“And why should it be? The man’s a chef,” she reasoned. “Even someone who does okay in the kitchen wouldn’t be able to compare to a professional chef.”
“Do you cook?”
Her dark eyes went wide. “Me?” She shook her head with a small laugh. “Just the basics.”
“Like soup?” he teased, and she smiled at him. He’d been so consumed with the storm and finding her trying to break in and all the other stuff that he really hadn’t paid too much attention to Maisie as a person.
A woman.
When he tackled her to the floor earlier—unintentionally—he had a moment where he definitely noticed her curves. She was pressed so intimately against him that he would have had to be dead not to notice. But there had been so much to deal with that he’d pushed those thoughts aside. And even when they talked and he tried to put her mind at ease, he was still in crisis mode; he needed to get them warm and dry.
But now things were as settled as they were going to be for the foreseeable future, and he couldn’t ignore the fact that she was beautiful. Her hair was wet, she’d washed off all of her makeup, and she was wearing a basic resort robe, and yet he couldn’t take his eyes off of her.
And right now, that wasn’t a good thing.
He had promised her she was safe with him, so he couldn’t keep staring at her.
So he carefully got to his feet—mindful of the robe that seemed to have a hard time staying closed—and walked to the outer room so he could look out the windows. It was pretty dark out, so he couldn’t really see much, but the rain was still coming down heavily. At some point, he was going to have to go back downstairs to the supply room to see what he could scrounge up for them to sleep with tonight, but maybe that could wait until after dinner.
When he went back into the kitchen, he found Maisie exactly where he’d left her, but noticed she was staring sadly into her cup of tea.
“Hey,” he said softly. “Are you okay?”
When she looked up, he could see the unshed tears in her eyes and hated that being stuck here with him was likely the cause of them.
She sniffled and shook her head, but what she said next wasn’t at all what Axel expected.
“Okay, here’s the thing,” she began carefully. “I need this job, Axel. Like…honestly and truly need this job. I promised myself that I wasn’t going to bring it up, but…what else are we supposed to talk about? We’re essentially trapped here together, and I could keep making pointless small talk, but this is seriously a matter of life and death. I can’t tell you why, but you have to believe me. Decorating the Lakeview Harbor Resort would…” Pausing, she sighed loudly. “It would completely transform my life.”
Well, shit.
What was he supposed to say to that, huh?
“Maisie, I…”
“Look, I get it. I messed up today. I should have called. I shouldn’t have stopped for the turtle. Although…no. I own that one. The turtle deserved the help, and you should be a little more understanding and let me have my interview! I mean…we’ve got nothing else to do! Would it really kill you to just let me pitch my ideas?”
“Um…”
“And believe me, you are going to love them. Love. Them,” she emphasized. “I can do my entire presentation and walk through it room by room with you.” She hopped off her stool and adjusted her robe. “I know this is beyond unconventional—I’m essentially naked and just got out of the shower—but that shouldn’t matter. Good ideas are good ideas, and believe me, I have a ton of them.”
“Okay, but…”
“Connor said he’d back you up if we did the interview,” she quickly went on. “And unless the other applicants completely blew you away, there’s no reason not to let me do my presentation.”
“I totally get that, and…”
“Have you ever been desperate, Axel? Have you ever just needed someone to give you a chance or give you a damn break? Do you think I enjoy having to grovel and beg like this? Because let me tell you, I don’t. It’s degrading and…and…”
He knew he needed to stop her because she was getting really riled up.
“What have you got to lose, huh? I get that a bigshot like you probably has no idea what I’m feeling because you’ve never lost anything, but…”
Axel held up a hand to stop her because he’d heard enough.
“If you would please just stop talking for like…five seconds, maybe we could clear some things up, okay?”
For a moment, he thought she was going to argue, but she crossed her arms and shrugged.
