Chapter 5
Chapter Five
B eth glanced at the clock on the corner of her computer screen and forced her eyes back to the spreadsheet in front of her. Numbers, columns, and invoices usually grounded her, but today they blurred every time she became aware of Aaron sitting across from her in the lobby.
He’d walked in about twenty minutes ago, offering her that calm, steady smile before settling into one of the leather chairs near the window with a half-empty smoothie in his hands.
Since then, he’d alternated between sitting with his phone and pacing a slow circuit across the room like a man who had too much energy bottled up.
Every footstep echoed through her chest, no matter how quietly he moved.
The phone on the desk rang, startling her. She grabbed it too quickly. “River Camps, this is Beth.”
A guest needed directions for how to book time at the spa.
Easy enough. She walked them through it, smiling into the receiver.
Professional, calm, collected. At least, she hoped that’s how she sounded.
Because in her peripheral vision, Aaron had leaned forward, elbows on his knees, eyes flicking towards her like he was trying not to be caught watching.
When she hung up, she tugged the accounting binder closer and tried again to focus.
Receipts from the retreat weekend needed reconciling.
She entered line items into the system, checked totals, and adjusted the petty cash log.
The numbers should have been satisfying to organize, but her pulse refused to steady.
“Need a hand?” Aaron’s voice carried across the lobby, low but enough to break her concentration.
She blinked at the screen. “With what? Balancing ledgers or answering phones?”
“Either.” He stood now, stretching to his full height before strolling closer. “I’ve got nothing but time, it appears.”
She shook her head, though the corners of her mouth wanted to betray her with a smile. “Pretty sure security detail doesn’t cover Excel formulas.”
The phone rang again, saving her. She answered quickly, another guest, this one asking about check-out.
She handled it smoothly, but her skin tingled with the awareness that Aaron had stopped just short of the desk, leaning a shoulder against the wall.
He was close enough that she could smell a hint of clean soap and cedar. His signature scent.
As soon as she hung up, she cleared her throat and went back to typing. “Don’t you have… somewhere to be?”
“Right here’s fine.” His tone was casual but steady, like a rock anchoring in place.
She pressed her lips together, determined to ignore him.
Numbers. Totals. Deadlines. If only her hands would stop trembling on the keyboard.
As she tried not to stare— tried being the key word—her heart raced faster and faster.
Every time she glanced up from the accounting spreadsheets on her laptop, Aaron was there, leaning back in the leather chair across the lobby, arms crossed over his chest, or worse, pacing slowly in front of the massive stone fireplace like some restless panther.
He wasn’t even doing anything, just existing in the same space, and yet her focus on budget line items was shot to pieces.
Her phone rang, saving her from pretending she’d actually been looking at numbers. “River Camps, this is Beth,” she said in her brightest, most professional voice. She walked a guest through the check-in process, and then jotted down a maintenance request on another call.
When she dared another glance up, Aaron’s eyes were on her. She turned back to her computer screen and really, really tried to focus.
“You know,” he drawled a few minutes later, his voice carrying easily across the space, “staring that hard at those numbers isn’t going to make them behave.”
She arched a brow without looking up. “And hovering over there grinning at me isn’t helping with my concentration.”
That grin, that slow, infuriatingly confident grin, spread across his face. “Touché.”
Before she could think of something else to say, the front doors swung open and in breezed Jules and Aubrey, each balancing trays with tall, colorful smoothies on them.
“Delivery service!” Jules announced with a flourish. “One Tropical Bliss for the lady with the eternal spreadsheets.” She plopped the frosty pink drink beside Beth’s laptop.
“And for the brooding security guard,” Aubrey said, handing Aaron a bright orange concoction with a smirk, “an Orange You Glad You’re So Hot.”
Aaron snorted. “I already had a smoothie today.”
“Have another.” Aubrey practically shoved it into his hand.
“Do I get a straw or should I chug this like a frat boy?” Aaron joked.
Beth laughed before she could stop herself, the sound bubbling up far too easily. “Sorry, I couldn’t help but picture you in a toga, chugging smoothies.”
Jules and Aubrey exchanged a quick look as they laughed and headed down the hallway towards their offices.
“If I kept getting free smoothies, I’m going to float home instead of drive,” he said as he took a sip. He looked impressed and took another sip. “At least they’re really good.”
“Everything here is really good,” she said, enjoying her own smoothie.
“I think they’re doing it on purpose today.
This is my second one too.” She set her cup down and leaned on the counter.
“They know you stayed outside my place all last night and want to keep you energized. I’ll wager you were put on duty in here to watch over me so you didn’t have to work too hard today. ”
He nodded and she chuckled. “I doubt these will be the last smoothies or free samples we’re given today.” She went back to her computer. “They’re saying thank you.” She glanced quickly over at him, noticing him shrugging as if uncomfortable.
A few moments later, the front doors opened, and in swept a woman who looked like she’d stepped out of a designer catalog.
She was wearing stylish linen pants and a tight knitted navy blue top.
She had oversized sunglasses on with beautiful gold jewelry on her wrists, fingers, ears, and around her neck that caught the light with every movement.
She carried herself like the entire resort had been built solely for her benefit.
Beth had always wanted to look and carry herself like this woman.
“I need to speak to someone immediately,” she said, her rich tone dripping with indignation. Her gaze flicked to Aaron and lingered there a beat too long.
Beth stood suddenly, conscious of her simple summer skirt and blouse, and her lack of jewelry. “Of course, how can I help you?” she said, getting the woman’s attention.
The woman took off her sunglasses with a dramatic sigh. Even her makeup was perfect. Her eyeliner skills had Beth remembering the one time she’d tried to pull off the look and had failed.
“I specifically ordered champagne to be waiting in my cabin when I arrived.” She waited a beat. “There was none. Not even a bottle of prosecco. Do you have any idea how disappointing it is to travel all this way only to be greeted with… sparkling water?” She made the last words sound like a slur.
“I’m so sorry for the inconvenience. What cabin are you staying in?” Beth asked.
“The High Roller.” The woman said it as if Beth should’ve recognized her on sight.
Beth kept her tone even as she answered, “Of course.” She turned away and typed in the cabin code on her computer and pulled up the guest notes.
“Miss Liza Fairchild?”
“Yes.” The woman’s eyes narrowed as if she was fully annoyed now.
Sure enough, the request for a bottle of Moet & Chandon had been put into the notes section, along with a confirmation that the bottle had been delivered to the High Roller cabin half an hour before the woman’s arrival almost an hour ago.
“I show here that the champagne was delivered at two o’clock today,” Beth said with a polite smile.
The woman gave a sharp laugh, more dismissive than amused. “I don’t care what your computer says, sweetheart. I’m telling you that it wasn’t there. I don’t plan to start my vacation arguing about one little bottle.”
Beth’s fingers hovered over the keyboard, but she refused to let her cheeks flush. “Would you like me to have housekeeping check again?”
“No.” She lowered her tone and leaned slightly forward. “What I’d like is for the bottle I paid for to be delivered.”
“Of course,” Beth said easily as she typed in a new request. “I’ll have them bring a replacement.”
That earned her a cool, appraising look before the woman dismissed her with a flick of perfectly manicured nails and turned to Aaron. “And who might you be?” Her smile warmed instantly, slipping into sultry. “You don’t look like the rest of the staff.”
Aaron straightened, his face unreadable. “Security, ma’am. Making sure everyone stays safe.”
“Mmm,” the woman purred, tilting her head and giving him a once-over. “I certainly feel safer already.”
Beth bit the inside of her cheek hard enough to taste copper.
Aaron didn’t even blink. “Glad to hear it, ma’am.” He stepped aside, angling himself towards the side doors like he had somewhere better to be. The move was so efficient, so casual, it stopped the woman’s flirting in its tracks.
Beth quickly typed in a note for guest services, who would deliver another bottle of champagne and confirm the first was not in the cabin. If an empty bottle was found on the premises, they were to document proof and charge for both.
When she was done, she glanced up with a polite, practiced smile. “I’ll have that bottle waiting in your cabin within the next ten minutes.”
The woman’s gaze lingered after Aaron before she finally looked back at Beth. “Fine. See that you do.” She adjusted her designer sunglasses and sashayed towards the exit, clearly more disappointed about Aaron than the champagne.