Billionaire Bodyguard - Kendra Mei Chailyn Page 0,10

tell him everything, they made me want to give him anything, hold nothing back. There was something about the way I felt when he looked at me that made me think all kinds of taboo things.

He settled for a Hellcat Widebody Redeye with the red key. My brother had explained what that meant a long time ago, but I couldn’t remember why the key was red.

I dragged on my seatbelt and moaned as the car roared to life.

Leaving the quiet of Scarborough, as Hermes explained, we headed into the downtown core. He stopped so I could pick things up for my hair, and once I was in the car again, he continued to a hotel that looked as though it was in the wrong place.

It was at least twenty minutes from any main intersection, and aside from a small convenience store, there wasn’t anything else around it worth mentioning.

The word Hideaway stood out in a strange, tacky blue light font. It rubbed me the wrong way and I didn’t want to go in there.

“Do you have a picture of you and Joseph together?”

I pulled one up on my phone.

“I need you to put your phone on airplane mode.” I told her.

“Because of—oh—right! Sorry.” I quickly did as he said.

“When we go in, you ask if they know Joseph.” He explained. “They’ll have more sympathy for you since you’re his sister. They may not know he’s dead, so don’t bring that up. Keep it simply. You’re his sister and you’re trying to find him. Got it?”

I nodded, taking deep, cleansing breaths. “I can do this.”

We climbed from the car and I watched as he walked around, light trench coat dropping just by his knees, his combat boots laced tightly, and his jeans painted to his very sexy thighs. I tried not to focus on wanting him, on crushing on him, but it was better than freaking out about what we were walking into.

I walked with him toward the building and he reached around me to open the door. Stepping in, I expected tacky. But the lobby was like a luxury hotel. Plants in the corners, pristine floors, luxury chairs—I figured when rich folks wanted to cheat on their spouses, they wanted to do it in style.

Swallowing the nervous lump in my throat, I lifted my chin, and we made our way up to the front desk and I flashed the picture. “Have you seen this man?” I asked.

The clerk stared at me, then frowned.

“We’re not cops.” Hermes told him.

“This man is my brother.” I pushed. “I just wanted to know if you’ve seen him. I’m going into every business on this street because someone told me he was in this area lately.”

“Let me see the picture again,” The man said.

I quickly did as he asked, and he nodded. “I know him. I mean I don’t really know him, but he used to come in here.”

“Have you seen him lately?” Hermes asked.

“No. Not for a few weeks, I think.” The man replied. “He usually comes in with a blond. Come to think of it, I haven’t seen either of them in a while.”

I sighed. When I looked over at Hermes, he seemed deep in thought.

“Could we see the room he used to stay in?” I asked.

“I really shouldn’t let anyone in there.”

“Okay, how about I book the room for the night?” I asked him. “If it’s free.”

“What’s the guy’s name?” The clerk asked.

“Sharp, Joseph Sharp.” I replied.

He tapped away at his computer then looked up. “Name?”

“Karina Sharp.” I lied.

I paid the fee for one night in cash and was sent up to the room with Hermes in tow. The elevator brought us up to the tenth floor and I tapped the key against the access box.

Once inside, I could instantly tell the room had been cleaned. The smell of disinfectant was so strong, I had to cover my nose and mouth with a hand.

“Strange,” Hermes said as he peeked out the window then turned his attention to the large space.

I wasn’t sure what we were looking for. Why I thought we’d be able to find anything in the space was beyond me. It’d been a while since Joseph had used it. There was no telling how many people had checked into it since then, how many times it had been cleaned.

We checked everything—found nothing.

“Who do you think the woman was?” I asked Hermes while he peered into the bathroom.

“Girlfriend, lover, friend?”

“Why would they need to come to this place?” I asked. “I