Page 51 of Wilder

Hudson chuckled. “I’m with Wilder.”

Kayleigh waved her hand dismissively at them. “We’ll talk about it in the new year.”

Wilder could live with that, and he had a pretty good idea that Alexandra would, too.

They finished up their meals, then Wilder left out the front door, planning to go back to the rink, while Kayleigh and Hudson returned to the hotel part of the resort where their offices were located.

He noticed a shiny Audi parked in the lot by the rink that hadn’t been there earlier and wondered if it belonged to Alexandra. Getting out, he headed for the entrance to the rink. There weren’t many cars in the parking lot, but that didn’t mean anything, since guests often used the golf carts with drivers that the resort offered to get them from place to place.

As he stepped into the rink, Wilder’s gaze swept the space, looking for Alexandra. He spotted her on the ice, so headed in that direction.

She had a couple of kids on the ice with her, so Wilder just stood next to the boards without calling out to her. A woman he assumed to be the mother of the children stood a little further down the boards, her gaze on the trio.

Alexandra wore her usual fitted black workout jacket and leggings. Her hair was pulled back in a ponytail, and she had a pink band on her head that covered the tops of her ears.

“Look at us, Momma!” one of the kids called out.

“I see you, sweetie. You’re doing great!”

The kids each had a skating aid that they were holding on to as they made their way around the rink with Alexandra. She was showing them how to glide, which the older one was picking up much quicker than the younger one.

“Are you a guest here?”

Wilder turned to see the woman had moved closer to him. “No. I’m not.”

“Do you really think it’s appropriate for you to be hanging around watching children like this?”

There were so many things that Wilder wanted to say to her. Stuff likeMy sister is married to the son of the man who owns this whole place, so I can go where I want.OrI’m actually watching the woman, not the children.

Instead, he just said, “I’m here to speak with Alexandra. And while I’m not a guest, I am an employee.”

“I’m afraid you’re making me uncomfortable. Can I have your supervisor’s name?”

He debated whose name he should give. Technically, Trev was his supervisor, but Kayleigh could probably get the woman to back down better than Trev could.

“Sure. I can even give you her phone number.”

While the woman fished her phone out of her pocket, Wilder sent off a quick text to Kayleigh to give her a head’s up on the incoming call.

“What’s her name and number?”

“Her name is Kayleigh St. James,” he said, then gave her Kayleigh’s number. “And my name is Wilder.”

Her brows lifted when he volunteered his name, but she didn’t say anything as she focused on her phone.

Hopefully, Kayleigh wouldn’t kill him for causing a problem with a guest. He understood why the woman might be concerned, but he had absolutely no interest in her children. All his attention was on the woman skating with them.

While the woman made her call, Wilder wandered over to the café and ordered himself a coffee. The guy working there knew him, so punched in his employee discount, even though, technically, he wasn’t an active employee yet.

Rather than return to the boards with his coffee, Wilder headed for one of the tables that had a great view of the forest around the resort and the mountains in the distance. Soon, he’d be on one of the closer ones.

From his seat, he could see Alexandra but only the tops of the kids’ heads. He wasn’t surprised when his phone rang after he’d been there for a couple of minutes.

“Hey, sis,” he said when he saw Kayleigh’s number on the screen.

“Don’they, sisme. I can’t leave you alone for five minutes…” she said with a sigh. “What were you doing?”

“I came to the rink to see if Alexandra was busy, and all I did was stand at the boards while she worked with a couple of kids. I guess their mom thought I was creeping on them or something.”

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