly,” I reminded him.

“Right,” he nodded. “Of course.”

“Ben, would you mind if I had a few moments to talk to Tristan alone?” I asked boldly. “There’s something I need to talk to him about.”

“Of course,” he nodded.

He turned and walked back the same way he had come, leaving Tristan and me alone. Tristan’s expression was calm and contained, but I sensed nervousness in his stance as he unlocked his office door and held it open for me. I walked inside and waited till the door had been closed behind us.

“You left this morning,” I said, cutting to the chase.

Tristan sighed. He walked around to this desk and sat down. “Can I get you something to drink?” he asked formally.

“No, thank you,” I said through gritted teeth.

“Why don’t you sit down?”

I remained on my feet. “Are you going to address what happened, or are you going to talk around it indefinitely?”

“Molly, what happened last night… It was a mistake.”

> All the hopes that had been resurrected last night pummeled to their death, and I found myself grappling to stay calm. “You really believe that?”

“It should never have happened,” he continued. “It would never have happened had I not been so fucking drunk.”

“You weren’t that drunk,” I pointed out.

“I’ve been stressed out with the opening looming,” he continued like I hadn’t said anything. “There are tons of problems that have cropped up at the last second. I was drinking a lot last night, and I was just…looking for a release. I would have slept with anyone last night.”