Page 4 of The Grumpy Doc's Surprise Delivery

“Sincere, my ass,” mutters the floppy-haired guest under his breath, and I shoot him a glare.

“And a fifty-dollar credit to your drinks tab for the duration of your stay. Your rooms are now all set, and you won’t have any more issues.”

“Thank you very much,” I say brightly. “You’ve been very helpful.”

Floppy Hair just grunts.

“Will you allow me to show you both up to your rooms?”

“Please,” I say. “I’m really excited to get unpacked.”

“Me too,” says the guy.

The receptionist hands us each a key card and gestures for us to follow him to the elevator. We do and head back up to the fourth floor.

“I have also upgraded both of your rooms,” he says as we head down the corridor, “as a courtesy for your trouble.”

“Wow. Thank you,” I say. Out of the corner of my eye, I spy the guy rolling his eyes, presumably sickened by how nice I’m being.

The receptionist draws to a halt. “This is you, madam.” He gestures to room 415. “And this,” he says, gesturing to room 416, “is for you, sir. Please let me know if I can do anything else at all to help you.”

My heart sinks a little at realizing I’m going to be right next door to the grump. This means the chances of me seeing him again are not as slight as I’d hoped. Still, we’re all set now, and I’m not going to let this get me down.

I enter the room and shut the door behind me. The bed is truly enormous, and the bathroom is polished and clean. But the most exciting thing about being in a suite is the vast balcony attached to the window. I place my bag down, then head straight for it.

There is a gorgeous view of the island beyond us, trees of the forest stretching for as far as the eye can see, all swaying in the sun, inviting and friendly. I slide the door open, step outside, and take a deep breath. The air is slightly salty from the sea and fresh — so fresh it stings the back of my throat.

I could get used to this.

Then I happen to glance to my left and notice that the asshole is doing the exact same thing that I’m doing, standing on the balcony and taking in the view.

“Hey,” I say awkwardly, not knowing how to recover from the eye contact.

He grunts in response.

I can hardly believe this. I have to share a balcony with this guy.

Quickly, I slip back inside, not wanting to share the company with a man who can’t stand me. He is not going to ruin this for me. I won’t let him.

Instead, I decide to unpack a little, to hang up my dresses in the closet and put my toothbrush by the sink. That seems productive. I unzip the bag and pull my papers out, dropping them on the floor with a thud.

And that’s when I hear the muffled sound of a raised voice from behind the wall. Slowly, I grab my papers and creep towards the wall by the bed. Nobody is watching to question me, but I still feel like I have to have a cover story for why I’m eavesdropping.

It’s the guy, yelling about screwups and refunds. I put my papers on the bedside table and sigh before returning to my bag. Guess I’m not going out on the balcony again until he calms down. It’s not exactly relaxing background noise to hear a guy yelling.

This trip isn’t going to plan at all. At least from here, it can only get better. Right?

CHAPTER 3

LIAM

Ishould have known that this course would be a bad idea. These things almost always are. I spent an hour and a half on the phone with my boss and with the people who organized the training, giving them a piece of my mind about how shoddily the whole thing has been arranged.

Almost everything about this trip has gone wrong so far. My flights were delayed, my work shifts weren’t canceled properly, and now the hotel got it wrong too.

I’m starting to wish I never bothered coming out here in the first place.

It’s almost tempting to just turn around and leave, or at the very least blow off the first night and the stupid opening talks, but I’ve spent this money now, and work is expecting me to come back with some sort of qualification, so I can’t let them down. At least I have drink tokens. That’s the only thing that can make any of this worth something.

---