“Really?”
“Yup. I mean… do you know Stan at the resort?”
“The manager?” he guessed, and I nodded. “He helped me out. He caught on that I was sleeping in the laundry room after my shifts before school started. He’d tell me what room was available so I could rest and take a shower. He even let me keep some of my things in an old shed out in the back end of the resort.”
“He did, huh?”
“Yeah, but, umm, that was a long time ago. Don’t go tell on him or anything. I’m sure that would get him in trouble with the new owners somehow.” I rolled my eyes with a sigh.
“Why do you say that?” he asked, his body tense beside mine. Maybe I was sitting too close to him and made him uncomfortable?
“I don’t know.” I shrugged.
“Have you met them?” he asked with a tense edge to his voice.
“No. Not really. I mean, I was at the employee meeting with the brother who does human resources, but the big guy? Nope.”
“Big guy?” he asked.
“The head honcho,” I explained
“Why is that?” he asked, and when I turned, I wasn’t surprised to find him staring at me. What did surprise me was how comfortable I felt around him. How easy he was to talk to. “I don’t know. Everything I’ve heard about him is kinda… scary.”
“Scary?”
“Intimidating? I don’t know. Everyone at the resort I work with has some kind of story about how mean he is. How he gets in fights with the contractors.”
“Fights?” He chuckled and shook his head before taking a sip of his coffee. “I don’t know. He might not be that bad?”
“You think?”
“I mean, I don’t think anyone could be mean to you.”
“Me?” I laughed. “Why is that?”
“I don’t know.” He shrugged, and those big biceps of his rose and fell. “You’re sweet,” he noted, and I rolled my eyes.
“How do you know that? You just met me. For all you know, I could be the meanest, most annoying person around,” I teased. His eyes glittered with amusement before they turned serious.
“I highly doubt that, princess,” he said confidently, and everything inside me went all gooey.Princess?It felt like he could see right through me. Like I knew him somehow, even though I knew there was no way.
“Well, umm… you’re not too bad yourself,” I complimented.Are we flirting? Am I any good at it?
We continued to talk about easy things.
Favorite things like colors, movies, and foods. I suggested some places in town to try out. Before I knew it, the alarm on my phone went off.
“Shit,” I muttered, taking my phone from my pocket and silencing it.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
“Nothing.” I shook my head.Time flies when you’re having fun.“I just… I have to go in early to the resort.”
“Oh.” I could see the disappointment in his eyes. It matched mine. I didn’t want to walk away and stop hanging out. I liked him. Car was sweet, and there was something about the way he looked at me, like he really saw me.
“Umm… Would you like to come with me to my place?” I asked and then blushed because I could only imagine how that sounded.
“Your place?”Was it my imagination or did his voice drop an octave?