Page 35 of Dandelion Sighs

It wasn’t my job at risk. No one would respect me less for sleeping with the boss. “That decision is up to you. If you need me to leave you alone so you can concentrate on Bishop’s Landing, I will. If you need me to help you ease the pressure in a very explosive way, I will. And if I have to keep my mouth shut and climb through your window at night? I’ll do that too.”

Sheridan

Two days after I came too close to getting busted making out in my office, I sat behind my desk with the door closed and locked. It wasn’t to keep out staff or the handsome handyman I wanted a repeat with. It was to make it look like I did this regularly. Locked myself in and not just with Jasper. That would look suspicious, and I was finally earning my staff’s respect without Constance here. If this place shut down thanks to some new fancy resort, I’d have that.

My lips tingled. My nipples peaked at the whisper of the wind, like they wanted to be ready if Jasper suddenly appeared. The steady beat between my thighs demanded the type of relief only he could offer.

I could take him up on it.

I could do it right now. Casual.

When have I ever done casual? I could use the distraction though.

My office phone rang. I picked up the handset. “Hello?”

“Hi, Sheridan,” Maria said. “Is this a bad time?”

Why wouldn’t she just come in? Oh, right. The office door. “No, this is fine.”

“So there’s a family who rented two rooms, but now they’re asking if they can at least be across from each other. They thought we’d do that automatically.” Her tone turned regretful. She must’ve overlooked that.

“Don’t we have the room to accommodate?”

“Not on the first floor like they want. They didn’t indicate that initially either.”

Shoot. “Um…and no one’s a new check-in that we can bump upstairs?”

“Nope.”

“Then we can comp one of their rooms if they take the second level.” Please don’t let not having an elevator be an issue.

“Okay, but they might not be happy.”

“Offer them a complimentary stay if they cancel.” Pressure mounted behind my eyes. Two rooms for a weekend? We’d eat hundreds of dollars, but I couldn’t lose the customers. Customer service was all I could offer, and even then, a bigger resort could one-up me on that.

I hung up and pinched the bridge of my nose. This sucked so bad. I wasn’t going to micromanage, but I had to keep on top of things. We needed systems in place to prevent something like this from happening again. While I’d been holed up in my office, we might’ve lost out on significant income.

This place was too critical to me. I was too invested to risk it for a guy. I couldn’t mess around with Jasper.

Chapter Eleven

Sheridan

This had been the longest week ever. Had it only been Monday that Jasper had pinned me against my desk and sucked on my nipples?

Yes. Yes, that had been Monday.

Now it was Friday, and I had blatantly avoided him. He’d been engrossed in remodeling the Lawrence Welk room. Some rainfall earlier this week had leaked through the roof. Thankfully, I had hired some roofers. Jasper probably would’ve done that, too, but we couldn’t be two rooms down while he threw new shingles up.

I was at my desk, flipping the adorable little wooden beer bottle through my fingers. Had he thought about me when he made this?

I was hopeless. I’d been keeping the door shut in the mornings, mostly so I could brainstorm, but also so I could pretend like a closed door was a regular thing. My time in the office wrapped around Jasper would look suspicious otherwise.

Why did it matter?

Respect. I shouldn’t have to remind myself so often.

There was a knock.