I meant it too. I wanted him to be with me. I owed it to the both of us to get to know him and maybe even let him get to know me too. Not Zoey the influencer, but the real me. That thought scared the shit out of me. I wasn’t good about letting anyone get that close.
He gathered up the last of our things and shoved them into his bag.
Was he even aware that he was mixing our stuff like that?
Maybe I was reading too much into things. All of this was new to me, and I could fully admit my emotions were all over the place. I didn’t even trust myself right now because I felt like I was going insane.
Keeping my mouth shut, I followed him out of the little room and back to the front desk.
It was the same woman that I’d seen last night. The one that was flirting with Monte.
Mine, my wolf growled angrily.
This time she wasn’t looking at my mate though. She was staring at me with a look of adoration.
I sighed.
She knew who I was now where she hadn’t last night.
“Ms. Jones, let me just say what an honor it is to have you stay at Cedar Ridge Lodge with us. If there is anything at all that I can do to make your stay a positive experience, please just let me know. You already have my sincerest apologies for lastnight’s accommodation. In all the madness I failed to recognize you on check-in.”
“It’s fine. I wasn’t scheduled to arrive until today so there is no reason to apologize.”
It wasn’t her fault I’d run like a piece of chicken shit and showed up early in the middle of a snowstorm. Not my finest moment.
“That’s very gracious of you, Ms. Jones. I do hope this will make up for it. I have you set up in the presidential suite. I think it will hold up to your standards nicely.”
The presidential suite? Yes, please.
“I’m sure it’s fine.”
Did that make me sound like a snob or somehow entitled? I always worried about stuff like that. I didn’t want to appear to be pretentious but sometimes it was easier to live up to people’s expectations of me instead of being myself. I had this deep-seated fear that if I showed people my true self, they wouldn’t like me. It was easier to take on the persona of Zoey Unboxed.
“I’ll personally take you up. There are extra security checks to ensure you have privacy.”
“Thank you.”
She came around the counter and led us to a private elevator that she used the keycard to access. I was careful to keep my face neutral and hold my head high. When I acted confident, others seemed to believe it. I just needed to pretend like I deserved this special treatment.
Once in the elevator I caught Monte looking at me with a strange expression on his face. It was almost a scowl, but notquite. I didn’t like it at all, but I couldn’t falter my exterior with this lady around.
She took us all the way to the room, and after unlocking the door and ensuring the card worked, she passed it to me.
“Please let me know if you need anything during your stay with us. It is an honor to have you stay with us.”
I nodded, but smiled warmly, or at least that’s how I hoped it came across. I never wanted to be a bitch or disrespectful to people, but if I was too nice it seemed to invite them into my personal space and I hated that.
“Thank you.”
I paused, dug into my purse, and pulled out some cash plus a signed business card and gave it to her before turning and walking inside.
Monte said goodbye to her. I couldn’t help but listen.
“We’re still on for this afternoon?”
“Of course.”
I bit back a growl.
