7. Allie #2
I’d had no time to think about sharing ice cream with Caden.
Okay, that was a lie. I’d thought about it.
A lot. I’d especially thought about him swiping ice cream off the side of my mouth and licking his own ice cream.
Caden licking had given me lots and lots of ideas. Of him licking me in lots of places.
I spotted Wade, pushing his cart, and jolted myself out of my Caden spiral.
The young man gave a groan. “Why are Mondays always so crazy?”
“I don’t have an answer for you, my friend.” I held the towels up higher.
“Dump them in here.” He grimaced. “What happened?”
“Don’t ask.” Gratefully, I dropped them into his cart.
“You working the later shift today?” he asked.
I nodded. I tried to stick to school hours, but it didn’t always work out. Mrs. Jenkins was collecting Ollie from school. She’d hang with him and make him dinner.
“I need to wash my hands. Catch you later.”
“Bye, Allie.”
In the locker room, I washed my hands. My stomach growled, reminding me that I’d worked through lunch. I thought I might have a packet of pretzels stashed in my locker.
This morning, I’d been in a rush and shoved my gear in without thinking. I opened the locker and waded around my bag and jacket.
My hands closed on glossy paper. I pulled out the Dandelion chocolate bar and gasped.
I would have definitely remembered leaving that in here.
Had Tessa left it for me? I stroked a finger over the gold foil wrapping. But how would she have accessed my locker?
The only other person I’d recently confessed my Dandelion obsession to was…
No way. There was no way Caden Castro had left me chocolate.
I broke off two squares and stuffed them in my mouth. Biting back a moan, I enjoyed the rush of chocolately goodness.
Was Caden hiding a thoughtful, kind guy under the scowly exterior? And what exactly did this mean?
My radio crackled. “Allie, are you there?”
It was Karen, who I knew was working up on level four. My chocolate mystery would have to wait. I plucked the radio off my belt. “I’m here. Go ahead.”
“We have a locked safe in a room. The guest checked out a couple of hours ago.”
I sighed. “On my way.” I glanced at Wade. “See you later.”
Ignoring the elevator, I took the stairs. The incident the other day had left me wary. I couldn’t wait for the renovations and upgrades to be completed. On level four, I motored down the hallway to the open guest room with the housekeeping cart out the front.
“Karen?”
“Here.” She waved from where she was making the bed, then pointed to the safe in the closet.
I pulled my keys off my belt. I had a master key for all the room safes. If someone had left valuables, I’d need to document them and call security. My heart gave a little wiggle. Maybe Caden would come up to deal with it.
Shaking my head, I unlocked the safe. Karen pressed in behind me, looking over my shoulder.
I frowned. “What the hell?”
Karen let out laugh. “Seriously? I mean, I’ve seen some weird stuff working here, but this is new.”
I reached in and pulled out…a burrito. It was still wrapped and uneaten.
“That’s from the Wandering Burrito food truck in town,” Karen said. “They have great food.”
Shaking my head, I closed the safe. “I assume our guest imbibed a little too much, bought a burrito, and mistook the safe for a microwave.”
Karen burst out laughing. I couldn’t help but smile.
My radio crackled to life again. “Allie, this is Marcy. I have a woman on level two who’s accidentally dropped her wedding ring down the sink. Room 214.”
I closed my eyes.
“Please hurry,” Marcy added. “She’s really losing it.”
“Bye, Karen,” I murmured.
“Thanks, Allie. Good luck with the ring.”
“Oh, I’m calling Everett to deal with that one.” I headed out of the room and dumped the burrito in the trash bag on Karen’s cart.
Long after I’d calmed down a hysterical Mrs. Coggin and helped Everett retrieve the woman’s four-carat diamond ring, I finished up my reports and managed to do a few employee evaluations that were overdue.
I blew a strand of hair out of my face. God, my feet were aching.
I dreamed of soaking them and getting a foot massage.
A girl could dream.
I turned a corner and almost mowed down Sierra.
“Hey.”
My friend had a scowl on her face. Unusual for the perkiest person I knew.
Then I noted the mud splattered all over her white polo shirt.
“Did you start a mud-wrestling activity that I didn’t know about?”
“Ha ha,” she replied, plucking at her shirt.
“There’s an idiot group of guys here mountain biking.
One surfer guy’s been asking me out several times a day and isn’t taking a hint.
When I say hint, I mean several blatant, firm ‘nos.’ Today, the asshole ‘accidentally’ sprayed me with mud when he braked.
” Her eyes narrowed. “Accident, my ass.”
“I’ve seen the guys. They were here last winter. They’re into extreme sports.”
“Yes, they asked me to organize some paragliding for them. And they wanted to know all the hardest biking trails. It’s a shame they’re assholes, a couple of them are easy on the eyes.”
“The tall blond asked me out last winter.”
“Oh.” Sierra perked up. “He seems like the best of the bunch.”
“Yes, well, I need a guy like I need a hole in the head.”
“And an extreme-sports bro is probably more trouble than he’s worth.” My friend cocked her head. “And something tells me you prefer dark-hair, muscles, and moodiness.”
I blinked. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
She shot me a smug smile. “Oh, so you and a certain grumpy head of security weren’t getting ice cream together with your nephew on the weekend?”
Damn the small-town gossip grapevine. “We just ran into each other. That’s it.”
Sierra stared at me a beat. “I’m not buying it.”
“Broody is…” I cleared my throat. “Like I said, I don’t need a guy and I’m not looking for one.”
“They do come in handy for orgasms, cuddling, and killing spiders.”
“Can you picture Caden Castro cuddling?”
“Hmm, not really. But two out of three aren’t bad.” She plucked at her muddy shirt again. “I need to change. I’ll catch you later.”
Lifting my tablet, I checked over the items still on my To Do list. I pushed through the door into the lobby and did a quick scan.
No way that I was admitting I was hoping to catch a quick glimpse of a certain dark-haired head of security.
I saw Coral and quickly detoured away from the reception desk.
“Hi, there.”
The low, male voice was right behind me. I spun and looked up.
Oh . Speak of the devil. Just the wrong devil. It was Brandon/Blake/Bryce.
He was wearing jeans, and a nice, button-down shirt that was tight enough to showcase his lean chest. He smelled good, too. It appeared he’d just showered and changed.
I waited for a blip.
Nope . Nothing.
“Hi. You were here last winter.”
He smiled. And it was a good one. “You remembered. I’m Blake. And your name is…?”
“Allie. Are you enjoying your trip?” I glanced over at his friends. They were huddled nearby talking with a trio of young guests in hiking gear.
“Yeah. We’re getting some good biking in. We love the trails here.” He shifted closer, his arm brushing mine.
He was smooth. He made it seem accidental.
“We’re going to have a drink in the bar.” The wattage of his smile increased a notch. “Would you like to join us?”
“Oh, thanks, but I can’t. I’m still on shift and after, I need to get home to my kid.”
“Kid?” His eyebrows winged up.
“Yes. I’m raising my nephew. He’s five.”
“Cool. I don’t know anything about kids.”
“I didn’t either. But I’m a fast learner.”
Then suddenly he reached out and touched my hair. I made myself stay still.
“You look tired, Allie. If you want to go out, just the two of us, the offer from last winter still stands.”
“Oh, um, thanks.” Still no blip but it was nice to be asked. Then I sensed something. Felt someone staring a hole between my shoulder blades.
I turned my head and saw Caden on the other side of the lobby. He was scowling at me.
Correction, he was scowling at Blake.
“Look, if you change your mind. We’ll be at the bar. Come have one drink.” He gave me a chin lift and re-joined his friends.
I watched them another beat, and that’s when I saw the guys passing something between each other. I frowned. What was that? They were being pretty furtive about it. I narrowed my gaze but whatever it was it was too small. I couldn’t quite make out what. A cold shiver ran down my spine.
What were they up to?
Then the group all disappeared into the Bluff Bar.
I totally felt Marcy’s vibe now. She’d warned me she thought they were trouble.
Hmm, maybe I needed to keep a closer eye on these guys.
Glancing back across the lobby, I noted that Caden was gone. I blew out a breath. I could share with him that I suspected these guys were bad news.
But Caden struck me as the evidence kind of guy. All the evidence I had was a vibe.
Well, maybe after my shift, I would go and have that drink. And see if I could find out what Blake and his friends were up to at the Windward.