“One thing. Now, Dutton.”
“Expansion,” Dutton says with a growl. “I think we could be in three to five states within the next ten years under my leadership.”
Wow. And here I thought I had goals.
Mr. Richford grunts, his beady eyes drifting back to me.
I give him a pathetic straight-lipped smile.
Clearly, he doesn't approve of me. Which is odd, seeing as how I'd say the majority of this town loves me, and he and I havenever actually spoken. Heck, I've been friends with Grace for years and still haven’t spoken to this man. He’s always busy.
“Let’s hope this plan includes sacrificing your personal life, because if it doesn’t, it’ll fall apart before you even begin,” he says and walks out the door.
I wait a good thirty seconds before I let out a low whistle. At least Dutton stops glaring at the doorway.
“What does that even mean?” I ask.
“What does what mean?”
Dutton sits back down, his head hanging in front of him as his fingers rub his temples.
“Let’s hope this plan includes sacrificing your personal life because if it doesn’t, it’ll fall apart before you even begin,” I say in a deep voice, my best representation of his father.
Dutton chuckles. “He did sound a little weaselly, didn’t he?”
I grin.
“Like a medium to large amount, I think.”
Dutton's bright green eyes glance up at me, and his smile takes away any tension that might have been lingering.
He looks at his computer quickly then at the papers on his desk.
“Do you want to get out of here?” he asks, standing quickly, grabbing his book just as fast.
“And go where?” I ask. He stuffs a laptop into a bag and then a notebook, zipping it with force. He’s gathering things as if he isn’t planning to come back.
“I don’t know yet.”
He removes his button-down and pulls on a shirt that had been lying over the back of his chair, then he puts the button-down back on. His gaze finds mine once more, waiting for me to say something.
“Okay, do you want to hike up to your spot or go somewhere alone?”
“No. I want to go somewhere with you,” he says and those emerald eyes pull me into a trance. “Does that work for you?”
A warm feeling floods through my veins.
Does Dutton need me right now? Likeneedneed. In a comforting way.
No one has ever needed me like that, and I … I …
“Yes,” I say in a rush before that’s exactly how this moment feels. “That works for me.”
“Good.”
He grabs my hand with his free one and pulls me behind him out of the office and down the hall. To leave the lodge, we’d need to keep going straight, but Dutton guides us to the left, down another hall. He pushes through a door, and we appear in the back room of the lodge's bar.
“What are we doing?” I ask.
