Page 26 of #Resort Romance
“Kelsey, relax,” he said as he gently stopped her from getting up. “I already texted my mother and said we’d see them tomorrow. I told her we wanted a day to ourselves.”
“Oh, Jayce…was she upset?”
He laughed. “Are you kidding me? She gave me two thumbs-up emojis, four smiley faces, several hearts, followed by the emoji with stars for eyes. I think she’s thrilled, so we have the entire day to do whatever we want.”
“Ooh…I like the sound of that. But I’m still going to want to shower and get changed.”
“Naturally.” After taking a sip of his own coffee, he repeated his question. “Are you hungry? I can run up to the lodge and grab some muffins if you’d like. Or maybe some fruit?”
“Thanks, but I’m not a big breakfast person. I do have some stuff over in my cabin if you’re hungry. Cereal, granola bars, fruit…and there are definitely some eggs, bacon, and English muffins.”
He grinned. “For someone who’s not a big breakfast person, you have an awful lot of breakfast food.”
“I’m an over-shopper. I plan for everything.” After a brief pause, she went on. “Since I had no idea I was going to run into you and your family, I pretty much figured I’d be spending these two weeks alone. Most of the time I don’t mind eating by myself, but if I’m being lazy, I figured I’d eat breakfast in the cabin and then wander out and about.”
“You want to know something funny? I rarely eat breakfast when I’m home, but when I’m on vacation, I eat it almost every day!” Shaking his head, he added, “Probably because on vacation, there are waffles and omelets while at home there’s cereal and oatmeal.” After a dramatic shudder, he winked at her. “Plus, someone else is making it.”
“Then let’s go over to my cabin and I’ll make you breakfast,” she said, tossing the blankets off. He didn’t fight her on it and after scrambling around to find her clothes from last night, she quickly got dressed.
“It’s a shame to cover that gorgeous body,” he murmured as he came up behind her, kissing her shoulder.
“Maybe, but I don’t think your family would appreciate seeing us sprinting naked across the path. I don’t even want to think about the shocked look on your grandmother’s face!”
Jayce instantly stepped back and groaned. “Okay, that was definitely a mood killer. Let’s go make breakfast.”
Luckily, they made it over to her cabin—fully clothed and without running into anyone. There had been a brief moment after she made the comment about his grandmother that she considered telling him about the conversation she had with her and his mother on the boat, but decided to keep that to herself for now.
“So, what would you like? Bacon and eggs? Cereal?” she asked, pulling ingredients out of the refrigerator.
“What are you going to have?”
“Hmm…probably bacon and eggs with an English muffin.” Grinning at him, she added, “If I’m going to have breakfast, I might as well go big, right?”
Coming over to her, Jayce wrapped his arms around her. “I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again; you’re a woman after my own heart.”
Yeah, he had said it before, and it made her heart flutter then just like it was right now. She was after his heart, but it was too soon to say it. Instead, she gave him a quick kiss and stepped over to the small stove. “Why don’t you make us a couple of fresh cups of coffee while I get things started?”
“I can do more than make coffee,” he teased.
“I’m sure you can, but this kitchen is tiny and it will be easier for me to work alone. Ten minutes is all I’ll need.” Looking over at him, she quickly explained, “The bacon is precooked. Sorry.”
Chuckling, he put a pod in the mini coffeemaker. “No need to apologize. I use that at home all the time.”
Almost exactly ten minutes later, they were sitting down to eat. It felt cozy and intimate and Kelsey took it to mean they were going to have a great day on their own—which was technically the first time they were going to have a whole day for themselves, with no family around. The possibilities were endless!
“Thank you,” he said after the first bite. “I was hungrier than I thought.”
“I know. Me too.” After a forkful of eggs, she asked, “So what should we do today? There’s nothing scheduled for us!”
Nodding, he replied, “I know. Crazy, right? There’s not a whole lot to do that we haven’t done already. This place seriously needs some new activities.”
“Did you mention that to Walker? You know, all the great things he could add to make this place more appealing to younger people?”
“Nothing specific,” he said. “But I did mention that he had options to bring this place into this century.”
“I really hope he does this,” she said wistfully. “I know it’s not going to be a quick fix or happen right away, but…I truly believe he can make it happen.”
“You’re putting an awful lot of faith in someone you haven’t seen or talked to in a dozen years. I don’t want you to get your hopes up and then be disappointed if it doesn’t happen.”
