‘So that’s how you’re going to play it?’
I return her Cheshire cat grin. ‘Yup. Payment upfront or charge to your room and no returns. I can spot a “gently read” novel, you know.’
She has the grace to blush. ‘Nice. Maybe you will fit in – I’ll reserve judgement for now.’
‘Lucky me.’
As she hands over her lanyard so I can scan it, Xavier struts past and, oh my lord, he’s got no shirt on. My face flames as if I haven’t seen a man’s upper body before. His deep brown skin is a ripple of muscles and I have the crazy urge to run a hand over his abs to feel every ridge. Must be sunstroke. What is the UV today? One million? It’s fried whatever working brain cells I had left.
‘Harper,’ he says crisply.
‘Xa – Xa – Xavier,’ I choke out. ‘Swallowed a fly.’Oh, you idiot!
Doris lets out a loud guffaw. I shoot her a glare. Xavier power-saunters, towel casually draped over a shoulder like he’s walking a runway. When he stops before me, I frown. Why is he shooting me daggers?
‘Who’s looking after the bookshop?’ His tone is demanding and it takes great effort not to spit my reply back at him. What’s with the hostility? It’s not like I’ve taken the afternoon off, is it?
I exhale and say with a smile, ‘It’s always dead at the hottest time of the day so I figured I’d bring the books to where the guests are. Makes sense, right?’ I don’t tell him I’ve been doing this all week, not when he’s being so grumpy.
‘And what if guests make the long, hot walk down the path only to find the bookshop closed?’
‘I left a sign saying where to find me.’
‘What made you think?—’
I cut him off before he gets too far into a lecture and lower my voice so guests in the vicinity can’t hear. ‘Look, Xavier, I want the bookshop to succeed as much as you do. However, in the middle of the day, it’s a ghost town. Guests are poolside, on tours, napping, or feet up under a palm tree with a book. If you take a look around, this is where most of them hang out.’
‘You could use that time to order stock, to tidy the shelves, or for all the admin.’
‘Yeah, I could. Or I could focus on the bottom line which is what needs fixing more urgently. The rest I can do in other snatches of time. Now, if you don’t mind?’ I point to Doris, who is, of course, eagerly listening in.
‘Fine,’ he eventually concedes. ‘As long as no one is disappointed to find it closed.’
‘They won’t be.’
He gives me a curt nod and turns away. I can’t help but feel smug about my small victory. Talk about a micromanager, sheesh. If he’s like this with every staff member, he must be run ragged trying to oversee every little thing. Or is the bookshop different? Special to him?
When he’s out of earshot, Doris says, ‘Cool, Harper. Once you stopped stuttering over him, you were very eloquent.’
‘Oh shush, you. Buy another book, will you, so my cunning plan makes sense to him?’
This only makes her laugh louder. ‘Sure, give me a 10 per cent discount and you’ve got a deal.’
‘Fine.’
‘Just so you know, Xavier is hot property around here.’
‘What does that mean? Because it sounds suspiciously like you’re objectifying him, Doris, and that’s not very PC these days. And I don’t like to point out that most of the population of the resort is what can best be described as ageing, so are you implying that Xavier is hot property among the mostly seventy-year-olds?’
‘It means what it means. Women love him; hell, men do too. Act fast or lose out.’
‘Righteo. It’s been a blast, Doris. Truly.’ The woman is a menace and, dammit, I like her style.
‘Quick tip – play hard to get, don’t make it so obvious.’
‘Oh geez, thanks. Dating advice from circa 1970. What could possibly go wrong?’ I roll my eyes. ‘Play hard to get? Have we evolved nought?’
‘In denial, aren’t you?’ Did she not just overhear most of our exchange where I had to practically tell Xavier to back off and let me try different initiatives for the bookshop? How she’s not joining those dots defeats me.
