Tex tipped his sodden hat to her. “Yes’m!”
Gizelle trailed after them to the bar. “Can I have some?” She asked innocently.
“I’ll make you a hot chocolate, fawn,” Tex told her. “Wrench, can I get you something?”
That left Jenny standing along with Travis, and she was glad when he slipped his hand into hers. The clouds above them had thinned, and though it was still raining lightly, the wind had died down and shafts of sunlight turned the wet leaves and gleaming tiles to jewels and treasure. Jenny suspected that if she looked around, she’d find a rainbow somewhere, but she didn’t want to look anywhere but the smiling face of her mate.
“Hungry?” He suggested.
“Yes,” she answered with a playful smile.
Oh, yes, agreed her otter.
He smiled back down at her. “Hot shower first?”
“Mm, yes,” Jenny agreed, picturing his naked body in a cascade of hot water and foamy soap. “And then something out of the staff fridge would be plenty. Maybe Breck still has some cake stashed in there.”
Travis bent down and kissed her. “I can think of something that tastes sweeter…”
Epilogue
Travis put down his tools and stepped back to get perspective on their progress.
The last ravages of the storm had been all but erased from the resort. Graham had carefully pruned back the most obvious breakage and groomed the lawns, with help from Gizelle. An impressive pile of dead brush and branches had been stashed near the beach to dry for their next bonfire.
There were a few broken windows that were waiting for replacements from the mainland, but Travis and Wrench had repaired most of the roof damage, mopped up the water damage, and started to repair the facade damage done to the spa. The man had proven himself quick to pick up on the things Travis taught him, as well as a hard worker. He seemed determined to make up for kidnapping Jenny, and Travis was inclined to forgive him. He’d coaxed enough parts of the man’s story from him to be sympathetic, though he still didn’t know who he would have been buying dance lessons for, or how he’d ended up in jail the first time; prying personal information out of him would require something stronger than an impact driver.
“Let’s stop here and take lunch,” he suggested, keenly aware of a certain item in his pocket and the hole it was burning there. “We’re getting to the hottest point of the day and there’s still a few days worth of work here.”
Wrench scowled. “I’m okay to work longer.”
“Are you trying to make me look bad?” Travis laughed. “Seriously, the job will wait.”
“Yeah, okay.” Wrench looked past Travis and nodded understanding at the same time Travis recognized Jenny’s presence behind him.
“I was just taking a break from my work and thought I’d come see if you wanted to take a picnic lunch in the gardens,” Jenny suggested when he turned to grin foolishly at her. She was a vision in a simple silk wrap that made every curve look perfect. She had a basket over one forearm.
He suspected the picnic lunch she had packed was the second course to the meal she had in mind; merriment danced in her eyes.
“I’ll pack up the tools,” Wrench offered gruffly.
“How’s the work going?” Jenny aske
d, twining her fingers with Travis’ as they walked away. He remembered how embarrassed she’d been when she hadn’t been able to shift the webbing between her fingers. She was so amazing, so capable, so in control now.
“We’re waiting on some things from the mainland - it takes longer now that we don’t have our own boat - but the rest is nearly all done. Just some cosmetic stuff at the spa to finish up. How’s your work going?”
“It’s quite a puzzle,” Jenny told him enthusiastically. “I’ve never seen a contract with some of these specific terms, and there are references to some older documents. I’m having the firm run a search for the ones that may be relevant. At a glance, there are some weird loopholes that would allow Beehag’s lawyer to legally take the resort lease out from under Scarlet, but the requirements are crazy specific. It’s going to take some more research to be sure about any of it.”
She was alive with excitement about the topic, eyes sparkling and her feet skipping eagerly over the gravel as they walked. Seeing her so happy made him feel a hundred feet tall and on top of the world.
It also made him want to kiss her, and slip the dress strap off her shoulder, so he was happy when they arrived at the garden and Jenny put the picnic lunch down on the the bench and stood on tiptoe to slip her arms around his neck.
When Travis had finished claiming her mouth for his own, he suggested reluctantly, “Lunch first?”
“I’m having my first course now,” Jenny answered. “The rest will keep.”
He was hard against her, desperately hungry for the meal she offered, but he still drew back when she would have kissed him again, pulling his shirt from his pants.