Page 23 of Crimson Love

“I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it. How are you feeling? I’ve seen you out walking—not that I’m spying on you.” She pulls her lip between her teeth. “That would be weird. I just meant that you’re out on the grounds a lot. You’re hard to miss just because you’re so tall. And your hair. Not many people have hair like you. I’m sorry. Now I’ve made it weird.”

I bite back a smirk. “I’ve never had a stalker. I’m experiencing all kinds of new things in Winslet.”

“I’m not stalking, I swear,” she whispers.

“First you try to tackle me to the ground. Now you’re stalking me. Do me a favor and tell me I’m the only one. If you’ve got a long list of guys you’re stalking, I might be jealous.”

“I’m not stalking anyone, Jett,” she presses. “Mr. Donnelly knew I was going to be a little late, but I’m later than I planned. I need to get going. Maybe I’ll see you around?”

“I don’t know,” I drawl. “You tell me. You’re the stalker.”

She pulls in a deep breath, and it seems like she’s trying not to roll her eyes. “I don’t even know how to say goodbye now. You’ve made things officially weird.”

“At least weird is interesting, right?”

“Right...” she agrees, but she definitely doesn’t agree with me. “I don’t know when I’ll see you, but I’ve got to go. Goodbye.”

“Goodbye is pretty damn final.” I pause and watch her turn to walk away. Her fine ass sways as her thin legs double-time it to the front doors. Just for good measure, I call, “Bye.”

She says nothing, but she does shake her head and gives me a wave with her free hand.

I don’t move and watch her walk until she disappears inside. Then I turn to inspect her shit ride even closer, bend far enough to swipe the tips of my fingers over her smooth tires, and think about the cold front we’re expecting next week.

I look around.

I’ll know soon enough if she’s really a stalker. I try to open her driver’s door, but it’s locked. I rattle it a few times before I pull out my pocketknife. It’s barely long enough, but it only takes me a few swipes to jimmy the decades-old lock. I open her door and slide the seat all the way back to make room for my legs.

This thing is in just as bad of shape on the inside as it is on the out. But thank goodness for old models. I feel my gut pinch when I lean forward to yank the wires from the steering column. It takes me thirty seconds, but the old car sputters and coughs before it finally agrees and comes to life. Not willingly, but when I give it a bit of gas, she doesn’t complain.

Not that there’s much gas to give. She’s almost on empty.

Lennon Shaw can’t seem to catch up with life.

I put the car in gear, make my way down the long windy drive to exit the manor, and head straight to town. I have no idea how busy the local garage is, but I’ve got a trust fund that just might be able to push her to the top of their list. While they’re working on it, I’ll visit Panther and Smoke.

Lennon “I think that’s it. Let me know if there’s anything I can do for you this week. It should be business as usual.”

It took me a few weeks to win them over. They didn’t accept me easily, but I think my team finally believes in me. I did it by digging in the trenches and helping out when they needed it. I’ve cleaned rooms, folded laundry, and wiped tears when one of our housekeeping staff dealt with a broken heart. She needed a shoulder to cry on when her boyfriend broke up with her. I even filled in for the kitchen staff when they were swamped with events and delivered room service for a week.

I like to think of us as a team.

Today is our weekly meeting, and it was short and sweet. There are no events booked this week. We even have a few open rooms, which hasn’t happened since I started. It’s business as usual, and no one is on vacation.

My team leads from housekeeping, laundry, and customer service say their goodbyes and leave the conference room. I pick up my laptop and cell when Mr. Donnelly pops his head in. “Do you have a second?”

I set my things back down. “Of course. Is everything okay? I don’t hear any alarms.”

“Don’t jinx us.” He steps into the conference room and shuts the door. I start to sit back down but he stops me. “No need to make this formal. It won’t take long.”

My insides tighten, and my lunch instantly sours. “Oh, okay.”

“I’ve never hired anyone on a probationary basis before. When I offered you the job, I had no other viable candidates. To be blunt, it was you or Blake’s grandmother, and she only wanted the job because it would be easy to get her steps in every day.”

Oh no.

This doesn’t sound good, but I do my best to lighten the moment. “I met Blake’s grandma once. She’s a go-getter.”

Mr. Donnelly slides his hands into his perfectly pressed trousers. The man hardly has a hair out of place, let alone a wrinkle. “True. Still, she’s not a viable general manager for my manor.”