Three Bonds (18+)

Pushing my large trolley full of clean sheets, towels and cleaning equipment towards the penthouse suite, I was regretting agreeing to a double shift. My body was aching from all the manual labour.

Taking a breath I remembered the money that will appear in my bank account and all the extra time I’ll have this week to immerse myself in the painting I’m dying to complete.

This hotel pays better than the last one I cleaned for, it hosts all the supernatural beings and offers a top level discretion. It also makes cleaning rooms slightly disturbing sometimes, blood stained sheets from vampires, claw marks from the shifters and weird blood glob from I don’t know what.

Swiping my key card against the door my jaw dropped when I slowly stepped into the room and took in the suite. Fuck this was insane. Do people actually have money to afford this place? Before even thinking about cleaning I walked around the enormous entertaining area. A stupidly huge curved sofa faced the wall of windows overlooking the city.

The view. Wow. I’ve never seen anything like it, it was breathtaking. I was so lost in it that I didn’t realise someone had entered the room.

‘Quite a view isn’t it?’ A smooth, manly voice made me jump and stutter as I turned to face him. My words caught in my mouth as I took him in. My god, he was the most handsome man I’ve ever seen in my life. Wearing a tailored suit which is probably worth more than my yearly wage, I couldn’t help but notice that there would definitely be muscles underneath it.

His dirty blonde hair which was swept up off his face was styled to perfection, I then looked at his blue eyes, they looked kind and friendly. His smile was one of intrigue as he also looked me up and down.

I swallowed hard and remembered that I was at work and I shouldn’t embarrass myself or risk getting fired by being inappropriate.

‘Oh sorry, sir. Did you need anything?’ I said surprisingly composed.

His eyebrows creased together, ‘please, I’m Caleb.’ I nodded, unsure why I needed to know his name. We stood staring at each other until he ran a hand behind his neck and scanned the room. ‘I left my notebook, came to grab it.’

I watched intently as he walked into one of the side rooms. I tried to keep myself busy and started gathering used cans and food wrappers to put in the bin when he came out of the room with a black notebook gripped in his hand.

He stood staring at me again, ‘did you need anything else sir… Caleb?’ His name rolled off my tongue perfectly as though I was always meant to say it. His blue eyes flashed with a hint of something, happiness? No, that couldn’t be it. He rubbed his hand against his neck again as he answered.

‘Actually, I was wondering if you’d like dinner tonight?’ He was acting nervously, did he really want to take me out? This was bizarre. He looked human, maybe he’s something else, I’ll have to search the suite for clues when he leaves.

‘On a date?’ Probably better to know his intentions before I agree to anything. He could be wanting to feed from me, or be some sort of sacrifice, who knows what these supernaturals enjoy doing. I had to admit that having this extremely handsome man want to take me out was hugely tempting, no matter what his intentions are.

‘If you would do me honors?’ His voice was smooth as he smirked at me in a hopeful way. Fuck, why not. It’s a free meal at least. I’ll make sure to bring my pepper spray just in case.

‘Okay.’ I say, his smile went wider and his eyes sparkled.

‘Great, I can pick you up at 8pm?’ From my home? No, not a good idea to have someone who could be a crazy supernatural know where I live. No matter how dangerously handsome he was.

‘I can meet you there.’ He raises an eyebrow, and nods. Walking towards me he pulls a pen from his chest pocket with an elegant ease and holds his notebook to me.

‘Write your number and I’ll text you the restaurant once I have booked us a table.’ Dropping the rubbish to the table beside me, I reached for the notebook and pen. Our fingers grazed and I felt a small tingle filter down my arm causing me to look up at his face. His face looked confused like mine, but he soon smiled so I chose to ignored it.

I’ve never been so aware of my messy writing than at this moment when I had to write my number down. I closed the book and handed it and the pen back to him. Still slightly dazed from this whole meeting.

‘I don’t know your name.’ Caleb states. I quickly weigh up the pros and cons of giving my real name and when I look at him, I mean really look at him, I see nothing but genuine warmth and kindness.

‘I’m Emily.’

His smile widens as though I just gave him a password to a safe. Surely he’s not really this into me? A cleaner, which I just realised is probably gross and sweaty from all my hard work this morning.

‘I’ll see you at eight Emily. I’ll text you soon.’ He smiles one last time which almost makes me crumble to the spot. As soon as he’s out of the suite I run to the bathroom and look in the mirror.

Fuck. I do look gross. The hair that has fallen out of my ponytail is stuck against my wet face. I’m actually slightly pink from the exertion. Why the hell did he invite me to dinner? I start to panic that maybe he does want to kill me or do some strange supernatural thing.

I clear my head and make a plan. I’ll ask Marcus who booked the penthouse suite and do some googling and make a decision after knowing more facts. Yes, that’s the best idea. Now I had to finish cleaning this room without thinking about his handsome face the whole time.