As I sit in front of my computer, trying to get everything prepared for the guests who should be here any minute, I feel Maverick staring at me and sigh. “What?”
“Nothing,” he mutters, and I take my eyes off the computer to look at him and see a smirk on his face that he’s not even attempting to hide.
“Seriously, spit it out or get out of my office. I have stuff to do,” I tell him, and he grins a very smug, very amused grin.
“I hope all the time you’re spending with Blake doesn’t make you as cranky as he is,” he says, and heat spreads up my neck to my cheeks. “Margret told me that you two had lunch together Saturday and you went to his parents’ for dinner Sunday. Sucks I missed that.”
“Well, aren’t you just Little Miss Gossip Girl?” I snap, and he chuckles.
“I’m happy for you both,” he says, and I frown at him, then look at the door and watch Blake walk in, carrying two cups of coffee, a smile on his face. Darn, but seeing him, I swear my entire body lights up.
“What’s up, man?” he asks Maverick, and the two of them share a chin lift; then he sets one of the mugs on the desk in front of me and meets my gaze. “Mom told me how you take it.”
“Thanks.” I pick it up and take a sip as he sits in one of the chairs across from me.
“Where’s my coffee?” Maverick asks.
“In the kitchen,” he tells him.
“Right.” Maverick grins, then stands. “I’m gonna grab a cup; then I’ll meet you two in the front so we can greet the guests when they arrive.”
“The bus will be here in less than ten minutes,” I tell him after glancing at the clock on the wall. “The driver called from the hotel and told me that he was going to be on his way about fifteen minutes ago.”
“It was smart of you to suggest busing them in, baby,” Blake says.
“Yeah, it was, babe,” Maverick agrees, and Blake sends him a narrowed-eye look, which I ignore.
“Thanks.” I smile at them. Normally, guests don’t arrive here by bus or in a group, but because there were so many people coming in for the bachelor/bachelorette party, I suggested we hire transportation to bring them to the lodge from the hotel they were all staying at near the airport. None of the guys seemed to think it was necessary, but they let me do what I thought was best, so I ran with it and am happy to see they think it was a good idea.
“All right, I’m gonna go to the kitchen. I’ll meet you both out front,” Maverick says. Once he’s gone, Blake relaxes back in his chair, and I go back to typing the email I was in the middle of writing. Just as with Maverick, I can feel his eyes on me, but the feeling I get from him watching me is different.
“You’re staring at me,” I say quietly, glancing at him out of the corner of my eye.
“I like your hair like that,” he replies, and I lift my hand automatically to touch the twist I put my hair up into this morning.
“Thanks.” I bite my bottom lip.
“Are you ready for today?”
I turn to face him after I send off the email and shrug one shoulder.
“I think so. I mean, I’m not really doing anything but handing out some pamphlets and answering questions. You and Maverick are the ones who are going to have your work cut out for you, judging by the emails I’ve received over the last couple of weeks.” I smile. “One person asked how much it would cost them to have us build a shower at each campsite, and another was seriously disappointed when I told them that we would not be supplying mattresses for guests to sleep on and could not understand why we couldn’t just take a U-Haul up the mountain.” I shake my head. “I have a feeling that even the ones who think they’re ready for the next few days are going to realize they’re not.”
“You’re probably right about that, but then again, the good tends to outweigh the bad after the first night. I mean, yeah, you have to sleep on the ground, but you get to spend the night under the stars, like you’ve never seen them before. You have to wake up at the crack of dawn; then you get to watch the sunrise. You have to walk for miles; then you get to spend hours in a kayak going down one of the most beautiful rivers in the United States.”
“I guess that’s one way to look at it,” I say, and he smiles a smile that makes my toes curl.
“Have you gone camping before?”