Page 44 of The Main Event

“She turned me on with her mind,” Jesse countered. “Don’t be gross.” He paused a beat. “The hotdogs didn’t hurt, though.”

There was no stopping the laughter that bubbled up. “I wish I could’ve seen that. I bet it was funny.”

“We both had family issues,” Jesse countered. “My family is … well … you’ve met them. All I wanted was to succeed on my own. I was already in too deep when I realized it was okay to need help. What I truly needed was Lux and look at us now.”

“It’s different,” I argued. “Even though it was weird, and you both had different strengths, you and Lux were equals. I’m Daisy’s boss. On top of that, I don’t even know if I’m staying here. For all I know, I’m just having some weird chemical reaction to her pheromones.”

“That’s called attraction,” Jesse replied. “You need it at the start, because otherwise your brain will win.”

“Maybe my brain should win.”

“Daisy is a good girl.”

“I’m not saying she isn’t. Although, she is a righteous pain in the ass.” I shot a quick glance in her direction. She was onthe treadmill, laughing it up with Lux. She refused to look in my direction. Why wouldn’t she just look over here? Even if she glared, that would be something. It was as if she was purposely trying to torture me.

“What have you two been arguing about?” Jesse asked.

“Actually, we’d been getting along better ever since she gave me the tour of Salem and explained how things worked here. I mean… I don’t get all of it, but I understand the basics now. You have to balance the light with the dark.”

“That is pretty much true. What happened yesterday that set her off?”

“See, I don’t know.” I hated how pathetic I sounded. “We were getting along fine when she walked me through how she books a party. She was laughing with Levi when I left the bar. I was in my office for a few hours, and I ran into her in the lobby when I was leaving, and she was a monster.”

“For no reason?” Jesse was clearly dubious. “That doesn’t sound like Daisy.”

“I didn’t do anything to her.”

“Why were you in the lobby at that time? Don’t you have a room in the hotel? Why wouldn’t you just go there when you were done for the day?”

“Because Tammy Gordon—I’m sure you know who that is—wrangled me into having dinner off site. We went to Turner Seafood. The food was great. The company? Not so much.”

“Wait … you had a date with Tammy Gordon yesterday?” Jesse looked horrified.

“Not a date. It was a work meeting. Although… I’m not sure Tammy realized that. She was weird.”

“Tammy is always weird. I’m a newcomer to Salem and don’t know these people like they know each other, but even I know it’s a bad idea to voluntarily spend time with Tammy. By theway, if she ever tries to tell you a story about when she went to church camp, don’t listen. It will shrivel your balls.”

“Too late,” I said ruefully. “That story is crazy.”

“Tammy is crazy.” Jesse looked me over with fresh eyes. “I can see why you would appeal to her, though. She’s always fancied herself as important at the hotel. She and Daisy regularly butt heads.”

“Do you think that’s why Daisy is mad at me? Maybe she thinks I’m going to give Tammy power over her or something.”

“Are you?”

“Definitely not.”

“Maybe it’s something else,” Jesse suggested. “Maybe Daisy thinks you guys were going out on a date together. I mean, you said yourself that Tammy seemed to think that.”

I snorted. “Why would Daisy even care about that?”

Jesse didn’t say anything. He just stared. Then he stared harder.

“Oh, come on,” I complained after several seconds. “That’s not what was going on.”

“How do you know?”

“Because … because … because she doesn’t feel anything for me.” Saying it caused my heart to pang. I didn’t want it to be true. Sure, my feelings for Daisy were complex.Not feelings,I automatically corrected myself. It was just a mindless attraction. There were no feelings. We barely knew each other.

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