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“Bernadette?” she shouted, and the receptionist came scurrying in. “Did you let someone into my office while I was gone?”
“No. Nobody’s come into the hotel since you went walkabout.”
“Then why does it smell like the ocean in here?”
“Eh.” Bernadette looked confused. “It smells normal to me.”
No help at all. “Go do something.” She ushered the young woman out of her office and closed the door behind her.
It had to be in her head, but she was sure she could smell Logan. She’d know that scent anywhere. And being surrounded by it was driving her crazy. It brought back memories of them wrapped around each other in her bed, exchanging kiss after kiss after kiss while she breathed him in.
Damn it.
He’d gotten into her office somehow. She knew it.
Agnes threw the windows wide open and sat down to work. Ten minutes later, her fingers were ice and she couldn’t stop her teeth from chattering. But the smell hadn’t receded. After closing her windows again, she cranked up the heating and grabbed her padded coat from the stand behind the door. She needed to escape the scent, give it time to disperse.
“I’m going up the street to buy wrapping paper for the raffle prizes,” she told Bernadette.
Who inexplicably held up her phone and snapped Agnes’ picture.
Every shop Agnes passed on the way to the newsagent had posters taped to their windows that hadn’t been there the day before. Apparently, the community center had decided to hold a last-minute movie night that evening, and they’d picked two romcoms for the event: Friends with Benefits and No Strings Attached.
Just when she was trying to get those concepts out of her head, she found herself confronted with them at every turn. This town was crazy. It was only a few weeks to Christmas, and they’d decided to show two very similar romcoms instead of a holiday-themed movie.
Agnes glared at the posters as she let herself into the newsagent, the only place in town where you could buy wrapping paper.
“Are you going to the movies tonight?” Maggie, one of the aging owners, asked when Agnes put the paper on the counter. Although she’d only been in town a few weeks, Agnes already knew most of the shopkeepers by name. Invertary was just that small.
“Uh, no.”
“Oh, but you should,” Maggie gushed. “I hear tell that you see Justin Timberlake’s backside! I’m not sure how much of Ashton Kutcher you see in his movie, b
ut we can compare. After we’ve watched both, there’s going to be a comparison discussion over eggnog. It sounds like fun.”
“Sorry, I’ll have to pass. I have things to do.” Like sitting alone in her room, staring at the tartan carpet and questioning her life choices.
“Oh, that’s a shame,” Maggie said. “When Logan put up the posters, he mentioned that you might enjoy the movies, and he said it would be a good way for you to meet some of the locals.”
She did not just say Logan’s name… “Who?”
“Logan,” Maggie said. “From Benson Security. I thought you knew him. It certainly sounded like you did.” She placed her hand on her chest. “Did I make a mistake?”
“No, not at all. I do know Logan.” And she was possibly going to kill him. “I’d better get back to the hotel. Enjoy your movies tonight.”
On her way out the door, Agnes grabbed a poster and took the damn thing with her as evidence. Once she’d calmed down, she planned to shove it up Logan’s backside.
Logan hadn’t been into the Benson Security office this morning. And none of the amused staff knew where he’d gone.
Typical.
There was nothing to do except go back to the office that smelled like the man who was driving her nuts.
She’d managed to miss lunch by being out of the office, but her luck didn’t hold out when dinnertime came around. Although, by the time the tray appeared on her desk, she realized she was actually quite hungry. Agnes might even have appreciated having the food delivered if it hadn’t been for the ocean-freaking-breeze smell permeating her office.
Staring down at the linen-covered tray, she wondered what to do about the man who seemed determined to remind her of him at every turn. His scent filled her office, his proposition was plastered all over town, and his care was in the meal sitting in front of her at that very minute. He was trying to wear her down.
The sneaky, sneaky man.
