Free Strictly Business [Stud Service 3] (Siren Publishing Classic) by Missy Lyons

Mrs. Gibson, but I don’t see your name.” The clerk finally stopped tapping away at the keys and looked her dead in the eye.
    “Check again,” she insisted with a nervous tremor in her throat.
    He kicked his heels together, making a clicking sound on the tiled floor while looking down at the computer monitor again. “I’m sorry, ma’am. I just don’t see you.” The clerk gave her a sad face, but if he really cared he’d find her a place to sleep for the night.
    “Try again,” she insisted while tapping her fingernails nervously upon the countertop.
    “Aww, I see what happened. It looks like your card was declined for the charges and your room was given away at the last minute. I’m sorry, but there’s really nothing I can do.”
    “You’re kidding me.” Susannah’s jaw dropped in her shock. Why would her credit card get declined? It wasn’t like she was delinquent in any of the payments. She wracked her brain, trying to figure out what happened. Her parents weren’t happy she was going to the Caribbean, and they were trying to force her to focus on settling down and having a family, but it wasn’t like they could…and then the light bulb snapped on in her head. They had set up that account and cosigned when she had no credit and was still in college. They probably cancelled the card, hoping it would force her to stay in the states and do their bidding.
    “Is there a problem here?” Colt Vance seemed to appear out of nowhere directly behind her, and her body reacted immediately as she sensed his nearness. Heat lit up her insides, radiating to her limbs. Why the hell a man could affect her this way was beyond her understanding. She liked to be in control of herself—and this wasn’t even close to that.
    “N–n–no, of course not Mr. Vance.” The clerk’s strong personality seemed to wilt under Colt Vance’s scrutiny.
    Susannah jumped at the opportunity for help. She couldn’t be homeless for a week, and she couldn’t go begging to Mom and Dad for help. They’ve made it clear they didn’t want her to focus on her career. They wanted a grandchild. Yesterday.
    “Yes, there is a problem. He doesn’t have my hotel reservation, and now I have nowhere to stay.” She felt tears well up at the corners of her eyes. This was her bad luck. She did not want to have to beg a room off her new friend. It would make her feel like a gold digger, like this entire affair was orchestrated from the beginning just to use him and his money. This was so embarrassing. She had to wait two days before the research vessel came to port to pick her up. When it did she would have a permanent place to live for the next six months, but until then she was homeless.
    The clerk apologized profusely to Colt Vance, and his body stiffened at the sight of his boss. He explained his dilemma quickly and efficiently. “She never made reservations with us, sir.”
    Not true! Not true! I made reservations months ago. This entire event frustrated her, and the fact of the matter was she still didn’t have a room…
    “Well, we’ll have to fix that, won’t we?” He turned to Susannah and asked her, “I have a cottage on my personal property I use for guests. Would you like to stay there? There is a garden separating it from the rest of the hotel, but you would still have access to all the amenities and the pool.”
    Relief swept through her body. She would have slept on his couch if she had to, but the cottage would be ideal. It would give her room to spread out after her daily research.
    Hell, if he’d asked her, she would have slept in his bed. The thought of coming home to him was not an unwelcome one. In all practicality it would solve her problems of finding a father to her child.
    Why he didn’t offer that when they had slept together already? Was there a girlfriend already? Was Susannah becoming a third wheel unknowingly? The thought was not a welcome one.
    “Brandon, please make sure our guest feels welcome and have a