Page 14 of Inn To You

She has commitments.

She belongs here, and I want to leave.

Her hand tenderly cups my jaw, forcing my eyes to meet hers.

“I didn’t get the job.” The words tumble forward before I can stop them.

“What job?”

The concern in her eyes immediately shifts. Fuck. I hadn’t meant to tell her the truth, but the management position is only temporary anyway. I sigh. “I applied for hotel manager at a resort in Punta Cana, and I didn’t get the job.”

“Punta Cana? As in the Caribbean?” Her lake-blue eyes widen while still dilated from the exhilaration of our near kiss. “I didn’t realize you were looking for another position.”

Just watching her, the vein along her neck subtly pulses. Her heart rate accelerates for a new reason.

“This position was always temporary,” I remind her. “Joe told me when I called for the interview that it was short term.”

Tessa slips from the table, forcing me back and putting space between us.

“Right. So you’ll be leaving soon?” Her emphasis on that word echoes around us.

I’ll be leaving. As her mother did. As my father did. Did Jonas’s father leave too? Fuck.

“I—”

“Of course, you’ll leave. My uncle was correct. The position is temporary. If you find something sooner than fall, please feel free to go.”

With that dismissal, she steps around me, knocking into my shoulder before leaving me in the dust as she exits the artist’s cottage.

How the hell did we go from nearly kissing to me being kicked out of her life?

6

[Tessa]

“So we agree?” Mason Becker gives me his winning smile as we sit across from one another on a crisp spring morning outside Crossroads Café. The local eatery specializes in breakfast treats, custom-made sandwiches, and tempting desserts, along with the best coffee. The location is a mile walk from the inn, and I’d asked Monica to cover the front desk for me so I could meet with Mason.

“We agree.” I nod once to confirm Mason’s proposal. I’m familiar with Four Points construction frim because our businesses are both part of the chamber of commerce. I’d foolishly agreed to meet Mason knowing anything he offered would have to be placed on the back burner for now.

“What did we just agree to?” The sudden interruption of a familiar male voice has me spinning in my seat and nearly spilling coffee on myself.

“What are you doing here?” I snap.

Noah looks around the outside of the low white building where a scattering of Adirondack chairs and picnic tables are the only seating. His hand is on the back of my chair. His body extremely close.

“I’m getting coffee,” he states as if it’s obvious.

I turn back to Mason, who focuses on Noah, narrowing his eye a bit before his gaze sparkles. He addresses my soon-to-leave manager. “She’s charming.”

Mason is model-worthy and a bit worldly. I’m so not the type of woman who would attract him. I’m also okay with not being Mason’s cup of tea because he isn’t exactly my flavor either. My emotions are still raw from Isaiah, which contradicts the fact I respond so readily to Noah, giving into his kisses, taking more from him as our bodies line up, and we press against one another. The way we might fit if we…

“Hey, you!” A feminine voice pulls me from my fantasy. Noah spins at the sound, then reaches out to hug Autumn Anders, the owner of Crossroads Café.

“Hey.” Noah keeps his arm around her.

“I saw you through the window approaching like some cowboy here to stake your claim or rob the place,” Autumn teases.

“He’s claiming Tessa,” Mason mutters