Snow Job by Tara Wyatt (best large ereader .txt) 📗

to do his errand. The prizes for tomorrow’s team building scavenger hunt were going to be very interesting. He wondered what the biggest dildo they had in stock was…

As he walked from Patrick’s office to the lobby, his stomach gave a little jolt, a small wave of anxiety cresting through him. Lane’s words from earlier echoed back through his mind. Which one of the twelve steps is revenge? Not that he was an addict working the program. Not that he wasn’t completely justified in what he was doing.

And yet, as he approached the front desk, his steps slowed, his limbs tingling, almost as if in warning. Once he did this, he couldn’t undo it. Did he really want to go through with it? Would it really make him feel better?

I don’t give a flying fuck what you do with your life, Sebastian. I don’t care where you work or how you spend your time. I could fit the amount I care about what you do onto a speck of dust.

Fuck it. She was going down.

He slid the envelope behind the front desk and walked away.

Kayla double checked that she’d saved her notes from the meeting and then closed her laptop, her stomach growling. She was ready to grab something to eat and then hopefully get some fresh air with the free time they’d all been allocated this afternoon. Her mind drifted back to yesterday and she found herself wondering if Sebastian was teaching another class this afternoon. Or if maybe he was putting on another demonstration. She couldn’t fathom how he got six feet of muscle to twist so gracefully in the air like that, but she wouldn’t mind seeing it again.

No. Scratch that. Maybe she’d try skiing instead.

The others around the table—the marketing think tank she’d spent the past two hours with—started to gather up their things as well, chatting amongst each other, talking about lunch, about hitting the slopes, about how beautiful the resort was. A trickle of pride worked its way through her. The hiccup with Sebastian aside, the retreat was going well so far and everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves. Well, except for Stammler. But hopefully Sebastian would at least stay out of his way for the next couple of days and everything would be fine. And then she could get back to New York, to her regular routine and her friends and far, far away from Sebastian and the confusing swirl of emotions he seemed to trigger in her every time she laid eyes on him.

She pushed open the meeting room door, her laptop bag slung over her shoulder, and was startled at the cacophony of voices coming from the lobby. She frowned, hurrying in that direction, then came to a screeching halt when she took in the scene before her. Dozens and dozens of Silver Stream employees milled about, comparing itineraries, talking loudly, looking confused. Looking stressed and frustrated. Looking very, very irritated.

What the hell was going on?

She fished her phone out of her bag and saw the dozens of messages waiting for her. She’d had it on silent during the meeting and hadn’t been aware of whatever the heck was going on. She scrolled through text after text with questions about room locations, presentation times, and more, and her heart picked up speed, thumping sickly against her ribs. Everyone had a copy of the itinerary and nothing had changed, so why was everyone so confused all of a sudden?

What had gone wrong?

As she moved further into the lobby, several heads swung in her direction and people began making a beeline for her.

“Kayla, I’m supposed to have a meeting with HR in room 224, but there is no room 224.”

“I thought I was giving a financial update this afternoon, but it seems my presentation’s been replaced with something called ‘Cannibalism and You.’ What the hell?”

“Kayla, why did you shift everything around? Now the main conference room is triple booked!”

“Are we really eating vegan hot dogs and cabbage stew for dinner?”

“What’s this note here about naked skiing? I didn’t sign up for that!”

She threw her hands up in the hair, sweat pricking along her hairline. “Everyone! Everyone, please, calm down. Could someone explain to me what this is all about?” Her legs felt weak as she struggled against the feeling of sheer overwhelm with everyone clamoring for answers.

Davis thrust the paper in his hands towards her. “This. The new itinerary you had waiting for everyone at the front desk.” He said it with a barely disguised sneer that was wholly inappropriate given that she was his boss. But she didn’t have time to deal with Davis and his quasi-insubordination right now.

She frowned, taking the paper with shaking fingers, her eyes scanning frantically down the page as she tried to figure out what was going on. “What the hell is this? Where did you get this?” she asked, confusion starting to give way to something else. Something that was creeping hotly down her spine, making the tips of her ears burn and her stomach twist. Suspicion.

Davis gestured behind him. “The front desk. We were told that you dropped off updated itineraries and were given one as we came in. But these…”

“Are not real.” She finished for him. “Excuse me.” She stepped away and then climbed onto a nearby chair, her fingers curling tightly around the paper in her hand. “Everyone! Please, there’s been some kind of mistake. Ignore these,” she called out, holding up the paper she’d gotten from Davis. “This is some kind of mistake or joke. Please disregard this information. Any changes to the planned events will be sent directly to your Silver Stream email account, not distributed via the front desk of the resort.”

But her announcement didn’t seem to be helping everyone to calm down as more people filtered in, clutching the itineraries, confusion and frustration written on their faces. With a sigh, she stepped down from the chair and almost stumbled as she did when she caught sight of