Presley grinned, bounced her brows as she held out a hand. “Bet?”
He eyed her skeptically with a hint of teasing. “What’s on the line?”
Their palms slid together and she was surprised they didn’thearthe sparks firing between them. His grip reminded her of his hands on her hips when she’d almost fallen.
“Rumor has it there’s a hot tub.”
Beckett pulled her just a little closer, his gaze lit with amusement. “Fact, not rumor, and one of the things that actually works well around this place. Knock on wood.” He knocked on his head, making her laugh.
“I prefer my hot-tubbing without an audience. I mean, with another person is fine, but I don’t really want to soak my poor feet with Bernie present.”
“Thought your feet were fine.”
“Lies we tell ourselves, Beckett.”
He laughed, loud and carefree. “If I can get you an hour in the hot tub without any other guests, you’ll outfit this entire cabin with bedding.”
She pointed at him. “Sheets. Sheets for every bed. Pillowcases, too, but comforters and blankets will be more.” It would take some time, but the deals on Your Stay were so awesome, it was worth the effort. Especially when it wasn’t her money and she was helping someone.
“That’s fair. Let me talk to Jill, but I’m pretty sure you have a deal.”
She held out her hand again. He shook it and she recognized the interest she felt mirrored. Magnetic energy and chemistry were not the goal of this trip. Just a handy side benefit she might need to think more about.
Pulling his hand back, he cleared his throat, stepped back. “I need to go shower before dinner.”
“Question?”
His lashes lowered slightly. “Yeah?” His voice came out husky.
“You okay if I post the hiking picture?”
The desire cleared from his gaze with his laughter. “Sure. Just don’t tag it ‘Hot Mountain Man.’”
Presley laughed. “Are you sure?”
His cheeks turned a subtle shade of pink. “Positive.”
“I’ll see you at dinner,” she said.
He left her there in the cabin. It was nice. She liked the simplicity of it. Functional. People came here for the outdoors, but they wanted to retire to a comfortable, cozy spot. For someone like her who had less interest in the outdoors, it wasn’t too rustic. More ideas tumbled through her mind about how to maximize space, little things they could add to spruce the place up with minimal cost, but she didn’t want to overstep.
Pulling her phone from her back pocket, she opened her photos to post a couple of hike pictures, but as she scrolled through, her heart gave a painful hiccup.
There was a picture of Beckett and Presley staring into each other’s eyes. Their mouths were close, their heads bent toward each other, and the desire between them vibrated off the still photo. He’d snapped it before they had their camera faces ready. She couldn’t take her eyes off of it. All of it. The way he looked at her like she was something special, the way her own energy seemed to pulsate in the picture despite being more physically exhausted than she could remember ever being. They looked like old friends or something more, something deeper, but definitely not like two people who’d only met the day before.
Giving herself a second to regain her breath, she scrolled to thesafer photo, posting it to Instagram and once again tagging the lodge. She’d do a TikTok in a day or two, after she got her bearings and maybe took a trip into Smile. Beckett might not love the attention, but if she could help their lodge, it was a good cause. Plus, he didn’t have social media, so it shouldn’t bug him.
She had over a hundred new followers, and her picture of Beckett in the morning continued to gain traction by getting shared on stories and added to reels. She followed the lodge, seeing that they—Jilly—had already followed her. She had several DMs but closed the app. She’d deal with that and emails from Ms. Twain later.
Aside from the blisters, this trip had been nothing like she expected.
While she was a born planner, nothing could have prepared her for any of this.
Twelve
“I’m telling you, Jill, this site is crazy,” Beckett said into his phone on the walk back to his own cabin. He’d managed to get dust and soot all over himself. “Three sets of five-hundred-thread-count sheets just went for thirty-four dollars.”
Jilly made happy noises over the phone, probably looking at some of the same things he was while they talked. “Why would anyone sell this stuff so cheap? Oh, these are hotel brand. The starting bid is two dollars. What the heck?” She’d logged onto the site as soon as he’d told her about it. He wanted to get on his own laptop and check things out, but just glancing through it on his phone had revealed a treasure trove.
