Page 15 of Resting Beach Face
I left the mess on the bathroom floor and returned to the main house to retrieve my abandoned phone.
The phone rang twice, then connected. “Swallow’s Nest Resort, this is Cash speaking. How may I help you?”
“Cash, it’s Declan.”
There was a long pause.
I cleared my throat. “Declan Sullivan, owner of?—”
“I know who you are, Declan,” he said, sounding exasperated. “I was just surprised. What can we help you with?”
“I’ve got a little situation over here at the B&B.”
“Are you okay?” he asked, sounding concerned.
“Yes, but I booked the Tree Hut for the first time, and we have a bathroom crisis.”
“That doesn’t sound good.”
“No. I was hoping I could book a room at the resort. For my guests Harrison and Noah.”
“Let me see what we can do,” Cash said, the tapping of keys audible in the background. “We can’t have Harrison and Noah sleeping on the couch.”
His voice was light, teasing even, but it took me straight back to the night I’d found him in my great room.
To the things that almost happened. That most likelywouldhave happened if I was a different kind of man.
I cleared my throat again, shifting. “I’ll pay the going rate, of course. If they could get a room with a view of the lake… I’d like to make up for ruining their treehouse experience.”
“I’m sure you didn’t ruin anything,” Cash said. “But yes, we can do it. We’re intentionally booking at only about forty percent capacity right now. Skylar wanted a soft opening to give us plenty of time to work out all the bugs as we take on guests. But I know he’ll make an exception in this case. I’ve got them in the system. Just send them over.”
“Thank you, Cash.”
“Anything for you, Dec. Say the word, and I’m your man.”
If only that were true. I’d offered him a place, and he’d rebuffed me. Possibly, he wanted more than a platonic place to lay his head. But that was the whole problem, wasn’t it? If I gave him the truth—the whole truth—of who I was and how I lived my life, Cash would most decidedlynotbe my man.
CHAPTER THREE
Cash
I slumpedover the front desk, chin supported on my right hand, and checked the time on my computer screen. It read 6:50 p.m.
I sighed wistfully, like a princess trapped in a castle. If only some prince would come kiss me and set me free. Or was it that he needed to cut my hair? My hair was short enough already, and I liked this style, so maybe it was just as well?—
“Brr! The air-conditioning is chilly when you’re wet. My nips are getting all hard. Look, Harrison!”
Harrison attempted to shush his loud boyfriend as the two entered from the door that led out to the pool. While Harrison wore board shorts with a towel draped over his shoulders, Noah was clad in only tiny briefs that left little to the imagination and held the towel over one arm, doing little to shield hisnipsfrom the cold.
I grinned, happy for the distraction. Today had been relatively slow, aside from taking Declan’s call and checking these two in earlier. We’d booked a large group reservationaround 1 p.m., a request for room service at five, but largely it had been quiet on the home front.
If it weren’t for Grandma Kitty’s visits throughout the day to talk about everything from her favorite television shows to her little crush on old Chester—which Brooks was going tolovewhen he found out—I’d probably have died of boredom by now.
No chance of that with Harrison and Noah heading toward me, half-naked and dripping wet.
“You two look like you’re enjoying your stay.”
“It’s great,” Noah said, giving an excited wiggle that drew my eyes to his very exposed body. And he had alotof body to expose. He owned every bit of his beefy thighs, jiggly ass, and furry belly, though, and it was actually pretty damn sexy. “I had three daiquirisinthe pool.”
