Sitting back on her heels, she took in the mess. “Okay, so it looks like you found exactly what you were hoping to find, though.”
“Yeah, I didn’t come this far back earlier. Or ever. There are even a couple of mattresses, but I don’t know if I can get them up the stairs in this ridiculous getup.” As he said it, he adjusted the robe because it was resting dangerously high on his thigh—an inch or two more and she was going to see more of him than was appropriate.
She looked around, unwilling to just let all this stuff—especially the mattresses—stay down here. “You know what we haven’t done?”
“No, what?”
“Looked at our phones to see what the weather apps say about when there might be a break in the rain. If there is one, then we can come back down for the mattresses then,” she reasoned. “In the meantime, we grab what we can and go back upstairs.”
He was frowning, but she didn’t know him well enough to know why.
“Axel?”
“Um…yeah. Sure. That will work.” He got to his feet but turned his back to her so he could once again fix the robe and poncho. “I brought two extra bags down with me to carry stuff back in.” Rummaging through the pile, he found them and handed her one. “Grab a package of pillows, a package of sheets and comforter, and maybe more towels and another robe too, and I’ll do the same.”
Nodding, Maisie got to work and in no time, they had what they needed. She slung the bag over her shoulder with a laugh. “I feel like Santa Claus!”
Luckily, that made him laugh. “I’d rather heft these bags around in the snow than the rain, but when we get upstairs, we’ll look at our phones. I can’t believe I didn’t think of that earlier.”
“To be fair, we’ve had other things to deal with.”
“True.” They walked over to the door, and he motioned for her to stay behind him. “I’ll lead the way. You can hold my hand or hold on to the poncho or something. Just stay close, okay?”
“Okay.”
It was just as miserable going back up as it had been going down. The only good thing was that Axel’s body blocked a tiny bit of the rain. When they stumbled through the doorway, they were both breathless as they dropped their bags to the ground.
Shivering, she didn’t even think about what to do next. “I’m going to take a shower.”
“Same.”
Much like she’d done earlier, she took her time. After all, what was the rush? They were stuck here for the night. And she was so cold and miserable that the extra time under the hot shower spray went a long way in making her feel better.
When she finally emerged from her room, she walked out to the lobby and found Axel already there, studying her presentation. His hair was damp, and he had his jeans on under his robe. But with his back to her, she had no idea what he was thinking.
“Crap,” she whispered as she slowly walked over to join him, not sure of what to say. So, she stepped up beside him and waited for him to say something first.
She didn’t have to wait long.
“This is…wow.” Turning his head, he looked at her. “This is really impressive, Maisie. And you did all this just by going online and looking up the resort?”
Nodding, she tried not to let herself preen. “I know originally the plan was to come here with some basic ideas and you were going to let applicants tour the property to get a feel for it. But I believe in doing my homework, and I didn’t want to waste anyone’s time.” The mirthless laugh was out before she could stop it. “And I ended up doing that because I was late.”
“To be fair, your truck broke down.”
“I know, but…”
“And you heroically saved a turtle.”
“I never said it was heroic…”
It was a good moment.
A great one, even.
Fighting a smile, she met his gaze. “So you like this, huh?”
“I do. It’s…it’s so much better than what anyone else presented to us. I mean…it’s not perfect, and there are maybe a few things I’d like to discuss and maybe change, but it’s obvious you know your stuff.”
