Chapter 12
Denise’s stomach churned as she lay in bed watching the morning’s first few rays of sunlight trickle in around the edges of the closed curtains. She’d barely slept all night, too agitated from the conversation with Maddox.
Why hadn’t she kept her mouth shut? Maddox truly hadn’t recognized her.
There was a good chance they never would have recognized her if Denise had only left things alone.
But she’d let herself get carried away in the moment, and she couldn’t even figure out why.
For a wild second, it had been like she’d wanted Maddox to remember her.
But then, once they had, she had practically begged and threatened them to keep it quiet.
She had been a mess, and she hated that. She never showed those deep, stormy feelings to other people anymore. It was dangerous. It made her helpless.
With a purposeful huff, she pushed herself into a sitting position and planted her feet firmly on the carpet.
She wasn’t helpless. The frailty she’d felt at seeing the recognition and pity in Maddox’s eyes had been a passing thing. It wasn’t real.
No, she wasn’t helpless, and she needed to get control of the situation.
The first step was dealing with Maddox. Bringing up their…
extracurricular activities like a threat had been beneath Denise and had only provoked Maddox’s resentment.
Now it was time to switch strategies. She needed to figure Maddox out well enough to get a better angle.
And the first step would be to order room service.
Two hours later, Denise was dressed for the day and striding across the resort property.
She had spoken to Mark from the kitchen, one of the housekeepers, and a man on the landscaping crew.
Ostensibly, she was simply chatting with them about the resort and their work to gather information about the property.
Her father would be pleased with that. But in each of her conversations, she had snuck in a few questions about Maddox.
Now she was more tired than she should be at this hour, thanks to her lack of sleep and the energy spent conversing with strangers. But the latter part had been worth it. Now she was better equipped.
Everyone she’d talked to had gushed about how much they loved working with Maddox and how hard they worked, none of which was particularly useful for Denise’s purposes. But when she’d dug a little further, she’d heard the motivation behind why Maddox worked so hard. That had been much more helpful.
Now, all she had to do was talk to Maddox. She purposefully waited later than she had the day before. She didn’t want a repeat of the awkward pool meetup. Today, she would be in control and on guard.
Some of that resolution faltered, though, when she spotted Maddox.
This morning, they were outside a maintenance shed, lying on their back beside a golf cart with one arm extended beneath the vehicle while they worked on it.
They’d traded their usual resort polo for a simple white tank top, which was currently riding up to reveal a glimpse of their abs.
As they wiggled around to get a better angle for their work, the shirt rucked up even higher.
Their pants slid down half an inch in the opposite direction, showing more skin along with the waistband of their boxer shorts.
Denise fixated on the site, seemingly unable to drag her eyes away. Her own skin heated, and she was startled by a tingling sensation in certain places where she hadn’t experienced it for quite some time. She stared a moment longer before giving her head a firm shake and looking away.
What was the matter with her? Ogling Maddox was a bad idea for so many reasons.
For the first time since seeing them again, she wondered how old they were.
When they’d met before, they’d been so young…
probably still in their late teens. That would put them in their early to mid-twenties now.
Over a decade younger than Denise. Not only that, but Denise was also a guest whose family was on the verge of taking over Maddox’s workplace.
And then, of course, there was the brief history they shared, which was complicated to say the least.
Denise cleared her throat, and Maddox started. They spotted Denise, and a scowl crossed their face before they forced a more neutral expression.
“Ms. Farrington,” they said in greeting as they pulled their arm free of the cart and climbed to their feet. They tilted their head toward the cart. “This one was out of commission, and Joe, our maintenance guy, is out sick this week.”
Denise nodded. Maddox really was the jack of all trades.
“We didn’t finish our discussion last night.”
Maddox’s eyebrows rose in surprise, but they didn’t respond, so Denise pressed on. “I want to reiterate how important your discretion is.”
“Out here in the open like this?” Maddox asked with a smirk.
Shit. Denise’s skin prickled, and she spun around to take in the surrounding area. Dante, the landscaper she’d spoken to earlier, was standing a few dozen yards away. Even though he wasn’t looking in their direction, the proximity was still uncomfortable.
Turning to face Maddox again, she asked through gritted teeth, “Can we talk somewhere more private?”
“Sure. It’s empty in here at the moment,” Maddox answered, gesturing toward the maintenance shed.
Denise glared. They wanted to have an important conversation in a wooden shed full of lawn equipment? Whatever. She just needed to get this over with. “Fine.”
She followed Maddox into the shed, which, while sizable enough to house plenty of equipment, was still cramped, musty, and humid.
She faced Maddox. Despite the inhospitable location, she was glad for the pause in conversation.
Asking for Maddox’s discretion had been the wrong tactic. She needed to lead with persuasion.
“Maddox, I understand you have a considerable amount of personal responsibility for someone so young. You’re looking after your elderly grandmother, right?”
Their eyes narrowed the slightest bit. “That’s right.”
The coolness in their voice was such a stark contrast from when Denise had first arrived at the resort. She struggled to ignore the way that chilled her inside.
Carefully, she softened her own tone. “I’m sure that can’t be easy. Financially, I mean.”
“We’re getting by,” they answered.
“Of course,” Denise soothed. “I’m sure you’re doing a great job. But I can imagine it would be nice to have a cushion sometimes, wouldn’t it?”
Maddox folded their arms. “Ms. Farrington, what are you getting at?”
Their directness caught her off guard, but she didn’t let it deter her. “I realize that I’m asking you a favor in wanting you to keep quiet about… our past. But it doesn’t have to be unilateral.” Denise paused. “One-sided, that is. What I mean is that I’ll be glad to show my appreciation tangibly.”
Denise waited a moment to see if Maddox would show interest and ask how tangible she was willing to make her appreciation.
She hadn’t realized it until this moment, but she must have watched her dad make enough deals over the years that some of his methods had seeped into hers.
She knew from watching him that now was the moment of truth when you would find out if the catch was on the hook or not.
And like him, she felt bolstered by the confidence of knowing she had an excellent bargaining position.
Denise had resources, and, by the sound of things, Maddox’s were limited. How could they not be interested?
To their credit, Maddox might not be half bad at deal negotiations themself, because their expression was nearly impossible to read. Denise had a sense that they were ruminating hard. All she had to do was watch closely for that spark of interest to ignite in their dark brown eyes.
One moment passed. And then another, but the expected interest didn’t materialize. Instead, their expression turned hard and brooding.
Maddox’s arms dropped to their sides, and they straightened to their full height. “You’re seriously offering me money not to talk about something that I already told you I wouldn't talk about? You’re going to turn this into a business transaction? Why? Do you think I'm going to blackmail you?”
Her skin heated beneath the intensity of Maddox’s glare. “I…”
“I guess I shouldn’t be surprised,” they continued as if she hadn’t spoken. “…knowing your family.”
Denise’s jaw went slack. “What do you know about my family?”
“I got a good sense of it, thanks to your cousin.”
“My cousin?!”
“That’s right,” Maddox started pacing the small space. “That day seven years ago… I had to finish my shift after everything that happened. But I was still thinking about it. I was worried you hadn’t made it.”
Everything inside Denise went still.
“After work, I went to the hospital to see if I could find out. I was asking after you at the nurse’s station when this frosty blonde woman walked up to me.
She said she was your cousin, and she asked me a bunch of questions.
So I asked one of my own to see if you were okay, and she got even weirder.
She basically implied I was there because I was after something.
Then she said your father had authorized her to offer me two or three grand to keep everything I’d seen that day to myself.
“I told her I didn’t want money, and I left. I was mad. And a little confused. Then the next day, I saw your cousin talking to my boss, and the next thing I knew, I was getting fired.”
Denise couldn’t help but gasp at hearing Maddox’s last statement. Darby had gotten Maddox fired? It shouldn’t have been a surprise, knowing her cousin, but that was a new low even for her.
She refocused on Maddox, who was still talking in a low, harsh tone. “I assume Farrington was buying up that hotel too?”
They didn’t wait for a response before saying, “And here we are all these years later, and it’s just a repeat with you this time.”
They stood still and faced her. Their eyes seemed to grow even darker with anger and maybe even a hint of pain.
“So let me say this one more time: I have no interest in your family’s money.
And I never did. I may not have much on my own, but I think I’d prefer being poor to having so much power and wealth that I don’t even know how to act like a human being anymore! ”
Denise recoiled, but Maddox didn’t seem to notice or care.
“And you don’t have to worry about firing me this time.
Like I said before, I don’t intend to stay around here.
If you and your father and cousin and whoever else want to come in here and flatten the resort to build up a giant commercial tourist trap that changes everything unique and beautiful about this place, then so be it. It’s not like I can stop you.”
With that, they turned on their heel and stomped out the door of the shed.
Denise stared after their retreating back for several moments. Her heart was beating too fast, and her hands trembled. It was the shakiness you get in the aftermath of a car crash.
That was probably an apt metaphor. She couldn’t have made a bigger wreck of this conversation if she’d tried.