Chapter 4 #2
When the silence stretched on, she spoke up again. “And I feel like even if we waited until after my presentation, if you gave me the job, it would seem like I’m thanking you with sex. And again, that would be weird, right?”
Yeah, he didn’t have a problem with that either.
“There is no pressure here, okay? At all. I can separate the two, but if you’re not comfortable with that, then I will completely respect that.”
Maybe it was the play of the firelight, but Axel could have sworn that she looked disappointed.
“Thank you,” she whispered before yawning. “I think we should just call it a night and try to get some sleep.”
“I guess so.”
Her smile was sweet, and serene, and a little sleepy. “Goodnight, Axel.”
“Goodnight, Maisie.”
He watched as she rolled over and then forced himself to lie down and do the same. He didn’t fall asleep right away, but eventually the exhaustion got to him and he finally drifted off.
Me and my big, stupid mouth…
Yeah, that had been her thought on a continuous loop most of the night.
Men like Axel had never taken an interest in her, and his admission had completely flustered her.
She’d never met anyone who was so brutally honest about what he wanted.
It was so…raw and carnal, and just thinking about it now as the sun was coming up filled her with regret all over again.
And now it was too late to do anything about it.
It wasn’t like she could just roll over and say that she had changed her mind.
Could she?
No! No, you cannot!
But when she did roll over, she saw that Axel’s bed was empty.
Slowly, Maisie sat up, brushing her hair away from her face, and looked around. She spotted him standing next to the table where all her work was set up. He was in jeans, shirtless and barefoot, with his arms crossed. He was all tan, lean muscle and looked better than any man had a right to.
Quietly, she pushed the blankets away and got up. Her robe was at the foot of her bed, and she put it on over the coverup she used as pajamas. She would still have been fully covered without the robe, but she was a little self-conscious and wanted an extra layer covering her body.
When she padded over to the table and came to stand beside him, she wasn’t sure what to say.
“I’ve been standing here looking at all of your ideas,” he said, his voice low and a little scratchy, like he was still half asleep.
“And I’m not trying to blow smoke or anything, but it’s almost like you saw into my head and what I envisioned for the resort.
” Turning his head, he looked at her. “And I can’t figure out how you did it. ”
Again, she fidgeted with her hair, hating how unprofessional and definitely unglamorous she must look. Plus, morning breath.
“I looked at the old photos,” she quietly replied.
“And from everything Walker told me on our initial phone conversation, I knew you weren’t looking to change the style of the resort.
It just really needed a refresh. So, I tried to think of the areas that needed the most work and what would be the most aesthetically pleasing to keep with the overall vibe.
Naturally, anything can be changed. This was all just a starting point. ”
“I hope you don’t mind, but I took pictures of all of it and sent them to the guys.”
“What?!” she demanded and then forced herself to calm down because she knew she was overreacting. “I mean…why? You haven’t even seen the 3D model on my laptop.”
He gave her a lazy grin, and every girly part of her body tingled in response. “Because I knew I liked what I saw. I told you that last night, and I wanted to get their input and make sure they agreed.”
“The sun’s not even up, Axel.”
“Yeah, no one’s responded yet, but I feel better just knowing it’s going to be the first thing they see when they pick up their phones this morning.
Well, at least I hope it’s the first thing they see.
” He nodded toward the kitchen. “I was just getting ready to make myself some coffee. Will you join me?”
Nodding, she silently followed him, still not sure how she felt about him only seeing half of her presentation.
Why are you being like this? He’s clearly ready to hire you, which is exactly what you want and need! Stop being such a freak about it and be thankful!
Her inner voice had way more confidence than she actually did.
And at times like this, it really sucked.
In the kitchen, she walked past him and went out to the outer room to see what the weather was like.
The rain had stopped, but there were a lot of tree branches and debris scattered all around the parking lot.
Fortunately, nothing big landed near either of their trucks, but she could only imagine what the road leading into town was going to be like.
Axel came to stand beside her and sighed. “It’s a mess out there. I’m almost afraid to go out and walk around, but I’m going to need to survey the damage.”
“We should probably try to find a local news report and see what it says. I thought the storm was supposed to move on sometime this morning, but the sky still looks ominous.”
He turned and went back into the kitchen, and she did the same. While Axel made coffee, Maisie went to get her phone, which was out on the table with her display.
She tapped on the screen and noticed her battery was low. She hoped she’d be able to leave today and go back to the hotel so she could charge it.
And put on clean clothes.
Back in the kitchen, she tapped the weather app and groaned.
“Well, that doesn’t sound good,” Axel said as he turned and put two mugs of coffee down on the table. “More rain?”
She nodded. “Not until after lunch, but then it looks like it’s going to be as intense as it was yesterday.” She scrolled some more and looked at all the radars and Doppler predictions before looking at the local news. “It looks like the power’s out in town because there are so many trees down.”
“I was curious whether the power was on or if we were still on the generator. I hate using it because it takes a lot to power up this building, even though it’s just this floor.
But if we shut it off and moved all the perishables down to my cabin and switched to that generator, I don’t know if I’d fit all of that food in my refrigerator. ”
“What about the other cabins? I’m guessing they’re being used by the rest of your partners?”
He nodded. “Yeah. I guess I could do that. We typically try not to invade each other’s privacy and we avoid going into anyone else’s cabins when they’re not here, but in this instance I guess it’s okay.”
“I can help you with that before I leave,” she told him.
Axel looked at her oddly. “Are we sure you’re going to be able to leave? There’s only one road that leads back into town and it’s heavily lined with trees. My guess is that there are going to be a lot of spots where it’s blocked with storm debris.”
“I’m honestly not sure, but I’m going to try. This has been fine, and I appreciate you letting me stay, but I’d really love to get back to my place and be out of your way.”
He didn’t respond. He simply turned and walked over to the refrigerator. “How do you feel about bacon and eggs for breakfast? There’s enough here for two, and it will mean transporting less over to my cabin.”
“Um…sure?”
With his back to her, Axel grabbed the food out of the fridge along with a few other things and began setting them up on the counter next to the stove.
“Like I said last night, I’m not great at cooking, but I can do the basics.
We’ll eat breakfast out in the other room, and you can do your presentation. ”
“Oh. Um…okay.” His tone was a bit cool and detached, and she honestly wasn’t sure why. Rather than obsess about it, she stepped around the table and went to stand beside him. “What can I do to help?”
“Which are you better at—frying bacon or scrambling eggs?”
“Hmm…I’ll handle the eggs, please.” He pointed her toward bowls and utensils while he got the pans.
“There’s also bread in the pantry for toast or English muffins.”
“Ooh…English muffins, please.”
“Maisie?”
“Hmm?”
“You don’t have to be so polite,” he said with amusement.
Shrugging, she started cracking eggs into the bowl. “I can’t help it. That’s how I was raised.”
“I mean, I appreciate it, but it’s just the two of us here so…you can relax.”
Things were quiet for a solid five minutes, and it was making her crazy. “So how will you go about checking for damage? There’s a lot of property here, I’m guessing. Are you going to do it all today?”
Luckily, that led to a solid conversation that took them through the rest of the breakfast preparations, and by the time they sat down to eat, it was the perfect segue for her presentation.
They had already talked about a lot of what she had laid out, so this time she set up her PowerPoint presentation that included 3D models of the rooms and cabins. It was almost fifteen minutes long, so they could eat without having to talk.
When the video ended, Maisie drank the last bit of her coffee before looking over at Axel. “So?”
He shrugged. “I told you yesterday and again this morning, it’s exactly what I was looking for. And once the guys respond to my text, I think we’ll all agree that we want to hire you.”
This was the time when she should have jumped for joy, but she was still reluctant. What if his friends didn’t like it? What if they still wanted to interview more people? What if…?
Axel’s phone began vibrating and chiming, and as soon as he picked it up and tapped the screen, his smile grew. He tapped it a few more times before putting it down and looking at her.
“Unanimous,” he said, holding out his hand to hers to shake it. “The entire team at the Lakeview Harbor Resort would like to hire you.”