Chapter Seventeen

 

Upside#17: The only person who gets hot in your kitchen is you.

 

Lillie eyed me as I walked into the hotel. “Late night?”

“No. A sleepless one.” I leaned against the counter, clutching my purse strap up onto my shoulder and keeping a tight hold of my coffee and donuts. “Anything I need to be aware of?”

“Quinn’s sick and the bar order needs doing again.”

I dropped my forehead onto the top of the desk. “No, no, no, no,” I moaned. “I hate that order.”

“I know, but you know if Harley does it, it’ll just get all fucked up.”

“I know,” I moaned again. “But I hate it.”

“What do you hate?” Jake wandered up to the counter and rested his arm on it.

Lillie turned to him with a big smile and pushed her hair away from her face. “The bar order.”

He raised his eyebrows and turned to me. “Where’s Quinn?”

Well, damn. He remembered her name.

“Sick,” I replied, turning my head to the side.

“Who’s supposed to do it in her absence?”

“Harley. But, she’s not the best at it,” Lillie added lightly.

She was also understating quite a lot…

He looked at her. “Isn’t there anyone else who can do it? I have something I need Mellie to do today, so she doesn’t have the time.”

“You do?” I asked. “What?”

His eyes met mine. “I’ll tell you in a minute. Where is Harley?”

I looked to Lillie.

She peered at her watch. “She should be behind the bar restocking. If not, she’ll be in the storeroom.”

Jake nodded once. “Are you coming?” he asked me.

“I, uh, sure.” I shrugged, standing up straight. “I guess.” I shot Lillie an uncertain look and followed Jake toward the bar.

“Why can’t she do the order?” he asked quietly, leaning into me.

I shrugged again. “I don’t know, honestly. She’s not the newest, but she’s the most full-time except for Quinn. For some reason, she just can’t get it right.”

“Why? What does she keep messing up?”

“The counts, mostly. I don’t think she pays enough attention to what she’s doing.”

“Right.” He stepped in front of me and, adjusting the collar of shirt, walked around the side of the bar. “Harley?”

A scream came from the floor—then a smash.

Jake looked at me. “Don’t say a word,” he mouthed, pointing at me.

I hid a smile and looked down.

“Harley?” he tried again, this time a lot softer.

“Hi.” She stood up, wiping her hands on her skirt and blushed. “Um, hi. Sorry. You scared me. Nobody usually comes in here this early.”

Jake gave her a half-hearted smile. “You should probably sweep that glass up.”

“Oh. Right. Of course.” She laughed nervously and grabbed the dustpan and brush from under the bar. She bent down to sweep it up and dropped the glass into the small trash can. “I’ll mop that up in a second. What’s up?”

“The order needs to be done today, and I’m sure you’re aware that Quinn called in sick,” he started.

She swallowed and nodded. “Yeah. She texted me this morning.” She fiddled with a loose thread on her shirt, looking down like she already knew where this was going.

“I’m going to need you to do the order this week. I have a couple things I need Mellie to do, so she won’t have time to look it over.” His tone was no-nonsense. “So, I’ll need you to make sure it’s accurate.”

Her gaze went wild, like a kitten on catnip, almost. “Um, sure, okay. I can do that.”

He raised his eyebrows. “Harley, I’m not going to lie, but you’re not filling me with confidence that you can do this.”

“I usually mess it up,” she admitted.

Jake leaned forward, one hand on the bar. “Then, don’t.” He turned to me. “Mellie, shall we?”

I gave Harley a sympathetic smile and followed him back to the office. “That was a little…blunt,” I said when he’d shut the door behind me. I put my coffee and donuts on the desk and sat down, sitting my purse on the floor. “You could have been a little nicer.”

Jake dropped into his chair. “No offense, Mellie, but you being nice is why she’s unable to do the order. She knows that either you or Quinn will pick up the slack if she gets it wrong.”

I couldn’t argue with that. He was right. I’d been too soft on her as her boss. Instead of arguing, I sighed.

“This is the reason I started the employment review process. If doing the order in Quinn’s absence is part of her job, then she has to be able to do it.” He shrugged a shoulder and reached for a take-out cup of coffee on his side of the desk. “It’s not your job to do it, just to place the order.”

Once again, he was right.

“I know. What happens if she messes up?”

He met my eyes. “Then the roles have to be reviewed for the bartenders. If she can’t do it, we’ll get someone who can.”

“You’d fire her?”

“No. I’d switch her job role with another member of staff who is capable of doing the order without needing their hand holding. The renovation starts next week, and I need at least some of these guys to be able to do their jobs right.”

It made sense. I didn’t necessarily like it, but it was the right thing to do. “Okay. Fine. I don’t like it, but fine.”

“Don’t tell them you don’t like it.”

I pulled my donuts out. “But that ruins the good cop, bad cop thing we have going on, doesn’t it?”

“We don’t have a cop thing going on.”

“Oh, we do. You trying to cop a feel.” I looked at him pointedly and bit into my donut.

He held his hands up. “Don’t blame me if you couldn’t see through my ruse. And I didn’t try to cop a feel—if I wanted to, you’d have been putty in my hands.”

“You’re dreaming again,” I said, biting into the donut again. “Not true.”

Shaking his head, Jake sipped from his coffee. “You were almost putty. Admit it.”

“Even if it were close to being remotely true,” I said, “I would never admit it.”

“Because it’s true.”

“It’s not true!” I slammed my hand down right as the office phone rang. I snatched it up. “Mellie Rogers.”

“Um, Mellie,” came Harley’s tentative voice. “There’s a problem.”

I sat bolt upright. “What is it?”

Jake frowned. “What?” he mouthed.

I hit the speaker button. “Harley. What’s the problem?”

Jake covered his face with his hand.

“Um.” She paused. “I was counting the tonic waters, and when I moved the top crate, it was wet, and…”

“Oh no.”

“It slipped out of my hand and smashed.”

It was my turn to put my hand over my face. “We’ll be right there. How far into the order did you get?”

“That was the first thing I was going to count,” she replied.

Jake sighed. “Leave the storeroom and go back to the bar. Call Rosa and ask if someone can run down to clean it. Mellie and I will do the order together this morning. But, be aware that we’ll be having a meeting with Quinn when she returns.”

I swear, I heard her gulp.

“Okay. I’ll find Rosa now.” She hung up. The line buzzed, filling the room with the awful sound, and I put the phone back on the unit before it annoyed me too much.

“Tell me one thing,” Jake said, pinching the bridge of his nose. “How has this hotel been able to run with two complete klutzes working here?”

That was an excellent question.

 

***

 

“Is that everything?”

I looked at the order form. It’d taken almost an hour to make sure the storeroom was completely clear of tonic water and glass from the bottles.

That was trickier than you’d think and didn’t count the hours we’d spent actually doing the stock intake.

“I think so,” I said, cringing at the extra-large number of tonic water we needed to order thanks to Harley’s mishap.

“So, explain to me.” Jake leaned against the side of the storage rack. “Why that’s so hard for her?”

I shrugged and tapped the pen against the clipboard. “I don’t know. It’s not rocket science to count the bottles and see what we need more of.”

“Like a hundred extra bottles of tonic,” he muttered.

“Like a hundred extra bottles of tonic,” I echoed. “Well, this is done. I can go and place it now.”

“Finally.” He pushed off the unit. “Here. Give me the keys. I want to check the floor for any remaining glass then I’ll lock it behind us.”

I dug the keys out of the pocket of my skirt and handed them to him. “Okay. I’ll see you back in the office?”

“Sure.”

I left him in the storage room and went back up to the office, making a quick detour to check on Harley. She’d been pretty shaken when I’d seen her on the way to the storeroom, mostly because Jake’s way of telling her that her job would be changing was quite terrifying, and the poor girl probably thought she was about to be fired.

Thankfully, she seemed to have returned to normal when I’d seen her.

I sighed as I sat down at my desk. I was already tired of today, but mostly because I was realizing just how right Jake was.

The most annoying part was how the review thing was right. I’d been way too lenient with the bar order situation. Mostly because I hadn’t ever followed up with Quinn that she’d been covering it with Harley, because she obviously hadn’t.

“What are you thinking about?” Jake hovered in the doorway.

I looked up. “Did you find any glass?”

He shook his head. “The girls did a great job of cleaning the floor. Now, what’s up?”

“I was just thinking,” I said slowly. “About the review system.”

“Here we go,” he muttered, shutting the door.

“No, it’s not bad.” I ran my fingers through my hair. “It’s—you’re right,” I said after a moment. “You’re right.”

He narrowed his eyes, coming over to me. “Did I just hear you tell me I’m right—twice?”

“You sure did.” I slumped forward onto the desk. “You’re right, Jake. I’ve been too relaxed when it comes to stuff being perfect around here. I should have made sure Harley knew how to do the order. I should have made sure Quinn had taught her it correctly and followed up after I knew she couldn’t do it.”

“That’s why you have a face like a smacked ass?”

“You’re not helping.”

“Mellie, listen to me. It’s not your job to make sure Harley knows how to do the order. It’s Quinn’s responsibility, and I’ll be telling her that when she’s back.” He rounded the desk and leaned against it on my side. “Don’t beat yourself up about it. You’ve been left to run this place pretty much single-handedly. I’m only making these changes because it’s how I want this place to be run.”

“I know that, but—”

“No, there’s no buts.” He gently nudged my shoulder so I sat up straight. “Look at me.”

I gritted my teeth, but I did as he’d asked, turning my head to meet his eyes.

“You’re not at fault here,” he said quietly. “Trust me. I don’t blame you. You can’t oversee every single member of staff all the time. That’s why you have other managers here. They’re supposed to do it for you.”

“I know, but—”

He pressed two fingers against my lips before quickly pulling them away. “I told you, no buts. You’re a great manager, Mellie. I see the way you interact with all the staff and how much they respect you in turn. You’re a wonderful person, and the only reason you haven’t been hard on people is because you’re just too damn nice.”

“Being hard on people is part of my job,” I said quietly, fiddling with a button on my shirt. “If I can’t be honest with my staff and tell them more than once when I’m not happy, what kind of a manager does that make me?”

He pushed the hair from my eyes. “It makes you a great one. I know we’ve beaten the bar order to death and back to life, but here, listen to me.” He put two fingers beneath my chin and tilted my head up so our eyes met. “You picked up the slack there because you didn’t want anyone else to feel bad. You didn’t have the time to do the order, but you did it anyway. You didn’t want Harley to feel like she was failing and you didn’t want Quinn to think she wasn’t training properly.”

“But that’s exactly what’s happening.”

“And it’s my job to fix it.” He stroked his thumb across my chin before pulling his hand back away. “I’m blunter than you. This is my hotel to fix, and when I’m done being bad cop, I know you’ll be the good cop and put a smile back on everyone’s faces.”

“Smiles doesn’t equal good work,” I replied.

“No.” His lips tugged up. “But what does equal good work is an amazing manager. One who has a smile for every staff member and goes out of her way to make sure the work environment is a happy one. You don’t have to make sure everyone is doing their job perfectly. I want you to make sure everyone is happy.”

I swallowed and looked down. “I want everyone to be happy. I want them to like coming to work here. I don’t want them to go home feeling stressed or angry.”

“Which is why you take care of the angry customers. You deal with the complicated phone calls. You handle all the paperwork and general running of the hotel, as well as making sure everyone has everything and there are no problems.” His smile grew a little wider. “You buy them food and make sure the staff room gets a fresh flower delivery once a week. You buy their birthday presents out of your own money and make sure every member of staff gets a card at both birthday and Christmas. You cover shifts so others can leave early to see their wife have a baby or their sick aunt who’s been rushed to hospital.”

I opened my mouth, but nothing came out. How did he know all that stuff? I didn’t think anyone paid attention to the stuff I did. I knew it was appreciated, but I didn’t know anybody actually cared enough to remember all the little things.

But, somewhere in this hotel, there were people who had.

“Rosa told me about the time her brother got in an accident while he was fishing and you took the vacuum off her so she could go to the hospital, then she told me how you let her take the next day off because he was critical. And you sent her flowers, which she still feels bad about because she forgot to thank you.”

“I didn’t do it for thanks,” I muttered.

“I know that, and so does she. Wake up, Mellie.” He cupped my chin once again. “You don’t need to make sure everyone does their job perfectly because you’re too busy making sure this is a great place to work.”

“How do you know all that stuff?”

He shrugged. “I asked when I first got here. My first impression of you was a bit of a hot mess—”

“That’s changed?”

He paused. “Not particularly. You’re still a hot mess, but you’re an amazing hot mess.”

“I’ll take it.”

A small laugh escaped him. “I asked the staff to tell me a little about you, and that’s just a fraction of what I heard. You’re not perfect. You break more stuff than the average person—”

“You sneak up on people. That’s hardly my fault.”

“You tell yourself that, spitfire.” His eyes sparkled. “You break a lot of stuff, you’re not always the brightest star in the sky when I mess with you—”

“Also not my fault.”

He covered my mouth with his hand. “Stop fucking interrupting me.”

I blinked at him. I couldn’t agree to be quiet, could I?

I also couldn’t breathe.

I peeled his finger away from my nostrils. “‘An’t breef,” I said against his palm.

“Oh. Shit. Sorry.” He dropped his hand with a laugh. “Can I finish now?”

I nodded.

“You break a lot of stuff, you’re not always sharp when I’m being an idiot, and you’re sometimes too nice and forgiving for your own good, but they’re not bad things. They’re just who you are, and I happen to think that who you are is pretty incredible.” He ran his fingers through his hair. “Which is probably part of the reason why I can’t stop thinking about kissing you every time I look at you.”

A light flush rose up my cheeks. “This escalated quickly.”

He took a deep breath in. “I stopped using my filter.”

“It’s been a long morning. I’ll forgive you.” My lips pulled into a half-smile, and I tucked my hair behind my ear. “Um…Thank you. I appreciate it?”

“Are you telling me? That sounded a lot like a question.”

“I’m not used to anyone being so nice to me.”

“Ironic, since you’re the nicest person I’ve ever met.”

“I literally spend half our conversations in a permanent state of sarcasm. That doesn’t equal the nicest person you’ve ever met.”

“How do you know? I’ve met some right assholes. Did I tell you about my cousin?”

I laughed, standing up. “You did. You’ve also met Peyton, and she’s definitely a bigger asshole than I am.”

“Most people are, spitfire.”

Well, in his defense, he hadn’t known me that long, really.

“Okay, so, what do we do about Harley?” I put my hands on my hips and leaned back against the windowsill. Before he could answer, I said, “I think we need to speak to Quinn and explain there’s obviously a training issue here, because, at the very least, she should have noticed that Harley struggles with it. She should have been taking Harley down to help when she’s been doing the order. And if it’s because Harley’s not really number-inclined, then the task should have been taken off her a long time ago. I think Quinn needs to run through it all again with her and supervise her doing a couple of stock takes to find out the issue.”

Jake raised his eyebrows, but he was smiling. “I see you were eager to hear my input.”

“I don’t like your attitude.”

Laughing, he pushed off the desk and walked toward me. “Perfect.” He tapped me on the nose. “That sounds like a good plan, spitfire.”

“Can I ask you a question?”

“Other than the one you just asked?”

Cocky bastard. “Why do you call me spitfire?”

He tilted his head to the side, his eyes sparkling with something gentle but unidentifiable. “Because you are a spitfire. You’re so gentle, but at the same time, you’re incredibly fierce.”

“Is that a good thing?”

He grinned, then briefly cupped my chin. “Yes. It is.”

“Good to know.” My eyes met his.

A storm brewed in his gray gaze. It was wild—a heady mix of want and restraint, of desire and determination.

I knew what he wanted to do.

My heart picked up a fast beat. I couldn’t stop it, and after everything he’d said to me tonight, I knew he wanted to kiss me for more than one reason.

I wanted to kiss him.

I wanted to break the rule we’d set, the one I was so steadfastly determined to keep, and kiss him.

I didn’t care that he was my boss. It was impossible to remember that when I looked into his eyes. All I saw was a guy, a regular guy, who wanted me. And it was tempting, intoxicating. None of the stuff we’d agreed mattered.

So, I broke the rule. That one rule I swore to myself I wouldn’t break.

I kissed him.

I stepped forward, flattened my hands against his chest, and I kissed Jacob Creed.

His hands found my waist, his touch almost tentative, like he couldn’t believe I was kissing him. As I slid my own hands up his chest to his neck, he tightened his grip, making his fingers dig into my skin.

He pulled me against him so tight not even a breath could pass between our bodies. I wrapped my arms tight around his neck and kissed him hard. He responded in an instant, circling my body with one arm and bringing the other up to cup the back of my head.

His tongue flicked against my lips. I didn’t hesitate in allowing him to deepen the kiss. I wanted more of him. I could feel him everywhere, from the taste of his coffee on his tongue to the effects of his kiss in the goosebumps on my arms.

I could feel him, too. His cock was hardening against my lower stomach, and he held me so tight there was no escaping it. Desire bolted through me as I gave in. There wasn’t a part of my body that wasn’t a raging inferno of need by the time he was fully hard.

If he pushed, I’d let him do more than kiss me.

I wanted him to push it. I wanted him to push it while I was so heady with lust that I couldn’t think straight. I couldn’t think anything at all except for his.

Couldn’t think of anything but the way he gripped my hair. The way his fingers dug into my hip. The way my heart beat faster than I’d ever known it to before.

The way he kissed me.

He kissed me freely and with abandon, with pure passion that ricocheted right through my veins.

I was alive.

More alive than I’d ever been in the arms of a man.

And I was terrified of that.

Because it meant this was more than a schoolgirl crush. This was a real crush, one that tangled work politics with the heart, and that was a dangerous maze to navigate.

This was a real crush, based on an amazing guy with an even more amazing smile.

I broke the kiss, gasping. My thoughts had spiraled beyond just him, and now the reality of kissing him had shattered the momentary peace.

“I have to do the order before one,” I breathed. It wasn’t an excuse.

All right, it was, but it also wasn’t a lie.

“Wait.” He held me tight against him when I tried to move away. He ghosted his lips across my cheek to my ear and said, “You can’t kiss a guy like that then run.”

“Is there a rulebook for post-kissing etiquette?”

“I’ll write one,” he murmured, pulling back without releasing me. “Last night. Let’s do it again.”

I raised my eyebrows. “Where we try to cook, and you distract me so much the food burns?”

“Yes, but we skip the cooking and go straight to the distracting.”

“The distracting is part of it—”

“Skip the cooking and go straight to fucking, Mellie.”

Man. I really was dense.

I coughed. “That was, um, blunt.”

He smirked. “I told you I’m blunter than you are.”

“I’m determined to teach you how to cook. I’m not okay with skipping cooking.”

“You’re gonna burn it again.”

“No. You’re going to behave.” I slid my hands down to his chest. “Since I assume this is non-negotiable.”

He sighed. “I love it when you don’t argue with me. I love it when you do argue with me, but since you have to do the order, it’s easier that you aren’t.”

I pursed my lips.

He laughed and released his tight grip on me. “Look, I have to fly to my mom’s tomorrow morning to help her pack up the last of my grandpa’s things. I’ll be back Friday. We can do it then.”

“Do what? What are we categorizing this as? Clearly it’s not non-friends.”

“A date, Mellie. Call a date a date, would you?”

“That’s a…I think you’re supposed to ask to make it a date.” My throat was dry. A date? Dear God. I wasn’t prepared for a damn date.

“A non-date. That’s a date.” He crossed his arms, clearly fighting laughter.

“Just call it dinner and go away and let me do my job.” I sat at my chair and booted the computer with a quick slap onto the keyboard. “Jake.”

“You’re so cute when you’re awkward.” He grinned again and straightened his shirt. “I’ll leave you to it. I have a couple of things to do, then I have to go home and pack. Are you okay here?”

“I’ve handled it as the manager for the last four years. I think I’ll be okay,” I drawled.

Jake grabbed his jacket and winked. “I’ll text you to set up Friday night, okay?”

I turned to the computer and hoped he wouldn’t see me blush. “Okay.”

“Oh, and, Mellie? You’re really fucking cute when you blush like that.”

I threw my wireless mouse at him.

Unfortunately for me, by the time the mouse got to him, he was already outside and had shut my door.

The mouse smashed into it and fell to the floor.

“Oh, shit!” I ran across the room and picked it up. The little light on the bottom flickered three times before going out. Not even turning it off and back on again worked.

I slumped against the wall and sighed. Hopefully, the nearest store wouldn’t be too busy, and I could run in and out to get a new mouse.

My phone buzzed on the desk.

 

Jake: I think you have an anger problem.

Me: I think I have a YOU problem!

Jake: I have a you problem. It’s uncomfortable to sit in my car…

Me: Then stop being so hot and I won’t accidentally kiss you.

Jake: Unfortunately, this level of good looking is hard to control. As for you “accidentally” kissing me, I’ll take it. I did see you slip when you grabbed me…

 

I huffed.

 

Me: Go away. I have to go and buy a new mouse.

Jake: Anger problem…

Me: Go suck an alligator’s ass.

Jake: Like I said…

Me: I’m going to watch Forensic Files tonight. Be afraid.

Jake: As long as I can fuck you first, you can kill me any way you like. I won’t even put up a fight.

Me: GOODBYE, JACOB.

 

I shoved the phone into my purse before the conversation could continue any further.

Yep. My problem was definitely Jake-sized.