Page 10 of Close to Heaven

Four

Avery peeked out the curtain and saw Jax coming down the hill toward the office. He wore jeans and a dark blue jacket, unzipped, over a brown plaid flannel shirt. She smiled and imagined he owned a closetful of flannels in every color combination. With his rugged good looks and outdoorsy clothes, he looked like a walking advertisement for L.L. Bean.

She let the curtain go and stepped out on the porch just as he came even with her cabin.

“Oh. Hey,” he said, sounding surprised to see her there.

Good. He didn’t catch me looking. “Good morning,” she said cheerfully.

He glanced at his watch, one of those oversized manly watches with a lot of dials. “You don’t start work for another half-hour.”

She shrugged and fell into step with him. “I couldn’t sleep.”

“Something wrong with the bed?” he asked, sounding concerned.

“No. The bed was great. I was just anxious to get started.”

“Oh. Well, Mary won’t be in until eight.”

Avery got the distinct impression that he didn’t want to be alone with her, and she wondered why. “That’s okay. Maybe I can just have a look around and get familiar with where things are.”

“Okay.”

They walked the rest of the way in silence, and again she gathered he’d rather be alone. Maybe he wasn’t a morning person, unlike her, who sprang out of bed eager to start the day.

When they reached the resort office, he pulled a set of keys out of his pocket and unlocked the door.

“You’ll need a key too. Ask Mary to give you one.”

“Okay.” She took it as a good sign that he trusted her enough to give her a key. Either that or he didn’t want her walking into work with him every morning!

He held the door open and motioned for her to go in first. He might be a man of few words, but at least he was polite.

He flicked on a light switch, and while her eyes were adjusting, he said, “First things first. Do you drink coffee?”

She smiled. “Yes.”

“Great. Follow me to the kitchen.”

The kitchen was small, but it contained all the necessities: a refrigerator, microwave, and coffee pot. There was also a round table with four chairs that had seen better days.

Jax took off his jacket, laid it over a chair, and rolled up his shirtsleeves. What was it about this man that captured her attention? Everything about him fascinated her, and since when did she find a guy’s forearms so sexy?

“Whoever gets here first makes coffee, and it’s usually me.”

She laughed, but he didn’t. No surprise there.

“How do you take yours?” he asked as he prepared the pot.

“Black.”

He glanced at her over his shoulder with a look of surprise. “Really?”

“Um-hmm. I like coffee in its purest form. None of that frou-frou stuff for me.”

She must have earned some points for her answer because he broke into a wide smile. It might even have been the biggest smile she’d seen from him so far.

“I agree,” he said and then went back to the task at hand.