“Not happening,” she replied flatly.
“In the ocean or in a Jacuzzi, I want you drenched, dripping, soaking, before we hit the sheets. Wet female flesh is so sexy—drops rolling from your body onto mine—does me in every time.”
Ellie scoffed. “I am so done with this day.” So done with you .
“Sit tight, there, hot sauce. Because I ain’t done with you at all.”
Disgusted, she demanded, “Tell the captain to go back. I want off this boat.”
“What’s wrong with my yacht?” He glared as though highly offended.
“It’s too big, too useless, too ostentatious—and it implies you’re overcompensating for something.”
“Hey, I get tail anytime I want. My casino girls are always up for a quick bang in the office. I’m not compensating,” he growled.
“And I’m not interested in being part of your sordid sexual adventures.”
He clamped a meaty hand around her wrist, twisting. “You’ll take what I give you and like it.”
“Ouch! Let go. Now ,” she said through her teeth.
The boat’s captain came over the speakers. “We need to dock soon, Mr. Applestone. We’re almost out of fuel, and it looks like a nasty storm is heading our way.”
Back at the hotel, Arnoff said, “We have another hour before dinner. Come to my room. I want to show you what you’re missing.”
“I’d rather get some ginger ale from the bar.” Please be here, James. Matilda. Somebody.
“No, we’re going to my suite now, sugar cube.” He patted her butt again. “Before I buy this place, I want to know you and I are...compatible.”
“Don’t hold your breath,” she muttered.
At the bar, she hit the ginger ale button on the beverage gun. She poured Arnoff vodka on the rocks, the cheap stuff. He didn’t notice.
After another hour of enduring his constant self-aggrandizement, she reconsidered swimming with sharks as a more pleasant alternative to him. He ate olives and cherries by the handful, straight out of the condiment containers on the bar. Then he grossed her out by putting his gooey paws all over her. And he got a piece of maraschino cherry stuck in his teeth, so every time he laughed about a story he recounted of his sexual conquests—two-somes, three-somes, and every which way in between—that piece of cherry stood out like a neon sign telling her, “Stop! Run far, far away from this creep!” He was a complete moron.
Finally, after the grueling hour when she didn’t see a soul, she couldn’t take Arnoff anymore. Through gritted teeth, she informed him as politely as possible, “Arnoff, I appreciate your interest in me, and my hotel. While I’d like to stay on as the manager, I can’t be with you on a personal level.”
His beady eyes blinked then narrowed. “Of course you will,” he countered, blithely moving on from the empty olive bin to the mini pearl onions beside it.
Ellie shuddered. “I apologize if you feel I’ve led you on.” Sick pig .
“You didn’t lead me on, love lumps. I came willingly. So will you.” This time he patted one of her breasts.
That was the final straw. She stood up and moved several paces away from him. “I don’t think you understand my point—”
“I know,” he countered. “All the girls are like this at first. Then they see how well I treat them. The girls at my casinos know the deal—they get whatever they want from me and my customers’ money, and me and the guys get whatever we want from them. It’s a really generous offer, and they take it gladly.”
“Sure, if they’re hookers.”
“I give them a chance to turn their lives around.”
Ellie was so appalled she laughed. “You’re not serious.”
“It’s much better to be a kept woman for one man, than to take on multiple men a night, and still split your earnings with a pimp.”
Massaging her temples with her fingertips, Ellie shook her head in awe. This guy was a piece of work! “Let me make myself clear. I am not going to be your ‘kept’ woman.”
“You will when I’m finished with you.” He flashed a murky grin.
“I’m not like the...girls you’re used to. I’m not a whore.”
“You slept with the other investor,” he accused.
She held up a hand to stop him right there. “That’s different. Carter and I have known each other for years. It’s none of your business,” she seethed. Then she demanded, “How did you know about that?”
He tapped the side of his frog-like nose. “I know a lot of ways to find out what really goes on in a hotel behind the scenes. A bribe here, a favor there. An accidentally overheard conversation. Nothing gets by me.”