The Billionaire's Paradise (Sexy Billionaires)(11)

She hesitated a moment before drawing in a deep breath. “Good night, Hayden,” she said, slipping from his arms when all he wanted was to hold her tight.

Forcing his hands to stay at his sides, he watched her walk away from him yet again.

As maddening as it was to let her go, this game wouldn’t be won in the span of days.

And he had the feeling Avery Clarke was well worth the wait.





Chapter Four

“These are the employment records for all the staff we’ve lost in the past two years,” the general manager said, sliding a bunch of papers across the conference table to her.

Avery accepted the stack, her brows rising. “This is some serious turnover.”

Marius shrugged. “Tourism is the life’s blood of this island. There isn’t a shortage of jobs for those moving within the hospitality industry.”

That still doesn’t account for these numbers.

A familiar excitement filled her. There was a mystery to solve here, and she couldn’t wait to get to the bottom of it.

Just like the mystery of why the hell Hayden was so fixated on her.

Focus.

Karen reached for the stack, a frown on her face. “Did you do exit interviews with all these employees?” she asked.

“There are always a dozen things needing my attention,” Marius replied. “Besides, if they want to leave they want to leave. I’m not going to stop them.”

“Exit interviews aren’t about stopping an employee leaving,” Avery said. “They’re about learning what drove them to that decision.”

“I don’t want to waste my time listening to what they have to say when I’ve got better things to do,” Marius replied. “We do fine without them.”

Obviously, you don’t, or I wouldn’t have been called in.

Instead of saying what she was thinking, she pasted a smile on her lips. “Well, I do,” she said. “Thank you for the records. We’ll make sure to follow up with some of them.”

A frown crossed Marius’s face, but Avery didn’t let it get a rise out of her. She’d been in this position dozens of times. Few GMs were happy when the higher ups brought in a stranger to shine a light on everything they might be doing wrong. It didn’t matter. She didn’t need to be liked to do her job.

“I’ll leave you to it, then,” he said, pushing from his chair. “If you’ll excuse me, I have other duties to see to.”

“Thank you for your time,” she replied, shaking his hand.

She and Karen waited silently while Marius left the room, until they heard the door click shut behind him.

“These numbers are too high,” Karen said as soon as they were alone, tapping the stack of records.

“Turnover is a problem,” Avery agreed.

“And not the only one.” Pulling out a camera, Karen turned it on and passed it over. “I did a preliminary walk through this morning.”

Avery cycled through the images, seeing stains on carpets, cracks in paint, cobwebs in corners. Sins no five-star hotel should be guilty of.

“The plot thickens,” she said, handing the camera back.

“Quality is declining.”

“And with it, occupancy rates. Makes sense.”

“It appears you have something new to tell our glorious boss.”

Avery pushed away from the table, crossing the width of the conference room they’d been given as a temporary office. “I doubt he really cares about our day-to-day findings. All he wants to hear is the solution.”

“Oh, I don’t know,” Karen said, leaning back in her chair. “I think there is something he’s very interested in hearing more about.”

Avery cast her a dark look. “I so shouldn’t have confided in you about the gala.”

“I just wish I’d been there to see the start of this romance for myself. Going home for Christmas was obviously a mistake.”

At least you had a family to return to.

Her Christmases consisted of a small home-cooked meal with her parents. Hardly the house filled with warmth and laughter that Karen’s large family offered.

Once, her Christmases had been that bright. Her in-laws had always ensured their sweeping home was filled with as many relatives as they could cram into the space. Avery’s parents had loved the crowd. It had been one more thing they’d all lost in the divorce.

“I wish you had been there,” she said. “Then you would have talked me out of making such a big mistake.”

Karen scoffed. “Are you kidding? I would have poured more champagne down your throat and sent you off with Prince Charming hours earlier.”

“What a wonderful friend you are.”

“Damn straight.” Rising, she crossed the distance between them. “It’s about time you came back to the world of the living, Avery. Maybe Hayden wasn’t the mistake you think he was. At the very least, he helped you move on from Jonathan.”