Tough Break: Coogan's Break Series, #9

By Hope Malone

She's a plus-size model who's in danger of having her career and life derailed. He's in the business of making sure people play nice, whether they want to, or not.

PHOEBE
I should be out celebrating making the cover of Sports Fan Magazine, and in a bikini, no less. Instead, I'm hiding out in my hotel room, jumping at the slightest sound.

It hasn't always been this way, but with fame, came the crazies. Men who think I'm destined to be theirs, even if this would see us living in their mom's basement.

Wyatt Cassidy, Head of Security at Maddigan's, is anything but crazy. He's tough, he's hot, and he's confident, especially about his ability to keep me safe. But for him to do that, I'll have to leave my room.

The questions I'm facing now are, do I trust him enough to follow him through that steel door at the back of the hotel's underground car park? And do I trust myself to keep my hands off him?

WYATT
When my boss at Maddigan's Resort and Spa says he has a special assignment for me, he isn't kidding. However, she's more than special. She's perfect. Perfect for me, that is.

Before meeting Phoebe Jackson, I think she's just out for attention when she says she's in danger. That's until I see the guy skulking outside her room, the one who takes off when he spots me.

I've been Head of Security at the hotel for too long to ignore the warning signs, and on showing Phoebe a screen-grab from the security camera, she confirms my suspicions. Apparently, the guy's backed her into a corner more than once, and he frightens her.

Experience also tells me I can't keep her safe in a hotel the size of Maddigan's. For that, we have to disappear. And if this sees us in self-imposed lock-down until he's stopped, I'm sure I can think of one or two things to keep us occupied.

If you're short on time but long for romance, you'll love this series of steamy, curvy girl, opposites attract romances. They can be read in any order you choose, there's a guaranteed HEA with no cheating, and no cliffhangers.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bad Birds
• Release date: Aug 17, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223290711

Book preview

ONE

WYATT

I've been at my desk for all of ten minutes when Liam, the general manager at Maddigan's Resort and Spa, walks into my office. Despite my open-door policy, he's tapped briefly as a courtesy before entering.

There's no need for him to speak. I can already sense something is off. It's enough to see me closing my laptop and giving him my full attention.

What's up?

Liam makes himself comfortable in my visitor's chair before he speaks, and even then his words are halting. We've got a celebrity on the third floor.

I nod; knowing exactly who he's talking about. It's my job to know, despite them wanting to keep a low profile. It's an interesting approach for a woman as happy to flash skin as this one.

I don't even need to shut my eyes to see that cover of Sports Fan Magazine in all its glory. That was one smoking photograph. Look at it long enough and I'd need a bucket of cold water tossed over me before I could think straight.

Phoebe Jackson?

Liam tips his head before pressing on. Yeah, well, she seems to think there's someone in the hotel out to get her. His expression says he doesn't share the woman's concerns.

Meanwhile, I sit taller in my seat, my scalp prickling. Unlike Liam, I've had first-hand experience of a woman sensing someone wanted to hurt her. There wasn't a chance I'd let it slide.

I also want to do the best job possible for Liam. He'd been the first person to see beyond my tattoos and my past, and to give me a chance to prove myself.

Unlike the old general manager, Liam is a born leader; loyalty earned, not demanded.

I'll go check on her.

Liam gets slowly to his feet. Just fit it in whenever you can. With our security set up, I'm sure she's imagining things. You know how these celebs can be.

It's all good. I'll head up there now.

Soon after, I've used my keycard to access the service stairs and am on my way to the third floor. It's unusual to find a celebrity on this floor. Their preference being the penthouse, as they believe, is their right.

And because our guest is in room 320 at the end of the hallway, the stairs will exit just across from it. It's thanks to the glass panel in the door that I see the guy loitering outside the room.

He isn't doing anything, just standing there. And yet it's enough to have my scalp prickling as it had when Liam briefed me on the job. Even back when I'd been a bouncer, I knew shady behavior when I saw it.

Unfortunately, on my opening the door, the guy doesn't wait to chat.

He immediately walks off, his pace neither too fast nor too slow, and his head angled down. Again, it's not enough to make it obvious, just enough to hide his features from me and any security cameras.

Out in the hallway, I'm ready to press the talk button on the radio attached to my belt. Rather than make the call immediately, I wait until the elevator doors close. On pressing a button on the radio, I'm connected to the main control room.

Copy! comes the response through my earpiece.

Simon, can you get screen grabs from the security cameras in elevator 4B?

There's no need to add it's urgent. Simon and I have worked together long enough that he knows that if I'm asking, it's important.

On it.

Great, send them to my phone.

Not a minute has passed when my phone pings in my pocket.

Human nature says the mystery guy will have looked up once the elevator doors closed. Most people do. And yet, the images Simon has fired through are from the camera at the bottom of the control panel rather than the one near the ceiling.

This confirms the guy was up to no good. No-one gets in an elevator and keeps their chin tucked into their chest like that, only the guilty. It was the reason I'd had the low-level cameras fitted when I took over security.

They're tiny and hidden within the wood trim, so unless you're looking for them, you'll never see them. This guy certainly hadn't.

Simon, you copy?

There's a brief crackle through my earpiece before he replies. You get them.

Yeah, I did. Something's off. Keep track of him.

It might be the guy was simply visiting someone he shouldn't, but my gut says otherwise. Better we monitor him, if only to get a clearer mugshot.

For now, though, I want to check if Phoebe Jackson is okay. I don't know whether the guy was on his way into, or out of, her room when I disturbed him.

This has me shoving my phone back in my pocket and knocking briskly on 320's door. A strangled cry comes from inside. It's one that twists my gut.

When there's no answer to my second knock, rather than shout through the door and disturb other guests, I grab my keycard.

Sometimes protocol has to go out of the window.

PHOEBE

After speaking to the hotel's manager to tell him of my concerns, I'm at a loss about what to do. Even though the door to my room is good and sturdy, I don't feel safe, anything but.

Instead, I feel trapped. I can't even climb out of my window. Funny—not really—when I'd booked a room on the third floor so no-one could climb IN.

I hate that a stranger—I call him Ralph, because he's wrecking my life—has me scared of my shadow. I should be out celebrating making the cover of Sports Fan Magazine, not locked away.

There's no socializing for me these days, other than at work-related events I can't get out of. If not for another photo shoot tomorrow, I'd be back to the safety of my apartment in LA.

I'm always ready to leave at a moment's notice these days, my suitcase never fully unpacked. He's close. I just know it.

The manager said he'd send someone from security up to speak to me as soon as he could. Did he not get that it was urgent?

And just like that, my ability to pace deserts me and I stand frozen, my breathing shallow. The room is silent, eerily so, with me having turned off the room's air conditioning on arrival.

It would be all too easy for someone to hide their movements under the hum of one of those things. Well, that's not happening today with me able