Page 9 of #Resort Love (Lakeview Harbor #1)

“I never claimed to be anything otherwise,” he reminded her.

He continued to walk up the path toward the main lodge and pulled the master key out of his pocket.

There was a storage room that had a decent supply of towels and linens.

The bulk of the inventory had been donated to homeless shelters, but his grandmother had mentioned that they left some behind just in case.

Opening the door, he quickly found the light switch and stepped inside. It smelled musty, but there was a massive shelving unit filled with bundles of towels wrapped in plastic.

He heard rather than saw Harlow follow him in and heard her cough. “Oh my God…the dust in here is awful.”

“You wanted a towel. I’m getting you a towel.” He grabbed a bag that had four of them in it and handed it to her. “That ought to hold you over until you get home.”

She mumbled something that could have been “thanks,” but he wasn’t sure.

While she dried herself off, Walker slowly walked around the space.

Besides the shelves filled with towels, sheets, and tablecloths, there were bins filled with plates, glasses, and silverware.

The further he walked into the room, the more he found—paper goods, cleaning supplies, toiletries, what looked like a few unopened packages of robes and slippers, and a few small appliances.

He was definitely going to use all of these items and knew his friends would too when they arrived.

It was good that they wouldn’t have to go out and purchase basic necessities just yet.

“Such a waste,” he heard Harlow say.

“What is?”

“All of this,” she replied, motioning to the room.

“Why keep all this stuff? It’s one thing to leave the buildings and property here to rot, but everything in this room is brand new!

Why not donate it?” She snorted with derision.

“I’ll bet the entire lodge is filled with stuff that’s just going to grow old and rot. ”

It would have been easy to tell her she was wrong and send her on her way.

Or…try to send her on her way.

But Walker was a man of action and in this particular situation, he thought maybe showing her instead of telling her was the way to go.

So he grabbed a package that contained a robe and one pack of slippers and handed them to her. “Here. Come on. I want to show you something.”

She eyed him warily. “Where? And why? If you’re just going to walk me out to my car…”

The huff of annoyance was overly loud, echoing in the space, and it was obvious that she could tell he was getting fed up. “You sound like a broken record,” he snapped. “Just follow me.”

He stormed out of the room and waited for her to gather all her stuff and follow him out.

She slid the robe and slippers on, and thankfully didn’t say another word.

Locking up the room, he turned and walked up a set of stairs that led to the employee entrance into the lodge.

Unlocking the door, he opened it and again motioned for her to go inside.

Her hesitation was brief, but she didn’t even spare him a glance.

The last thing he wanted to do was drag out their time together, but he wasn’t about to stand back and let her keep trash talking his grandparents. So, if that meant showing her around a bit before officially throwing her off the property, then that’s what he was going to do.

Being inside the lodge was nothing new. She’d been in here hundreds of times in her life.

However, this was the first time she was in here after it had been abandoned, and for some reason, the thought of being here alone with Walker was making her wildly uncomfortable.

For all she knew, he led her up here to kill her!

Ugh…seriously, stop listening to so many true crime podcasts!

“Um, you know what?” she said, her voice high and squeaky and definitely with a bit of a tremble.

“I should go. I’ve taken up enough of your time.

I’ll just be on my way.” But when she went to move around him, he gently grasped her arm and stopped her.

When she looked up and met his dark eyes—he’d finally taken his sunglasses off—and his intense gaze held her still.

“What’s the matter, Harlow? Afraid of abandoned places?”

Was she?

It was wrong to feel that tingle of awareness, to enjoy the touch of his hand on her. Those feelings should be long gone and forgotten because this man in front of her was a stranger.

“N…no. Not at all. I just know that you’re probably more than ready to be rid of me and…and…I have another appointment to get to.”

The look he gave her told her he wasn’t buying that excuse.

“This won’t take long,” he said gruffly. “I promise.”

He dropped his hand and started walking. They were in some sort of empty room, but she had no idea what it once was for because it was empty. He led her out to the area behind the front desk and into the lobby, and it was empty as well—no furniture, no office equipment of any kind.

Wordlessly, he continued to walk across the lobby and then down the first hallway they came to, which housed a bunch of guest rooms. All the doors were open, and Walker stopped at each one and made her look inside.

Empty. Not a stitch of furniture, bedding, towels, or toiletries. Nothing.

By the tenth room, she stopped him. “Okay, I get it. Everything’s empty. Why are you showing me this?”

For the first time since she saw him, he looked mildly relaxed and a little less hostile.

“I wanted you to see for yourself what was going on inside. We can look at all one hundred rooms if you don’t believe me and all the cabins, but you’re going to find the same thing.

My grandparents donated everything that could be donated to local homeless shelters.

Their attachment is to the property and what they built.

They aren’t wasteful people. And they’re certainly not the villains you keep wanting to portray them as. ”

“But…no one ever said anything about them donating all the…”

“It wasn’t anyone’s business,” he interrupted sternly.

“They didn’t do it so people would ooh and aah over them.

They did it because it was their way of helping people.

Believe it or not, they hated the thought of letting this place go—hated how they were letting people down—so they decided to donate whatever they could. ”

“Oh.”

“Yeah, oh,” he mimicked. “Do you need to see more?”

She shook her head.

With a curt nod, he started to walk back toward the lobby, and Harlow had no choice but to follow him.

She glanced in each room she passed because it just seemed weird to see everything…

empty. It was almost unnatural. Pausing for a moment, she stared into one room and tried to remember what the original layout for it was and couldn’t.

“I still say it’s a shame,” she said softly, but Walker wasn’t standing anywhere near to hear. He was already out of sight, probably halfway across the lobby.

When she caught up with him, that’s exactly where he was, but he was standing there waiting for her.

“Can I ask you something?”

Harlow didn’t think grown men rolled their eyes, but this one did.

“I guess.”

“What’s going to happen to all of this? I mean…you say your family has no interest in selling it, but you’re here doing some kind of evaluation and moving into one of the cabins, so…?”

Rather than answer, he looked at his watch before raking a hand through his hair. “No offense, Ms. St. James…”

“Okay, can you quit with the Ms. St. James nonsense? You know my damn name. Hell, you screamed it out multiple times while we were naked and tangled up in your bed,” she reminded him, and was relieved when she saw a hint of a smile tugging at his lips.

“No offense, Harlow , but this really isn’t any of your business. All you need to know is that the Lakeview Harbor Resort is not for sale. End of story.”

Somehow, she doubted that very much.

“Okay, but…”

“I have things to do,” he said abruptly. “And this conversation is over. Thank you for your interest, but your services aren’t needed here.” He stormed off and waited for her by the same door they came in through. His sunglasses were back on, and he was back to looking intimidating.

Fortunately, she didn’t intimidate easily.

“I think you’re making a mistake. I can get you twice what the property is worth,” she said confidently. There’d be a bidding war, and I wouldn’t accept anything less than top dollar on your family’s behalf.”

“And your own,” he murmured. “I’m familiar with real estate, Harlow. The more you sell the place for, the bigger your commission. You’re just going to have to look elsewhere to make money.”

Harlow stood back as he locked the door and then followed him back down the steps and out to the parking lot, her thoughts racing for a comeback. Right now, sadly, there wasn’t anything she could do or say to change his mind. So, she was prepared to leave and regroup and come up with a new tactic.

Even though it was killing her that she hadn’t been able to convince him to hear her pitch or accept her offer to go to dinner.

Although…

When they reached their cars, she tossed her shoes onto the backseat and contemplated how awkward it was going to be to drive in a pair of slippers. Then she looked at the towels she was carrying and the robe.

“So, um…do you want me to wash these and bring them back? Or should I just give them to you here?”

Walker wasn’t even paying attention. He was busy rearranging boxes in the back of the massive Yukon.

“Mr. Bradshaw?” she asked with a hint of snark as she stepped closer.

“Walker.”

Now it was her turn to hide a smile. “See? That wasn’t so hard, right? Okay, Walker, I wanted to know if you wanted me to wash the towels and robe and return them or just give them to you now.”

He straightened. “Seriously?”

“Seriously, what?”