14. Miles
14
MILES
I rolled over with Lydia as a blanket. She was warm, and I didn’t mind that she was pinning me in place. In fact, I quite liked that she was comfortable enough to claim me in her sleep this way.
Her alarm was going to go off sooner or later. Waking her up, it just didn’t seem fair when she never got to sleep in.
I traced my fingers back and forth over her soft skin. She practically purred in her sleep.
I gently tickled down the side of her ribs. Instead of waking up, she mumbled something in her sleep and rolled away from me.
I took the opportunity to climb out of bed and turn off her alarm clock. I got dressed and headed out to the kitchen on the opposite side of the first floor. As I crossed through the lobby, I started a fresh cup of coffee. It would be done brewing by the time I returned from the kitchen. I knew exactly where she stored the pastry products that she set out for the inn’s meager breakfast offering.
I grabbed an assortment of Danishes and small powdered donuts before returning to the lobby and putting them in the basket she used for this. I wrote a quick note and set it on the counter, letting people know that the innkeeper would be up by 8:30 and to please help themselves to the coffee and pastries.
I didn’t think anybody was scheduled to check out. Lydia hadn’t mentioned anything. Hopefully, she wouldn’t mind that I was getting into her business this way. She needed the rest. If I knew how to run the hotel software, I may have even set myself up to do that for her.
She was still asleep when I returned to her bedroom. I kicked off my shoes and crawled back in bed, wrapping my arms around her warm, soft body
She moaned softly, “Why are you all dressed? Is it time for you to leave?”
She placed her hand on the center of my chest and then sat up with a start. “Oh, crap. I’ve got to put breakfast out.” She glanced at her clock. “What happened to my alarm?”
I bundled her into my embrace and nuzzled against her soft hair. “I turned your alarm off,” I admitted. “And I also put out pastries. Nobody’s checking out early, not that you mentioned, so I left a note saying you’d be out later.”
“Are you serious?” she asked.
“I hope that’s okay with you.”
“That’s very okay with me. So, you’re not leaving?”
“I was thinking I might hang around for another day, if that’s also okay with you. I want to make sure you don’t need anything from me.”
“That’s a loaded question.” Lydia chuckled. “Do I need you? I certainly did last night.”
“Do you need me to do anything for you?” I rephrased.
She continued to giggle. “Also a loaded question. What would you say if I said I did need you?”
“I would ask how I could be of service?” I smirked. “I know where you keep the screwdrivers and wrenches. Unless your new desk clerk is coming today, I thought I could help you out around here again, like I did last time.”
“Are you trying to earn your keep or something? You already know I’m not going to charge you for a room when you sleep in here.”
“I’m aware of that, but I also know this place needs constant attention.”
“You’re going to pay attention to the old girl?” Lydia asked.
“I thought it would be a good way to worm my way into the affections of the woman who looks after the place.”
Lydia tossed back the blankets and put her feet on the ground before standing with a large stretch and yawn that put her breasts on the most distracting display.
I completely forgot what I was saying as all the blood from my brain rushed straight to my groin. “You keep that up and I’ll end up only screwing one thing around here,” I said as I ogled her.
With a giggle, she turned and grabbed a pillow off the bed to throw at me.
“You are incorrigible.”
I ended up completing a shortlist of little tasks that she had set aside. Holding up the sheet of paper with her to-do list, I said, “You really need to think about the big picture and not focus on all the little things.”
“That would involve a much more in-depth time and financial investment than I can make at the moment. I know the inn needs someone to come in to do a full assessment, but at the same time, I need to be able to keep it running. I get that major bathroom remodeling for all the rooms on the north wing is what really needs to happen. I can really only manage to make sure that everything works properly.”
“Why redo one bathroom at a time if ripping out fifteen bathrooms all at once is too daunting?” I asked.
“Honestly, I know it’s more cost-effective to rip out and do fifteen bathrooms at once. I’m stuck juggling the whole how to be cost-effective and how to get the job done since it’s just me right now. My goal is to keep it running long enough to save up enough to take care of the second and third floors of the north wing. But I’m stuck with the limited finances that I do have.”
It was clear she had put a lot of thought into the rock and the hard place she was stuck between.
“It’s easier and cheaper to get a crew of a couple of guys to come in and rip everything out one day, and then production-line assemble the rebuild. It’s more efficient, in both time and money. Unfortunately, it takes money to be cost efficient at that level. So, until that can happen, I keep things running the best I can.” She shrugged. It was a lot to process.
“If this place were a boat, it would constantly be sinking,” I said.
“No lies there,” she said. “But Sweet Mountain is really pretty, and I think she’s worth it.”
I did the best I could in the time between breakfast and just after lunch when Lydia’s new desk clerk came in to give her the rest of the afternoon off. Mrs. Griffin showed up, Lydia reviewed the computer system with her, and then we left. I noticed she hadn’t introduced me, so maybe I was still somewhat of a secret.
“I didn’t think your new employee was coming in today,” I mentioned to Lydia.
“She wasn’t. I called her to see if she was available, and she was,” Lydia confessed. “I don’t want you to think I expect you to do handyman work every time you come to visit me. Yesterday, you were so eager to take a look at Brookdale. I thought maybe today, we could walk around town a bit?”
“What about our secret affair?” I teased.
“Maybe after spending more time with you, I realized that there are some things that don’t need to be kept hidden in the shadows.”
“Are you saying you want to show me off?”
Lydia blushed. It was very charming and adorable the way she would smile and her cheeks would plump up. She would turn pink and try to look at anything but me.
“I don’t think I have anything to wear that would be appropriate for showing off,” I said.
“And what would you wear to show off?” Lydia asked.
I shrugged. “I don’t know. A tux?”
“Now you’re just being silly,” she responded.
“Is that a complaint?” I asked.
“Not at all. I think I like you kind of silly. People are too serious and too angry these days. A little levity is very attractive.”
“I will take that as a compliment.”
I gave Lydia my arm as we scrolled toward the small downtown area. “What do you want to show me this afternoon?”
She pointed to the gazebo. “Isn’t it pretty? Could you picture it surrounded by roses?”
I narrowed my gaze and tried to look at it from her perspective and surrounded with red roses.
“That’s all I can think about,” she confessed. “Brookdale is very picturesque and yet there’s nobody here taking pictures. That gazebo is a replica of an early Edwardian style. Half the buildings in town are from that era, or slightly earlier. I think if we did something as a town, we could become one of those destination wedding places. What do you think?”
“Depends on what the something you are thinking about is.” I had to agree with her. The town was very charming. That was one of the reasons I wanted to build the resort in Brookdale. I thought people would be attracted to not only the natural resources around, but the town itself.
“I don’t know,” she continued. “If we could get a social media influencer to come have a wedding here, or maybe even convince a designer to open a bridal shop or something like that, I think we could really turn this town around.” As she spoke, she walked in a slow circle and stopped so that we were looking at the side of the library.
“Can’t you picture that as a backdrop for wedding pictures?” she asked.
I gazed down at her as she looked out at some vision she saw in her mind.
I could tell she wanted that as a backdrop for her wedding. She would make a beautiful bride in front of that very house, surrounded with roses.