The Wharf Read Free Page B

bottle in her hand. “Keep hydrating.”
    “I’m so hydrated I’m ready to float away.” She stepped out of her room, pulled her door shut and shoved her key card in her back pocket.
    As he followed Kacie down the hallway, he scanned her fully clothed form. The addition of a faded pair of jeans and a baggy T-shirt did nothing to conceal her attractiveness. Damn. At the pool, he’d figured his male libido had just been reacting to the way she filled out that bikini.
    But this new iteration of Kacie Manning heated his blood as much as the bikini-clad one. The soft denim of her jeans tightened in all the right places, accentuating her rounded derriere. She’d finger-combed her shoulder-length copper hair into tousled, damp waves that looked as if she’d just had a roll in the sheets.
    He couldn’t help it. Her appearance tweaked all his male parts. He had a hard time reconciling this lush body with the mind that had written that unflinching portrayal of a killer and sociopath.
    Of course, if he ever admitted that thought to his brother’s fiancée, Christina, she’d slap him upside the head.
    Passing the elevator, she pointed down the hall. “Stairs.”
    He reached the door before her and held it open. “After you.”
    Walking closely behind her down the stairwell, he had a hard time concentrating on the steps and almost tripped on the last one.
    “I thought I was the unsteady one.” She pushed through the fire door and strode into the deserted lobby. Her flip-flops slapped against her feet as she marched to the front desk.
    The hotel clerk put down his coffee and met her eyes across the counter. “Good evening. My name is Michael. Can I help you?”
    Kacie flattened her palms on the shiny wood and hunched forward. “Well, Michael, someone locked me in the sauna over an hour ago.”
    The man’s eyes bulged from their sockets. “The sauna doesn’t lock from the outside.”
    Pushing the waves from her face, Kacie shook her head. “I don’t mean locked. Someone used the handle of the pool net to wedge the doors closed.”
    “That’s terrible! Are you okay? Do you need a doctor?”
    “I’m fine...now.” She jerked her thumb over her shoulder. “He was in the gym and noticed the net. He let me out.”
    “It’s lucky you’re both night owls. Did you see who did it?”
    “No. There were some teenage boys in the hot tub earlier, but I don’t have any proof that they did anything.”
    Ryan rested his arm on the counter. “Do you have a camera out there?”
    “Sorry. We don’t.” He grabbed the receiver of his phone and barked into it. “Wesley, we have a situation in the lobby.”
    Kacie sighed and straightened up. “Then I don’t know what you can do about it. The pool area and gym were empty when I went into the sauna. I heard a noise at the door about five minutes after I went in there. That must’ve been when the idiot decided to play his dangerous joke.”
    A security guard crossed the lobby, his rubber-soled shoes squeaking on the marble tiles. “What’s the problem?”
    “Miss...?” Michael raised his brows at Kacie.
    “Manning, Kacie Manning.”
    His forehead furrowed. “Wesley, Ms. Manning was the victim of a rather dangerous practical joke. Someone wedged the sauna doors shut while she was in there.”
    Wesley tipped back his hat and scratched his forehead. “You don’t say. That’s a pretty stupid thing to do, especially at this time of night. Did you see anyone?”
    “Just a few teens earlier, but they’d left by the time I went into the sauna.”
    “Yeah, I saw those boys. I had to kick them out of the business center tonight. They were dripping water all over the computers and accessing porn sites.” Wesley cleared his throat. “Sorry, ma’am.”
    Kacie waved her hand. “Oh, I know all about pornographic sites and that teenage boys—and even grown men—are big fans of them.”
    Ryan slid her a sideways glance. Was that for his benefit? He’d better get his mind out