Chapter 3
Chapter Three
“Don’t panic,” he said calmly. “We tested the system multiple times. The power should come back on in fifteen seconds.”
And while he knew that was true, he was still doing the countdown in his head.
Three…two…one…
“Voilà!” The kitchen was lit up once again.
“That’s kind of impressive,” she said. “And now the entire resort has power?”
Shaking his head, he explained, “When we’re open, it will. But for now, it’s just the main floor of the lodge and the section of cabins where the guys and I stay.”
“It’s nice that you could customize the zones like that.”
“It was Milo’s idea. He worked out a system so we could make that happen. And with most of us living here while the work is going on, it was important that we have power to certain areas even when work was being done on others.”
He popped one last piece of his cookie into his mouth and wondered what they were supposed to do to pass the time.
It was almost dinnertime, but his plan had been to grill a steak.
He supposed he could do it here in the kitchen—Connor had ordered the best equipment and swore you could make a steak taste like it was done on a grill—but Axel hadn’t tested that theory yet.
“Will we run out of power if we do anything?” she asked. “Like reheat the tea water or cook?”
“No. We should be fine. And with any luck, the power will come back on soon. Are you hungry? I bought a couple of steaks—one was for tonight and one for tomorrow since it’s just me here—but I can easily make them both tonight. I’m sure there’s other food in the pantry and freezer, but…”
“Steaks are fine. But I feel bad taking your food that you bought for yourself. I’d be okay with a can of soup, honestly. I’m already imposing so much.”
She wasn’t wrong. He’d really been looking forward to hanging out in his cabin and relaxing. He’d been working nonstop for months and every once in a while it panned out that he had time to himself. Now he was stuck up here in the lodge with no bed, no blankets, and no actual furniture.
Oh, and Maisie, who was a virtual stranger to him.
“I’m fine with sharing the steaks,” he assured her. “Just know that cooking isn’t exactly my thing. I mean, I do okay, but it’s nothing like what Connor can do.”
“And why should it be? The man’s a chef,” she reasoned. “Even someone who does okay in the kitchen wouldn’t be able to compare to a professional chef.”
“Do you cook?”
Her dark eyes went wide. “Me?” She shook her head with a small laugh. “Just the basics.”
“Like soup?” he teased, and she smiled at him. He’d been so consumed with the storm and finding her trying to break in and all the other stuff that he really hadn’t paid too much attention to Maisie as a person.
A woman.
When he tackled her to the floor earlier—unintentionally—he had a moment where he definitely noticed her curves.
She was pressed so intimately against him that he would have had to be dead not to notice.
But there had been so much to deal with that he’d pushed those thoughts aside.
And even when they talked and he tried to put her mind at ease, he was still in crisis mode; he needed to get them warm and dry.
But now things were as settled as they were going to be for the foreseeable future, and he couldn’t ignore the fact that she was beautiful. Her hair was wet, she’d washed off all of her makeup, and she was wearing a basic resort robe, and yet he couldn’t take his eyes off of her.
And right now, that wasn’t a good thing.
He had promised her she was safe with him, so he couldn’t keep staring at her.
So he carefully got to his feet—mindful of the robe that seemed to have a hard time staying closed—and walked to the outer room so he could look out the windows.
It was pretty dark out, so he couldn’t really see much, but the rain was still coming down heavily.
At some point, he was going to have to go back downstairs to the supply room to see what he could scrounge up for them to sleep with tonight, but maybe that could wait until after dinner.
When he went back into the kitchen, he found Maisie exactly where he’d left her, but noticed she was staring sadly into her cup of tea.
“Hey,” he said softly. “Are you okay?”
When she looked up, he could see the unshed tears in her eyes and hated that being stuck here with him was likely the cause of them.
She sniffled and shook her head, but what she said next wasn’t at all what Axel expected.
“Okay, here’s the thing,” she began carefully.
“I need this job, Axel. Like…honestly and truly need this job. I promised myself that I wasn’t going to bring it up, but…
what else are we supposed to talk about?
We’re essentially trapped here together, and I could keep making pointless small talk, but this is seriously a matter of life and death.
I can’t tell you why, but you have to believe me.
Decorating the Lakeview Harbor Resort would…
” Pausing, she sighed loudly. “It would completely transform my life.”
Well, shit.
What was he supposed to say to that, huh?
“Maisie, I…”
“Look, I get it. I messed up today. I should have called. I shouldn’t have stopped for the turtle.
Although…no. I own that one. The turtle deserved the help, and you should be a little more understanding and let me have my interview!
I mean…we’ve got nothing else to do! Would it really kill you to just let me pitch my ideas? ”
“Um…”
“And believe me, you are going to love them. Love. Them,” she emphasized.
“I can do my entire presentation and walk through it room by room with you.” She hopped off her stool and adjusted her robe.
“I know this is beyond unconventional—I’m essentially naked and just got out of the shower—but that shouldn’t matter.
Good ideas are good ideas, and believe me, I have a ton of them. ”
“Okay, but…”
“Connor said he’d back you up if we did the interview,” she quickly went on. “And unless the other applicants completely blew you away, there’s no reason not to let me do my presentation.”
“I totally get that, and…”
“Have you ever been desperate, Axel? Have you ever just needed someone to give you a chance or give you a damn break? Do you think I enjoy having to grovel and beg like this? Because let me tell you, I don’t. It’s degrading and…and…”
He knew he needed to stop her because she was getting really riled up.
“What have you got to lose, huh? I get that a bigshot like you probably has no idea what I’m feeling because you’ve never lost anything, but…”
Axel held up a hand to stop her because he’d heard enough.
“If you would please just stop talking for like…five seconds, maybe we could clear some things up, okay?”
For a moment, he thought she was going to argue, but she crossed her arms and shrugged.
“First, I’m fine with you doing the interview,” he began. “So you can relax about that. And it’s not just because there’s nothing else for us to do, but because I’m genuinely curious about what you’ve prepared.”
“Oh.”
“Don’t get me wrong; I was totally prepared to say no and tell you how you missed your chance, but…after you explained things, I realized that it would be petty to do that. After all, we’ve all had off days, right?”
She nodded.
“As for all the other stuff? For total transparency, I do know what it’s like to have to beg and grovel for something that felt like it was life or death.
” This wasn’t the sort of thing he shared with just anyone, but it seemed pertinent.
“My parents used to work here at the resort when I was a kid. Then, my dad took off, and my mom…well…my mom couldn’t handle it. I was put into foster care.”
Maisie gasped softly.
“Those first few months were awful. I bounced around from house to house. The first one, the guy was big on discipline and…let’s just say CPS stepped in to get me out of there.
The second house wasn’t much better. When they placed me with the Blake family, I didn’t want to go.
I begged my caseworker to convince my mom to take me back.
I was too young to understand what a mess my mother had actually become. ”
Pausing, he had to tamp down his anxiety because just thinking about that time in his life was never easy.
“Anyway, I was placed with the Blakes and…they saved my life. I was defiant and rebellious and prepared for the worst. But they took me in and showed me kindness and compassion. They gave me boundaries, and I learned what a normal and healthy home life could be.” Swallowing hard, he continued.
“They never adopted me because my mother was still alive. They would bring me here to the resort every summer for a couple of weeks because it was a way for me to see her without getting CPS involved. It probably wasn’t legal, but it meant a lot to me to spend a little time with her in a place that we used to go to. ”
“Axel…”
“I aged out at eighteen,” he said. “And the Blakes wished me luck and helped me get an apartment, but their job was done. I didn’t go to college because I wasn’t a very good student and didn’t get any scholarships.
So, I went to work in construction. Luckily, I was good at it.
I moved around a lot for a few years; you know, just trying to figure out what I wanted my life to look like.
Unfortunately, I never felt like I belonged anywhere. ”
Walking back over to his stool, he sat back down.