Almost as soon as the thought crossed my mind, the heel of my shoe caught on a stair. The accident was enough to pitch me forward. Right into the path of the oncoming Bryce Simmons.
My boss’ boss didn’t even have time to look my way as I fell while he laughed with one of his friends. My body hitting his and toppling us both was his only warning before we rolled down the last few stairs to the landing.
“Oh ouch.” Bryce winced as he pushed himself up from where he had landed on me. “Are you o-”
His question stopped as his brain recognized the woman who’d taken him out…again.
“Sorry?” I cringed.
Even the makeup wouldn’t help me as he closed his eyes and shook his head, amusement making one side of his lips tilt up this time around. “Eloise?”
“Bryce, man, you okay?” One of Bryce’s friends reached down and helped the overly attractive man to his feet.
I missed him on top of me already. That was a bad thought, but not only were his looks the desire of my girly parts, but he smelled so good. I’d have to do what I could to remember the smell because I’d never be that close to Bryce Simmons ever again. If this kept happening, I’d probably have a restraining order against me by the end of the weekend. Or I’d be fired. Or in a hospital as my poor body ached a bit too.
Zoe tried to help me to my feet, but a larger hand reached down for me. I couldn’t meet Bryce’s eyes as I accepted his help. Even when I stood, I bounced on the balls of my feet, waiting for a reprimand. He’d been far less than happy at our last encounter. Why was he amused this go around? Or was that fake?
Bryce crossed his arms over a broad chest and examined me. My heels gave me a couple inches extra height so Bryce and I looked each other straight in the eyes while we stood on the landing.
“Ms. Brandt, funny seeing you again.” Bryce didn’t appear hurt or in any sort of pain as he and his friends snickered. He’d obviously related our earlier encounters to them. Oh the joy.
The impression I received from Zoe behind me was that she’d like to run for the hills. She wasn’t the only one.
“Mr. Simmons, no offense, but I was really hoping not to see you again on this trip. Honestly, I think the person to blame here is you.”
Zoe groaned and I heard a hand slap a forehead as my bestie wanted to die. We’d known each other long enough for me to tell the signs.
On the other hand, Bryce’s friends sputtered out laughter while Bryce’s eyebrows rose in amused shock.
“Me?” He sputtered out when the shock could allow him to speak again. “How am I to blame?”
I gave an indifferent sort of shrug. “Well, I seem to have less accidents outside of when you’re around. I haven’t harmed Zoe,” I threw a thumb over my shoulder to indicate my bestie, “in the year and a half we’ve known each other. Plus, I didn’t pretty much tackle one of your friends because a heel caught on a stair. So, the obvious link in our encounters is you.”
By the time I’d finished, one of Bryce’s buddies, a burly man with a buzz cut laughed so hard he collapsed onto the stairs and tears poured down his eyes. Bryce rolled his eyes at him while sending a toe-curling smirk my way.
“Laugh it up, Bruce.”
I blinked. The stocky man wasn’t a friend, but Bryce’s older brother. He oversaw a different division of the company.
“We’d best be going.” Zoe wrapped her hand around my arm and tugged me toward the descending stairs.
“Let’s not meet again this weekend?” Bryce laughed as Zoe and I raced down the stairs amid the laughter from the half dozen men.
“You really have some bad luck today, El.” Zoe shook her head as we walked to the dining room.
“I need to go to bed early and wake up to a different day where my luck has changed.” I winced as we walked. The pain in my ankle requested I do as I’d said, but Zoe already shook her head.
“No can do, lady. There’s a magic act tonight, and we are not missing it.”
Dinner was delicious and blessedly uneventful. We sat with Sally Rogers and her husband, Craig. They were newlyweds and Zoe and I both wanted to gag at the love shining in their eyes when they held hands and finished each other’s sentences and laughed when they did.
“You’re sure I can’t sneak away?” I pouted as we sat near the front of the room where the magic show would take place. Another coworker, Allen, who had a massive crush on Zo, sat beside us. It was too bad she didn’t feel the same way about him. He wasn’t bad looking, but he wasn’t Simmering Simmons either.
“You’re not going anywhere.” Zoe turned to me so Allen couldn’t see her face and gave me pleading eyes. “You promised.”
I’d done no such thing, but besties saved their bestie. Like it or not, I’d be sitting through a magic show.
When Bryce and his gang walked in the door to our left, I shrunk in my chair. Thankfully for my sanity, they didn’t see me and walked toward the other side of the room. And nothing outside of the norm happened. Zoe and I both let out breaths I didn’t know we’d held after the men passed us by.
“Scared of the boss?” Allen laughed at us.
“Let’s just say it’s been a day for Eloise.” Zoe wrapped an arm around my shoulders and squeezed as a man made his way onto the stage.
The magician didn’t even have to call the room to order as we quieted and waited on him to speak.
“Welcome, welcome! You’re all looking quite excited tonight. Men, did you dine with your wives? Ladies, did he give you roses?”
With sleight of hand I couldn’t figure out, the magician with his handlebar mustache, dark hair, and gleaming eyes created a dozen roses out of thin air. The crowd clapped. Some whistled. I squinted to figure out the play.
“Don’t figure it out, Eloise.” Zoe jabbed me in the ribs. “It takes away the fun.”
“Maybe for some.”
“You’re no fun to take to these events.”
I opened my mouth to say I’d requested to leave, but closed it when Zo glared my way, a reminder why I’d stayed. She should relax. Allen wasn’t going to jump her with so many people around. He was one of the nicest guys in the office and wouldn’t be jumping her at all.
The magician went through trick after trick. None of them I could figure out. Squinting harder didn’t help.
“Now, it’s the time everyone has been waiting for. I need two volunteers.” The magician looked around at the crowd of volunteers waving their hands. “You, there. Yes, you.”
I’d pointed to myself, sure I was mistaken about him asking me to join him on the stage. After all, my hand hadn’t been raised.
“Go, El.” Zoe pushed me, and I climbed from my chair.
“And you, sir,” the magician called to another volunteer, who may or may not have been volunteering, to come join me on the stage.
I fought a groan when Bryce climbed up the stairs on the other side of the stage. He could only shake his head and smile.
“Do the two of you know each other?” The magician had caught our reaction and my face ignited. The people in the very back could probably see me glow without a problem.
“We just met tonight.” Bryce saved me so much embarrassment by keeping his answer vague and succinct. Or, he was saving himself the humiliation. Either way, I came out of the situation in better shape than I’d feared.
The magician waggled his eyebrows. “Must have been some sort of meeting with the way she’s blushing, young man.”
Bryce shrugged. The magician looked to me and I gave the same reaction. The crowd laughed when the magician turned to them and gave the same answer.
“Alright, here comes the fun part. I’ll ask you to stand beside each other.” He pushed us so our arms touched. “It’s not required, but I thought it’d be fun.”
He winked at the crowd, who laughed. Meanwhile, I wanted to dig a hole as Zoe also blushed and shook her head. I couldn’t look at Bryce. Simmering Simmons was way over his head today if he thought our track record had ceased. My
gut told me we were in for a lot of trouble.
The magician stood in front of Bryce and spoke so the crowd could hear him. “Stare at this coin. When I snap my fingers, you’ll go to sleep.”
Bryce rubbed his hands together in excitement. If only I could follow his lead. Instead, apprehension flooded me. I prayed the magician didn’t make me do anything stupid in front of all my coworkers, their families, and people from other offices. I’d already embarrassed myself enough privately for one day. I didn’t need to do the same in the public view. Plus, this event hadn’t even been on my list of things to do during our vacation. Zoe owed me.
The magician’s snap brought me back to the present. Bryce’s head slumped forward, and the magician patted his shoulder while the crowd clapped. During the noise of their laughter and applause, words slipped from the magician’s mouth. I couldn’t understand the words but they sounded like Latin I’d heard in school. The vibes coming from them sent a chill up my spine and I shivered.
The magician spoke for a short time, not long enough for the crowd to notice or think him weird, and pulled back. I kept my eyes diverted from him and gave the crowd a small smile.
“Now, with another snap of my finger, we’ll put this young lady to sleep. Then, the real fun starts.” The magician laughed along with the crowd and my stomach twisted. Were his words in Bryce’s ear part of the act? They’d sounded more sinister than fun, but he’d whispered them so maybe they were a part the crowd didn’t need to hear? Was that how the act worked?
The magician walked me through the same steps as Bryce.
I blinked and the crowd applauded. When had they started clapping so hard?
I blinked, disoriented. Zoe laughed and smiled in her seat as she and Allen clapped with the crowd. Seeing my bestie unworried calmed my unease. If something bad had happened, she wouldn’t be laughing.
Bryce moved beside me. He gave a small wave and a smile to the crowd, but up close, I could see the small tension lines on his face and the fact his smile was forced. The man even looked a bit ill but pushed the feeling aside to give a good show to those he oversaw. He didn’t want to appear weak.
The magician closed the show out fast after that and I didn’t have a moment to nab the scoop from Zoe before the crowd clapped for a final time and everyone stood to disperse.
“That was such a fun show!” Zoe beamed as we left the large room behind. People smiled at me as we left which continued to eat at me. What had I done while hypnotized?
“I think I’m headed to bed now.” My body’s exhaustion had doubled since dinner even if my mind was fully awake. Was that the fault of the magician and his act?
Zoe pouted until she noticed Allen had left with us and stood just behind her elbow. “I think you’re probably right. With the day you’ve had, someone needs to make sure you arrive at the room safely.”
“I could help escort her?” Allen was so sweet with his hesitant request that came out more as a question of allowing him rather than offer.
“I have this, but thank you.”
“No problem.”
Zoe grabbed my elbow and tugged, but it wasn’t my day. My body used the momentum to keep spinning and fall over. Well, I began to fall over.
“Hang on there.” The all too familiar voice made me groan as Bryce helped me stand upright. “You are having an awful day, aren’t you, Eloise?”
“Could be better.”
“Since you’re bound to bump into me and kill me sometime tonight, why don’t I just walk you to your room so there’s no opportunity for you to take us both out?”
“It’s okay. Zoe was about to take me.” When I glanced at my bestie, she nodded, and her wide eyes begged me to hightail it out of there with her.
“Why doesn’t Zoe take the night off of best friend duty? I can keep you safe for five minutes. Besides, there’s something I’d like to discuss with you.”
Allen cleared his throat before more than the idea of losing my job crossed my mind. I was toast.
“I could buy Ms. Dean a drink or something.”
Bryce pulled a bill from his wallet and handed it to Allen while Zoe glared at me. I’d already found myself in trouble. There was no way on this earth I wanted to make that worse for myself. I’d have her back the next time she needed it. For now, having a drink with Allen wouldn’t be the end of her world. Unlike mine.
“Right this way, Zoe.” Allen gave a small bow in the direction of the lodge’s restaurant and Zoe glared at me one more time for good measure.
“Apologize for me later?” Bryce didn’t look at all apologetic. “They just look good together, and I really do want to talk with you.”
They did look good, but Zoe could look good with the oldest, ugliest man on Earth. She was beautiful.
“Are you alright?” Bryce took my elbow like Zoe had tried to do and had failed. The man’s friends were by the stairs. They gave Bryce a thumbs up and I glanced to the floor as he waved them off. “Come on, this way before they act like goons.”
He led me through the thinning crowd, most of whom appeared intrigued by us together. They could be intrigued all they wanted because this was only me getting fired. I’d be leaving tomorrow on the hunt for another job.
Bryce gave a heavy exhale when we exited the lodge’s front doors.
“That was pretty intense back there.” I nodded my head back toward the lodge. “I wasn’t expecting to be called on. My hand wasn’t in the air. Zoe dragged me to the show, or I would be catching some Z’s right now. I also wouldn’t have nearly killed you again.”
We walked down the stairs, past the cars, to the other side of the parking lot. A brisk wind blew through my sweater and I shivered.
“Are you cold?” Bryce watched me with concern, but I waved him off.
“If we’re not out here too long, I’ll be okay.”
Disappointment made him frown. “I’d actually thought you and I might take a little walk. Go to the stables and see the horses or something.”
I blinked at him. “Really?”
“Yeah, why else would I bring you out here?”
I bit my lips together. No way could I tell him my thoughts, but his smile was disarming and I blurted out the answer he wanted.
“I was pretty sure you were about to fire me.”
“Fire you?” He took a step back, confused and appalled at the thought. “Why would I fire you?”
My turn came to blink at him. “Um, I did open my door into you, disturb you in the bathroom and fell on you when you opened the door, and then I did fall into you walking down the stairs enough that we took a tumble down them. Oh, that doesn’t count me falling into you again after the show tonight.”
His amusement shone in the light from the full moon. While dark, everything remained visible with such a bright light in the sky.
“I wouldn’t fire you because of that. People have bad days. At first, yes, I was grumpy about it for which I’m sorry. Dad’s been gruff and I can’t get him to open up about what’s bothering him. Bruce and I have both tried. I’d just been on the phone with him again and he was short with me, but the guys banded together to cheer me up and once in a better mood, I realized what a jerk I’d been. I’m very sorry for that.”
“You weren’t that bad.” Another shiver went through me. “Maybe I’ll go grab a jacket if you don’t mind.”
“Sure. Would you like me to walk you in?”
“No, it’s alright. I’ll be back in just a couple minutes.”
I turned and walked back to the lodge, shaking my head. How could a guy like Bryce Simmons, a man so hot he was called Simmering, want to spend his time with me? I was a little nobody in the company. My job was menial paper pushing. Even if the company couldn’t function without my job, they could most certainly function without me. People liked Bryce. They respected him. I was a clutz who’d had the worst day of all bad days. No, it wasn’t my normal, but some people thought me too chatty.
Most of the lodge’s occupants ha
d cleared out by the time I reentered the lobby. My memory jogged and I couldn’t help but smile at the cackling witch by the hallway which led to the bathrooms. Maybe my day wasn’t turning out half bad after all. My embarrassment had led to time with Bryce.
Zoe was still out with Allen when I returned to the room. We’d only been gone five minutes, so I hadn’t expected her back yet. Allen would do his best to keep her entertained and with him for as long as possible, I was sure. Maybe once she actually gave the man a chance, she’d find she liked him.
Since Bryce had said he’d drop me off, I left a note for Zoe in case she beat me back to the room. Then I grabbed up my fleece jacket and locked the door behind me.
I’d been asked on a walk with Bryce Simmons. Yes, it was just a walk, not a date, but he’d asked me. Me!
The lobby had emptied completely by the time I hit the main floor again. My bladder gave a warning and I bit my lip. I hadn’t been long, but would Bryce think I’d run off and wouldn’t come back? However, I didn’t want to excuse myself from our walk to use the bathroom. I’d already had enough embarrassing experiences because of a full bladder. I didn’t need more.
No one occupied the bathroom down the short hallway this time around. My nerves relaxed when the door opened with ease. Part of me, or more, was now glad it had been occupied earlier.
The lobby remained empty when I left the bathroom. Even the front desk didn’t have the staff manning it as usual. The phone rang, but no one raced to answer. A bad feeling settled into my gut. What was happening? Where was the staff?
Glass broke down the long hallway which led to the restaurant. A nervous curiosity led me in that direction, needing to find a reason why the hundred or so people in the lodge were oddly absent and quiet. I’d check the restaurant next and find Zoe.
“I’m sorry, Nick. I know you’re upset, but let’s talk this out like grown adults.”
Something in the Shadows Page 2
