Chapter 12 #2
I threw Jude a look. “In any case, Mom and Dad didn’t think to look at the place as a potential for purchase, even though Mom said years later it was the Vista Grand that got her inspired to run a hotel in the first place.”
“They thought it was too big,” Eli said.
“Yeah. But Mom was home for Christmas that year they were looking, and saw it was for sale. Her sister worked at the town hall and casually mentioned there were some tourism grants available—”
“Revitalization grants,” Eli said.
“Right. Anyway, one thing led to another, and they let go of the other place they were considering in Ohio—a ten-room inn on a farm—and ended up purchasing the 300-room resort right in their hometown.”
“Wild,” Blake said.
“It really was.”
“Literally,” Lila said. “I saw some of the old photos in the files. The golf course was almost completely grown over.”
“And half the windows were boarded up,” I said. “I guess some of the east wing was closed off back when the resort started losing guests, and nobody opened them back up again.”
“That’s where the haunted ones are,” Jude explained. Then added a ghost sound: “Oooooooooo!”
Eli and I groaned.
“Anyway, Mom and Dad got the place fixed up,” I said, “and it turned a profit in their… third year?” I glanced at Eli for confirmation.
He nodded. “Yep—once Dad ended up staying home with us. They figured it would be better if they saved money on daycare by stepping down from the business.”
I picked up my fork again. “Dad never really cared about running the hotel, anyway. He went along with buying it for the history.”
“The hotel was always Mom’s baby,” Eli said. “Now it’s yours, Cass.”
I swallowed the forkful of food I’d put in my mouth, oddly touched.
Eli wasn’t usually sentimental with me, being my twin.
He always said he hadn’t planned on staying on as CFO.
He’d come home to help us, but he’d run away before, working in a completely different field despite his business acumen. I wondered when he’d leave this time.
We were all quiet for a moment, and I didn’t know about Eli and Jude, but my throat felt thick with emotion.
“This was never your dream either, was it?” Blake asked.
I shook my head. “No, but I think I was being obstinate. I wanted to try my own thing. Now it feels like the right decision but… I want it to function in a way that doesn’t keep me awake at night. At least not all the time.”
“That’s why we’re here,” Blake said, smiling.
I’d smiled at him, suddenly beyond grateful they were.
That Blake, specifically, was here.
While the others started chatting—about ghosts, or the hotel, or lunch—Blake held my gaze. “You know, I think your mom would be proud of you,” he said, soft enough that none of the others looked our way.
My chest bloomed with warmth, both at what he’d said, and that he’d said it.
“Because we hired you?” I said, my lips twisting. I couldn’t stand not teasing him.
“Exactly,” he said. But his eyes kept that same genuine hold. And when his leg brushed up against mine when we turned back to the others, I didn’t move it away.
The end of Week Three was significant—it was our last week in the office before we shifted out into the field. It also marked the end of the first half of the review. But I tried not to think about that.
I was proud of the work we’d done so far. Lila had completed the financial review with Eli, and the department manager interviews. Blake meanwhile had pored over everything process related I’d shared with him, both executive and departmental.
Next week, Lila was going to meet Reese to go over the restaurant and food services, while Blake and I launched a physical tour of the property before I passed him off to Jude to shadow all the recreation facilities.
I was looking forward to the change in scenery, but I was also a wreck, knowing that next week—at least for the first couple of days—Blake and I would be fully alone together, away from the safety of everyone else in the office.
By the time the weekend came around, that heat I’d tamped down had come back full force, and I spent Sunday evening tossing and turning, my mind going everywhere except sleep.
Half of it was nerves, but the other half, surprising me, was a revival at my earlier anger: at Blake, irrationally, for being him and having this ridiculous life of his, and at myself, for caring.
It was just feelings; just chemistry and proximity, and wanting what I couldn’t have, I knew.
But having spent the past three weeks resisting any hint of fantasy from my brain, on Sunday night, faced with the knowledge that the next day I’d be spending all day alone with him, everything was coming in hard and fast.
My thoughts were relentless—everything I came up with to distract myself just brought me back to Blake.
Baseball? No, Blake had played that as a kid.
Office supplies? What about that time Blake had made a Mr. T necklace out of paperclips while we were going over annual meeting minutes to see if I’d notice.
Gardening—that had to be safe. But there was that patch of flowers in the community garden across the street from Blake’s mom’s facility he’d told me about. He paid one of the community members to keep it going all year round because his mom could see it from her window and it made her smile.
It was hopeless.
I finally gave up, letting myself run wild with every thought I’d suppressed. Maybe if I got him out of my system that night, I could work with him with neutrality the next day.
Finally I got out of bed and got in the bathtub, hoping the warm water would lull me to sleepiness.
But before I knew what I was doing, I was imagining Blake in there with me, his hard body at my back, his beautiful, broad hands roaming my body.
In the end, I’d stood up and pulled out the jet attachment on the shower, dialing it into a hard, forceful stream, and directing it between my legs.
I stood against the wall, breathing hard as water vibrated against my clit, picturing Blake in the shower with me, stroking that beautiful cock I hadn’t dared picture while he watched me pleasure myself.
I came hard and almost violently, imagining him spurting his hot seed alongside me.
Apparently, that was what I’d needed, because after getting back into bed, my mind finally rested long enough to let me sleep.