Page 15 of Summer Ever After

Chapter Five

Beth glanced at the clock on the corner of her computer screen and forced her eyes back to the spreadsheet in front of her. Numbers, columns, and invoices usually grounded her, but today they blurred every time she became aware of Aaron sitting across from her in the lobby.

He’d walked in about twenty minutes ago, offering her that calm, steady smile before settling into one of the leather chairs near the window with a half-empty smoothie in his hands. Since then, he’d alternated between sitting with his phone and pacing a slow circuit across the room like a man who had too much energy bottled up. Every footstep echoed through her chest, no matter how quietly he moved.

The phone on the desk rang, startling her. She grabbed it too quickly. “River Camps, this is Beth.”

A guest needed directions for how to book time at the spa. Easy enough. She walked them through it, smiling into the receiver. Professional, calm, collected. At least, she hoped that’s how she sounded. Because in her peripheral vision, Aaron had leaned forward, elbows on his knees, eyes flicking towards her like he was trying not to be caught watching.

When she hung up, she tugged the accounting binder closer and tried again to focus. Receipts from the retreat weekend needed reconciling. She entered line items into the system, checked totals, and adjusted the petty cash log. The numbers should have been satisfying to organize, but her pulse refused to steady.

“Need a hand?” Aaron’s voice carried across the lobby, low but enough to break her concentration.

She blinked at the screen. “With what? Balancing ledgers or answering phones?”

“Either.” He stood now, stretching to his full height before strolling closer. “I’ve got nothing but time, it appears.”

She shook her head, though the corners of her mouth wanted to betray her with a smile. “Pretty sure security detail doesn’t cover Excel formulas.”

The phone rang again, saving her. She answered quickly, another guest, this one asking about check-out. She handled it smoothly, but her skin tingled with the awareness that Aaron had stopped just short of the desk, leaning a shoulder against the wall. He was close enough that she could smell a hint of clean soap and cedar. His signature scent.

As soon as she hung up, she cleared her throat and went back to typing. “Don’t you have… somewhere to be?”

“Right here’s fine.” His tone was casual but steady, like a rock anchoring in place.

She pressed her lips together, determined to ignore him. Numbers. Totals. Deadlines. If only her hands would stop trembling on the keyboard. As she tried not to stare—tried being the key word—her heart raced faster and faster. Every time she glanced up from the accounting spreadsheets on her laptop, Aaron was there, leaning back in the leather chair across the lobby, arms crossed over his chest, or worse, pacing slowly in front of the massive stone fireplace like some restless panther. He wasn’t even doing anything, just existing in the same space, and yet her focus on budget line items was shot to pieces.

Her phone rang, saving her from pretending she’d actually been looking at numbers. “River Camps, this is Beth,” she said in her brightest, most professional voice. She walked a guest through the check-in process, and then jotted down a maintenance request on another call.

When she dared another glance up, Aaron’s eyes were on her. She turned back to her computer screen and really, really tried to focus.

“You know,” he drawled a few minutes later, his voice carrying easily across the space, “staring that hard at those numbers isn’t going to make them behave.”

She arched a brow without looking up. “And hovering over there grinning at me isn’t helping with my concentration.”

That grin, that slow, infuriatingly confident grin, spread across his face. “Touché.”

Before she could think of something else to say, the front doors swung open and in breezed Jules and Aubrey, each balancing trays with tall, colorful smoothies on them.

“Delivery service!” Jules announced with a flourish. “One Tropical Bliss for the lady with the eternal spreadsheets.” She plopped the frosty pink drink beside Beth’s laptop.

“And for the brooding security guard,” Aubrey said, handing Aaron a bright orange concoction with a smirk, “an Orange You Glad You’re So Hot.”

Aaron snorted. “I already had a smoothie today.”

“Have another.” Aubrey practically shoved it into his hand.

“Do I get a straw or should I chug this like a frat boy?” Aaron joked.

Beth laughed before she could stop herself, the sound bubbling up far too easily. “Sorry, I couldn’t help but picture you in a toga, chugging smoothies.”

Jules and Aubrey exchanged a quick look as they laughed and headed down the hallway towards their offices.

“If I kept getting free smoothies, I’m going to float home instead of drive,” he said as he took a sip. He looked impressed and took another sip. “At least they’re really good.”

“Everything here is really good,” she said, enjoying her own smoothie. “I think they’re doing it on purpose today. This is my second one too.” She set her cup down and leaned on the counter. “They know you stayed outside my place all last night and want to keep you energized. I’ll wager you were put on duty in here to watch over me so you didn’t have to work too hard today.”

He nodded and she chuckled. “I doubt these will be the last smoothies or free samples we’re given today.” She went back to her computer. “They’re saying thank you.” She glanced quickly over at him, noticing him shrugging as if uncomfortable.