Housekeeping

  Copyright © Lovy Books Ltd, 2018

  Summer Cooper has asserted her right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names and characters are the product of the author’s imagination and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  In no way is it legal to reproduce, duplicate, or transmit any part of this document in either electronic means or in printed format. Recording of this publication is strictly prohibited and any storage of this document is not allowed unless with written permission from the publisher. All rights reserved.

  Respective authors own all copyrights not held by the publisher.

  Lovy Books Ltd

  20-22 Wenlock Road

  London N1 7GU

  Housekeeping

  Summer Cooper

  Contents

  1. Laura

  2. Laura

  3. Mason

  4. Mason

  5. Laura

  6. Laura

  7. Mason

  8. Mason

  9. Laura

  10. Laura

  11. Mason

  12. Mason

  13. Laura

  14. Laura

  15. Mason

  16. Mason

  17. Laura

  18. Laura

  19. Mason

  20. Mason

  21. Mason

  22. Mason

  23. Laura

  24. Laura

  25. Mason

  26. Mason

  27. Laura

  28. Laura

  29. Mason

  30. Mason

  31. Laura

  32. Laura

  33. Mason

  34. Mason

  Author’s Note

  Menage Romance Collection

  I. Double Billionaire

  II. 2 Choices

  III. Double Rebound

  More Romance Stories

  I. Just You

  II. Sweet Love

  III. Bad Star

  IV. Beautiful Stranger

  Exclusive Novels

  I. New Neighbors

  II. Brit Next Door

  III. Don’t Tell Daddy

  Summer Cooper

  Also by Summer Cooper

  1

  Laura

  I pushed myself out of bed and headed to the bathroom, groaning as a yawn cracked my jaw. I scratched through my blonde hair, not even realizing it was sticking up in all directions. I shouldn’t complain, it wasn’t so long ago I didn’t have any at all. I never thought I’d get up again, and here I was, staring in the mirror, thankful I got to live another day.

  My one-bedroom apartment and match-box bathroom was all I needed, I thought, as a sunbeam turned my hair to fire as I looked in the mirror. My hair looked like little rays of fire and it always made me grin. That was what everyone called me at the hotel: little ray of sunshine.

  If only they saw me when I woke up in the mornings, I thought, they’d think the complete opposite. I looked like a mess, which would have been fine if I’d been out all night and had a man in my bed to show for it. But it had more to do with how much work I had to do than how much time I’d spent in bed.

  The guests in the hotel get worse every day. Cleaning up after them gets harder by the minute. My job was never easy, but at times it feels completely out of my league.

  I didn’t bother taking another glance at myself in the mirror before stripping out of the t-shirt and shorts I’d slept in and under the spray of my shower. I didn’t wait for the water to warm up and yelped when the freezing water hit me at first. At least it woke me up a little.

  Five minutes later, I was back in my bedroom, a towel wrapped around me as I rubbed my hair dry. I found some clothes and put them on quickly, then made breakfast and sat down to eat. There was nothing exciting about my mornings, nothing at all.

  I glanced down as a blob of my egg fell onto my chest. Even though it had been a while, I still couldn’t get used to them. I found myself at times, wondering if someone knew the truth behind the firm globes that greeted me. My breasts. The new ones. The old ones I lost to breast cancer and had been replaced by perky new ones. Well, I’d lost one to the cancer, the other one had been operated on to make them look similar.

  Whenever men’s eyes rolled over them, I wondered if they knew they weren’t real. Jessi, my best friend, would laugh and say men didn’t care about things like that. If they did, then there wouldn’t be things like Playboy which were full of them. I laughed to myself, trying to focus on the brighter side of life, the way I did back then. I quickly scraped the egg away and wiped my shirt clean.

  A few minutes later, I picked up my purse and my phone and walked out of my tiny apartment. As soon as I did, my phone rang. Jessi’s name flashed on the screen.

  “Hey Jessi,” I chirped, a little skip in my step as I walked down the street. Hearing her name had put a smile on my face and finally getting out of the apartment made me feel better too.

  The distance from my place to the hotel was short enough that I could walk, and the exercise was good for me. Though I’d be on my feet for most of the day, walking was still way cheaper than taking a taxi.

  “Hey girl, where are you?” she asked through the phone, and I picked my pace a little more.

  “I don’t know what got into me this morning, or rather didn’t get into me. I couldn’t get up this morning, and now I’m running behind.” My stride and skip started to turn into a mini jog as I glanced at the time.

  I knew I should have told her I’d call her later so I could flat out run to the hotel, but curiosity got the better of me. So I asked what had been playing on my mind for the last couple of days. The thing that she’d been so quiet about and one thing she knew about, I was shy but I wasn’t too shy to ask about her love life.

  “What’s going on?”

  She sighed over the phone, so I figured it wasn’t good news and regretted asking.

  “I’m still keeping out of his way. He's a big help there. I’d rather not have another run in with him again.”

  “You ran into him?” I asked as I stopped dead in my tracks. There was silence. My eyes narrowed in suspicion and I forgot about my tardiness.

  “Jessi,” I said, my voice lowered. “Is there something you’re keeping from me?” I didn’t get a response. “Jessi! We’re supposed to be best friends! Don’t tell me you… dumped me for him!”

  I finished the words with a whimper, and I heard Jessi laugh on the other end. That had me smiling.

  I’m so sorry, Jessi, I thought to her silently. So sorry you have to hurt like this. Sorry, that I’m so little help to you that you don’t even come to me. Sorry that all you can think about is running away.

  Whether she’d put in for the transfer already, or would soon enough, I’d miss her once she was gone. Jessi thought she was good at keeping secrets but she wasn’t. She felt things too strongly for that.

  I’d heard the rumor about her and Trent back when we were just starting to grow to like each other. I’d dismissed the ones that said she was a gold digger. I could always ask Emily, Trent’s younger sister and a friend I’d made through Jessi, but I got the sense Emily didn’t know much about her elder half-brother. I couldn’t exactly ask Mason, the second oldest brother.

  I still didn’t know just how deep their relationship had been, but the look on Jessi’s face when he’d found us in the staff room that day…

  Her expression had been so fucking complicated. There was hope in it, one I wondered if she knew she still felt. There was also an old wariness there like he’d been careless with her before and she was bracing herself for him to do the same to her once again. Most of all, there was so much pain�
��hers—and sadness for him.

  It all made me very curious, but the furious and hurt look on her face after he’d left made me think better of asking.

  After all, I couldn’t expect her to tell me all her secrets when I was still keeping some from her myself.

  “Seriously, though,” I said. “You know if you need something, I’m here for you, right? You don’t have to keep things to yourself. If you’d like, I could share something, and you could share something…”

  “Do you mean another girl’s night? Honestly, I’m not sure I can handle another night like that, Laura.”

  I frowned at the secrecy before me and blew out a breath to calm myself. “You know, I’ve been wondering this for a while, but something happened on that night, right? And don’t bother trying to lie. Tell me if you’ve been back to your apartment since that night.”

  “I… was at my parents,” she said hesitantly. “I’ll go back to my apartment eventually, I’m just… afraid of what I’ll find there.”

  “What could you possibly find in your apartment besides your things?” I asked with a growing suspicion.

  There was a short silence. “I guess I’m trying to avoid someone,” she admitted, but then she continued hurriedly. “It’s nothing to worry about, though. I wanted to find Emily, so she and I could have a chat. I haven’t talked to her in a while, but I think she’s still busy with her dad.”

  “Would you rather talk to her than me?” I asked, with sadness that wasn’t entirely an affectation.

  “I’ve known her longer, and it’s to do with her father. I’m not sure if you heard, but he had a heart attack, or so my mom said.”

  “There were rumors,” I said vaguely, figuring she didn’t need to know if she hadn't heard them yet.

  Hopefully, Emily hadn't heard them either, though I did want to know the source of that information when the Thompson family was pretty good at keeping their secrets under lock and key.

  “It’s because he’s sick that his sons are all back, after all. I wanted to know if he had any plans on getting better, or if the guys will be sticking around permanently.”

  “Oh well,” I muttered. “I guess there’s plenty more of cleaning up after Mason in my future, then. Hopefully, the guy tones it down a bit.” I deliberately didn’t mention Trent, even though I knew he was the one son she’d have been glad not to have come back.

  “He’s been behaving so far, from what I’ve heard. Maybe he’s changed?” she mused.

  I chuckled. “Oh, honey, no. A guy like that wouldn’t just change so much. I bet he’s just biding his time. I’ve had too much good luck lately. Maybe it’ll happen today.”

  “You probably just jinxed yourself.”

  “Better to get it over with. I’m sick of this suspense of ‘will he, when will he.’ Everybody’s feeling it.” Then I grinned. “Though I can't say I’m not looking forward to it just a little.”

  She hummed. “Because there’s a slight chance you get to see him at least half naked? Along with some of the pretty friends he’ll be dragging along with him?”

  “There’s definitely that,” I agreed. “It makes me feel a little jealous sometimes.”

  Other times, it left me so angry that there were people like that, while there were people like me who struggled with everything living in the same country.

  “I know the feeling,” Jessi sighed. “I’m afraid I need to go, I’m even later for work now. You should probably hurry too.”

  At her pointed statement, I checked my watch and my eyes widened.

  “Shit!” I didn’t realize I’d slowed down so much while we were talking, I’d wasted more time than I’d thought. Immediately, I picked up the pace. “Will I see you today?”

  “I’ll be in the kitchen. If you have the time, come by. I’ll have something for you.”

  “Thank you, Jessi! I love you!” I chirped, then hung up.

  I ran most of the way, stopping when I was within sight of the staff entrance before slowing down to catch my breath. I paused outside for a moment, hoping for a good day at work, then walked in.

  2

  Laura

  “You’re a little late today.”

  Janice, one of my coworkers, couldn’t help but point this out. I hated her attitude; she was the kind of person who had the word negativity on her head. I felt it whenever we came into contact. She found a problem with everyone and everything, especially the staff.

  We were in the staff area of the hotel, at our lockers where we were changing into our uniforms. There were only a few of us in there, which either meant most of them were already in, or most of them would be later than us.

  “It’s not like I’m late for the shift, anyway. I usually just get here a little earlier to eat something before I start work.”

  I didn’t offer her any more information than that. At the end of the day, it was none of her business. Even if she felt that she was our boss, she was far from it. She wasn’t simply asking what happened today, it was as if she was interrogating my movement and out of politeness, I was answering her. A trait that Jessi said I needed to get rid of because Janice wasn’t into being nice. She was into trying to get us to lose our jobs. Why? No one knew and no one cared because they were starting to know what she was truly like.

  “Well, if you didn’t have anything to eat, you might want to do it quickly. Or not do it at all.”

  Her tone made me narrow my eyes. “Why?”

  “So far, it’s just rumor, but another maid swore she heard that Mason was preparing for another of his parties today. His friends will be arriving early, and they’ll be staying well into the evening.”

  It was expected the moment he came here. He’d held himself back, and I wondered if Trent being around had something to do with it, what with him being the oldest of the Thompson boys and being as strict and serious about work as their father is—the total opposite of Mason the partier.

  “Well, that sucks,” I muttered. “But it’s not like we weren’t prepared for this. Let's just hope he and his friends have a little self-control after the last time. I didn’t get details, but I heard his dad threw a fit because they bothered some of the guests.”

  “He’s not around to stop him this time,” Janice pointed out.

  There was that. Mr. Thompson had stopped coming to work at some point, and the rumors floating around were pretty outrageous. That he had a terminal illness, that he was hitting full retirement and wanted one of his sons to take over working at the main hotel, or that he’d had a heart attack and was dying. They all explained why he’d brought all his sons home, when Trent had never even been back to Charlotte after he left over a decade ago, from what I’d heard.

  I’d only just heard the truth from Jessi this morning, but there wasn’t any proof so I just shrugged.

  “Maybe his older brother will stop him,” I suggested.

  She looked doubtful, and I wasn’t sure I even wanted his help after how he’d treated my friend like shit. But if it meant not having to deal with Mason’s mess, I was willing to be forgiving. Just a bit.

  We both went into work mode as we picked up our supplies, then moved to the staff elevators to go to our respective floors. We were supposed to go through the rooms every day, even when they were unused. We did that so the unused rooms were ready to be occupied at any time. It was extra work, but the pay was pretty good. After a year of saving, I could even move into a bigger apartment if I wanted.

  The day nosedived hours later when we got the call we were all dreading. We’d only just made it back to our station on the first floor for a short rest.

  “Mason is at it again,” someone groaned.

  “Oh, I don’t think it’s that bad,” someone else giggled. “I wouldn’t mind a show like last time.”

  “If that’s all you’re interested in, then you can do it all yourself,” a third person groused.

  A fourth person sighed. “They need at least a dozen of us this time. We’re about that number here
, so we might as well all go.”

  There was some more grumbling, but we all made our way back up.

  Jessi was right, I thought to myself sullenly. I’d jinxed myself.

  I had second thoughts about going, but this was part of the job. To be honest, I kind of agreed with the second girl. The parties Mason threw weren’t usually too bad. Besides, I needed some distraction before my anxiety at my best friend’s situation pulled me too far into it. As much as I wanted to, I couldn’t make Jessi’s choices for her, and she was a pretty reserved person to begin with, so I knew trying to butt in would backfire on me spectacularly.

  “At least it was in his room, this time,” an optimistic voice said. “The last time it was in one of the hotel’s lounges. He’s got a big suite room, but how bad could it be, right?”

  With that, a few of the people in the crowd were suddenly a little brighter, and I rolled my eyes.

  It was his suite, but if they were still calling a dozen of us it had to be bad. Either that or they were hoping a lot of us would get the job done quicker, so the spoiled brat could still use his room for the night instead of moving to a new one, which he’d done before.