What she thought was that he was incredibly sweet to think like that. Most men wouldn’t have given it a second thought.
“You didn’t ask. I offered.”
“Yeah, but…I really want the ice cream, and I don’t want it to melt so I’ll do it when I’m done.” When he reached for the door, he grinned at her. “Wish me luck!”
“Good luck!” And while she wasn’t making their dessert, she figured she could open up the packages with all the bedding in them and at least get that going.
Five minutes later, Axel strode in with one mattress hefted over his head. He placed it down in front of the fire, winked at her, and then went back for the second one. Maisie admired his physique from behind—again—and wondered if maybe she should drag this mattress to the hotel room she’d been using.
“No. Stop being a baby. He’s probably used to women checking him out. And it’s not like he’s going to be interested in me.” Because curvy girls in the social circle she’d been living in her entire life never got the hot guy.
Ever.
Still, it would be nice if he were just as distracted by her as she was by him.
Although…this so wasn’t the time for that. Her life was a mess, and she wanted the job more than she wanted a man. In a perfect world, she could have both, but her world certainly wasn’t perfect. And rather than focus on that, she put pillowcases on the pillows and opened up the bags with the comforters and sheets and began making up the first bed.
He was gone a little longer this time, and Maisie heard the back door slam shut before she heard Axel’s heavy footsteps as he got closer. He put the second mattress down a few feet away from the first.
“I’ll be right back. I’ve got one more bag of supplies.”
“Seriously? I thought we had everything.” Looking around in confusion, Maisie couldn’t imagine what else they could need for this one night.
Grinning at her over his shoulder, he just walked away.
Rather than obsess about what he was bringing back, she decided to distract herself by making up the other bed while he was gone. When both beds were made, she went to the kitchen to see about what she wanted for dessert.
Tugging on the robe—which was really starting to get on her nerves—she went into the pantry to see about all the options Axel had mentioned.
“Maisie?” she heard him call out a minute later.
Stepping out of the pantry, she caught him before he left the kitchen. “Hey. Sorry. I was thinking about dessert,” she said, feeling herself blush. No doubt he thought that of course she was thinking about dessert.
Smiling, he put another one of those giant trash bags on the stainless-steel table.
“Oh, cool,” he said. “Hopefully between what’s in the pantry and the assortment of ice creams, you’ll find something you like. But in the meantime, check this out.” Turning the bag upside down, another pile of items wrapped in plastic fell to the table. He looked very proud of himself when he stood back. “This is literally the last piece of the puzzle.”
“The puzzle?”
He nodded. “Yeah. Look…old resort merch! There are shorts and T-shirts, a couple of tank tops, and bathing suit cover-ups. I’m guessing we should be able to find something here that fits that we can sleep in. I don’t know about you, but I was envisioning getting all twisted up in that robe and accidentally flashing you.”
He laughed, but Maisie’s cheeks were on fire thinking about him doing just that.
Axel began opening bag after bag after bag, and shockingly, they were all sizes that she could wear.
Whew!
Picking one of the cover-ups that was more like a dress, along with a tank top and shorts, she thanked him. “I can’t believe you found all of this.”
“It’s like a maze down there. When the power’s back on, I am definitely going to explore it a little more. In the meantime, now we can get comfortable and relax and have a dessert slumber party.” He grinned, grabbing his own selection of clothing. “What do you say? I’ll meet you back here in a few minutes after we change?”
“Sounds like a plan!”
Chapter Four
Axel couldn’t sleep.
He was exhausted, and every inch of his body was sore, but every inch of his body was also on alert because there was a beautiful woman sleeping three feet away.
