Hustle (Book 1 in The Hunted Hearts) - SYTYCW Winner #action #comedy #romance

Heist | Chapter 2

"Nah man, I'm gonna chill out here. I need a day off from that shit."

She frowned. He was either talking on the phone or talking to himself. She peeled off the last bit of tape, and the hard drive dropped into her hand.

Gotcha!

The man laughed. "Unless the hotel burns down, I won't be getting off this couch for the next twenty-four hours. I need some R and R after last night."

Shit.

Ellie slipped the hard drive down the front of her dress, wedging it under the side of her bra. Even if they patted her down, they'd probably miss it there.

Closing her eyes for a moment, she listened to the man talking on the phone. For a Manchester gangster he had a sexy voice and no discernible accent. He just sounded English with a slightly southern lilt.

It's probably part of his front. Let's see how nice he sounds when he's talking to the staff.

She ignored her thumping heart and gripped the bag inside the wastepaper basket while quickly standing up holding it.

Her plan had been to appear surprised, which worked out wonderfully when she widened her eyes at the man on the couch with actual surprise. It wasn't Jerry Starling. It was a half-naked young man with blond hair and bright green eyes.

Is Starling gay? That guy's too hot to be straight.

"Oh! Sorry, sir. I thought the room was empty," she mumbled when he jumped up from the couch in surprise. She headed for the door, trying not to stare at his bare chest, which was lightly tanned and had muscles in all the right places.

He frowned while standing up from the couch. "I'll call you back, Jake," he muttered into the cell phone before dropping it on the couch and striding towards her.

She stopped when he came to halt between her and the door. She glanced up at him. There was an expensive fragrance of aftershave emanating from him.

"I er, can clean the room later," she said, feeling a blush heat her skin. He was standing awfully close to her. Since he was half-naked, she was finding it difficult to concentrate on anything other than his bare skin.

"You're not the usual maid," he said, frowning at her.

"I er, just got told to start on this floor." She stepped back, trying to control her racing pulse.

Who is he? He's a bit bold for a rent boy.

"By who?" He tilted his head to the side as he studied her.

"My team leader. I'm sorry, I'm new, I can go and ask her..." She tried to ignore the bubble of panic that seemed to be expanding in the back of her throat.

His eyes trailed down her body from head to toe, and his mouth turned up at one corner into a wicked smile that caused a shiver to tremble down her spine.

Okay, he's definitely not gay.

"Nah, carry on. It's okay." He folded his arms and continued watching her.

"What?" She widened her eyes.

"You can finish cleaning the room. I'll just be on the couch." He turned and headed back to the couch. He sat down, lounging on it before stretching and running his fingers through his dirty blonde hair.

She gulped as she stared at his long legs, which were encased in denim jeans. She tried to avoid staring at his bare chest, but when her eye's inevitably traveled up his body to his face, she noticed a sparkle of mischief in his eyes as he watched her.

"Oh, okay." She nodded, breaking the stare and heading for the other trashcans in the room. She glanced back over her shoulder as she emptied the kitchen bin. He was still watching her.

Unsure of what to say, she decided to remain silent as she worked. The suite was clean, so luckily there wasn't much that needed doing, which was fortunate since she had no idea how to clean a hotel room.

"So, you're new then?" His voice caused her to jump.

She turned to face him, nodding. "I just started today."

"How do you like it so far?"

"It's good." She nodded again, trying to find the right words. It should have been easy for her. This was her job after all, but for some reason, she was tripping over her sentences instead.

"Seriously, cleaning rooms is good? I'd hate it. You know you can do better, right?"

"I er, huh?" She frowned at him.

"You wanna go to the concert with me tonight?" he asked, pointing to the flyer on the coffee table.

She glanced at the leaflet. It was advertising a rock concert in the hotel. "Um, are staff allowed to go to that?"

"Don't worry about it. My dad owns this place. You'll be fine if you come with me." He winked, and her skin heated up.

He's Starling's son!

He was undeniably attractive, but she had a job to do. On the other hand, this was Starling's son. Finding dirt on Starling would be so much easier if she knew him, plus his son was hot.

Why not have little bit of fun?

"Ellie, do not do it. That's Matt Starling. He has a bad reputation." Her father's voice echoed through the earbud.

Ellie studied Matt for a moment. He looked bad with that wicked smile on his face, but something about it excited her.

I've got a bad reputation. It doesn't mean I'm not a great date.

"Sure, why not?" she said, ignoring her father's warning and listening to her libido instead.

Author's Note

I hope you're enjoying this story. Let me know with votes and comments if you are.

More of Heist coming soon. I plan to post new chapters every week, and if you follow me, you'll get notified when my next chapter is available. Thanks for reading my stories. :)