Addicted: A Bad Boy Stepbrother Romance (38 page)

It told me a lot. After my father being so casual, Yuki had grown used to it, and only referred to people by their family names if she didn't like them. Of course, I was 'sir' for years to her, but I deserved it. But if Yuki was calling him that, I suspected my new boss might be a challenge to work for. Not what I wanted, but I could deal with it. The hint of Krystal's jasmine perfume that crossed my attention reminded me of the very reason.

"
W
hoa
, Yuki. I didn't know you had it in you. You always seemed so . . ."

"Conservative?" Yuki asked, smiling as she ran her hands over the metallic silver hood of her Nissan GT-R NISMO. "In most of my daily life I am. But not everywhere."

The car was beautiful, sleek and powerful. If I could take the word
sexy
and put it into a Japanese sports car, it was this one. Yuki had also done a lot of customization to it, including fender work, a new hood with aerodynamic scoop, and a body kit that made the vehicle look like it hugged the ground. I whistled as I touched the carbon fiber body. It looked fast even standing still. "How come I've never seen this before?" I asked. "I mean, I stayed at the Manor a few times."

"Because I only took her out when I needed to," Yuki replied. "John let me use a Manor car for work, and I wasn't going to risk her just going for work. She's far too valuable."

"Uh, can I ask . . . how valuable?" I said, looking inside at the leather racing seats and Bose sound system. It only had room for two, and looked more like the cockpit of a jet fighter than a car. "And what can she do?"

"I've put close to a two hundred thousand into her," Yuki replied. "I'd have spent more if she'd been new, but the NISMO is the type of car that dedicated tuners upgrade when they can. I found her on an auction site for just under a hundred thousand, then put in another hundred thousand over the past three years in upgrades and customizations."

"And you knew about this how?" I asked Julian, who was grinning.

"Pure luck. I caught sight of her driving it off one day and saw her parking it inside the locked garage another. So how fast can she go, Yuki?"

"I don't know. There is a track nearby I might try and find out, but the fastest I've had her up to is a hundred and forty on a road trip through Canada on a vacation. But there are NISMOs that can top two hundred easily. I've spent most of it on getting the zero to sixty time down. I'm at just under one point eight seconds right now."

I blinked. I think my car did zero to sixty in about ten times that. "Wow. So does that mean you're driving this every day now?"

Yuki nodded with a smile. "I can't just let her stay inside all the time, although I am getting a SUV for the winter months, when the roads are snowy or we have bad driving conditions. But in good weather, this baby is going to purr."

"Amazing. Well, I guess we need to get this meeting with Mr. Williamson out of the way. Any advice?"

Yuki laughed and nodded. "Yes. Mind your manners. He's not a bad man I think, but he has been in the Forrester Hotel group for almost forty years. He knows this is his last assignment before he retires, and he plans on, as he put it,
training the next generation properly
. I would suggest not telling him to, what was it you said, Krystal? Yes, no telling him to fuck off."

I groaned and sighed, walking away after giving Yuki's car a lingering last look. "I only said it once, you know. Sheesh, tell your boss to fuck off once, and it stays with you forever."

Yuki led us to the general manager's office, where a man who was older than John Castelbon sat behind his desk, dressed in a perfectly pressed gray suit. "Mr. Williamson, this is Julian Castelbon and Krystal Aksoy." She nodded respectfully, and turned to go, slipping me a wink as she did. "No fuck off!" she mouthed as she walked out the door, and I had to repress a smile.

"Come in, please and close the door," Mr. Williamson said. I felt like I was back in school being called to the principal's office. "It's good to meet you two. I've been looking over your profiles, expecting your arrivals. Mr. Forrester has made it clear to me, you two are in a relationship?"

"Yes we are," Julian said, "I was assured it wasn't going to be a problem."

"Since you are on equal levels in the hotel chain of command, it shouldn't be," Williamson replied. "On the other hand, I must make it very clear that regardless of that and your, ahem, personal relationship with Mr. Forrester, I expect you both to uphold the highest standards of professionalism. That means that where guests can see you, no public displays of affection, especially if you are on duty."

"We understand," I said, giving Julian a warning glance. I could read Williamson like a book, and understood it was a very old-school book. He ran his hotel like he was in the military, and would not be afraid to cut down anyone who gave him trouble. "Outside our quarters, there is no public displays of affection on resort grounds. Is that going to be all the time?"

"Most of the time. I'm not exactly Captain Bligh, regardless of what some of the younger staff may say about me. There are social events and other such times on the resort calendar in which the lines of duty are somewhat relaxed, and you'll be given the opportunity to act more, well, more relaxed. Miss Watanabe has that schedule already for the next two months."

It took me a minute to realize that Williamson was talking about Yuki, who in all the years we'd interacted together, I'd never heard anyone refer to her by her family name, although I should have known since Masaharu Morimoto signed the gift to her uncle with the same name. Still, it took me by surprise. "We'll check with her."

"Good. As to current business, for about the next month there isn't much on site for you two to do. I understand why Mr. Forrester asked you to come up however, as the weather turns cold very soon, and when the snows set in, it's not a pleasant time to travel. Also, from what I understand Miss Aksoy, you wish to create a menu that is based off of local products, correct?"

"Outside of a few standards such as hamburgers, a pasta dish, and other things, yes. I'd like at least half of the menu items to be seasonal and local."

I caught a hint of a smile from Williamson, and I think I went up a notch in his eyes. "Excellent. If so, you would probably want to spend as much time as you can over the next month exploring the Kennebunkport area. There are a lot of lobster boats in Maine of course, but there are other things as well. Do you have leads on suppliers?"

I shook my head. "I have some on vegetables, but since I wanted as much of our seafood to be straight off the boat as possible, I still need to meet the local fishermen."

"Okay. I suggest starting with the local chamber of commerce, and of course heading down to the docks themselves. There has to be at least four or five crusty old seadogs who can point you in the right direction. Now, as for you Mr. Castelbon, you have your own kettle of fish to fry."

"I do. First semester finals are next week, and I'm taking four courses."

"So I've been informed. Let me put it bluntly, Mr. Castelbon. I've worked for Forrester Hotels since I graduated the University of Ohio over forty years ago. In that time, I've worked with quite a few members of the program you are a member of. Each of them, regardless of whether under Mr. Dwayne Forrester or under his father's time as head of the company, came in with impeccable academic credentials, and a relatively clean history. Mr. Castelbon, you have neither. What you do have is a record that includes three felonies, numerous civil lawsuits, and a list of former girlfriends that reads like my grandson's copy of the
Maxim 100
. That, and the endorsement of Mr. Forrester himself. I will be a very strict, but a very fair taskmaster, Mr. Castelbon. Do not think I will not act with total professionalism towards you. On that same note, there will be no slack just because you are friends with Mr. Forrester. Do I make myself clear?"

"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."

T
hat 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."

"I don't care whose office I go to if it's because of how you make me feel," I teased back, resting my hand on his hip. He was wearing a light pair of sweat shorts, and I could feel the hard knob of his hip bone under my fingers. Julian still hadn't recovered from almost killing himself on the beach in Miami, and was easily ten pounds lighter still than when I first saw him deliciously naked. It wasn't that he was less handsome, just a bit smaller. Julian had gone from a super-ripped and muscular two hundred and fifteen pounds to a very lean one hundred and ninety-five, and was now at just over two hundred. Still, I missed some of the raw animal power he had before, and wanted it back as soon as he could. "So how about we tear the roof off if we want?"