Addicted (The Addicted Series, #1)(116)

"Perfectly, Mr. Williamson. I'm not trying to skate by as a friend of Mr. Forrester. I'm here to make something of myself."

"So be it. On that note, I have agreed to Mr. Forrester's idea that there be a separate fitness facility for staff as well as the normal guest facilities. Apparently, you are quite the accomplished lifter?"

"I try my best. In a conversation with Mr. Forrester, we both agreed that since this resort will not have the same year-round good weather for outdoor fitness that many of the Forrester Hotels have, he wanted to ensure the staff is able to maintain a proper appearance. Also, it saves us a ton of money on the health care premiums I heard."

Williamson nodded. "So I've heard as well. Very well. Please get with Miss Watanabe, she can show you a map to both locations. The guest facility is not ready for equipment yet, but I believe the staff one can be outfitted, if you do not mind a utilitarian room. For both of you, I have the budgetary details of your divisions already sitting on your company e-mails, along with your company laptops. Miss Watanabe has both. One final word on that. I know, at least according to the breakdown of the chain of command here, you two and Miss Watanabe are equals. Let me inform you that you most certainly are not. She has direct working experience in a similar posting, and from the words I exchanged with your father, Mr. Castelbon, she's very good. As such, she is going to be my de facto second in command here. She will be responsible for much of the day to day operations while I teach all three of you how to run a resort. So unless you think it is something she cannot handle, I want you to go through her for many of the questions you think of bringing to me. Understand?"

"Of course, Mr. Williamson," Julian said tightly, and I could see the cords of tension in the back of his hands. "Thank you."

"Yes, thank you Mr. Williamson," I said with as much decorum as I could muster as well. Julian and I got up and left the office, both of us staying silent until we were able to find Yuki's office which was down the hall.

"How'd it go?" she asked, trying not to smirk. Julian's response of growling and punching his hand into his fist I thought was a perfect answer for both of us. "That good, huh? Don't let him get to you. I called the last resort he worked at, checking up on him. He's like that to everyone until you earn his respect, then he's actually tolerable apparently."

"Great. So perhaps by the time I graduate and he retires we might have a reasonable working relationship," Julian said. "Whatever, I can deal with it. You and Krystal can keep my head straight, I know that. By the way, he said you had some laptops and stuff for us."

"Even better," Yuki replied. "You can thank Kimberly for these, but now the managers, instead of getting clunky laptops, are getting dual purpose computers. In your office or in your quarters, you can plug in the base and it works just like a normal laptop. But, you pop the screen out, and you have a tablet. Both of yours are setup, you just need to log your passwords into the system and you'll be walked through. It's a good system, your friend does good work Krystal."

"Thanks," I said. "But before anything else, I'd like to see our quarters. You know where they are?"

"Of course. Follow me."





Chapter 27


Krystal




That evening, after a light dinner at a local restaurant in Kennebunk, Julian and I were lying in bed together, although in a more domestic manner than I'd ever remembered us being before. I was reading a cookbook on my new computer, while Julian was on his older laptop, typing away at a paper he was writing. "Hey Krystal," he said as I was in the middle of reviewing some cod and haddock recipes, "what's your opinion on the role of classic gender roles in the modern world?"

I looked at him, not sure if he was joking or not. Instead, I found him staring at his computer, his face very intent and serious. "What are you doing?" I asked, setting my tablet aside.

"Psychology final. Most of the questions were easy, a lot of multiple choice, but there are five short essay questions that I have to answer too. This is the last one, and I wanted your input."

"Seriously?"

"Really. The instructor lets us take the final online this way, and I can get it done ahead of time."

I looked at the recipes on the tablet in my lap, and the computer in Julian's, and made a decision. "Can you save it and come back later?"

"Yeah, I have unlimited time until Friday at noon. Why?"

I pulled down the sheets that were covering me, and lifted my t-shirt up. "Because these are the gender roles I want to discuss with you right now."

Julian only needed a glance to agree with me, clicking his touchpad three times and closing his laptop with a forceful thunk-click. I had to admit, after our fight, it was a while before I let him back into my bed, and even longer before we made love again. For me, the wait was almost unbearable agony, but I wanted to make sure that when we had sex again, it was because I wanted him in my heart as well as in my body. However, between that, our busy schedules, and our travels, we could count the number of times we'd had sex since reuniting on the fingers of one hand. Now that we were settled in Kennebunkport, I planned on rectifying that as quickly as possible.

Thankfully, the long breaks hadn't dulled Julian's lovemaking skills in the least. Stroking my hair, he leaned into me, his soft lips teasing mine until both of us were grinning like Cheshire cats. "I wonder, should we keep it down, or just let it all loose?" he teased me, bringing his left hand up to rest on my ribs. "After all, we wouldn't want Mr. Williamson to call us to his office tomorrow."