“Oh?” Nellie said again, her brow furrowing.
“Yeah, they mentioned the Witches’ Ball and how we, well, hung out after.” Hung out was a euphemism, and we both knew it, but I couldn’t help but wonder if it’d been awkward to point it out.
“They know about that?”
I pretended to check that the coast was clear and stepped closer to her. “They know everything that happens in town. They probably have spies watching us now.” I said, keeping my voice low, as if I was worried people would overhear me.
“Why, though?” Nellie looked utterly perplexed.
“I’m sure Sage has mentioned their love of playing matchmakers?” I asked, and Nellie nodded in confirmation. “Well, it seems they’re obsessed with the idea of getting us together, and they’ll probably start meddling now. I’d be super cautious of drinking or eating any freebies you get from the café, or even other shops in town. Nowhere is safe once the Hartley triplets get a love match potential in their heads.”
Nellie scowled. “A love match? Are you serious?”
“Yup. And there’s only one way to get them off our backs.”
“How?”
“We go out on a date,” the idea spilled from my lips before I could really think it through, but once I’d said it…I didn’t regret it. I’d wanted to ask her out on a date since that first time we ran into each other at the grocery store. Being in the same aisle as we were that night somehow felt kismet.
Nellie’s expression was so far from amused, it would have been laughable if it didn’t sting so much. I found that I wanted her to say yes to a date to me, and not because of the Hartley triplets.
“What? It’s true. They won’t let up until they see us try. If it doesn’t work out and there’s no chemistry between us, they’ll drop it.”
“Sounds like you’re fishing for a date, Noah Wood,” Nellie called me out, but she took a step closer to me.
“So, what if I am?”
“You’re my boss. That’s weird.”
“Technically, I’m one of your bosses. My brothers are as much your bosses as I am.”
“Still. Isn’t it against company policy or something?” she looked wary, but there was something beneath the wariness. Hope. Intrigue.
My lips twitched. “We don’t actually have any policies against co-workers dating, oddly enough. It’s a family run resort and has been for generations, so a lot of the employees are related or married already.” I pointed out. Charlotte had never worked for us prior to getting with Damien.
Nellie’s frown increased, and she tossed her hands up in exasperation and letting them fall to her sides. “Again, it’s weird. This whole thing is weird.”
“Maybe. But it’s also our only hope to get the Hartley triplets off our back. I’m used to their antics, but you? You are fresh meat. If not me, they’ll pick another unassuming single male in town and start trying to fix you up with him.”
It was true, and I found I loathed that idea entirely. If anyone was going to take Nellie on a date, it was going to be me.
Nellie didn’t seem to like that idea either. The colour drained from her face, and she bit her lip, considering my proposition.
I meant every word of it: now that the Hartley triplets had their sights set on us, they would focus their efforts on doing everything in their power to get us together.
But I didn’t point out the fact that if they caught a whiff of the chemistry between us, their efforts would only increase tenfold—and there was no denying the chemistry between us. Although Nellie was trying her best to deny and ignore it, and I was doing my best to laugh it off and not think about it, it was there, and we both knew it was there.
The night we’d spent together had opened the floodgates for that intense wave of chemistry, and even Nellie sneaking out the next morning and me failing to recognize her in person the next time I saw her again couldn’t lessen that fact.
Because the truth was, I had recognized her. At least on a subconscious level. It’s why I’d immediately hit on her, despite not clueing in at first that it even was her. But even before that moment, I hadn’t so much as looked in another woman’s direction, not since she fled my bed in the wee hours of the morning.
“Fine.”
Nellie’s one-worded reply caught me by surprise. I’d expected her to fight me a little harder.
“Fine?” I repeated, my eyes widening.
“Let’s do it. One date, to throw them off us. We’ll tell them it didn’t work out. That there’s no chemistry or whatever.” Nellie bit her lip, as if she was already regretting this decision and looking for an excuse to back out.
