“There’s a supply room downstairs—you can’t get to it from inside—and there’s a bunch of stuff from before the resort closed down a year ago. We’ve got a couple of robes, a few pairs of slippers, some larger towels than the ones I grabbed earlier, toiletries…” Looking up at her, he shrugged. “I don’t know about you, but I do not want to stay in these wet clothes. There’s a fireplace out in the lobby that I can light, and we can hang our stuff to dry out there and get warmed up.”
He rummaged through the pile and grabbed a pack of towels, a robe, and one of the toiletry kits. When he had it all bundled in his arms, he noticed that she hadn’t moved.
“This is a hotel,” he began carefully. “But it’s not all finished. That’s why we were interviewing designers and decorators. All the rooms have new bathrooms; we went for the basics and figured a decorator would make them look nicer. Anyway, if you want to grab some stuff and follow me, you can take a room and I’ll take another.”
“What about your groceries?”
“Oh, damn. Right.” Putting his stuff down, he dealt with the food and put it all away. By the time he was scooping the robe and towels and things off the table, he noticed Maisie had hers and she was standing timidly by the door that led to the reception area.
He knew this had to be awkward for her—to be stuck here with some random guy—but he wasn’t exactly comfortable with the situation either. But they were stuck with each other, and he was just trying to make the best of it. The best thing he could do was to try to put her mind at ease.
“I get that this is a weird situation, but you don’t have anything to worry about. I swear I’m a good guy. If I weren’t, I would have thrown you out of here as soon as I got the door open. The weather is looking dangerous, and I don’t want you to be freaked out about being here with me. If it would make you feel better, you can stay up here and I’ll run across the property to my cabin. You won’t even have to be around me.”
She nibbled on her bottom lip for a moment as she eyed him warily, but he could tell she was weighing her options.
“I want to believe you, but…you know…how many serial killers tell their victims to trust them, right?” A nervous laugh followed.
“If you want, I’ll call all of my business partners right now and put them on video so you can see their faces and let them vouch for me. I’m serious, Maisie. I just want you to know that you’re safe here.”
When she still didn’t look convinced, he pulled his phone out and was thankful it hadn’t gotten ruined while sitting in his now soaking wet pocket. He had no idea who was going to be available, but he tried Connor first.
“Hey, Axel, what’s up?”
“Hey, did you make it to the airport before the storm?”
“Yeah, but now we’re grounded because of it. We just couldn’t take off before things got wild. It seems like it’s settling over this region for a while, so I think I’m gonna drive down instead. It’ll take way longer, but it’s better than sitting at the airport. I heard trees are already down, and it’s unlikely I’d even be able to get back to the resort.”
“Wait, really? Where did you hear that?”
“From a few people here at the airport who came from out that way. It seems several came down right at the town limits, so it looks like you might be stuck at the resort for a while. I hope you were able to go out and get groceries.”
Raking a hand through his wet hair, he nodded. “Um, yeah. I got back just when things started to get bad.”
“Well that’s good. So what’s up? Or were you just calling to see if I'd taken off safely?”
Crap.
“Yeah, so…funny story. Remember the decorator who missed her interview?”
“Yeah. Why?”
“She showed up.”
“Seriously? I hope you told her it was completely rude to show up late without a damn call.”
“We haven’t gotten to that. However, she showed up just when I got back here, and the storm is freaking crazy and…”
“And she’s stuck there with you.”
“Bingo.”
Naturally, Connor laughed first. “Okay, so what do you need from me? Is she pretty? Are you already hitting on her and wanted to make sure I wasn’t going to be coming back?”
Ugh…this was so not what he needed.
Thank God I didn’t put him on video or speaker first…
“No,” he said firmly. “She’s a bit uneasy with the situation, and I promised my business partners would vouch for me. As in putting her mind at ease.” He paused. “Can you do that, or do I need to call Milo or Walker?”
