MooreTek arrived and the next week passed in a blur of happiness. Whenever thoughts about our eventual expiration date would leak in, I pushed them aside with a simple, “Not now.” Yes, Sanders would have to leave and go back to Denver, but those thoughts could wait. We were, as it turned out, a damn good team. My anal-retentive planning of every detail balanced out his laissez-faire attitude. And everything did work out. More impressive was that when something unexpected happened, I was able to handle it with almost no freak-out.
Like on the third day of the MooreTek retreat, when the kitchen ran out of gluten-free and vegetarian options. Normally, I would head out and grab the needed ingredients, scrambling to get back in time, sweaty and frazzled. Instead, I headed into the male-dominated kitchen and pointed to one of the sous-chefs.
“Can you run to the farmer’s market and grab whatever the kitchen needs?” I asked.
He glanced to Johnny Delaney, the grumpy kitchen manager.
Whatever, Johnny, you take your broody good looks and shove it.
“Is that okay with you?” is what I actually said to him.
He crossed his arms and grunted what I guessed was consent. That guy needed some damn sunshine in his life.
Oh God, look at me. Since I’d started hooking up with Sanders every beautiful night, I was turning into Suzie, wishing love and happiness on other people. Gross. Soon I wouldn’t even recognize myself anymore. And I could delegate like a boss now. Literally.
And wasn’t that amazing.
I was still a professional. Of course. I still wanted my promotion, I wouldn’t do anything stupid. But I was happy.
I couldn’t help but smile as I walked back to the lobby. My face just did it all the time now. When I looked up, Sanders was watching from across the room where he was about to take the group out for a morning hike. His eyes met mine and he smiled with his whole body. I tucked my hair back and focused on the task at hand.
Each day went like that. We were professionals and we were badasses. We’d work all day, impressing the shit out of the customer and then at night … well, the nights were amazing. It was risqué and sexy to work as professional counterparts during the day only to lose ourselves in each other each night.
The same day as the kitchen shortage, I was walking down the hallway when a hand grabbed me and tugged me into the janitor closet. The room was dark, but the second a hard body pressed me up against the door, I melted into the kiss that met my lips.
Sanders kissed me in the darkness of the closet, grinding his erection against my thigh as he made me come against his fingers.
“A girl could get used to this,” I said as we straightened ourselves back to sorts.
“You go out first. I need a minute,” Sanders said breathing deeply and gripping a rack of supplies, slightly hunched.
“I could help with that.” I reached out and ran a finger along the length of him.
“Don’t touch him. He gets confused. He’s a simple creature. Plus, if I make him wait, the better tonight will be.”
I flushed with the anticipation.
The days blurred together. Muscles I didn’t even know I had ached throughout the day, bringing a smile to my face as I coordinated the events with a professional ease. I loved how bossy he was in the bedroom. I loved that I took the lead too. We’d already explored so much of each other but my mind drifted throughout the day imagining a hundred more ways to love his body with mine.
On Friday, Vincent found me double-checking the bus taking the group back to the airport.
“Roxy.” Vincent smiled, standing coolly with one hand in the pocket of his dress pants, his blazer open slightly. Busy with the MooreTek crowd, I’d hardly seen him this last week except when he checked in a few times. The sight of him caused the same anxiety as before despite knowing the week had been a success.
We waited as Sanders finished helping the last MooreTek employees climb onto the buses. I watched him jog over to join us, nodding professionally at me before giving Vincent his entire focus.
Oh, we were so good at this.
Vincent glanced between the two of us. “Do you both have some time to chat?”
Sanders and I exchanged a nod before following him back to his office.
When the three of us were situated in his office, an unaccountable wave of nerves crashed over me. I longed to reach for Sanders but clasped my hands gently in my lap.
“I just spoke with the CEO of MooreTek,” Vincent jumped right in as usual. “She could only say great things about the both of you. I think the term ‘power duo’ was thrown around more than once. Not only do they want to make this an annual event, they’re happy to share their recommendation with other businesses.”
“That’s fantastic,” I said, letting out a slow breath. I knew it, but hearing this review released some tension in my shoulders.
“Great news,” Sanders said at the same time.
“Mr. Olsson, I hope this means you’ll consider partnering with the Lodge on a more permanent basis,” Vincent said. “We can all discuss the details. Maybe we can draft up some ideas before you leave. Things are a little crazy around here but I think it’s an arrangement that would benefit us all.”
I fought to keep myself as still as possible. A thousand thoughts flew through my brain. Sanders and I … it was only supposed to be temporary. Short-term I could handle. Short-term wouldn’t derail me but even just looking at how obsessed we’d become with each other this last week … Could we sustain that momentum and focus on our careers?
Not now, I told the thoughts in my head. I kept my neutral expression on Vincent as Sanders responded.
“I think Outside the Box would very much like that. When Skip returns, I’ll
