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“It is a nice area,” Hudson said. “The scenery is just stunning.”
“A bit of a change from Serenity, I suppose.”
“I’ve only seen Serenity in winter,” Hudson said. “So it’s not a real fair comparison. If I wanted to ski, the resort would definitely be more appealing than this hotel.”
Hudson knew Kayleigh wasn’t a big fan of skiing—not the way her brother was anyway—and because of that, he could imagine her managing a place like the hotel they were in presently. However, he thought that perhaps it wasn’t really anything about the resort that held her to the area. It was her family.
Caleb lowered himself into a chair, stretching out his legs. “Do you like the Serenity resort?”
“It’s a really nice property. Big and rustic looking but not lacking in amenities. Timber and stone all over the place. I haven’t had a chance to look at the cabins and lodges that are available. Food is great at the restaurants. All in all, it’s a stellar Remington property. I just don’t want these incidents to negatively impact that.”
“It’s rare you devote so much time to one place,” Caleb said.
“True. But I need to follow up on some things I’ve put into place.”
“Alexander is obviously on board with whatever you’re doing because he’s had me cancel all your trips for the foreseeable future.”
Hudson gave a huff of laughter as he took a seat opposite Caleb. “Unless he decides he needs to send me off on a spur-of-the-moment trip like this one.”
“Well, yeah. Unless that happens.”
Hopefully, there wouldn’t be too many spur-of-the-moment trips. Serenity was where he wanted to be for the moment.
He pulled out his phone to check the time, then did a little math to figure out the time in Serenity. It was probably too early to text Kayleigh, even though she clearly got up super early. Plus, not much would have happened in the hours since he’d left, so he really shouldn’t bother her.
“Guess we’d better go meet the others for our late lunch,” Caleb said as he got to his feet. “I’m starving.”
Knowing he needed to keep his focus on this project and not Serenity, Hudson nodded. He’d always gave his full attention to whatever he was working on, but he was struggling this time around.
And he knew that had much to do with Kayleigh. She’d captured his attention in a way no woman ever had, and he wasn’t sure what to make of it.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Kayleigh parked her car in the spot at the resort reserved for the manager, then made her way up to her office. After leaving the things she needed for the day in the bathroom, she went to the gym.
It was a snowy Tuesday, and there was a part of her that wished she could have just curled up under a blanket at home. However, she couldn’t exactly call in sick when she wasn’t. And unfortunately, snow days weren’t really a thing around Serenity, since everyone was well accustomed to dealing with the stuff. The only exceptions were if they received an excessive amount of snow or if high winds made it difficult to see, and therefore dangerous to drive.
She switched on the lights in the gym, then went into the changing room. After peeling off her sweatpants and sweatshirt, which left her in her workout clothes, Kayleigh sat down on the bench to switch her boots for her runners, then gently stretched.
After putting her things into a locker, Kayleigh went out to the gym and got on a treadmill. She set her phone in the holder and slipped her air pods into her ears, but she didn’t listen to anything, figuring she wouldn’t be able to focus on it, anyway.
It had been almost a week since Hudson had left, and aside from some infrequent texts checking in on how the additional security guards were doing and asking if everything was okay at the resort, they hadn’t been in touch.
That should have made Kayleigh feel good. It meant that Hudson wasn’t overly worried about how things were going at the resort. Although it was entirely possible he had other ways of monitoring the situation there.
Kayleigh hadn’t expected to miss the guy so much, and it aggravated her that she did. Somehow, in the short time they’d known each other, she’d really come to enjoy their conversations and the times they spent together. He was a smart man and clearly very good at his job, but he didn’t make her feel like he thought she was dumb or less capable.
He seemed to respect her position at the resort, including her in the meetings he’d had. Of all the people she could have had show up because of the thefts, Hudson was probably one of the best.
Perhaps their positive interactions were why she missed his presence at the resort. It was the most logical explanation. Or maybe it was the only reason she was willing to consider.
She’d had a fairly quiet weekend, having skipped the pizza night at Janessa and Charli’s. However, Liz had shown up on Saturday evening for dinner, and she’d livened things up for a bit, talking about the last man she’d gone out on a date with.
Liz wasn’t known for sticking with just one man. She liked to have a few different men on the line at any given time, though Kayleigh had no idea where she found the time or energy to juggle more than one.
The woman’s favorite saying was thatvariety was the spice of life,whether that was in food, clothes, friends, or men. It was probably why Liz liked her job so much, because no two days were ever the same. She got to deal with a variety of people and problems every day.
Kayleigh was her opposite, and Liz just couldn’t grasp why she wouldn’t want to be dating, especially since she thought Kayleigh could get just about any man she wanted. Kayleigh had no idea if that was true, but she did know that she wasn’t interested in finding out.
