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Joy shoved down the emotions clawing at her and nodded again. She didn’t have the luxury of staying. “I can do that.”
The lie slipped out so easily. Too easily.
Carl’s answering smile damn near gutted her as she turned with a wave, not able to face him just then. “I’ll get started turning the rooms over.”
Chapter 2
Joy watched and waited, wondering why she or the two interns were even in the room. This guy—Kaeden O’Shea, she’d been told during the introductions—clearly didn’t need any of them there. He was the kind of man who had to control everything around him to the last detail. It was a characteristic she couldn’t stand in a man.
No, it was more than just can’t stand. It was something she would run from under normal circumstances. Run far. Run fast. Don’t look back.
But she couldn’t do that this time. She would be letting Carl and Evelyn down if she did that. It was bad enough she planned to leave them without giving any notice—or even saying goodbye—next week, cutting a week off the time they really needed her. She would do all she could to help them while she was here. And if that meant dealing with Kaeden O’Shea, she’d do it.
It would help if he wasn’t so insanely hot. He had that scruffy chin look going for him and hair that was a little spiky and messy in just the right way. He had almost black hair and dark brown eyes. Luckily, those eyes looked as hard as chips of garnet, reminding her this wasn’t a man she should get involved with.
So she’d just keep looking into those cold eyes and keep her distance while she smiled and did whatever needed doing. But she couldn’t help but think the coming weeks would suck for the two other women in the room.
Kaeden’s boss introduced them as interns from the hospitality program at a local college and explained that Kaeden was only going to oversee them while they planned the company’s events. They were probably hoping to do more than check off items on this idiot’s to-do list.
Of course, since he had assigned them babysitting duty for the kids in the group a few times during the week, Joy guessed it wasn’t fair to say he expected them to sit around and be in charge of check marks. But still, babysitting wasn’t exactly going to get them experience in hospitality. She would bet anything that wasn’t what they’d signed up for.
Bethany, one of the two perky brown-haired interns, spoke up. “Okay, so, um we can confirm all of the reservations for you and double-check that the van company is booked and ready for pickup tomorrow.”
Kaeden looked a little stunned that she’d ask to do anything. “Not necessary. I called them all on the road out here today. We’re all set everywhere.”
“Oh,” was all Bethany managed at that, but the other girl sent a beaming smile Kaeden’s way.
“We can start planning next week’s agenda, then,” Callie said. “And maybe we should plan a few alternate events for this week in case anything falls through.”
“Falls through?” He asked the question as though the plans he had made wouldn’t dare fall through.
Joy suppressed a smile at that.
This guy.
She had a southern friend back home who would have been saying an awful lot of bless-his-hearts to all of this.
Callie shifted on her feet and glanced at Beth.
“Well, like it could rain or something,” Beth suggested. “Or one of the places you booked might have some kind of emergency or something. It’s always a good idea to have a backup plan.”
That seemed to get to him. “You’re right. That’s a great idea. Why don’t you guys come up with two proposed alternate plans and get them to me by the end of the day. If they look good, we’ll go ahead and pencil them in as alternates.”
Because heaven forbid the interns just plan a backup event without him overseeing every detail. Heaven forbid this jerk didn’t control every possible outcome of this retreat.
The women weren’t going to let that bother them. They smiled and immediately ducked their heads together as they exited, talking about possible activities and what they could do with the kids during the adult-only events Kaeden had booked.
* * *
Kaeden looked at the woman across the table from him and braced himself for a fight. She clearly didn’t like him but he didn’t know what he’d done to merit any kind of response like that in the twenty minutes they’d known each other.
Joy Wilson had been a surprise when she walked into the room. She wasn’t at all what he expected when Jack told him he’d have someone from the lodge to work with. He had no idea why, but after meeting the old man that owned the place, he hadn’t expected the delicate woman who walked into the room.
She somehow instilled the insane unwanted desire to protect her. Not that there was anything to indicate she needed protection. It was the big brown eyes and the way her hair fell from its ponytail to frame her face in wisps that made her look fragile, he guessed.
But that was really where any hints of softness ended. He had watched during the meeting with his interns as she’d let her disapproval become obvious. Though he had no idea why she should disapprove of his plans. They were good plans. Even if he had thrown them together over the course of two days, they were solid.
He tilted his head at her. He didn’t exactly want to start an argument with her but he also wasn’t the type of guy to just ignore things if she had an attitude about something.
