Jumping up and screaming, “Yippee!” would be wildly inappropriate right now, and so would hugging him, but she seriously wanted to do both.
Badly.
“This is really what I thought everyone would do,” he went on. “I’m kind of bummed that none of the guys are here to see it for themselves.”
“You could always call them and maybe do a video chat to show them,” she suggested, all the while hoping she didn’t sound too eager.
“Oh, that reminds me. I looked at the weather app on my phone, and it said we should get a break in the rain in the next hour. I’m going to watch it closely because as soon as it stops, I’m running down and bringing the mattresses up. It’ll take two trips, but at least we’ll know we’ll be comfortable.”
“And you still don’t think we’ll make it to your cabin? I hate the thought of you wasting even more inventory on me.”
His gray eyes widened. “Are you kidding me right now? Maisie, I’m not wasting anything. You’re stuck here because you tried to come for your interview even though you were late. And in case you haven’t noticed, I’m using that inventory too. I don’t want to sleep on the floor. I’ve done it before, and I’m sure at some point I’ll do it again, but why should I when we have brand-new mattresses we’re not going to use?”
“Why aren’t you using them? That seems wasteful.”
“They were from before we took over. Walker’s a little obsessed with a specific brand of beds, so we’re going with his choice. And believe me, you can tell the difference. I thought he was crazy, but he bought several of them for our cabins so the guys and I could test them out. I was going to throw out my old mattress, but I have a loft in my cabin, so I threw it up there.”
She wasn’t sure what to say to that, so she just nodded.
“Anyway, it’s not a big deal for me to go down and bring them up here. We can set them up in the rooms we’ve each been using if you’d like, or we can camp out here in front of the fire.”
That felt even more intimate than cooking together in their robes, but she didn’t want to say that.
“Um…either is fine with me,” she said casually. “But I’m sure out here would be fine.”
Ugh…why did I say that?
“That works for me.” He smiled at her. “If it’s okay with you, I’m going to make myself a snack and watch the weather. We can go over your entire presentation after I get the beds moved if that works.”
He was being overly polite, and it made her wonder if he was like this all the time or if he was just going overboard because of their situation.
If she got the job, she’d more than likely find out.
“We’ve got all the makings for ice cream sundaes, or there are more cookies and an assortment of snack cakes,” he told her. “I don’t know if you noticed what I unpacked earlier, but I shopped like an unsupervised ten-year-old.”
That made her laugh as she followed him back to the kitchen.
But when they got there, it seemed like things were quieter. As if of one mind, they moved to the outer room and looked out the windows.
“It stopped!” he said excitedly, shrugging the robe off, and leaving her a little flustered at the sight. “Okay, I’m gonna go down and grab those mattresses and anything else we might need tonight.”
She was feeding off his energy and felt like she needed to be doing something too.
Other than ogling him.
“What about me? What do you need me to do?” she asked, chasing after him as he went back to where their clothes were by the fire. “I can get dressed again and come down and help you carry the beds!”
Axel straightened as he smoothed his T-shirt over his chest.
And that was a damn shame to cover it.
“I appreciate the offer,” he said, giving her shoulder a squeeze as he walked by on his way back to the kitchen. “But I can handle it. I move bulky items all day, every day. Plus, I saw your shoes earlier, and they don’t look safe for you to be walking around in the mud.”
Well, damn.
“Okay, how about this,” she said as she chased after him again. “Tell me what you want for dessert, and I’ll handle that while you’re doing what you’re doing.”
He pulled his boots on at the back door. “That would be wildly sexist of me to ask you to stay put in the kitchen while I did the heavy work, don’t you think?”
