Manage Me: A Vagabond Romance

by J. D. Fox

  Everyone's faces went from smiling to serious in a second. They stopped laughing and joking and instead turned with dread to face me. They did not look excited to have me leading the discussion.

  "I'm sorry to have to start our morning off without fun. I promise I'll do better next time. But we have a situation, and I didn't want to make the decision on my own without talking to you all first. I think Jason and Wendy have done a great job here, but more importantly, you all have kept this resort running and I see that. Now, we have an opportunity to host a big group. It would fill the resort up for the week and bring in a lot of income. Most importantly, it will show others that we are capable of taking good care of events like these."

  There was a hum of chatter that started through the room. I couldn't get a good feel for what everyone was saying, but I figured it was similar concerns to what Wendy had addressed.

  "Wendy was concerned that you all have been working so hard already and said we should turn this group down. Bookings have been steady, and I'm prepared to do that. There will be no hard feelings if we don't think we can handle them. I'll get us staffed up soon, and we can book another group in a few months. But I do think we can handle it, and here's what I suggest. I'll pay double time for all the hours you work during this week; not just the overtime. I'll provide breakfast, lunch, and dinner catered in so you can eat well while you're working, and I'll give each of you a voucher for a free two-week vacation at any of the Baxter Industries resorts. It will be a long week. We'll all be tired, but I think it can be done. What do you think?"

  There was a pause as I waited for the group's response.

  "My cousin is looking for a job. She could help in housekeeping," one of the women piped up.

  "Amazing; ask her to come in today, and I'll meet with her."

  "My daughter is only sixteen, but she's a great hostess at a restaurant in town. I could see if she could help us this week," our chef added.

  "Yep, call her in today too. Any of you who have a friend or family member who could help out this week, see if they can see me ASAP. Today, if possible. I'll offer them the same compensation I've offered all of you."

  "I think we can do it," Wendy said, nodding her head. "I'm in."

  "Thank you, Wendy."

  "I'm in!" someone yelled from the back of the room.

  "We can do it," another added.

  "Yes, we got this," someone else chimed in and before I knew it the room was erupting in applause.

  "Thank you, everyone. This is going to be amazing. I'm so grateful to be part of this group of people. Sorry to make this cheesy, but I have to say this; before coming here I was burnt out and unsure of my continued career, and now I feel the passion again. Now, that's it. Take today to get ready. Send me anyone you trust that could work for us, and I'll interview them today. Tomorrow is when the group arrives, and we will be ready."

  Again the room erupted in applause, and I couldn't stop smiling at the energy radiating from the room. This was what I'd imagined managing hotels for my family business would be like. This level of love and excitement was something I'd longed for in my career and finally felt attainable.

  "I'll call the group and tell them they can come up." Wendy gave me a big pat of approval on the back as she left the room.

  "Let's get that music going!" I yelled.

  The rest of the morning was a blur of activity. Everyone was running around, and I considered canceling my lunch with Dakota. The old me would have canceled in a second, chalking it up to too much work, but I decided to keep the date. One hour away from the craziness of the day wouldn't put me too far behind.

  "What's going on around here?" Dakota asked as she stood at the front desk observing the chaos going on throughout the lobby. "Is someone famous coming?"

  "No, we booked a last minute retreat. It's going to be huge for us; they're a very large group from a prestigious law firm, and they've agreed to allow us film and take pictures for our advertising."

  "That's exciting. Is there anything I can do to help? Maybe we shouldn't take a lunch..."

  "No, I want to spend an hour with you."

  "Mr. Baxter," one of the younger housekeepers said, approaching me sheepishly, "I'm so sorry to interrupt, but I need to run and grab my daughter from school, and a load of sheets will be out of the dryer shortly. It needs to be done right away, or they'll get wrinkled. Is there anyone who could help?"

  "I'll fold them," Dakota said. "You go get your daughter."

  The young woman looked at me for approval, and I nodded my head in agreement. She didn't waste a moment and quickly ran off to her car.

  "So I guess I know what we're doing for lunch," I laughed.

  "I want to help. I'm no use to anyone sitting up in the room pondering my life; I'd rather stay busy."

  "Speaking of rooms, I'm going to have to share with you and Lauren. Is that okay? We need to use my room for guests."

  "Of course. I'll make Lauren's room up for you. I think she's thinking of going to visit Jacob in the city," she winked at me teasingly.

  "Oh, so I'll be sleeping in the second bedroom that. I'm fine with that. I bet I'll get a lot more sleep than when I'm not next to that body of yours all night."

  "We'll discuss it," she winked.

  I couldn't help licking my lips as I remembered what her body had felt like next to me the night before. Oh, how I had wanted to wake her up and take advantage of our time together. A good night's sleep was important and all, but I was okay without it if it meant having her.

  Dakota and I made our way to the laundry room and arrived just as the large dryer turned off. I pulled the load out of the dryer and set it on the table.

  "We're old pros at this," Dakota said with a giggle.

  I smiled at her. "That we are. I'm going to start considering that our first date."

  She snorted. "Laundry date. How romantic."

  "I'm going to be really busy the next few days. I'll still plan for lunch if you'd like, but laundry dates might be all you get."

  "No, maybe we should just shoot for spending time together in the evenings. Would that be better? That way I can go explore with Lauren, and you can concentrate on getting everything done that you need to."

  "That would be perfect. And as much as I want you to stay around, I'll understand if you and Lauren get bored and decide to keep going on your adventure," I reluctantly added.

  The last thing I wanted was for Dakota to leave, but I also wasn't going to feel great about her sitting around waiting for me to be available every day. But the thought of her leaving was...unpleasant.

  "I think we'll stick around for a bit. There's a lot I'd like to do. But thank you for understanding being so understanding."

  "Of course. I mean, I'm the guy who just spent months managing a hostel so I could find myself. I can understand."

  "Do you think you'll do that again? Manage a hostel instead of a big resort like this one?" Dakota asked and pulled a bunch of sheets toward her.

  The last time, I hadn't allowed myself to think of her as anything other than an annoying yet helpful guest. Now, I was fully able to appreciate her beauty as she moved through the motions of folding the laundry. Her dark brown hair was pulled up in a messy bun, and she had on a baggy t-shirt and jeans, but she couldn't have looked more beautiful. She wasn't even trying. She had the ability to look so put together and gorgeous without any of the "necessities" that other women refused to live their lives without. It made it hard to concentrate on our conversation when I found my mind wandering to all the ways I wanted to touch her.

  "I'm open to managing our smaller properties. We have a lot going on overseas, and it would be fun to work with one of those. I'm certainly much more willing to work on a remodel project like the hostel in San Francisco; that was my first one, and it was very fulfilling."

  "I'd like to find something in my life that I could call fulfilling."

  "You never talked too much about your feelings towards your work before. Didn't y
ou like it?" I asked.

  "I like numbers. I like the simplicity of knowing what's right and wrong with them. The social aspect of my field was a struggle, though. It's really hard to claw your way up the ladder as a woman. I wouldn't mind talking with to Jacob more about how his job works. It's just an area of my life I'll have to figure out, I guess."

  "Babe, I know you'll do anything you want to amazingly."

  Dakota was a tough girl; I saw it in her eyes. Everything she was going through was enough to drive her forward and force her to fight for the life she wanted; I admired that. No one should be stuck in the limbo of life for too long.

  It was great to take a break from reality and find yourself, but eventually, we all had to move forward and find that drive again. By coming to the Redwoods, I'd been able to rediscover it, and I hoped Dakota would be able to find it for herself while she was here with me.

  "Thank you. I had so much going on back at home, and I never took vacations, so I'm looking forward to being here. Please don't worry at all about being busy. I'll be fine. My mind is overflowing with ideas and things to think about and deal with."

  "Do you want to talk through any of it?" I asked.

  "Not yet. Some of it was Cody stuff that's still overwhelming to me, and I don't know that I'm ready to dive into that with another person."

  "Would it help if I touched your butt?" I asked, solemnly.

  "Hmmm, it might," she laughed.

  "I'm willing to do what has to be done. I'll take one for the team."

  "How selfless of you," she smiled back at me as we finished folding a sheet and ended up close together. "I think this is going to be an even more amazing week than the last. All day long you're going to be working and thinking about me, around, potentially naked. It's going to be so hard. You're going to be so distracted," she spoke casually, as though she was giving no thought to what she was saying.

  "Oh, it's hard alright," I agreed.

  "Does the laundry room lock?" she asked, looking over at the door and then playfully back at me.

  "No, we are not having sex in my hotel's laundry room," I said firmly. "But I will take you up to your room and devour every inch of you up there."

  "We better get these sheets folded quickly, then," she said as we both moved on double time to finish our assigned job.

  Chapter 21

  Dakota

  Our lunchtime rendezvous was some of the most fun sex we'd had yet. It was exciting to rip his suit off and have a time limit on our mind. We were like kids trying to get off before anyone found out what we were up to. I grabbed onto his tie, leaving it on as I peeled off his dress shirt and he unbuckled his pants.

  He almost threw me onto the bed and still found time to tease me unbearably before he entered me. I gripped his back, digging my fingers into his muscle as I welcomed his thrusts. It was fun seeing how often we could fit together without getting sick of each other.

  We were both drenched in sweat by the time he groaned with release and collapsed on top of me. Luckily, I got to stay there while Ryan had to collect himself and go back downstairs.

  "This was a terrible idea," he muttered.

  "Why is that?"

  "Now I'm going to be distracted all day long, thinking about you."

  "Perfect. You should be thinking of me."

  He gave me a quick kiss and straightened his tie before standing at the edge of the bed and looking down at me as he got dressed. I was covered with the sheets, and he couldn't see my naked body, but he still looked at me as if he saw every inch of me.

  "I'm going to go back down for a little bit. I just want to remember you looking exactly like this until I get back."

  "Okay," I smiled.

  He paused, looking like there was something he wanted to say. "What is it?" I asked, leaning forward.

  "Nothing. I just... I'm happy I met you on the beach that day.

  "Ryan," I whispered, reaching up to pull him back down to me.

  After a thorough kiss, he stepped back, shaking his head. "Okay, now I'm done with all the mushy stuff. I have to go."

  "Have a great day at work, dear," I called.

  "Have fun. Stop by the front desk if you need any ideas of what to do. Wendy is amazing, and she'll hook you up. And where's Lauren?"

  "I'm not sure; I was just thinking that I needed to track her down. Do you want me to grab your things from your room and move them over here too?"

  "Yes," he handed me his room key. "That would be insanely helpful. Thanks."

  We kissed one last time, and he really did head back to work. It was a longer lunch break than I was sure he'd planned, but I'd thought it was worth it. It was really eye-opening to see him in the light of this resort. I couldn't stop smiling, even twenty minutes after he'd left the room. Spending time with Ryan was just what I needed to try and get my life back in order.

  Without firm plans for my day, I ended up lounging in my room for the rest of the afternoon. I brought Ryan's things into my room, sent a couple of messages to Lauren, and did some journaling.

  It was nice to be without a schedule, but my mind often veered toward unpleasantness as I wrote. Being in my own head wasn't easy for me. I'd spent most of my life avoiding the things I knew I wanted in life if they were impractical. I did what I thought I was supposed to do. I helped my mom. I helped pay for my sister's school. I did what Cody wanted or what my boss wanted.

  Taking the time to think about myself and my own happiness was so much harder than I'd imagined. By the time it was dark outside, and Ryan returned to the room, I was physically and mentally exhausted from my day of meditation.

  "I brought food," Ryan said as he set some hamburgers out on the table. "Are you doing okay?"

  "It was a good day. I'm exhausted though."

  "Me too. Have you heard from Lauren at all?"

  "Yes, she's having fun with Jacob. I definitely don't think she'll be coming back to this room tonight though," I laughed. "So you're welcome to sleep in that bed if you'd like to."

  "I think I'd rather sleep in yours."

  "Deal."

  We were like an old married couple that night. We ate our dinner and cleaned the dishes, and we lay in bed and watched television while we snuggled. I talked about my day of self-discovery, and Ryan talked about all the preparations going on for this group that was coming.

  "I interviewed a dozen people today and hired them all. I really hope they work out. It would be nice to have our staff not being overwhelmed."

  "Do you think this group that is coming will be understanding of issues that might arise because of new staff members? I know some people get annoyed when a waiter doesn't know what they are doing or something like that?"

  "We will have to wait and see. At this point, I just need bodies in the jobs. I think I'll keep our current staff in the lead, though and have to new employees helping more in the background. It's going to be an adventure, that's for sure."

  "At what point would you reach out to your family and ask for help?" I asked, thinking about all the brothers that he had. Surely one of them could come and help out.

  "I'm trying to do this one alone."

  "I understand the inclination, but wouldn't it be nice to have some help from your family? Maybe just for this week while you're really busy?"

  "They're all busy on other projects," Ryan said and pulled me tight into him. "But I think we should get to bed so I can get up early and kick butt tomorrow."

  "Deal," I agreed with a yawn.

  ***

  By morning Ryan was long gone when I woke up at six o'clock. He'd left a little love note on his pillow and said breakfast would be there at eight o'clock. I smiled to think of him taking care of me like that. It wasn't something I was used to. In most of my past relationships, I was the one who was always taking care of the other person. Perhaps it was my own fault for offering to do things all the time, or maybe our connection just wasn't the right one, but either way, I'd always wished for my partner to be more thoughtf
ul. Here, I had Ryan doing all the things I'd always hoped for.

  I lounged around in bed for the morning, ate my breakfast when it arrived, and then put on some workout clothes to hit the gym. I could hear the chaos going on in the lobby as the big group arrived. There were so many of them moving around, and I could see that Ryan and Wendy were staying calm through the chaos.

  There was no way I could have even said hello to Ryan in the midst of all that, so I just walked through the lobby to the gym. I had a twinge of guilt that I was working out while everyone was so busy. Of course, I didn't know how to check people into the computer system, but there had to be some other way I could still help out. I was more than happy to fold more sheets if that was what needed to be done. I had never been afraid of hard work.

  "I thought that was you," I heard someone say behind me as I got to the gym door.

  The voice was familiar enough that my body froze. I let go of the door handle and turned around to see someone I knew standing in the doorway. Someone I'd hoped I wouldn't see again.

  "Cody," I said breathlessly. "What are you doing here?"

  Chapter 22

  Dakota

  "Well, it's nice to see you too, honey. This is my firm's retreat," he said, not looking at all surprised to be standing in front of me.

  "I thought you guys did that at Big Bear?"

  "We changed it around this year." He started to walk toward me, setting off all my alarm bells. I couldn't put my finger on it; there was something off about him being there. It wasn't right, and all of my internal sirens were screaming at me to get away from him. "It's nice to see you."

  He stopped right in front of me, almost pinning me to the door of the gym and gave me a hug, which I reluctantly returned. I felt paralyzed by him being there; disoriented by how the universe had brought the two of us together like that.

  "So your company just happened to pick this place for your retreat?"

  "Weird, isn't it?" He stepped back down from me but stayed uncomfortably close. "I've missed you a ton. I'm so happy I ran into you here; we can finally have a conversation."