Page 40 of #Resort Love (Lakeview Harbor #1)

“But please don’t reach out to my grandparents,” she said, her voice even, her gaze steady.

“Promise me. Don’t go to another agent or…

or…anything. Please. They really hurt me.

I was an innocent victim in a terrible tragedy, and they didn’t care.

So…please. Let me try to find you another piece of land. Forget about theirs. Okay?”

Essentially, she was asking him to choose, choose between her and his dream.

Damn. It was like she had heard his earlier inner thoughts.

But right now, he’d promise her anything. “Okay,” he assured her.

A month later, and Harlow had zero leads on property for Walker.

Fortunately, he’d been dealing with so much with the renovations at the resort that the topic rarely came up.

And when it did, she used sexy measures to distract him.

Needless to say, they were both satisfied.

Still, she knew she had exhausted her search and when to throw in the towel.

She just dreaded telling Walker.

At last count, they’d had to demolish a dozen cabins. They weren’t all in the same section, which sucked because then he could have possibly claimed that area for his glamping pods.

Something she would have been incredibly thankful for.

On top of that, there were some issues with the new plumbing that had to go in, and there had been a week of heavy rain that meant all the work they had been focused on had to shift and all the crews had to work on the lodge. And they didn’t have most of the materials needed for it.

She really felt bad that things were going a little off script, but she explained how that’s sometimes how things went in construction. Fortunately, Axel was there for that conversation and confirmed her statement. None of the other guys seemed bothered by the changes or setbacks—only Walker.

Part of her felt like maybe he took it more personally because this was his family’s business and he wanted to prove that he could handle it and make everything better. It would make sense, but she never thought of coming right out and asking him.

Maybe one of these days she would.

Ever since their conversation at dinner that night at The Artisan Grill, things changed.

They never went to Manhattan—mainly because after everything that went down that night, she never brought it up—but Walker seemed more relaxed, and Harlow knew she was too.

It was like their admissions put them both at ease.

Love.

She already knew she was in love with Walker. Hell, Swati called that well over a month ago, but Harlow had brushed her comment off. So yes, she was in love with him. She didn’t always like him, but she loved him. And if she were being honest, he probably felt the same about her.

Both the loving and the not always liking.

They each had very strong opinions on things and they didn’t always agree, but he was definitely a bigger baby when that happened, and his friends all agreed with her.

It was awesome when that happened.

It was Friday afternoon and they were going away for the weekend and already made promises not to talk about real estate or the resort. And honestly, she couldn’t wait.

They weren’t going to Manhattan, but Walker found a glamping resort about a hundred miles away that he was eager to check out.

She wanted to reason that going there was breaking their no talking about real estate or the resort rule, but she had to admit that she was kind of curious about what all the fuss was about with glamping.

Personally, she wasn’t an outdoorsy girl, and when she mentioned that to him, he reasoned that glamping would totally be her style.

She still wasn’t sure she believed him, but she was looking forward to the two of them getting away together.

Standing in the middle of her bedroom, she tried to figure out what exactly she was going to need.

Basically, it was just the weekend, and their “tent” was like a rustic hotel room with electricity and plumbing.

It just was in a heavy duty, fairly soft structure.

There were hot tubs and waterfalls, so she knew she needed a bathing suit and probably sturdy shoes.

The resort had a restaurant and Walker told her he really didn’t want to go outside of it for anything; he wanted to fully immerse themselves in the experience.

“I really hope I don’t hate this.”

So, she packed up an oversized weekender bag and hoped for the best.

Walker knocked on her door a little after two—they both decided to only work a half a day—and he looked all rugged and sexy and she was excited to have him all to herself for the entire weekend. “You ready, beautiful?”

“As I’ll ever be!” She locked up and followed him out to his truck. “I didn’t need to pack anything overly specific, right? Like hiking boots or a first aid kit? Or food?”

Laughing softly, Walker shook his head as they pulled away from her apartment.

“We might want to stop for a few snacks to keep in our tent, but I snagged a couple of bottles of wine on my way to pick you up. Think of it as a luxury resort for outdoorsy people. It’s going to be awesome.

I really think you’re going to love it.”

“I know, I know…and I went on the website to check it all out.”

“Didn’t it sound fantastic? I mean, the deluxe tents are amazing! A full bathroom with rain shower head, a king-sized bed, hotel quality bedding and linens…”

“There were a lot of pillows on those beds,” she commented.

“There’s air conditioning, plus an electric woodstove.”

“That one makes no sense. So basically, it’s a fake woodstove.”

“Yeah, but it looks great! Plus, we have a mini fridge, a coffeemaker, bathrobes and towels, plus our own private hot tub! You’re not even going to realize you’re in a tent.”

Somehow she doubted it, but she kept that to herself.

“Plus, there seemed to be a lot of activities we could do, like bike trails, kayaking, miniature golf…”

“Miniature golf? I didn’t see that on the website,” she said, pulling out her phone to see what he was talking about.

“There are sauna pods that I thought looked interesting.”

“Um…I’m not really a sauna person. I hate to sweat.”

Walker laughed. “Then you better not come to visit me in Texas, because during the summer months, it is blistering hot.”

Turning her head, she smiled sweetly. “I’ll miss you.”

He laughed again. “Such a brat.”

“Ooh, you were right! Miniature golf! Fun!”

“I haven’t played since high school, but it could be a fun way to kill some time.”

“Absolutely!”

They had a long drive ahead of them and she knew it was going to be hard to pass the time with no mention of their jobs, so she thought maybe they could talk about the resort. Sort of. Just a little bit.

“So, what are the guys doing this weekend? Did they take time off too?”

“Oh, definitely. Connor went to be with his daughter and is taking all next week off. Slater and Axel decided to fly to Connecticut to go to Foxwoods.”

“The casino?”

“Yup.”

“Wow! And they’re flying?”

“It was going to be a four-hour drive. Slater has his pilot’s license and has a friend who lent him their plane for the weekend.”

“That is very cool. I’ve never known any pilots! I can’t believe that never came up all those times I had dinner with everyone.”

“Well, it didn’t have anything to do with the resort, so maybe that’s why?”

“I guess that’s possible. So he’s a pilot and he also works for some travel adventure and excursion company?”

Another small laugh. “He does. Honestly, Slater’s a bit of an adrenaline junkie, so he needed to find a career that let him do his thing. He takes people hiking up mountains and down into canyons, zip lining, bungee jumping, skydiving, whitewater rafting, scuba diving…you name it, he’s done it.”

“That is amazing! Do you ever go on those adventures with him?”

“We’ve done a couple of group trips where he wasn’t on the clock, you know? We went to Hawaii and climbed a volcano, and he convinced us all to go skydiving.” He shuddered. “That is not something I’d want to do again, but I’m glad I tried it.”

“I would never do that. I couldn’t. I’m not afraid of heights, per se, but I have zero interest in doing something like that.”

“So you’re not into the extreme sports, huh?”

She laughed softly. “Not really. I’ve gone zip lining, but that’s about as extreme as I’ve wanted to go. I think bungee jumping would be a lot like skydiving, so that’s a no. I ski, but I guess that’s not really extreme.”

“It could be. Depending on the height of the mountain and trail and whatnot.”

“True. You grew up coming to Harbortown, so I’m sure you’re familiar with the local ski resorts. I’ve gone to all of them and while I do just fine, it’s something else that doesn’t overly thrill me. Something about going downhill very fast…” Now it was her turn to shudder.

“Not a fan of speed then, I’m guessing.”

“Nope. I prefer to be a little more in control.” She glanced at him. “You strike me as someone who loves speed.”

He grinned. “Definitely. We did a race car driving experience one time. We all got to ride along on a racetrack and it was so freaking cool! We got to drive too, but not at the speeds the professionals do. Still, it’s something I’d go back and do again.

Same thing with water sports. I love to ride on jet skis or go parasailing.

We’re thinking of adding that as an experience at the resort.

We could do it on the lake and only offer it a couple of times a day. ”

She wanted to remind him they weren’t supposed to talk about that stuff, but this seemed fairly harmless.

“Is it always the five of you on these trips?”

“Mostly. Milo’s the hardest to pin down. He’s very hands-on in everything with his company and sometimes it’s hard to drag him away. I think he’s only missed a trip or two, but it’s way more fun when we’re all together.”

“I kind of love how you all met at the resort and stayed friends. It’s actually very sweet.”