I frowned. “That’s not what I mean. I just …” I scrubbed a hand through my hair. What was my deal? I was being a bastard and taking it out on her. This wasn’t fair. “I’m sorry. You could absolutely run this hotel if you wanted.”
“I wouldn’t want to run the Lodge. I just want …”
“What?” I asked nudging her foot with mine.
“Stability. The assurance that if I do my job well, I will never have to worry about going back.” She shook her head. “I just need to prove I’m worth the chance they took on me.”
I looked closely at her. She was fighting hard not to fidget, her thumbnail piercing into the paper coffee cup in her hand. I wanted to dig more, I wanted to understand what she was so afraid of.
I settled on, “You’re brilliant. You could never disappoint people.” I believed the words but they still came out flat.
“Thanks,” she said but wouldn’t lift her gaze.
There was an awkward silence. I needed to get my shit together but I was cranky and stubborn.
She cleared her throat. “I brought doughnuts. From Daisy’s Nut House. You’ll never have anything better,” she said.
“We have doughnuts in Denver. Crazy. I know.”
“Lord, youarea salty bastard this morning.” She covered her mouth as soon as she said it. “Sorry. That was not professional—”
It was like all at once my tension melted away. I loved when she just said what she thought without filtering it. It was like the first night we met. God, all the times I wished to go back to that first night. The more time I spent with professional Roxy, the further I felt from her.
I nudged her again, and her smile grew. “I am a cranky shit today.” I pushed her chair until she looked at me. “I’m sorry. Give me some coffee?” I pointed to the cup she’d brought me with my best puppy dog eyes.
She handed it to me, her lips trying to hide her smile as she rolled her eyes at me. “And one of these.” She slid a chocolate masterpiece over on a napkin. “You’re wrong, by the way. You’ve never had a doughnut like this. Just try a bite.”
I was tempted to force her to feed it to me, but quickly shut that down. I definitely would not ask Skip to do that. I took a bite and moaned. Three bites later it was gone.
“Fuck me, that was good.” I licked the remaining frosting from my fingers.
When I glanced back to her, she looked away, her cheeks blushing. Maybe because she seemed to work extra hard to get me to come out of my cranky shell or maybe because watching her blush was the sexiest thing I’d ever seen, it wasn’t long before I was back to my normal cherry spirits.
“I do love hole foods,” I said.
She blinked at me and I pointed to the center of the doughnut. “Holefoods, get it.”
She rolled her eyes but laughed. “See, these are magic.”
“I think it’s the company,” I said.
“You shouldn’t say stuff like that.” But this time when she said it there was no fight to her words.
I shrugged. If that’s what it took to get a smile. I would break all the rules.
We spent the rest of the morning working through the itinerary for MooreTek. The team-building activities Outside the Box specialized in fit easily into what she had already arranged. Seeing her so focused and in her element of control shouldn’t add fuel to my inappropriate-thoughts fire, but since I’m a selfish bastard, I might as well own it.
As the minutes passed, she slipped out of her heels and tucked her feet under her. The black pantyhose became sheer when she folded her legs, and her skirt rode up. I loved the glimpse of thigh her new position afforded me. Soon after, she shrugged out of her blazer. When she took out her hair to redo the twisty thing, I almost lost my mind.
Unaware of the direction my thoughts had taken, she fluffed her hair, the sweet scent of her shampoo wafting over me. “Yeah, that’s a great idea. You could take them to do the rope thing, and then that night I’ll coordinate a special dinner.”
I only half listened as she spoke. Her arms lifted above her head as she expertly re-twisted her hair, recreating her earlier updo.
“Good, hey?” I said.
How did she learn to do that? How could she make it look so perfect without a mirror? With arms lifted, her shirt rose and a glimpse of a tattoo revealed itself on her waist. I swallowed and wished my gaze alone could move her shirt aside.
“Sanders?” she said my name like this wasn’t the first time she’d tried to get me to answer. “Yo, Colonel!” She shoved my chair with her pantyhose foot.
