Chapter 3 #3
“And you heroically saved a turtle.”
“I never said it was heroic…”
It was a good moment.
A great one, even.
Fighting a smile, she met his gaze. “So you like this, huh?”
“I do. It’s…it’s so much better than what anyone else presented to us. I mean…it’s not perfect, and there are maybe a few things I’d like to discuss and maybe change, but it’s obvious you know your stuff.”
Jumping up and screaming, “Yippee!” would be wildly inappropriate right now, and so would hugging him, but she seriously wanted to do both.
Badly.
“This is really what I thought everyone would do,” he went on. “I’m kind of bummed that none of the guys are here to see it for themselves.”
“You could always call them and maybe do a video chat to show them,” she suggested, all the while hoping she didn’t sound too eager.
“Oh, that reminds me. I looked at the weather app on my phone, and it said we should get a break in the rain in the next hour. I’m going to watch it closely because as soon as it stops, I’m running down and bringing the mattresses up.
It’ll take two trips, but at least we’ll know we’ll be comfortable. ”
“And you still don’t think we’ll make it to your cabin? I hate the thought of you wasting even more inventory on me.”
His gray eyes widened. “Are you kidding me right now? Maisie, I’m not wasting anything.
You’re stuck here because you tried to come for your interview even though you were late.
And in case you haven’t noticed, I’m using that inventory too.
I don’t want to sleep on the floor. I’ve done it before, and I’m sure at some point I’ll do it again, but why should I when we have brand-new mattresses we’re not going to use? ”
“Why aren’t you using them? That seems wasteful.”
“They were from before we took over. Walker’s a little obsessed with a specific brand of beds, so we’re going with his choice.
And believe me, you can tell the difference.
I thought he was crazy, but he bought several of them for our cabins so the guys and I could test them out.
I was going to throw out my old mattress, but I have a loft in my cabin, so I threw it up there. ”
She wasn’t sure what to say to that, so she just nodded.
“Anyway, it’s not a big deal for me to go down and bring them up here. We can set them up in the rooms we’ve each been using if you’d like, or we can camp out here in front of the fire.”
That felt even more intimate than cooking together in their robes, but she didn’t want to say that.
“Um…either is fine with me,” she said casually. “But I’m sure out here would be fine.”
Ugh…why did I say that?
“That works for me.” He smiled at her. “If it’s okay with you, I’m going to make myself a snack and watch the weather. We can go over your entire presentation after I get the beds moved if that works.”
He was being overly polite, and it made her wonder if he was like this all the time or if he was just going overboard because of their situation.
If she got the job, she’d more than likely find out.
“We’ve got all the makings for ice cream sundaes, or there are more cookies and an assortment of snack cakes,” he told her. “I don’t know if you noticed what I unpacked earlier, but I shopped like an unsupervised ten-year-old.”
That made her laugh as she followed him back to the kitchen.
But when they got there, it seemed like things were quieter. As if of one mind, they moved to the outer room and looked out the windows.
“It stopped!” he said excitedly, shrugging the robe off, and leaving her a little flustered at the sight. “Okay, I’m gonna go down and grab those mattresses and anything else we might need tonight.”
She was feeding off his energy and felt like she needed to be doing something too.
Other than ogling him.
“What about me? What do you need me to do?” she asked, chasing after him as he went back to where their clothes were by the fire. “I can get dressed again and come down and help you carry the beds!”
Axel straightened as he smoothed his T-shirt over his chest.
And that was a damn shame to cover it.
“I appreciate the offer,” he said, giving her shoulder a squeeze as he walked by on his way back to the kitchen. “But I can handle it. I move bulky items all day, every day. Plus, I saw your shoes earlier, and they don’t look safe for you to be walking around in the mud.”
Well, damn.
“Okay, how about this,” she said as she chased after him again. “Tell me what you want for dessert, and I’ll handle that while you’re doing what you’re doing.”
He pulled his boots on at the back door. “That would be wildly sexist of me to ask you to stay put in the kitchen while I did the heavy work, don’t you think?”
What she thought was that he was incredibly sweet to think like that. Most men wouldn’t have given it a second thought.
“You didn’t ask. I offered.”
“Yeah, but…I really want the ice cream, and I don’t want it to melt so I’ll do it when I’m done.” When he reached for the door, he grinned at her. “Wish me luck!”
“Good luck!” And while she wasn’t making their dessert, she figured she could open up the packages with all the bedding in them and at least get that going.
Five minutes later, Axel strode in with one mattress hefted over his head.
He placed it down in front of the fire, winked at her, and then went back for the second one.
Maisie admired his physique from behind—again—and wondered if maybe she should drag this mattress to the hotel room she’d been using.
“No. Stop being a baby. He’s probably used to women checking him out. And it’s not like he’s going to be interested in me.” Because curvy girls in the social circle she’d been living in her entire life never got the hot guy.
Ever.
Still, it would be nice if he were just as distracted by her as she was by him.
Although…this so wasn’t the time for that.
Her life was a mess, and she wanted the job more than she wanted a man.
In a perfect world, she could have both, but her world certainly wasn’t perfect.
And rather than focus on that, she put pillowcases on the pillows and opened up the bags with the comforters and sheets and began making up the first bed.
He was gone a little longer this time, and Maisie heard the back door slam shut before she heard Axel’s heavy footsteps as he got closer. He put the second mattress down a few feet away from the first.
“I’ll be right back. I’ve got one more bag of supplies.”
“Seriously? I thought we had everything.” Looking around in confusion, Maisie couldn’t imagine what else they could need for this one night.
Grinning at her over his shoulder, he just walked away.
Rather than obsess about what he was bringing back, she decided to distract herself by making up the other bed while he was gone. When both beds were made, she went to the kitchen to see about what she wanted for dessert.
Tugging on the robe—which was really starting to get on her nerves—she went into the pantry to see about all the options Axel had mentioned.
“Maisie?” she heard him call out a minute later.
Stepping out of the pantry, she caught him before he left the kitchen. “Hey. Sorry. I was thinking about dessert,” she said, feeling herself blush. No doubt he thought that of course she was thinking about dessert.
Smiling, he put another one of those giant trash bags on the stainless-steel table.
“Oh, cool,” he said. “Hopefully between what’s in the pantry and the assortment of ice creams, you’ll find something you like.
But in the meantime, check this out.” Turning the bag upside down, another pile of items wrapped in plastic fell to the table.
He looked very proud of himself when he stood back.
“This is literally the last piece of the puzzle.”
“The puzzle?”
He nodded. “Yeah. Look…old resort merch! There are shorts and T-shirts, a couple of tank tops, and bathing suit cover-ups. I’m guessing we should be able to find something here that fits that we can sleep in.
I don’t know about you, but I was envisioning getting all twisted up in that robe and accidentally flashing you. ”
He laughed, but Maisie’s cheeks were on fire thinking about him doing just that.
Axel began opening bag after bag after bag, and shockingly, they were all sizes that she could wear.
Whew!
Picking one of the cover-ups that was more like a dress, along with a tank top and shorts, she thanked him. “I can’t believe you found all of this.”
“It’s like a maze down there. When the power’s back on, I am definitely going to explore it a little more.
In the meantime, now we can get comfortable and relax and have a dessert slumber party.
” He grinned, grabbing his own selection of clothing.
“What do you say? I’ll meet you back here in a few minutes after we change? ”
“Sounds like a plan!”