Her face flamed and she straightened the picture. “I bet your childhood photos are no modeling portfolio either.”
“Oh, but that’s where you’re wrong. No awkward teen phase for me.”
“You’re lying.”
His expression was one of pure innocence. “Natalie, you wound me. Would I lie to you about something so serious as my teenage years?”
“Yes,” she said without even pausing to think.
“Nat, how can we have a successful partnership if you don’t trust me? Look at this face,” he said, pointing to his chin, turning to the side slightly. He took on the sort of expression she’d seen male models use in cologne ads, with the smoldering gaze and half-cocked smile.
She had to admit, only to herself, that he was objectively gorgeous. He had the sort of jawline and head of thick black hair that turned heads in the hotel lobby. Beneath the cavalier attitude and constant jokes, there was a handsome man. And if they’d met out in the real world, outside the bubble of Hazel Oaks where he maybe wasn’t some wild jokester, she’d definitely be interested in him. But they were where they were and he was who he was, which to put it mildly, was a pain in her neck.
Nat straightened the frame. “Everyone has an awkward phase.”
“I’ll have you know,” he began, reaching out to shift the picture slightly to the side, “I had the Shawn Hunter hair special. You know, the notorious bad boy from Boy Meets World?”
“Am I supposed to be impressed with the fact you had a glorified bowl cut in your youth?” Too bad for him she’d always been a Cory fan. Shawn wasn’t a good choice. What appeal could the bad boy with one foot out the door possibly provide?
“It was a difficult look to pull off,” he told her. His tone was serious, but laughter danced in his eyes. “But let me tell you, I gave Shawn a run for his money.”
“Now that we established you were and are practically perfect, I really need you to focus. I was thinking we should—” Hudson’s cell phone ringing caught her off guard, and he glanced down at the screen.
“Sorry, gotta take this,” he said before answering. “Hello? Hey, how’s it goin’?”
Nat turned back to her computer, where she had a spreadsheet open, and continued filling in the time slots for the Kents’ stay. Hudson was having a lovely conversation with someone about rock climbing, which was hard to tune out. He kept laughing and making silly jokes while their meeting slowly neared the end. It was ridiculous that he was already showing her how little stock he put into planning.
When Hudson finished his call, he slipped the phone back into the inside pocket of his dark blue jacket. “Sorry ’bout that. You know Greg and Stevie Holms?”
“Yes, they come every season. Why?”
“Well that was Greg, he—”
“Wait, you speak to guests like that?” Heat crept through Nat’s body as she tried to wrap her head around his words. He had asked Mr. Holms if his hairpiece made him feel younger. He joked that he should get a toupee for every day of the week.
He shrugged one shoulder. “Sometimes, why?”
“Because that’s entirely unprofessional!”
“Depends on who you’re talking to. Greg and I have a joking sort of relationship. Other guests get the strictly professional Hudson.”
Nat’s stomach dropped. It took less than an hour for any hope of working things through with him to completely fall apart, which was a shame since there was a flicker of hope when he talked about the snowmobile. “Okay, I have an idea. What if I just sort out the inside things while you just take the guests on outdoor outings? We can stay in our lanes.”
Hudson seemed to consider her for a spell, his blue eyes roaming her face in the curious way he sometimes had, as if he was trying to figure out how her mind worked. “Hmm, yeah, don’t think that’s going to work for me, Nat. This is a team thing, so we need to be an actual team.” He turned around another picture and his brows rose. “Is this your boyfriend?”
Nat snatched the picture out of his hand. It was taken at her oldest brother’s wedding. It was just the two of them, her in a pink bridesmaid’s dress, him in his army uniform. “Don’t be gross. That’s just my brother.”
“So, you don’t have a boyfriend?”
She replaced the frame, her cheeks heating. “I don’t see how that’s any of your business.”
“That’s a no.” Then he rose to his feet. “Well, looks like our time’s up and I have a horseback ride around the lake in half an hour.”
“The Kents will be here day after tomorrow, and we really need to get our act together if you’re bent on doing this alongside me,” she said firmly. “You can’t brush this off anymore.”
He paused, his hand on the doorknob. “Who said anything about brushing this off? Let’s let things shake out a bit, start slow and see what the couple’s like before packing their schedule.”
“You know that’s not an option for me.”
“Nat, step away from the spreadsheet. Trust me, it’ll work out. I’ll call you when I’m done.” Then, he got up and left the office.
Nat stared at the door long after he left. She couldn’t believe how casually he took their assignment. He’d promised her he wasn’t going to flake but couldn’t seem to bring himself to show her the smallest sliver of drive. Usually she hated to be wrong about people, but for the first time, she wished desperately that she had been.
She opened up her favorite small black journal and skimmed over her notes. If Hudson wanted to brush her off, fine. She was used to working alone and getting fabulous results. She’d start off the Kents’ stay strong with fresh flowers and champagne in their suite. They’d have about an hour and a half to unpack and relax before dinner in the formal dining room, a spacious place with wall-to-ceiling windows overlooking the lake and a live pianist. It was classic and understated on purpose, to ease them into romance. She’d instruct the musician to focus only on playing love songs.
The next day would begin with breakfast in bed, a couple’s massage, a light lunch in the spa, and then, if Hudson didn’t bail on her, an easy nature walk. If he did decide he had better things to do, then she could at least call Jordan and try to make his schedule work with this extra assignment. Jordan was only an assistant adventure coordinator, but at least he seemed more eager to do his job well and always took his weekly schedule without a word of complaint. She should talk to him about this project. He’d probably do better. At least she could trust him to take orders and not slack off.
She spent the rest of the morning coordinating outings and meals for her usual guests, only stopping when her growling stomach reminded her she needed lunch. She debated leaving the property for something greasy and bad for her like a fast-food burger and a milkshake, but as always, there just wasn’t time to do what she wanted. That seemed to be a theme in her life. Though she wouldn’t want to trade her job for anything, she still wished she had more small moments where she could unwind and relax without her mind racing with thoughts of guests and timelines. Well, something other than her daily run with Terry.
Forwarding her office phone to her cell phone, she tucked her black journal beneath her arm and left her office for the employee dining room. She had half an hour with nothing going on and she wanted to take advantage of it.
The dining room wasn’t as lavish as the guest one, but it was still a lovely space with a view of the forest and a bit of the garden maze. There were a dozen or so small circular tables where bellhops, waitresses, and security guards ate off plain white china. She often ate with Terry in her little kitchen side office, but she knew her friend was off for the day. Instead, she collected her chicken breast, sautéed vegetables, and iced tea and went to an empty table beside one of the large windows.
Nat picked around the carrots as she ate, jotting half-formed ideas into her notebook as she chewed. It was really too bad it was a fairly mild winter. If there had been the usual amount of pristine snow coverage around Lake George, she could schedule sleigh rides
and ice-skating lessons for them, and going out on the trails with snowshoes. Instead, she needed to focus on what she could plan for indoors. Although, there was a man-made skating rink in the next town over, so she made a note to check into it.
So far, she had dance lessons, something romantic but fun, maybe salsa, a private cooking lesson with Terry, artisanal hot chocolate beneath the stars where they would be nestled in a cozy portion of the maze, and a trip to the historic town of Saratoga. She underlined her favorite ideas with her pen, frowning when one of the lines wavered.
“What’s with the long face? Miss me already?” asked a voice above her.
Nat jumped, dropping her fork with a clatter on the half-empty plate. “Hudson, why are you here?”
“If you checked the very specific and firm schedule you made me for today, that I’ve been following to the millisecond, you’d know I’m on a lunch break.” He sat down across from her, his tray laden heavy with pasta, bread, and steamed vegetables.
“Sorry, I was expecting a call.”
“Right, I just didn’t expect you in the dining room. Don’t you normally eat with Terry?”
“She’s off today, but how did you know that?”
“I’ve seen you around, besides, Terry loves me.” He grinned when she gave him a look that she hoped made her annoyance clear. “Don’t be jealous, it’s more of an older sister type relationship where I tease her, she feeds me, I praise her, and then we go about our day.”
She hummed, looking back down at her list. She couldn’t let Hudson derail her working lunch. Would the Kents be interested in a cave tour? There was a naturally formed cave not too far away that she scheduled tours with sometimes. It was really interesting to see the way the earth had been shaped, stalactites and stalagmites reaching toward each other. She couldn’t recall what kind of minerals were nestled in the walls either, but the one time she’d gone, they’d sparkled brilliantly in the light from the headlamps they all wore.
“Did you just write cave tour on that list?” Hudson asked incredulously.
“Didn’t your mother ever tell you it’s rude to read people’s private things?”
“She probably would have if I hadn’t been shipped off to boarding school the moment I learned to talk.”
He’d said it so casually, she wasn’t really sure if he was joking or not. Usually, she was wonderful at gleaning truths from lies, but sometimes Hudson threw her off. “Well…still, it’s rude.”
“Noted. But I already know what the paper says, so let’s just pretend you let me read it so we can get straight to the point.”
She shut the notebook and looked at him, watching as he took another bite of his food. “Okay, what’s the point?”
“The point is taking them to see the cave is a really cool idea. I’m honestly shocked you came up with it.”
Nat wrinkled her nose. “If that was meant to be a compliment, it came off terribly.”
“No, I mean it. People love exploring places like that. It’s somewhere you can be together, doing something, but without the pressure to talk, since everything sounds so much louder in there. An activity like that is probably just what the Kents need when we start out Operation Valentine.”
“Operation Valentine?” she echoed, halfway to a laugh. A day of working with him on something and things were already so far off the rails. Of course, he gave the entire thing a silly name.
“It’s what I’m calling it. Makes it sound a lot cooler than Operation Get Those Married People to Stay Married so the Boss Won’t Fire Us.”
“Charming,” Nat said, pursing her lips. She needed another cup of coffee and the organized comfort of her office.
“I always am.”
“I’ll finalize tomorrow night’s schedule and email it to you.”
He grimaced. “Ooh, not good, Nat. Can’t reach me by email.”
“There’s a computer in your office.”
“You know I’m never there. It’s just a holding cell for paperwork I usually have Jordan take care of.”
“Then you can read it on your phone.”
“Yeah, that’s not going to happen either.”
“And why not?”
“Horse stepped on my phone.”
Nat resisted the urge to roll her eyes. His life was a comedy of errors. Had he always been like this and she never noticed, or was this all new behavior just to drive her up a wall? It had to be the latter.
“Fine,” she said evenly, standing up and taking hold of her tray. “I’ll print out a copy and put it in the adventure coordinator office. You will have to stop in for a moment. Will that be too much to ask?”
“Only if it were anyone else doing the asking. See you later.”
She nodded goodbye and went to take her tray to the cleaning station. Then she filled up a mug of coffee to take back to her office. The phrase Operation Valentine rolled around her head as she walked. She hated to admit it, but it was clever, something cheeky to use when talking about it so no one would know about their secret project. But she’d never admit it to Hudson, over her dead body.
CHAPTER FOUR
Hudson
Hudson read over the crisp itinerary Nat had left on his desk for the fourth time since checking into work on the day of the Kents’ arrival. He’d been surprised he’d found it among the stacks of blank waivers, equipment maintenance orders, and flyers for an upcoming Spartan race he’d be competing in. But there the paper was in all its itemized glory.
4-4:10 pm: Kents arrive in hotel lobby
4:10-4:20 pm: John checks Kents in (Natalie meets them to assist)
4:20-4:25 pm: Kents are taken to their suite (Natalie accompanies them with bellhop)
4:25-4:40 pm: Natalie explains the evening’s schedule and answers questions
4:40-4:50 pm: Kents are offered champagne on ice
Hudson folded the paper up and stuffed it into the back pocket of his jeans before finishing it. Just looking at time divvied up in slivers like that made him feel so restricted. How did Natalie plan things like that? What if someone had to go to the bathroom? Would that throw everything off-balance? Would her head spin around then explode like a malfunctioning robot?
He shook his head and collected the tote bags he had stored beneath his desk. Each was heavy with things to spice up the Kents’ rooms. He’d done a little digging online about the targets of Operation Valentine and knew he had some extras that were sure to bring the romance. Through a few news articles and a big magazine spread about Dr. Mina Kent balancing motherhood with life as a pediatric surgeon, he’d learned a lot. And on a brief phone call with Mr. Sutton, he gleaned a little more.
He now knew Mina had her coffee in the morning with French vanilla creamer, and her husband Marvin liked to fish but sucked at it. They’d lived in Missouri most of their married life before moving to Texas to retire and be closer to Louise. While there, Mina had taken up gardening and Marvin had found a love for Southern bar-be-que.
As he left his office for the suite, he nearly felt guilty about going behind Nat’s back to get some insider information. But he couldn’t risk her saying extras weren’t part of her rigid plans. So, he made an executive decision to do things his way and risk her being peeved. He did hope it would show Nat he wasn’t some poor loser who shirked all of his responsibilities. And more so, he would show her he certainly did know a thing or two about real romance.
The lobby was busy with families checking in, and Hudson walked along the edge of the room to go to the massive staircase that led upstairs. He could have taken the elevator, but he didn’t want to chance getting sidetracked by another guest on his way to take care of phase one of his plan.
He wandered down the third-floor corridor, keeping an eye out for a housekeeping cart. He spied one coming out of a room, being pushed by a maid named Wanda. She smiled when she spotted him.
“Hey, Hudson. What are you doing up here?” she asked, leaning against her cart. “You never venture this far into the lodge.
“With what?” Her voice was hesitant, wary. Why did people always sound like that when he asked them for a favor?
“I need to get into the Lake View Suite.”
“Why?”
He glanced around the empty hallway and dropped his voice a bit. “The big boss was here the other day and gave me and Natalie a project. Long story short, he has some of his best friends staying in that room for two weeks and I need to set a few things up.”
“This isn’t going to get me in trouble, is it?”
“Wanda, come on, I wouldn’t get you in trouble,” he cajoled, flashing her a grin. “You know you’re my favorite. All I need you to do is swipe your keycard and forget this entire conversation ever happened.”
She laughed. “If you were older, I’d make you into an honest man, Hudson. Then I’d make you sweet talk me all night.”
“Wanda, don’t crush my spirits, telling me we can never be together.” He dropped one of the duffel bags and grabbed at his heart, falling against the wall.
“Oh, alright, enough with the dramatics. I’ll help you this time.” She turned the cart around to head back down the hall. “But if you’re up to any funny business, I’m not lying for you.”
“You’re the best. I owe you.”
Wanda stopped before the last door on the floor. With a swipe of her card and a click of the lock, it swung open. Hudson thanked her again and slipped inside before he could be spotted. Then, with only ten minutes before the Kents were due to arrive, he got to work.
The Lake View Suite was just as the name suggested, a lavish miniature apartment overlooking the water below, with the added bonus of a private balcony. There was a living room with plush, forest-green furniture, a kitchenette, a massive marble bathroom, and a bedroom with a bed big enough to really stretch out in. It was rustic with exposed wood walls and the dark furniture, but it had the creature comforts of any five-star hotel, like flat-screen televisions and sleek chrome appliances.
Operation Valentine (Hazel Oaks Resort Book 1) Page 5