“I’ve got this. Trust me. For the bar, I managed theentertainment, scheduling, ordering supplies, all of that. Aiden was very good at bartending, at making menus and things like that, but…”
“I don’t need you to do all that here. My sister is going to manage the master schedule for everyone at the resort. We have software, so if people want to trade shifts or anything like that, it should be easy for you to make adjustments, but Lila is going to make sure that we have the personnel that we need. You can work with her on hiring and firing as we go forward. My chef at the restaurant will obviously handle concerns relating to staff there. And of course, Cara, whoever you decide to hire at the bakery, that’s up to you.”
“Okay,” Marlowe said. It was starting to sound less demanding than other jobs she’d done. Honestly, it was incredible. When they had been driving up to the ranch, she’d been stunned by the natural beauty, but she was even more stunned by how perfect the hotel was.
Natural light flooded in from the wall of windows at the back of the room, a view of the mountains and the river that was so stunning it took her breath away.
The floors were warm wood, and the check-in counter – which would be her post – was the same natural wood, with a sleek, black stone top. The wall behind the counter had wood acoustic treatment with a black iron mountain and black letters weaving through it that read Painted Ridge Resort.
There was a sleek, inviting seating area at the center of the room, and to the left was a stone chimney and fireplace, with a couch in front of it. Then there was a room she could only barely see from where she stood that looked like a library. To the right was the restaurant, which offered the same stunning views as the lobby.
Just. Perfect.
She looked at Cody, and she realized he wouldn’t have it any other way. She could just tell that about him. He wasexacting. It wasn’t an act, that was for sure. It was who he was. Deeply. Down to his bones.
“I promise you, I’ve got this. This isn’t my first time working with reservation software, and I know how to handle the needs of guests. We had a very upscale clientele in Maine, and they were very, very finicky. We also had security concerns, because sometimes we had famous guests, and I’m also very good at managing that.”
“I don’t know that we’ll get anybody famous. But there’s a lot of money that will pass through, that’s for sure.”
“I can do that.”
The more that she thought about all the things that she had done at the previous jobs she’d shared with Aiden, the more she realized how imbalanced it had been. And with respect to Cara – though they had talked absolute shit about Aiden the entire way here – she didn’t see the point in holding it back now.
“He was dead weight,” she said.
She wasn’t sure she meant it, not all the way. She was broken and hurt and angry, and Cody was sexy, but her heart was still broken.
She didn’t want Aiden back, she also felt very clear on that. Because she would never be able to trust him ever again. For her, trust and stability were everything. The pillars of her adult life, because she hadn’t been able to have them as a child.
He was supposed to be her one. Her stability. The proof everything would be okay.
He was the only man she’d slept with. Knowing that he had been with another woman… No. She would never be able to take him back.
She contained all those feelings, all at once. And she wasn’t sure if she believed, not entirely, that her whole life was going to be better because he wasn’t in it.
She wasn’t sure that she believed that he was entirelydeadweight, not when she got a picture of him standing behind the bar, making martinis and smiling at the guests, looking handsome, but not in a dangerous way.
Not the way that Cody was.
The last five days had her completely messed up. She didn’t know if she was on the ceiling or the floor.
That was the honest truth.
“I can manage without him. And honestly, maybe even better.”
Cody lifted a dark brow. “I don’t know how I feel about the fact that I hired a couple, and now it turns out that you were just doing PR for him.”
“No offense,” Cara said, “with respect to the fact that you’re a man. But I think women are doing PR for their partners more often than people realize.”
Cody’s other brow shot up, joining the first. “You’re her sister-in-law, right? Am I… Wrong in assuming that her husband is your brother?”
“Not at all. Which should tell you something. I’m here with Marlowe, I’m not back with Aiden. I think that Marlowe is amazing, and I know that she’s going to do wonderful things for the hotel. And like you said, it’s too late to turn back now.”
“Right. Well. Let’s head out to the bakery, take a look at the place.”
He pushed past them, walking out of the lobby and into the parking lot. Marlowe exchanged a glance with Cara.
“He’s hot as hell,” Cara said.
