I froze.

“I smell good?!” Flynn gave me the most horrified look. “How long were you sniffing me while I was passed out?”

“I… that came out wrong,” I stammered. “I mean when I carried you back here. It just… I could smell you… I guess. I didn’t do it on purpose!”

He gave me some major side eye. “What do I smell like?”

“Uh… well…” I took a deep breath. “Kinda like Mountain Laurel I guess?”

There was a long discerning squint in my direction before he finally spoke. “I guess that’s okay. As long as you didn’t have your nose buried up my taint or something weird.”

The thought instantly made my cock twitch. “No! I would never do that! That’s so weird! Ha-ha!”

Again, with the fake laughing. I needed to get a hold of myself.

“To the hot springs then?”

Please say yes. Anything to get me out of here.

He paused for a moment, looking me over one last time before he shrugged. “Sure. As long as you promise not to sniff me on the way down.”

I shook my head. “Of course not.” I paused. “Uh… do you want me to take you in a wheelchair or… I could… carry you?”

“I think a chair might be better for now,” he chuckled. “Unless you have one of those little scooter things.”

“We… might? I can call down and ask. Give me a minute.”

Excusing myself from the table, I did just that. Picking up my phone once again, I called down to maintenance and had a knee walker brought up from storage in the basement. I was shocked we even had one, but it was better to be prepared for these sorts of things than to be caught off guard. Guests had a tendency to make all sorts of weird requests. And the richer they were, the stranger the request usually.

Helping Flynn get himself situated in the walker, I led him down the hall to the private elevator that only went up to my suite. I scanned my badge and took us down to the main floor where I got him a badge to let him into whatever he wanted in the resort and to comp all his services. From there it was a short walk down to the hot springs.

“This place is really beautiful,” he commented as we headed down the long hallways toward the changing rooms. “Did your family build it?”

“A couple generations ago, yeah. My grandfather started it as just a hotel, but it underwent major renovations during my father’s reign.”

“And the hot springs were always here?”

“As far as we know. It was the reason my family settled in this area so long ago.”

“Mountain people tend to stay in one place,” he nodded. “My Nana is still furious my mother moved out to the city and left it all behind.”

“That’s pretty taboo,” I grinned. “And I can’t imagine why anyone would want to leave this place. It’s beautiful.” I paused for a moment thinking of my father and what the Skoll pack had done to him. “Well, maybe I can see why. Lots of memories here.”

“Yeah. She said she wanted to be more than just some farm girl destined to do nothing else but get married to some idiot mountain man and have babies.” Flynn laughed, shaking his head. “So she went to the city, got married, had a baby, and also got a career that eats up all of her time.” He glanced up at me. “Personally, I think I could stand a mountain man if it meant I didn’t have to spend my whole life in a cubicle.”

Was that a hint? Was he hitting on me? My heart skipped a beat, but I tried to play it cool.

“Yeah… I guess there’s a couple decent guys out here most likely.”

“And you’re one of them?”

There was a tone of accusation in his voice, like he was daring me to sell myself to him.

“I don’t know if I’ll ever be as good as I would hope,” I replied truthfully. “But I try.”

Flynn sighed. “Better than most guys?”

I couldn’t help my curiosity. “Oh? Unlucky with the guys?”