Chapter 2 #4
“Of course,” he said, leaning over to speak directly into the phone.
The result brought him into my personal space, but that wasn’t surprising; it was Reggie, after all.
He understood the need for personal space; you couldn’t be good with people and not understand the concept.
But when he was comfortable with someone, he cared less about their personal bubble.
I suppose that meant he was as comfortable as you could get with me without sleeping with me, considering how much he violated my personal space, but at least he made sure not to do it around other people, especially the guests.
By the time Jude got off the phone, swearing up and down he was going to make sure his mother was convinced so we would have no choice but to go along with his idea, Reggie was looking pleased with himself.
He sat on the side of my desk, one foot on the ground, the other swinging back and forth comfortably.
“That was evil,” I informed him as I tucked the phone in my pocket. “You baited him.”
“Of course I did,” he said with a laugh. “I want him to convince Charlene, but I know it’s going to take all his willpower, intelligence, and stubbornness to get her to go along with it. Better that he be dedicatedly aiming to convince her rather than what’s the most likely outcome if he succeeds.”
“Where he begrudgingly convinces her to go along with his idea?” I suggested.
“Exactly,” he said with a wink. “And then she’ll contact you because she’s going to have concerns, and a lot of modifiers she wants to slap onto everything too. And then you’re going to have to debate with her what’s acceptable and what isn’t.”
“I love how you made it sound like he had the hard job rather than me,” I said with a wrinkle of my nose.
“He’s intelligent, mature, and will be a good man once he gets his bearings as an adult, but he still needs help,” Reggie said with a shrug, and then leaned back to grip the edge of the desk and stretch with a grunt.
“But if there’s one thing I learned, you don’t tell a seventeen, almost eighteen-year-old boy-man that he needs help with something he’s convinced he can do on his own.
Let him believe he’s doing the worst of the work, while you take care of some of the hardest parts out of sight. ”
It wasn’t the first time I’d been distracted by Reggie, though I was accustomed to hiding it.
He wasn’t the first man I’d been attracted to.
In fact, one thing I’d kept from him about Malcolm was that before I met Charlene, Malcolm and my relationship hadn’t been strictly platonic.
Romance had never played a part, but sex?
Oh, sex had definitely come into play more than once when we shared a dorm room.
And it wasn’t like I kept it from Reggie because I was bothered or ashamed, but it always struck me as weird to admit I had slept with his late husband, my former best friend, before they’d ever met.
Which is why it was always so goddamn weird when I found myself distracted by a flash of skin from Reggie, or the way his clever little smile made my heart skip a few beats at the oddest moments.
Malcolm had been dead for years, but I still felt a writhing guilt in my gut whenever my eyes lingered a little too long on Reggie bent over to pick something up because he had a great ass, or watching the way his mouth moved sometimes only to realize I wasn’t listening but imagining what else his mouth could do.
So, there was that familiar guilt and shame, and then the familiar shoving it aside, burying it and the arousal alongside it.
“No one ever tells you parenting comes with a heavy dose of manipulation and lies,” I said with a snort, turning back to my screen so I wasn’t watching Reggie.
It was easier to ignore the longstanding, if malnourished, feelings I had for him when I didn’t pay too much attention to him.
At least then I could pretend we were just business partners who were good friends. “Everyone off on their merry way?”
“Not sure about merry in some cases,” he said with a chuckle, hopping off my desk and adjusting his clothes. “But I should probably go meet the housekeeping staff and see if there’re any damages this time around that need to be dealt with.”
“And Luka?” I asked, thinking of the Guide who had been assigned to Rowan.
Of course, that had been when we’d thought Rowan was an actual guest of the resort, rather than a man who’d come here under false pretenses to evaluate whether our investor’s money was being spent ‘properly.’ It worked out in our favor, however, as he had been impressed enough with our operations to assure me he was sending a glowing review.
He came from a great deal of money himself, so he was also going to be investing heavily in Arete.
“I imagine he’s still irritated with us. ”
“Us,” Reggie scoffed. “You mean me.”
“Well, I didn’t want to say it.”
“Since when have you been bothered saying something aloud, and to me of all people?”
“There’s a time and place for everything,” I told him.
Reggie’s relationship with Luka was an interesting one, and I hadn’t quite determined what the dynamic was.
There was affection and trust from both sides, but it seemed strictly platonic.
There had always been a strange tension between them that had come flying to the surface when Rowan’s time at Arete had ended abruptly.
Now I didn’t know what to call their relationship, not antagonistic necessarily, but having the same familiarity they’d had before coupled with irritation and distrust, was not going to help if I rubbed it in Reggie’s face.
“I think it’s best if I just let him…cool off for a while,” Reggie said, frowning. “Though I dunno what I’m going to do with him for the next couple of weeks while we’re cleaning and prepping for the next season.”
“Give him a couple of weeks off,” I told him with a shrug. “Let him sort through his feelings before he comes back here. The last thing we need is a distracted or angsty Guide. And well—”
Reggie eyed me with a frown. “What?”
I sighed. “I’m not trying to get into your side of things.”
At that, he rolled his eyes, conveying just how over me he was at that moment. “And when the hell have I ever cared if you had an opinion? And get that look off your face. I meant about this place, not other stuff.”
I grinned. “Maybe give him something less intensive when the next season starts. We have two other programs that don’t require as much intense one-on-one time between guest and Guide. I think he got a little too invested with Rowan.”
Reggie raised his brow with a smirk. “You’re aware of why, right?”
I chuckled. “That they were sleeping together? I suspected. And based on their reactions, I also suspect it was more than just sex.”
Reggie sighed. “I wonder if that’s going to be a thing for Luka, or if it was a one-off.”
“Which is why you dial things back for him, let him move at a slower, less demanding pace, and watch him without being obvious,” I said with a little reservation. “Or have someone else do it.”
He frowned. “I can do subtle.”
“Mmm,” I hummed thoughtfully, jiggling the mouse so my computer dropped out of sleep mode. “I should get through the expense reports. Considering we might get some new inflow of money, it would be a good idea to hop on these so I can assess what the new budget will look like.”
“You aren’t fooling me,” Reggie growled, jabbing a finger at me. “You think I can’t be subtle!”
“I said no such thing,” I said blandly, carefully keeping my face still and hopefully innocent.
“Ohhh, you ass,” he said with a scowl. “You watch. I’m going to monitor him so subtly, not even you will notice I’m doing it.”
“Okay,” I said, slowly blinking. “If that’s your plan, you won’t hear an argument from me.”
“You’re gonna swallow that doubt so damn much,” he said, heading for the door. “Just you wait.”
I said nothing, waiting until he was gone and watching my office door close before letting out the snort I’d been holding back along with my laughter. Seventeen-year-olds weren’t the only ones susceptible to a little manipulative reverse psychology.