Free Need You Now (1001 Dark Nights) by Lisa Renée Jones

department heads and that you handle any complaints made by customers for all the locations.”
    “Yes, I do.”
    “And the Hamptons tops the list for those complaints.”
    “Oh yes.”
    “Ironically, it’s also the most profitable location.”
    “It’s the only resort-style, high-volume property in an area dominated by small properties and rental houses.”
    “Nice to know the executive staff is aware of the benefits of the property. I’m interested to see the property. If it’s good and the staff is bad, we can hire the right people.”
    “If the property is profitable, what makes you think the staff is a problem?”
    “The complaints tell me the staff are a problem, but perhaps not ‘the’ problem. But one major goal in all locations has to be to make customers want to return and get them talking to other people about the great experiences, and the profit increases, making everyone more stable.”
    “You said the Hamptons location is profitable. What about the Florida locations?”
    “Two of the four are losing money. This one is a loser. Tell me what you know about the staff and the history of the property.”
    “The manager is very nice.”
    “Great. We have a pussy manager.”
    I glower. “Stop saying that word. I hate it and nice isn’t bad.”
    “Nice is average. It’s unexceptional.”
    “My father was nice and he was exceptional in every way.”
    “Doctors can be nice. They hire office managers to be the tough ones.”
    The waitress appears with our wine, making a big deal of opening the bottle and letting Jensen taste a small serving before she fills our glasses. The appetizer arrives before she departs, delivered by another waitress.
    Starving, and not much on the prissy girl routine anyway, the instant we’re alone, I grab a cheese stick and take a bite. Jensen seems to time his bomb of a question for the moment my mouth is burning with scorching cheese. “Let’s talk about Meredith.”
    I all but choke and manage to swallow, gulp water, and dab at my mouth. “What about her?”
    “The operation has tumbled in the past eighteen months. Why?”
    “Her husband got sick and then he died. It was hard on her and it’s part of the reason I stayed.”
    “And the management and financial team should have been strong enough beforehand to hold together the ship while she was sinking.”
    Suddenly, I’m no longer hungry. “You sound like you’ve made up your mind to side with the board.”
    “She’s working up a plan to turn things around that I’ll look at if I feel the hotel locations are salvageable.”
    The waitress returns and we place our order and once we’re alone again, he sets his iPad down between us. “Let’s review the management staff one by one.”
    Reluctantly, I accept his position as business and allow myself to be drawn into communication as we eat. For a full hour, he urges me to drink wine and talk, while he loosens his tie and jacket. Remarkably, considering the topic, the conversation is easy and I’m surprised at how much he seems to value my opinion. But the more wine we drink, the more ways we find to laugh that we shouldn’t, the more the sexual tension builds between us until it’s an invisible band about to break.
    He listens as I speak, prods as I pause, but somehow I gather tiny tidbits about him as a person. Like how much he hates fish but loves his mother, hamburgers, and dessert that he rarely indulges in. He’s a control freak and I understand him because I am one, too.
    Inevitably, our table is cleared and he tries to fill my glass again and I wave him off. “No. Enough. I am lightheaded and you saw me tipsy last night. I don’t want to go for night number two.”
    “You have me thinking I took advantage of you last night.”
    “Oh no,” I say quickly. “If anything, I took advantage of you because I...and you...and that’s it. I really did hit my limit of wine.” I slide out of the booth and stand, and he follows, towering over me as I