Still nothing.
Gently, she cleared her throat. “Anyway, I know nothing about cars, and my purse spilled out all over the floor on the passenger side, and I had to pretty much crawl all over the place to pick up all my stuff. My phone had gone under the seat, and it took a while for me to get it out. Then I tried to do an online search of what to do when your truck won’t start, but there’s no reception out here. It took a while, but it finally started again. I drove right here to the resort, but I couldn’t pull up close to the main entrance because of all the construction debris.”
This time he nodded.
“So I parked as close as I could get and ran to the front entrance, but it was locked. Then I remembered seeing this door and just prayed it was open. Obviously it wasn’t until you showed up.”
Another nod.
“I thought I was hearing thunder, but I’m guessing that was the sound of you running up those stairs,” she said with a small smile.
“It was a little bit of both,” he said.
“Oh.” His arm finally released her, and she took a step back, swallowing hard. “Are you one of the contractors? I was supposed to meet up with a couple of the owners. Are they still around?”
He shook his head. “Sorry to disappoint you, but…”
“They already left,” she said, feeling completely dejected. “I know I shouldn’t have stopped for the turtle, but with the storm coming in, I was afraid he’d get stuck and someone would just run him over. And now, because of that one good deed, the owners took off. Dammit.” Her eyes went wide because she knew it wasn’t this guy’s fault and she shouldn’t be getting mouthy even if he was just a contractor.
“You saved the turtle, huh?”
She nodded. “For all the good it did me. You’d think the universe would have rewarded me or something, but no. Nope. I’m out of luck and out of a potential job.”
Then it didn’t matter about manners or anything, so she muttered a curse.
“Listen, um…the storm’s pretty intense right now,” he said. “Why don’t you come inside and dry off? I can make you some coffee or tea or something. There’s not much in the way of supplies up here yet, but I can definitely get us some towels and stuff.”
“Sure,” she said quietly. “That would be great. Thank you.”
With nothing else to do, Maisie followed him through whatever room this was and then into a massive kitchen. There was a workstation in the middle with a few stools set up, and he motioned to them.
“Have a seat, and I’ll be back in a minute.”
“Thanks,” she said again. But when he turned to walk away, she stopped him. “I’m sorry, but…I know I introduced myself, but who are you?”
He faced her and smiled, making him look a lot less intimidating than he had minutes ago. He even had dimples. Stepping in close he held out his hand to her.
“I’m Axel Hayes, one of the owners of the resort.” He shook her hand. “It’s nice to finally meet you.”
Her eyes went wide. “You’re…?”
“Yup. I’m the guy who waited over an hour for you to show up. Sorry you missed your chance because of a turtle, but you did a good thing.”
And when he turned and walked away, Maisie wasn’t sure if maybe he’d be open to giving her a chance or if he was letting her know she blew it.
Chapter Two
The supply closet was down on the lower level, and it wasn’t accessible from inside the lodge. There was no way Axel was going back outside right now.
Except…
All his groceries were out in his truck, and most of them required refrigeration.
However, there were a few things in a smaller closet here on the main floor that Connor insisted on. There were aprons, tablecloths and other assorted linens, and—thankfully—a healthy supply of towels. Scooping all the towels up, he strode back to the kitchen and placed them on the stainless-steel workstation before heading for the door.
“You’re not going back outside, are you?” Maisie asked.
Turning, he nodded. “I’ve got groceries out in my truck. I would have brought them in when I got back from town, but I saw you run up the stairs and needed to make sure you weren’t here to ransack the place.”
