Page 15 of Fight
A dark shade dropped over Jake, as he dropped his cowboy persona. She'd never seen him look quite this serious before and she tilted her head to the side and observed him. “Yeah, I’ve heard of him,” he finally replied roughly.
“I thought so,” smirked Daniel.Eww. Not a good look. Lena grimaced, and sat up a little straighter in her seat as she shifted her eyes to stare down into her coffee cup. “I’m sure all you locals can't help but notice a guy like him.” He continued to dig in deeper. “My uncle’s trying to get his hands on some land in Bear Forest. He wants to build a resort there that will go up against Lake Conrad Resort. That place is ancient. Lake Conrad needs some new competition and with all that land just sitting there, Bear Forest would be the perfect spot.”
Jake stared at Daniel silently. While Daniel had been talking, a stillness has settled over Jake that Lena had never seen before. He was always moving, but he currently looked like he wanted to murder Daniel.Well, this is awkward,Lena thought as she reminisced over her and Jake's sexy silences from only minutes before.
Breaking the silence and most assuredly saving oblivious Daniel from certain death, Lena attempted to cut the tension.“Daniel! Remember I told you yesterday that I had an interview today at Lake Conrad Resort? I just had it this afternoon. You know, Jake works there, too,” Lena offered. She was certain that with this information Daniel would back down and apologize and Jake’s face would return to its normal smiley, smirky self.
“Well, get some experience there and you guys can come work at a real luxury resort once my uncle and I get it up and running,” Daniel replied with a snigger as he took a sip of his coffee.
He made a face and blanched. “This is not good coffee,” he blurted before he reached over his shoulder and poured the rest of his cup over the stone wall and onto the beach.
Lena dared a peak at Jake. Could it get worse? Yes, it could. Jake’s face was drawn tight and he’d started flexing his fingers in and out of a fist as if he was contemplating socking it to poor Daniel.
Despite her panic, her imagination went wild at the thought as she envisioned Jake pummeling Daniel, all muscles with strips of torn white dress shirt flying.Mmm. She wondered if his face would be hot to the touch if she reached out and touched him now.Dear god, Lena, pull yourself together.
Unfortunately, rather than doing any pummeling, Jake spoke up. “You and your uncle will never get your hands on that land. Bear Forest is protected. It’s in the town charter. The Bear and Conrad families aren’t going to let you touch it.” He continued to stare at Daniel as he took a controlled sip of his coffee. It looked to Lena like his murdering impulses had settled into a veneer of disgust.
“Dude,” Daniel assured Jake in a loud voice, holding his hand out as if to tell Jake to calm down. “Don’t think too hard about it. My uncle knows what he’s doing. He can handle some small town yokels and their ancient charter.”
Jake narrowed his eyes at Daniel. The three of them sat in uncomfortable silence before Jake abruptly slammed his hands on the table making a loud noise that started both Lena and Daniel.
“Well, I should get back to work,” he announced tightly, straightening and swerving his long legs out from under the table. After getting up, he looked down at Lena and touched her under the chin tilting her head up to look at him. “You watch out for those winks, Helena,” he said quietly before grabbing his coffee and walking away with long strides.
Lena turned around in her seat to helplessly watch him leave, his broad back was straight as he moved through the crowd. He didn’t look back. She felt like a girl in some old black and white movie drooling over some guy's machismo like an idiot. The whole display was definitely leaning into the whole cowboy persona he’d started earlier, but she reluctantly admitted that it worked for him as she watched him and that brilliant white dress shirt walk away.
“I don’t think your friend likes me very much,” said Daniel, startling her out of her haze.
She turned around and gave him a harsh look. “Well, you were coming on a little strong. He's lived here for a while and this place is special to him.”It’s special to me, too.It felt so weird for her to be defending Jake, but Daniel had come across like a cartoon villain in that interaction. Talking about ruining forests, insulting peoples’ workplaces, and throwing coffee on the beach. What was all that?
“Yeah, I get it. I should have been less intense.” He moaned dramatically. “I’ve just been hanging out with my uncle too much the past twenty four-hours. He, like, oozes testosterone. I’m afraid it’s been rubbing off on me way too much.” He laughed awkwardly as he looked down at his hands in shame.
He looked like a recalcitrant little boy, and Lena couldn’t help but smile at him reassuringly in an attempt to make him feel better. Although she hadn’t liked seeing Jake getting that upset, angry-intense Jake was not someone to shake a stick at. Maybe it was because of their conversation or how he'd run out to get that wine for her last night, but she was definitely feeling a bit flushed. And it wasn’t due to Daniel.
“Hey, listen,” said Daniel, interrupting her wool gathering. “Let me see your phone. I want to give you my number.”
She hesitated for a moment before reaching in her bag and sliding her phone to Daniel across the table. He quickly added his number and texted himself from her phone before handing it back to her.
“I’ll text you and maybe we can meet up one night? Get some drinks or something?” he asked as he got up from the table.
“Sure,” she said and gave him a small smile. “That sounds great.”
He ran his fingers through his hair and flashed a relieved smile. Although her hormones weren’t going crazy for this like they had for Jake’s table-slapping display of masculinity, she had to admit he was pretty cute in a boyish way.
It wasn’t until he walked away, and she didn’t watch him doing so, that she realized that she hadn’t tittered or giggled once with Daniel. It also dawned on her that she was disappointed she's ended up with his phone number this afternoon, and not Jake's.
Chapter 6
“Ilookhideous,”Lenamuttered darkly as she stood facing her bedroom mirror with her back to Annie and Morgan—both of whom were laid back on Lena’s bed hysterically laughing.
“I don’t know why this is so hilarious.” Annie gasped out the words between laughs. “I already knew what the uniform looked like. Maybe it’s because it’s you, and you’re….you.”
“You look like a cross between Eeyore and Disco Stu,” sputtered Morgan.
Annie really lost it then, throwing her body back on Lena’s pillows, doubling over as she tried to catch her breath between laughs. “This is priceless. Nothing will ever be as funny as this,” she proclaimed.
Lena rolled her eyes and mulled over her reflection miserably in the full length mirror on the back of her bedroom door. She reluctantly admitted that Morgan's comparison was a spot on. Her lips were drawn down in a mopey frown and her eyes were large and morose. And the uniform. Oh boy.
The front desk agent uniform for the Lake Conrad Resort was a blue and orange monstrosity. She wore a pair of dark blue polyester slacks patterned with lighter blue pinstripes.The pants flared slightly and covered her toes and heels. The boxy jacket (yes, there was a jacket) was of the same blue pinstripe fabric and had a thick collar and lapel with three buttons that started under her chest and ended at her waist. Under the jacket, she wore a peachy-orange shirt with yet another collar that folded over the jacket’s collar. It was all topped off with a shiny gold-colored name tag that she’d pinned to her right lapel—the Lake Conrad resort symbol on the top, and a “Helena” sticker placed crookedly on the middle.
