CHAPTER TWENTY
Zane
Before long, our time in bed had to end since the real world demanded both of us return to it. I would have been able to stay with her naked between the sheets for the rest of time, but her advertising business and the inn made that impossible.
As Becca rushed around dressing in her work clothes, I sat on the chair and marveled at how incredible this woman truly was. Even hopping across the floor trying to get her shoes on as she ran a makeup brush over her face, she couldn’t have been more beautiful.
“You know, I think you might kill yourself if you don’t slow down.”
She twisted her face into a grimace that didn’t diminish her beauty one bit and stopped moving for a moment. “I have a nine-thirty appointment with a company that could be a huge campaign for me, and as much as I’d love to slow down and take in the very appealing scenery of you sitting there in a towel, I’m trying not to be distracted by your pecs and abs, so how about you get dressed?”
“I’m going to take that as a compliment,” I joked.
Becca walked over to me and leaned down so our faces were just an inch away from one another. “I’d stay here and ride you like a wild woman if I could, but I can’t, so if you don’t want to help me ruin a chance for me to land the biggest account of my career, please put some clothes on.”
Since I didn’t want to ruin her career, I stood up and kissed her long and slow. Pulling away, I saw the smile on her face and liked how it felt making her happy. “Your wish is my command. I’m not insulted at all that the woman I just spent the last day with pleasuring her now wants me to cover up. Not insulted in the least.”
She giggled and pushed me toward the bed where my clothes lay. “I promise I’ll make it up to you at a future date. You have my word.”
I grabbed my pants and slid one of my legs into them. “I’m going to hold you to that.”
At the front door, we kissed goodbye, and I didn’t want to leave. For the first time in my life, I wished I could stay right where I was.
The whole drive back I couldn’t get her out of my head, and I wore a grin a mile wide. When I arrived, the staff walked around like on eggshells, probably because I was so quiet. However, it wasn’t anger that was keeping me silent when I came back.
It was determination.
I arrived in Vermont with a newfound drive and a laser focus to make the inn succeed in a way my mother had never dreamed of. I wanted Becca to see my actions matched my words, and the best way to do that was to throw my weight behind the ad campaign and make the place take off.
* * *
Throughout the winter, I watched as Becca’s ideas made The Gilford House Inn the destination everyone wanted to go to in New England. I watched as the inn became booked solid for months. Even a travel magazine came to do an article on how the place had taken off, calling it “world renowned.” I didn’t know if I’d ever describe the inn like that, but its success felt good.
And I had only one person to credit for that.
My staff knew that too. Although they seemed to like me more than before, they loved seeing Becca whenever she came to stay.
Before I knew it, winter gave way to spring. I awoke one day and glanced at the calendar only to realize that I had less than four months left in my year-long stint at the inn. I smiled as I rolled over and looked at Becca, who stayed at the inn with me every weekend for months now. Tired from the drive up the night before, she brushed me off when I nudged her awake and fell right back asleep, her eyes not even opening as she mumbled into her pillow that she wasn’t ready to start the day yet.
I left her lying there, her dark hair splayed out on the pillow as she slept, and walked downstairs to check on the inn. As had become the new norm, the dining room bustled with people getting their breakfast and others in the check-in area getting ready to go on the nature tour or the downtown tour Becca had organized for the warmer weather.
The tour guides waved at me, and a couple of the guests on their way into the dining room stopped to talk to me. It took me a moment to realize that it was my mother’s lawyer, Mitchell Worthington, and his wife standing before me.
“Mr. Gilford, I must say things are looking quite splendid here! My wife and I saw your ad in the local paper, and we’re glad we booked early.”
I smiled, happy to once again hear that Becca’s efforts had done so well. “Hello, Mr. Worthington. I’m so happy to see we were able to fit you in. The advertising campaign has really done wonders.”
He shook my hand and nodded. “Your mother would be so proud. I don’t think I even saw it this busy when she ran the place, and those were what we thought were the salad days of The Gilford House Inn. You certainly have defied all of our expectations. Congratulations, my boy.”
“Thank you. I appreciate that.”
They walked into the dining room, and I immediately turned to Mandy standing at the check-in desk. “I want to make sure the Worthingtons’ meals are comped. Please make sure you handle that before they get their bill at the end of their stay, okay?”
“My pleasure, Mr. Gilford,” she answered with a big smile.
I didn’t know if she liked me any more than she ever had, but lately it seemed she liked how I ran the inn more than when I first arrived. That wasn’t a huge challenge, though. I had pretty much been public enemy number one for a while there.
It still felt a little strange when guests waved and smiled at me as they passed by. Becca had come up with the idea that The Gilford House Inn name needed a face put to it, so now because of the campaign, people recognized me all over the place. It wasn’t just at the inn either, where at least it made sense.
One day shortly after the ads started running, I drove into town and everywhere from the grocery store to the shops on Main Street, people walked right up to me and asked if there were any bookings available at my inn. My inn. I didn’t often admit it, but I loved it.
A crush of guests stood in front of Mandy at the check-in desk, so I hopped on the second computer I had installed and took charge, helping her through every one of them and clearing out the lobby.
When we finished and the crowd left, she smiled at me and said, “Thank you so much, Mr. Gilford. I didn’t mean to start falling behind, but when they all start talking at once like that, it just gets so crazy!”
I nodded my understanding, happy to help. “Don’t worry, Mandy. You were doing just fine. I think maybe I should look into hiring another front desk clerk to assist you up here.”
Instantly her smile faded, and worry settled into her eyes. “Would I lose my hours? I just started some college courses, and financial aid isn’t going to cover all of it. I need my hours, Mr. Gilford. I promise that I won’t fall behind like that again. Just please don’t take my hours away.”
“Mandy, no need to worry. You wouldn’t lose any hours, and besides, as the front desk manager, you should be getting a raise anyway for all you do.”
She beamed at the news, and for a moment I thought she might just hug me.
“Oh, my God, Mr. Gilford! That would be amazing. I…I can’t even… That would be so great! I could afford my rent easier and still have money for school. That would just mean so much to me!” she said, bubbling with joy.
“We’ll talk about it next week and nail down some of the specifics. Get me your class schedule so I can have that in mind when looking for someone new, and let me know what you think your salary should be and we’ll negotiate from there. Sound good?”
“Yes. Thank you so much, sir.”
I waved her off and left the lobby area pleased with myself. It would be good for a young girl like that to start getting some managerial experience. As the only one in the place who’d had the guts to stand up to me, I knew she could handle people working under her. I hadn’t forgotten that talk we’d had months before, and I doubted she had either. She might not have known it, but she’d motivated me to get Becca back that day. For that alone, she deserved a raise and a promotion.
Feeling good, I headed back to my room to find Becca in the shower. I walked in and stripped before sneaking in behind her. She jumped with a start but quickly melted into my arms as I lathered soap onto her gorgeous body.
“Nice way to give a girl a heart attack,” she said with a smile, gazing up at me as my hands slid over her ass.
“Can’t have that happening. I don’t want to have to explain this to the local EMTs. If you survived, you’d never be able to show your face in town again. You’d be the shower hussy,” I said with a chuckle as her eyebrows shot up into her forehead.
Becca took my cock in her hand and began stroking it, sending a jolt of pleasure through me. “Shower hussy? I’ll show you hussy.”
A few more strokes made me want much more than just her hand, so I kissed her hard and lifted her so I could slide into her tight cunt. Becca grabbed hold of my shoulders and I pushed into her, loving how every inch of her felt.
“Oh, God,” she moaned. “God, fuck me.”
Happy to oblige, I gently pressed her back against the white tiles and held her hips tightly before I began to pump into her. Becca loved to take very hot showers, and the hot water continued to hit my shoulder and side, stinging my skin, but I didn’t care.
All I cared about was burying my cock inside her cunt and making her come. Her fingers slipped from their hold on my shoulder, so she stuffed them into my hair and tugged hard to hold on as every thrust into her inched her closer to release.
“Oh…Zane…I’m so close…don’t stop. Just a few more…”
Her voice trailed off, and closing her eyes, she winced as her cunt began to milk my cock through her orgasm and she tugged harder on my hair. The pain dancing across my scalp and a few tight squeezes around my cock pushed me over the edge, and seconds later, I came, exploding into her and filling her up.
I pressed my forehead to the cool tiles and exhaled, realizing I’d been holding my breath the whole time I made love to her. Becca gently ran her hands over my back as her legs loosened from around my waist.
“That was incredible. I think I almost passed out,” she said in my ear.
The hot water pelting my left shoulder suddenly felt like burning coals, and I turned her around to stand under the spray as I lowered her to the tub. Looking down at my skin, I saw a bright red patch.
“I think I have second-degree burns, but it was worth it.”
She cradled my face in her hands and stood on her toes to kiss me on the lips before placing a kiss on my shoulder. “All better now.”
“I’ll leave you to it so I can find some burn ointment,” I said with a chuckle. “See you in a few. Don’t stay too long in that water or your skin is going to turn to leather.”
* * *
The weekends had become the most important part of my weeks, and as I sat in the dining room with Becca watching her eat while I finished my own breakfast, I couldn’t help but smile wide. She looked up at me and her cheeks turned red.
“What? Zane, what? Is there something in my teeth?”
“No. I’m just very happy.”
She smiled back and gave me a peck on the cheek as I heard screaming coming from the other end of the dining room. We both turned quickly, and I saw a woman sitting at a corner table decked out in all the jewelry and fur one could imagine and yelling at one of my servers. I waited for a moment, seeing if the girl could handle it, but I saw the tears welling up in her eyes.
“Are you an idiot?” the woman shouted, causing the entire dining room to stop and notice her.
She didn’t seem to care and continued barking at the poor girl. “I asked for sweet tea. Sweet tea! This doesn’t have anything in it. This is the second time this week this has happened. What exactly am I paying for if not some decent service and my preferred type of tea? Is it so hard to get it right?”
I looked at Becca before getting up and walking over to the woman and my server, a girl named Renee who had just started a few weeks earlier. “Hello, ma’am. My name is Zane Gilford, and I’m the owner. What can I do for you today?”
“You can hire some decent staff who can do more than sticking their thumb up their ass and sing. How hard is it to get some sweet tea here?”
“Ma’am, I’m sorry for the inconvenience. I’ll be happy to get you some sweet tea. That being said, I can’t have you degrading my staff the way you are.”
The woman’s eyes opened wide in shock that I’d said that to her. As I stood there waiting for her to apologize, it occurred to me at that moment that just a few short months ago I was the one speaking to my staff like that. Disgust for how rude I’d been made me cringe.
The garish woman shook her head and cleared her throat. “Excuse me? I can talk to whoever I like however I want. I paid to be here so if you don’t value that…”
Before she went any further, I needed to show that I’d learned my lesson. “I do value that and I value your patronage, but I value my staff as well. Renee here doesn’t deserve to be berated by you or anyone else in this world. Now let me get that sweet tea for you.”
I left her fuming and motioned for Renee to follow me as I walked to the server area where two other waitresses stood watching the entire scene.
She hung her head and began to cry. “I’m sorry, Mr. Gilford. I didn’t mean to mix up the teas. This is all my fault.”
“Renee, it’s fine. It’s tea. I’ll bring this back to her. Why don’t you take a break and cool down? Ladies, can you cover her tables for her?” I said as I patted Renee on the shoulder.
She lifted her head and wiped her cheeks stained with mascara from the tears she’d been crying over the obnoxious woman. “I appreciate that Mr. Gilford. Thank you. I’ll just take a walk outside to catch my breath. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
The other servers consoled her and went back into the dining room behind me as I walked the sweet tea over to the woman. The rage came off of her in waves as I set the drink down with a smile.
“Here you go, ma’am. Is there anything else I can get for you today?”
“Where did you send that little idiot?” she growled at me, looking around for her victim, clearly not done taking her anger out on the girl.
I stood looking down at her pretty damn stunned that she wouldn’t let this go. It was just tea, for fuck’s sake.
“Ma’am, I’m going to have to ask you again to mind your tone in my establishment. We don’t tolerate rudeness to the staff here.”
Her mouth dropped open and she snapped, “You know what? You can get me a refund, you ass. I’m leaving. I won’t spend another night in a place that can’t be run the right way.”
“As you wish, ma’am. I’ll take care of you at the front desk—”
She stood up from her chair and threw her napkin down on the table. “Forget it! I only have one night left anyway. Keep my money. I won’t spend another minute here.”
And with that, the woman stormed out of the dining room. Shrugging, I heard the people at the tables all around the dining room applaud. I smiled and nodded, a little embarrassed that they had to sit through such a show, before taking my seat next to Becca, who was clapping loudest of all.
“Babe, that was amazing! You put her right in her place,” she said as she planted a kiss on my cheek. “I’m going to be honest,” she whispered. “That was pretty sexy.”
I grinned and kissed her back. “That’s me. Sexy bed and breakfast owner and soon to be on the receiving end of the world’s worst Yelp review.”
“Well, I mean it. I thought it was pretty hot.”
“You know, it hit me that I was that person not too long ago. I can’t believe I ever treated people like that.”
Becca looked around and gestured to my staff who were all looking at me appreciatively as Renee came back in to continue her shift. “I think they’ve forgiven you for that, Zane. You’ve really changed, and I’m so impressed.”
“Oh, yeah?” I asked as I leaned over toward her. “Impressed enough to come back upstairs and waste a little of the day away together?”
She blushed and pursed her lips. “Aren’t you needed around here, boss man?”
I swiveled my head back and forth and saw my staff doing a great job handling the guests. “Are you kidding me? These guys have it under control. I can take a little time away.”
“Not too little time, I hope,” Becca said as she stood and winked at me.
Following behind her toward the staircase that led to my room, I felt my cock get hard at the promise of being inside her again. As I walked up the stairs, checking out her beautiful ass and gorgeous legs in front of me, I smiled to myself.
Life was good.