“I’m rarely in here,” Stella replied, attempting to get her heart rate and nerves to settle. “I had a few things to check on. How did you know where my office was?”
The offices and anything considered “behind the scenes” were discreetly hidden from guests. Lara had thought of everything when she’d designed the adult retreat. She’d wanted the guests to feel like they were truly in a magical place and reality didn’t exist.
Dane shrugged and offered that sexy, borderline naughty half grin. “I can be persuasive when I want something.”
Wasn’t that the truth. She wasn’t naive enough to ask him what he wanted from her. He’d made that perfectly clear last night. In his defense, she’d also made her own wants quite apparent, even if she hadn’t fully acted on them.
“Dane—”
Her cell rang from inside the pocket of her button-up plaid dress. She held up a hand to Dane. “I need to take this.”
He nodded, but didn’t step out to give her privacy. Instead, he actually came on in and made himself at home by going straight to the window to look out over the back of the property.
Stella smiled at his audacity, but pulled her ringing phone out. One look at the screen and that smile vanished. She resisted the urge to groan or flat-out ignore the call, but she reminded herself that she wanted this. She wanted a relationship, so she swiped her finger across the screen.
“Dad,” she greeted. “I haven’t heard from you for a while. How are you?”
“I’ve been busy working.” The gruff reply wasn’t abnormal or unexpected. “Have you been keeping an eye on the weather? There’s a storm coming and they’re saying it could be quite substantial.”
Storms in Montana were always substantial. They were in the mountains so high, they were about one good stretch from touching clouds—or so it seemed most days. Snow and blizzards were nothing new here. And of course she kept her eye on the weather. Just like everything else around here. She had to stay sharp and know everything going on inside and out of her resort. Well...almost her resort.
“I’m aware,” she replied, risking a glance to Dane who remained with his back to her. “Everything is under control, Dad. Our backup systems have never failed and all of our guests will remain comfortable and happy. We’re actually booked up for the next month.”
She couldn’t help the pride that surged through her. When she’d come on board, they hadn’t been completely booked up, which told her that her marketing team had tapped into something brilliant in a relatively short time.
“Only a month ahead?” he scoffed.
Stella gritted her teeth and turned to pace to the other end of the office. There was no way Dane wasn’t hearing every word she said, but she couldn’t focus on the handsome stranger right now.
“In comparison to last year, we’re doing a remarkable job,” she retorted. “It’s been years since Mirage has been completely booked for more than a night at a time.”
When her father had first purchased the resort, he’d had an amazing manager, but when that manager passed away suddenly, her father had scrambled to fill the spot. Unfortunately, the replacement lasted only a year and that had been enough time to see numbers start to decline.
So here she was cleaning up someone else’s mess all while proving to her father that she was capable and deserved to have this property.
“One month of solid bookings won’t make up for three years of dismal numbers,” he replied.
“Yes, well, I’m working as hard as I can.” If he was here, perhaps he’d see that. “I’m confident the numbers will continue to grow now that I’m in charge.”
“And what have you done about the chef who quit?”
Of course he would know about that. He wasn’t a ruthless businessman for nothing. He’d never let his investments go unsupervised—and he wouldn’t consider his daughter to be supervision enough on her own. Stella had no doubt her father had spies strategically placed throughout the resort, either as employees or guests.
Dread curled through her. She’d just been half joking to herself, imaging the resort full of spies, but now that she thought about it, she realized she wouldn’t put it past him. In fact, she was positive he’d done just that. There was no other way he would know about the chef less than twenty-four hours after the man quit.
“Like I said, I have everything under control,” she told him.
On a sigh, she spun back around, only to lock eyes on Dane. She hadn’t seen that look from him before...something akin to compassion or worry. But just as quick as she saw it, the look vanished.
“If you want to know more about what’s going on here, you can ask me or maybe come check things out yourself. I think you’d be pleasantly surprised,” she added. “But I don’t appreciate being spied on.”
Her breath caught in her throat as she continued to stare at Dane. “I have to go,” she told her dad before disconnecting the call.
Without taking her eyes from Dane, she slid her phone back into her pocket then crossed her arms.
“How long have you been working for my father?”
Dane’s dark brows rose toward his hairline. “Excuse me?”