In the morning Stacey called her:
“Hey, honey? Are you asleep?”
Amanda jumped out of her bed, switched off the radio, with the phone in her hands. She had totally forgotten. They had decided to go to the construction site in the morning, to see the setup and everything.
“Amanda, we can stay in our cabin there, so you’d better do some packing,” Stacey said. “We’ll come after you in two hours and head to the forest. I personally can’t wait to get there. George has talked with the chief and he has told George that they have started the initial stage of the construction.”
“Yeah, that’s wonderful,” Amanda said. “I can’t wait too. I have never lived in a cabin before.”
“Okay, bye for now, Mandy,” Stacey hung up.
Amanda was beginning to grow fond of this new life. Getting under the cold shower, Amanda closed her eyes, letting the water caress her naked body, as she smiled and hummed a tune under her nose. She was becoming fully aware that the new happiness and excitement had started to banish the unpleasant emotions and negativity that she used to have while working for other people, and a totally new, audacious emotion was starting to creep onto her, making her hands caress her body under the cold shower and feel hot. Her long black hair, reaching her hips when wet, made her feel like a charming fairy, lost in the woods, secretive and seductive. She spent some more time under the shower than usual, which surprised her as well.
Amanda joined her friends shortly and they headed in the direction of the forests again.
“They’ve started the work,” George said. “They will be working day and night, as they must finish the project in one month, according to the contract.”
“And we can stay in the cabin overnight today,” Stacey added.
When they reached the place, Amanda was pleasantly surprised. Apparently the workers had worked during these days, which was quite visible. Heavy equipment, special constructing machines, materials, everything related to the construction was already in place; and the cabins were not far from the construction site as well. The day shift workers were almost ready to take over, while the night shift guys went to sleep in their cabin.
“So, Amanda?” George said, smiling proudly. “What do you think of this?”
“I can’t find words, really,” Amanda said, her blue eyes sparkling from happiness. “I feel that each penny spent on this is going to be worth it.”
***
The girls got into the cabin in which they were going to spend the night. They wanted to see it from the inside and to unpack. It was a rather nice cabin, with four small beds and one table. There were a couple of windows there, too. The boys were going to stay in another cabin.
“Girls,” Luisa said, “I can’t imagine us staying here overnight.”
“Why? Are you afraid of something?” Maggie asked her. “Don’t worry, we can lock the door. Here, see?” she added, locking the door from the inside.
“Luisa, really, are you scared? You’re not alone here, baby,” Stacey said, sitting down onto her bed and starting to unpack her small brown suitcase. “We and the boys, and the workers, everybody is here. So there’s nothing to be afraid of.”
“Besides,” Amanda said, “it’s going to be exciting and interesting. After all, we haven’t stayed in a cabin before, have we?”
“Well, I have, once,” Stacey said. “But it doesn’t count. I was six then, staying in the cabin with my parents.”
“Okay, so we saw the cabin, girls, let’s go get the boys and have lunch!” Maggie said, taking her small backpack, which was obviously full of food.
They went out and saw that George and Andy were heading in their direction. They also had bags. Full of food, as Maggie thought.
“Ready to lunch?” Andy called them.
“We were going to ask you the exact same thing!” Amanda said, as all of them sat down onto the soft green grass in front of the cabin and unwrapped part of the food that every one of them had brought.
“Having lunch in nature is so appetizing!” Luisa said, breathing in the fresh forest air. “Amanda, Fresh and Easy will be a hit! No one will be able to resist the temptation to be here!”
“I hope so!” Amanda said, biting into the tastiest pizza that her friends had brought.
“We’ll do the best promotion ever,” George said. “In that case the whole world will know about Fresh and Easy.”
Amanda smiled. She felt hopeful. She felt secure being surrounded with such good friends.
***
In the evening they went for a nice walk in the forest. It was calm, and the soothing song of various birds was relaxing.
“I wonder if there are any wild animals in these forests,” Luisa thought aloud, looking around herself.
“No, there aren’t any,” Andy said. “As far as I know.”
“Luisa, calm down!” Stacey said in an exasperated voice. “The place is just perfect. No wild animals, no one to deal with, nothing. So just relax and enjoy the fresh air.”
“Okay,” Luisa said tentatively, but to be on the safe side she moved between the two boys, just to be sure she was safe.
“Guys, when are we returning to our cabin?” Maggie asked after some walking and talking. “I guess it’s time to have supper.”
Amanda giggled. She loved her best friend, who loved to eat tasty things. Especially sweets. “I guess so, too,” she said, winking at Maggie, who smiled approvingly.
After the supper the boys went to their cabin, leaving the girls alone.
“Don’t be afraid, girls!” George called from the outside, waving.
“We are quite near here, okay?” Andy added. “Our cabin is over there. You can even see it from your window.”
“We’re fine, don’t worry!” Maggie called back.
“Luisa?” George asked.
“Yes, sure, we’re fine,” Luisa answered shakily.
The girls started getting ready for bed.
“This is such a nice time in my life,” Amanda said, yawning. “Away from the noise, away from people. Just a lot of fresh air and my best friends.”
“Imagine, Mandy, when your hotel is ready, you will literally live here!” Stacey said, adding: “And we’ll visit you pretty often,” she winked.
“Of course! You will come as often as you will be able to,” Amanda said, beaming. “Otherwise I’ll drag all of you up here myself.”
“Seems so nice that I want to spend the next few weeks in this cabin,” Maggie said. She looked at Luisa, who was looking out of the window, apparently still afraid of potential wild animals.
“I dream of staying here for a long time, too,” Amanda said, lying down into her small bed.
After some silence Stacey said: “Mandy, did you notice one of the construction workers who was looking at you like he had seen something supernatural?”
“No, why?” Amanda asked, forcing herself up on her elbows. “Which one? And how was he looking at me? What’s so supernatural about me?”
The other girls were also interested, especially Maggie, whose smile widened immediately.
“Mandy, he was looking at you like he was admiring you. Of course you were clueless, as always,” Stacey said, rolling her eyes.
“Well, Stacey, whatever he was doing, I don’t care,” Amanda said. “I am not interested. Now I have other stuff on top of my priority list.”
“Of course, the boys can wait,” Luisa said.
“Well, they can wait, sure, but it wouldn’t be bad to make new acquaintances and have a little fun,” Stacey said, winking at Amanda, who grew more and more serious by each minute.
Amanda hadn’t noticed any worker staring at her, but when Stacey said it, she felt a sudden intense desire to be stared at, to be the target of woman-hungry men, to be touched by men. She shook the scary feeling away, thinking that she needed to concentrate on the hotel at the moment.
“Amanda,” Maggie said, “you have never had anyone, any relationship in your life. I am not meddling, b
ut you are human, and humans need romantic emotions and relationships. Beware of those feelings secretly accumulating inside of you and then bursting out of you unexpectedly, when it’s the most inconvenient time.”
“Oh, Maggie, what are you talking about?” Luisa asked.
“Maggie, you are meddling,” Amanda said. “I don’t have any needs or romantic emotions. All I think about now is my hotel.” She knew deep down in her heart that Maggie was right. She could feel the emotions accumulating. But she didn’t believe that it would harm her anyway.
“Okay, your life, your choices,” Maggie said. “Luisa, this applies to you, too,” she added, smiling.
Luisa pretended not to listen. She had problems with boys, as she had a cheating boyfriend, which was her first and last boyfriend. Luisa had acquired a secret negative distrusting feeling towards men, even though she knew that not all men were the same.
“Maggie,” Amanda said, after some pause, “I know you’re my best friend and have my best interests at heart, but remember all of your boyfriends, who made you unhappy instead of happy.”
“All of them are a history now, Mandy,” Maggie said, waving her hand. “I take it easy.”
Chapter 3: The Handsome Stranger
It was morning. The sunrays were breaking through the windows into the cabin, falling onto the girls’ faces. Amanda was struggling with the sunrays, her eyes still closed, Stacey had put her head under the pillow, to avoid the sunrays from directly falling into her eyes, Maggie was sound asleep, and Luisa was sitting upright, looking very worried. It seemed that she couldn’t wait till the girls woke up. She was impatient and moved around all the time. Amanda opened her eyes at last, sitting up and looking around sleepily.
“Good morning!” she said. “How did you sleep?”
“Not too well,” Luisa said.
“Why?” the other girls had also woken up by their voices.
“Because I heard a wild animal’s howl at night,” Luisa said. “There are wild animals here.”
Just as Amanda opened her mouth to protest, Stacey said: “It was a bear. I heard the howl too.”
“Me, too,” Maggie said. She was also kind of shaky.
“But I didn’t hear a thing,” Amanda said. She was upset about the fact that there were wild animals in the forest. It would hinder her business. She would lose potential clients.
There came a knock on the door. George and Andy could be seen from the cabin window.
Amanda unlocked the door, letting the boys in.
“Did you hear the bear howl at night?” was the first thing Andy asked, which made Amanda more upset.
“All of us did,” Luisa said. “Well, except Mandy.”
“Amanda, I know there aren’t any wild animals around here,” George said. “But we heard a single bear’s howl at night. It must mean that there is one bear in this forest.”
“I think I can handle that,” Amanda said protectively. She didn’t want to hear that there was a problem in her project. Not when she had invested all that she had.
“I understand that, Mandy,” George said. “But we can also consider moving the hotel to another location, to a safer location.”
“I don’t agree, George,” Amanda said, on the edge of tears. “The construction is already halfway through, the payment is already done, everything is already set and planned. I can’t afford stopping this construction and starting another one.”
“Calm down, Amanda,” Andy said. “Of course we won’t do that if you don’t want to.”
“We just don’t want to scare the clients away,” Stacey added, while Luisa nodded vigorously.
“I don’t think they will feel insecure here,” Amanda said, trying to sound confident. “We’ll set up good security systems.”
She hated the idea of moving the hotel somewhere else. Mostly it was because she had already spent half of the money she had saved over the years on the construction that was already halfway through. She knew that none of her friends could afford to give her the missing amount if she agreed to find another place and start from anew. Well, she didn’t blame them. It was difficult to afford much money. And she was going to do it all by herself. The paperwork and the organizing stuff that they were helping her with were enough: she didn’t want to engage them in the money issues.
“Amanda, it’s your project, your hotel. We’re only here to help you,” Luisa said. “Of course you know better.”
Not wanting to tense the atmosphere, the boys suggested that they went and saw how the construction was going.
“The workers are already there,” Andy said. “Let’s go check what’s up there. Afterwards we can have breakfast.”
Everybody agreed, but Amanda preferred to stay in the cabin alone, to think about the bear and her hotel. She wanted to rethink and understand if she had made the right decision.
“Guys, I guess I’ll stay here and look through some documents,” she said. “You go; I’ll join you a bit later.”
“Okay, Amanda, we’ll be at the construction site. It’s over there, not far from here,” George said, heading towards the exit of the cabin. The others nodded and followed him, but Luisa stayed a second longer to ask:
“Mandy, aren’t you afraid to stay in the cabin alone?”
“No, dear, I’m all right. I am not afraid,” Amanda shook her head, smiling. “Thanks for asking, Luis, don’t worry. Go with them.”
***
Staying in the cabin all alone was calming. It helped Amanda sit and concentrate on her thoughts. She took some documentation out of her bag and started examining its contents. Some contracts, some plans, a business plan, some calculations. She started to look through them, re-reading everything. She needed to make sure that everything was correct. Suddenly her eyes caught movement, so she glanced out of the window. She was surprised to see a man standing right in front of the cabin window and looking inside.
Quickly getting up, Amanda unlocked the door and got outside to see who the man was. “It may be some worker,” she thought as she closed the door behind her and stood face to face with the stranger. The moment Amanda looked at the man, only one word crossed her mind: handsome. His naked upper body revealed strong, muscular chest and abs, big muscular arms and hands. His chest was covered in black frizzy hair, and his hands were rough. His grey shorts reached his knees, and he was barefoot. All his body and face was sun-tanned, having a pleasant shade of light brown. And his face! Amanda hadn’t seen a manlier or more handsome face in her life. His dark eyes, shadowed by bushy eyelashes and brows, seemed menacing at first, changing into a softer gaze seconds later. Amanda’s eyes lingered a second longer on his full lips, sending shivers up her spine. His enticing eyes pierced through Amanda, as if hypnotizing her. His hair was dark brown, a bit curly and a bit longer than shorter, but clean and shiny. The man was tall, handsome, rough, strong, seductive and hypnotizing. At least that’s how Amanda saw him. Realizing that almost a minute had passed since they were staring at each other, Amanda resumed breathing and somehow managed to find her voice.
“Hello,” she noticed with embarrassment, how shaky her voice was. Sunshine was getting into her eyes, so she had shielded her eyes with her hand.
After a few seconds’ pause he said: “Hello.” His voice was deep, sexy, and self-confident.
“I… I…” Amanda stammered. She wondered who the man was. Was he a worker from the site? If yes, then she was pleasantly surprised. Maybe he was the one who had looked at her the day before, as Stacey had noticed. “I am Amanda. Amanda Jones.”
She noticed the man still watching her intently: his stare focused and fixed on her, sometimes slowly wandering up and down her body, making Amanda uneasy.
“Roger Black,” he said, managing a small hot smile on his lips. Amanda smiled back.
“Nice to meet you,” she mumbled through her smile. She didn’t know why she was smiling. She even scolded herself for it. She didn’t need to smile at strange men. She had to find out who he was at first
. “Excuse me, who are you?”
“I’m Roger Black,” he said again, making Amanda embarrassed for her stupid question. Of course he had said his name already: there wasn’t any need for that stupid question.
“Yes, I know,” she forced herself to chuckle. “I just wanted to know if you are a worker from the construction site.”
A frown appeared on his wide forehead. He shook his head. Then who was he? A chill ran down Amanda’s spine. ‘Mandy, aren’t you afraid to stay in the cabin alone?’ she remembered Luisa’s words.
Seeing her face change, Roger said: “I live nearby, and just wanted to check what all this construction was about.”
“Oh,” Amanda said, letting out the breath she was holding, “yes, it’s a construction. I mean it’s a hotel. It’s my hotel being constructed here. And where exactly do you live?” she knew it was another stupid question to ask, but she desperately needed to know if there was any chance to meet that handsome stranger again.
“Not far from here,” he repeated. “But I am in the woods very often, so it doesn’t really matter.”
“Yes, of course,” Amanda said, managing a smile again.
“So, this is your hotel, you said?” he asked. She nodded. “I see,” he said. “And when will this be ready?”
“In a couple of weeks,” Amanda said hastily. “It won’t take much time now that they’ve started the process.”
“That’s good,” he said, flashing a smile at her. “So, it means that we’ll bump into each other more and more often, I guess.”
She didn’t know what he meant by bumping into each other. Whatever he meant, she was eager to agree, as the force of his warm and pleasant gaze and sexy smile was already driving her crazy.
“See you,” Roger said, turning to go and looking at her over his bare shoulder. Smiling seductively, he went, leaving Amanda glued to the ground, her body pleasantly hot and burning. After watching him go and disappear into the forest, Amanda walked back into the cabin and locked the door from the inside. Sitting on her bed, she took the papers back into her hands, trying to read them, but couldn’t. She wasn’t able to concentrate. His intense stare, his seductive smile, his deep sexy voice, his strong body and rough manners were too much for her to consume within a few minutes. She put the papers aside and closed her eyes. She was taking pleasure in remembering each and every detail of their encounter. The way he was looking at her… the way he was moving his lips when talking. The way he smiled at her… she felt that she wanted those hands on her body. The thought sent butterflies into her stomach and she looked around hastily, as if making sure that nobody noticed it. She let herself to fully enjoy the fantasies of him touching her. She took great pleasure in the thoughts, even though the thoughts involved only touching. It was a great progress, given the fact that she used to cringe at such thoughts rather often before.
Romance: The College Bad Boy: A Young Adult Romance Page 90