“One of your favorites,” he said seductively.
And she knew. “Chocolate mousse?”
“Yup.”
“A man after my own heart.”
Playfully, he tugged her close. “I thought I already had your heart.”
“Oh, you do, but it’s nice to know that you want to hold on to it.” This time, she kissed him.
There was a loud crash from inside the cabin, and they knew their ten seconds of romance were officially over.
Opening the door, he asked, “Shall we?”
Nodding, she agreed. “We shall.”
Chapter Thirteen
The resort opening was a colossal success!
They were booked to one hundred percent capacity, and it was like one big party that first week. Thanks to the connections they all had, they were able to garner a lot of press from various sources to cover the grand opening. They even made the national morning news shows.
Walker’s parents and grandparents came to celebrate with all of them, and now that they were fully open and things were running smoothly, it felt like a good time for just the core group to get together to celebrate.
Connor made a special dinner, and he, Walker, Axel, Slater, and Milo all met up in the owner’s suite.
With dinner on the table, Walker stood at the head of it with his glass raised. “I was going to put Jayce and Kelsey on video for this, but they were both busy tonight. When they came to me with the idea for this—to save the Lakeview Harbor Resort—I kind of thought they were crazy. But there was a part of me that always wanted to do it.” He laughed softly. “Obviously, I had other plans for it. Plans that you all talked me out of.”
“For the record, those plans weren’t ever going to work here,” Axel reminded him.
“Yeah, I know, but…that’s not the point. The point I’m trying to make is that we all came together without really knowing anything about rebuilding a resort and yet…we did it. You guys are seriously my best friends, and I am beyond thrilled that we could do this together. I can’t imagine owning this place with anyone else.” He raised his glass a little higher. “To us!”
“To us!” they all echoed.
Walker sat down, but Milo spoke up.
“You know we’re far from done, right?” he asked. “Yes, we’re open and had a great first week, but there’s a whole phase two that we still have to work on.”
Everyone groaned.
“Dude, can’t we just celebrate the here and now?” Slater asked. “We were on freaking TV this week! Hell, I think The Travel Channel is coming to do a feature on us next month. That’s huge!”
“And I get that, but just because the resort is open doesn’t mean we can sit back and relax. We’re just getting started.”
“Pfft…says the guy who never got his hands dirty,” Axel murmured teasingly.
“I think we’re all thankful that Milo didn’t get his hands on any of the power tools,” Slater joked. “God only knows if he’d have all his fingers and toes right now.”
“Okay, okay, no need to rub it in,” Milo countered good-naturedly. “And for what it’s worth, this next phase is going to have me here the most. I’m moving into my cabin officially for the next three months.”
They all looked at him with wide-eyed shock.
“When did you decide this?” Connor asked.
“I always knew it was going to happen, but I had to make sure things were set to run without me back in Seattle. I’m giving myself three months to get all the work done here and then hire someone to maintain it.”
“What’s going to take three months?” Slater asked. “We have all the electronics and Wi-Fi set up throughout the resort, along with security systems.”
