Operation Valentine (Hazel Oaks Resort Book 1)

by Kelsey McKnight

  “We’ll be there in five days, the thirteenth.”

  “Understood. I’ll make sure a suite is ready for you.”

  “Excellent. I’ll see you then.”

  “Oh, sir, before you hang up, I wanted to tell you how much help Terry, our head chef, has been with the Kents. She’s been making them all these special and extravagant meals and many of our plans wouldn’t be possible without her expertise.”

  “Wonderful. I’m glad to hear it. I’m sorry, we can talk more about this later. I must get on another call. Have a good day, Natalie.” And like that he hung up.

  “Alright then,” Natalie said out loud to herself before placing the phone back in the cradle.

  She finished closing up her office and grabbed her coat off the hook, daydreaming again about lavender fields and champagne kisses.

  *

  After chatting with the hotel’s general manager, Nat headed to the main parking lot, looking for Hudson. He was leaning against a resort Jeep, arms crossed in front of him. He was talking with one of the valets. Nat watched him for a minute as he threw back his head to laugh and slap the other guy on the back. Things with Hudson, when she relaxed a bit, were easy. But more than that, it seemed like he was like that with everyone.

  He was so different from what she’d always known, from how she was raised, yet he came from a similar structure. It was crazy how differently it affected people. Yet, it was also perfect. He made her want to slow down. So today, she didn’t have a schedule. She did have a couple of locations she thought they could check out if they couldn’t find one, obviously. But she liked the idea of just driving around with him. Wasn’t that a song, “I’d Rather Ride Around With You”? Today, that was what she wanted.

  She walked over to Hudson and he turned as she got close. His face lit up when their eyes met, and she tried to remember how to walk. He just made her want to swoon. Maybe she could get some guy to follow her around with a chaise so she could dramatically fall down whenever he looked at her with that ever-familiar smolder.

  “Ready to go?” he asked when she was in front of him.

  “Yes,” she said, sliding the duffel bag she’d packed higher up her shoulder.

  “I thought you said we were leaving for the afternoon.”

  “We are.”

  “Right, so that duffel bag has a body in it we need to bury? Maybe shovels so we can dig for treasure? Oh, did Terry send food?” His face brightened with the last question, and he eyed the bag hopefully.

  “Are you only nice to me because you’re afraid Terry will stop feeding you?”

  “Yes,” he said, taking the duffel bag from her, lifting it as if it were light as a feather.

  She slapped him playfully on the arm and groaned at his bad joke. She loved how strong he was, his muscles showing through just about everything he wore. Well, not the heavy winter jacket, but the blue one he was wearing now.

  Once the duffel was in the Jeep, he held the door open for her and helped her into the passenger seat. She got herself situated and buckled up. It’d been forever since she’d done any off-roading, but she was still excited. It was like a mini roller coaster, except you had no idea what the track had in store for you.

  Hudson climbed into the driver’s seat and they were off.

  Nat was familiar with most of the roads surrounding the resort, knew them like the back of her hand. But for the first time in a while, she was looking for places of beauty between the clusters of trees, and private homes, and businesses. Things were quieter in the dead of winter, softer somehow. When she took the familiar route from her apartment to Hazel Oaks, she wasn’t looking for lovely places for picnics with sunset views. She was merely driving on autopilot, giving no thought to the wonders around her.

  Now, that’s all she could think about. She longed for flower-filled fields and hidden glens, ancient wells and fairy pools. She wanted all the things she read about in storybooks and saw in movies. It seemed such a childish thing to wish for her, but Hudson made her long for it. He made her want the kind of romance that only existed in movies and books, which seemed a heavy load to give someone else to bear, but she couldn’t help it. Nat wanted him to be that person.

  “So, seriously, what’s in the bag?” he asked after they’d driven a few miles.

  “Terry did send us with a snack. I wasn’t sure how long this would take, and I don’t think there’ll be any fast-food restaurants or convenience stores if we end up somewhere in the woods.”

  “Very true.”

  “And I brought a blanket, in case it’s cold and some flashlights; just that kinda thing.”

  “It’s cute, this preparedness thing, but where do you think we’re going?”

  “I don’t know, hence the bag.”

  “Alright. Whatever you say.”

  A soft silence fell between them. To Nat, it felt a little awkward, something she hadn’t expected. She’d gotten very used to him filling the quiet moments with jokes and teasing. Just two nights before, he had his arms wrapped around her and his lips on hers, yet there they were, exchanging small talk like they were strangers.

  And just then, Nat realized that in many ways, they truly were strangers. She’d learned a lot of surface things in their time together, but there hadn’t been any earth-shattering revelations. She wasn’t really sure of his favorite color or his favorite food. Was he afraid of anything? Did he have a pet? What was his favorite holiday?

  “Let’s play a game while you drive,” she suggested, turning a little in her seat to look at him.

  “What kind of game?”

  “It’s a fun one.”

  “I’m skeptical.”

  “Hey, I’m the head concierge at Hazel Oaks Resort, I know how to have fun.”

  “Alright, fun master, what’s the game?”

  “I’m going to tell you something most people don’t know about me and then you’re going to do the same. We don’t really know much about each other, and now that we’re alone in the car and not on babysitting duty, I thought, why not take this opportunity.”

  Hudson was nodding his head lightly as she was talking, but he didn’t respond to her right away. She watched him, waiting to see if there was some change in his face to possibly reveal how he was feeling. His lips didn’t purse so he didn’t look annoyed or irritated. His eyebrows didn’t raise in silent judgment. His eyes didn’t bulge out in shock. No, everything was neutral as he concentrated.

  “Okay, let’s do it,” he finally answered.

  She mulled over a few facts about herself, then said, “When I was in fourth grade, I was so in love with Aaron Carter from the Backstreet Boys that I wrote him a letter every night for a year. He never responded to a single one.”

  “In your honor I’m going to have to root for NSYNC in the best boy band competition from now on. The nerve of that guy.”

  Nat laughed. “I know. I still can’t believe I did it. Anyway, your turn.”

  “Let’s see. I won the push-up competition at school all four years I entered.”

  “That’s cheating. Everyone at your school knew you won. That’s not something not everyone knows.”

  “Alright, what they don’t know is that I practiced every night in secret. I wanted to be known for something but I thought it would be better if they thought it was a natural ability.”

  Nat appreciated his dedication. “Why didn’t you want anyone to know? Wouldn’t they be impressed?”

  “Maybe, but it was better for them to think it just came naturally to me. I don’t know. Maybe it was dumb.”

  She reached out a hand and placed it on his forearm. “No, definitely not dumb.”

  He moved his arm so her hand slid down and his fingers intertwined with hers. “Your turn.”

  “I might’ve pushed for this excursion as an excuse to see you.” The confession was deeper than she had meant to go when she first came up with the game, but it just slipped out in the moment of openness.

  “I might’ve said y
es to this excursion as an excuse to see you.” He looked over at her for the faintest second, and Nat’s heart melted. It was the perfect response.

  *

  Hudson

  Hudson and Nat drove around a bit, looking for the perfect spot. They continued sharing little facts about each other. As the sun lowered, they had gone farther and farther away from the resort. They’d taken a short dirt road to a hilly hike that had the remnants of campfires dotting the land. Hudson thought it was too busy to be romantic. He tried a corner of the lake that had great views of the mountains, but it was too much in the open for winter. Then he thought about seeing how far he could push the Jeep by actually driving it up a slope. The death grip on his arm as he began to accelerate up a stony path made it clear he was taking things a little too far. As much as he loved winter, it was not giving him a whole lot of options for the Kents’ date.

  Soon, he had turned back toward the resort, and he could sense Nat’s displeasure radiating from the passenger seat. She didn’t seem upset with him, just disappointed that the perfect spot didn’t seem to exist. But little did she know, he had saved one of the best spots he knew for last.

  Just before the turn off to go into Hazel Oaks, Hudson pulled down a narrow side street framed in lush evergreen trees. At first, Nat didn’t seem to notice his abrupt change in the original plan of heading back to the office to regroup. Then she looked up from the notebook she was writing in.

  “Where are we going?” Nat asked, leaning forward in her seat.

  “A buddy of mine is the sailing instructor for the resort during the summer. Do you know Finn?”

  “I don’t know him really well, but I recognize the name from the summer scheduling.”

  He was actually pretty pleased to hear that. All the girls seemed to fawn over Finn. He was a good-looking guy, if you were into guys who look like they could snap a tree in half and then build you a log cabin out of it. Not to mention the long dark hair, tan skin, and muscles you got from working with your hands every day. The idea of Nat hanging out on his boat filled him with an irrational pang of jealousy.

  “Nope. I just send him his itineraries and sometimes he sends me an incident report if somebody does something foolish. I think I’ve only met him twice at company holiday parties.”

  “Well, he lives down this path and owns a bunch of land leading up to the lake. Before we left, I asked if he minded if we trespassed a little. He’s out of town at some boat show, so we won’t be bothering him.”

  “That’s really nice of him. I know every summer everybody in my department gets worried that he’ll get a better gig working in another resort or something. I guess it’s pretty lucky he lives next door, so he can’t escape,” she said with a laugh.

  “Yeah, he’s a great guy. Anyway, he had me over for dinner last summer and there’s this little river he showed me where he fishes sometimes. It’s completely remote, and there’s a dock he built out over it. I thought we could set up some chairs, maybe a portable firepit, and that would work.”

  Nat was almost bouncing in her seat at the mention of his idea. It warmed him inside to see the excitement on her bright face, and feel it almost bursting out of her as she squeezed his hand tighter. “Hudson, you’re a genius.”

  He knew he probably should’ve shown her Finn’s place first, but it was only a brief walk from the resort and an even quicker drive. And, to be honest, he hadn’t wanted their trip to be over so quickly. Each new destination was just a longer stretch of time they could spend together, and after Nat’s game in the car, he felt like every barren field and failed location was worth it.

  Now they could sit on the dock and watch the end of the sunset when the stars first appear in the sky. Even better, she mentioned she brought a heated blanket for them to share if they got cold, and it was certainly shaping up to be a freezing evening. It gave him all the more reason to be close to her, something he was grateful for.

  Moments of nearness made him want to experience that feeling of utter bliss mixed with fear and confusion as he looked into her eyes. Holding her in his arms was a feeling so completely grounding, that left him dizzy with the want of more of her. It seemed ridiculous that he had spent nearly two years at the resort and never realized how good it would feel to spend time with her. He wanted to remind himself that it was real and that it was a stronger feeling than he had ever experienced before. He still wasn’t completely sure if everything about him lived up to her expectations of whatever romance was, but he sure hoped he did.

  Really though, he was beginning to see just how futile it was to stay away from her. The job in California seemed irrelevant as he drove, holding her hand, feeling the warmth coming from her, watching the excitement in her eyes. If he was honest with himself, it wasn’t really a choice whether or not he had feelings for her. Whether he wanted to try to be with her. Fate seemed to have decided it for him.

  Finn’s house was an old one, not as old as the resort, but borderline historic. He knew a bit about the timeline, knew it was built sometime in the early 1900s and home to a few fishermen before falling into Finn’s hands. Wooden, and white, it had a wraparound porch and a deep blue front door. Nestled within a forest of trees, one would never know it was beside one of the busiest resorts on the lake. The official Hazel Oaks’s boats were kept on a dock closer to the resort during the spring and summer months, before being drydocked for winter somewhere unseen. But Hudson knew Finn kept his own small fleet for his personal use, and his winter business.

  Hudson parked the car next to the porch and then went over to Nat’s door, helping her down. He shouldered the duffel bag, then together, hand in hand, they walked from Finn’s driveway to the river. As they walked, they continued their game, revealing more and more secrets to the other. Nat had just told him it was her dream to become the general manager of Hazel Oaks one day. She explained to him how much she liked the idea of staying in one place and having roots since most of her childhood was about moving.

  “Don’t you think you’d get restless?” Hudson asked as he listened to the sound of her heels against the newly poured pavement he hadn’t noticed his last time at Finn’s place.

  “Not at all. It’s my choice to stay here. Sometimes I think people are restless because they’re lost, or they don’t know what they want so they need to go and look for it. Once you’ve found what you want, I think it brings you a different kind of calm.”

  Hudson mulled over what she said. Unsure how he felt about her words and what they implied. Was he searching for something? Up until this point, he thought he moved around so much because he loved not having roots. But what was he searching for? Every time he moved, he looked for a job that would allow him to do physical things outdoors and then he’d go and find a gym. In reality, maybe he did have roots, roots that controlled what he did. Almost like a potted plant. They had roots, right? In the pot? He did the same thing and traveled around. Maybe that was the problem. He was still searching for something more.

  Someone to love maybe? Someone like Nat? Maybe he was on the run because he never had anything, other than his family’s insistence, holding him in one place. But would she be enough to hold him? More importantly, did he want her to be?

  “I think you have a point,” he finally said. “I moved because I could, since my childhood was pretty much spent in one location by threat of ex-communication from my family. All the men for, you know, a million generations went to boarding schools of the military variety, so I had to. But now that I could choose to stay, I don’t know. Maybe it’s different. I’ve never really chosen to stay anywhere. I always feel like I need to move.”

  “Have you ever tried short trips? Break up the monotony?”

  “Uh, no. I guess I haven’t.”

  “Something to think about.”

  The trees began to grow farther apart as they neared the river. It was a narrow one, perhaps more of a stream, not that he really knew the difference. In the summer, he could smell a particular scent of f
resh water and damp leaves that permeated the air. In the winter, all he could find was the ever-present promise of snow that never fell and the type of greenery that made him think of Christmas.

  Soon, before he could start to worry about Nat’s shoe choice, the dock came into view. The sun was barely able to guide them as he held her hand tighter, helping her down the slight slope to the river. He tried to picture how it would be once they joined forces to create another romantic moment. There would be a crackle of fire and a bubble of warmth surrounding them amongst the bitter wind that cut through the river’s path, leaving the alcove of trees untouched.

  “Views like that make you stop and think about what matters,” Hudson said as they stepped onto the dock. Things were quiet, simple there.

  “And what matters to you?”

  He turned her toward him, taking her shoulders in his hands. He leaned down and placed a soft kiss on your lips. “Being here with you right now matters.” He kissed her again, but this time, when they broke, the sun was replaced by thousands of stars above them.

  “Hudson, I—”

  He cut her off with a grin. “Just lie here on the dock with me and look up at the stars. I want to be still and take all of this in with you, your hand in mine. We can talk again in the car.”

  “But it’s so cold.”

  He dropped the duffel bag and unzipped it, pulling out the blanket. “Here, it’s all yours.”

  “Won’t you be cold too?”

  “Nah, I run hot.” He sat down and patted the empty wood beside him.

  Nat lowered herself, and he draped the blanket over her legs. Then he lay back and stretched his arm out so she could rest her head on it and then put his other arm under his own head. Her body heat helped him probably more than the blanket.

  The sky was a brilliant smattering of lights, seemingly so near, but also so far away. They were stationary, remarkably so. For centuries, people had been plotting them, knowing exactly where each pinpoint of light would be on any given evening. Did they feel trapped? Did they long for something else, something different?