He dipped his chin, incredulous, then sighed. “If you want to do the outdoor activities, fine. But during that time, I’ll only pay you the recreational staff wages, not the assistant manager wages. Does that sound fair?”
It sounded like her raise had evaporated. She tried a different angle. “You want to stick our guests with inexperienced college kids instead of a trained professional? Isn’t that a safety issue, Mr. We-need-to-keep-the-doors-unlocked-in-case-of-a-fire even though there’s never been a fire here in a hundred years?”
He shut his eyes, fighting for patience. When they opened again, they trained in on her. “Inexperienced? That’s what you’re worried about? Every college kid from Lark Springs grew up spending summers on the river. We’re all experienced. My mother could be a kayak guide. And the horses are old, tame, and walk at what—three miles an hour?”
Yes, but she wasn’t going to give in on that point. “Fine. While I’m making up the petition to save The Riverside Inn’s historical value, I’ll let people know you’re putting profits above safety.”
He tapped his pen on the desk. “We made a deal. You’re supposed to be a model employee.”
“That was only if you convinced Carson not to desecrate the inn with modern architecture. I haven’t seen any new designs.”
Lucas clicked his tongue against his teeth. “Do you plan on fighting me over every decision?”
“No. I stood by your wallaby eviction and kicked poor Tippyroo’s fluffy butt to the curb, even though Mrs. Lewis’s review said we were…” Riley went to her phone’s bookmarked pages and read the review, “heartless, disorganized, and hadstains on the carpet that we tried to hide by throwing down a cheap rug.” Riley shook her head. “That rug wasn’t cheap, by the way. I paid extra to get the washable kind. And a good thing, too. Tippyroo wasn’t the best house guest.”
Lucas launched into a speech about teamwork, but she didn’t hear it. Her attention had been stolen by the Inn’s newest review. It gushed that the manager was a handsome, single man who’d gone to her room after hours.I can tell you he got my heater working fast enough.Super hot.He alone is worth booking a room at The Riverside Inn! So charming. Makes you never want to leave. A resounding five stars.
Well. It wasn’t hard to guess which of their guests had been on the receiving end of Lucas’s after-hour favors. Apparently, Ms. Livingston had been successful in her attempts to get Lucas to come to her room.
Lucas stopped talking and waited for Riley to say something about his teamwork speech.
Riley glanced at the review again. “So, you hit it off with Ms. Livingston pretty well, didn’t you?”
“Ms. Livingston?” he repeated, confused.
Perhaps Riley shouldn’t have thrown out that statement without a segue. Or perhaps Lucas had never learned Brittney’s last name. “Ms. Livingston, the blonde from Canada who kept hanging around the lobby so she could ask you questions—even though I was sitting at the desk and could’ve given her any information she needed.”
The corner of Lucas’s lip twitched. “I remember her.”
Riley glanced at the review again. “You went to her room after hours to heat her up?”
Lucas’s eyes narrowed. “What are you accusing me of, Riley?”
“Nothing.” She shrugged. “You’re allowed to do whatever you want after hours. Be as charming, handsome, and asresoundingly five-stars as you like. Although some people would consider it unprofessional behavior.”
He nodded, lips still firmly pressed together in exasperation. “And what proof do you have that I went to her room to—how did you put it—heat her up?”
“It’s not my euphemism, it’s hers.” Riley flashed her phone screen at him. “She wrote about you in a review, Mr. Hot-and-Good-with-His-Hands.”
Lucas took the phone from her with a grumble. “Would you stop Mr-ing me? My last name is Clark and nothing else.” He read the review silently and then laughed. All the tension in his expression vanished, replaced by amusement. “You think Brittney wrote this?”
“She was lobby-stalking you, so yes. She seems a more likely candidate than one of the married tourists or the choir women who fled soon after check-in.”
Lucas smiled the smile of one who was about to triumphantly win an argument. “Mrs. Nickle had problems with her heater Wednesday night, so I went to her room and fixed it. She’s right about the room being so hot now. She keeps it at roughly the same temperature as Nigeria. As far as her comments about being charming, never wanting to leave, and a resounding five stars—I’m guessing she was referring to The Riverside Inn since the inn was the last noun mentioned before those descriptions. What were your grades in English class, anyway?”
Was he right? “Give me my phone back.” She held out her hand.
He didn’t return it. He was having far too good of a time rubbing this in. “I’m taking a screenshot of the review so I can forward it to my friends because most of them didn’t do well in English either. Let them wonder what I do to earn my stars.”
“I got Bs in English,” she said, “And that was only because I hated the books they made us read. I mean, come on,The Scarlet LetterandThe Old Man and the Sea?”
Finished with the screenshot, Lucas went to her contacts. “I’m also unblocking myself. As your boss, I may need to get a hold of you at times, and I want you to answer.”
Granted, he had a point, but she didn’t like the way he’d confiscated her phone. “I can do that myself.”
“Already done.” He sent the screenshot to himself. “I changed my name in your contacts to Resoundingly Five Stars. I would change your name in mine to She-Who-Jumps-to-Conclusions, but that’s already what it is.”
A blush warmed Riley’s cheeks. “Okay, I may have been wrong about who wrote the review, but you can’t deny that Miss Canada was coming onto you.”