He didn’t seem to like that any better, but that was all he was going to get from her. There was no way she was going to tell him about the last time she was with her cousins and what Jenna’s preteen friends had said to her then. That was borderline therapy stuff, and it had taken too many pep talks and ice cream pints to get over that enough to be here.
Hunter folded his hands behind his back as he walked beside her, which was a very proper pose for a man wearing sweats. “So that’s why you wanted to stay with your assistants.”
“Which is why I expected to,” she corrected. “As much as Jenna says I’m her favorite, she really doesn’t know me. Not anymore. I thought I would be here more as the photographer and less as the cousin. But I guess I’m both.”
“Is that a bad thing?” he asked softly.
She stopped for a moment, biting her lip. “I’m honestly not sure.”
A squealing sound met her ears, and she looked toward the houses to see that they had arrived at the Hen House. Some of the girls were out on the second-floor terrace. Sophie was looking way too put-together for this time of morning, leaning on the railing in a silk robe, staring directly at the two of them. Her expression was disapproving.
Mal sighed and turned to Hunter. “Well, this is my stop, I guess.”
He smiled. “So it is.”
“Thanks for your help today. It really made a difference.”
He shrugged easily. “Any time. Like I said, I love this place.”
She returned his smile. “I can see that. And I can see why.”
He stared at her for a moment, his eyes unreadable. Then he softly said, “Let me know when you need a dose of normal again. I’ll help you out.”
The uncomfortable feeling from the night before returned in an echo, but she was able to keep her smile. “Thanks,” she said, though it came out as a whisper.
She pushed a strand of hair behind her ear and turned from him toward the house. She heard his footsteps in the sand after a second and exhaled a sigh of relief. She’d never last the week if she didn’t find some control soon.
“What was that about?” Sophie demanded when Mal was close enough to her perch to do so without alerting the others.
A thousand snarky things came to mind as a response, but she plastered a polite look on her face. “I was getting some pictures of the resort this morning for Jenna, and Hunter ran into me. He volunteered to help me find some good places to shoot. He knows a lot about this place.”
Sophie rolled her eyes and sneered. “Well, he should. He owns the place.”
Chapter Five
Kids’ Day was turning out to be a lot more fun than Mal had thought it would be. Too bad she was so cranky that it didn’t matter. Taryn was having a blast on second camera, though, and even Dan was enjoying himself as he entertained kids and suggested angles and options for Taryn.
Mal was more content off by herself, doing her own thing, stewing in her thoughts.
Hunter owned the place. How did she not know that? That was a detail she should have been privy to, particularly when she was also doing shoots for the resort. And he’d said he was normal? The man was a walking mint!
Not only was he so far out of her league that it was ridiculous, but he was her employer! She had been checking out and getting ideas about a guy that she couldn’t even sneeze in front of without getting a background check, and with only a week until all the craziness was done. A weeklong fling with a normal guy wasn’t a crazy thing to imagine.
This was not crazy. This was certifiably insane. Her embarrassment knew no bounds.
She’d endured Designer Day this morning without complaint, even suffering two fittings for herself that Caroline had insisted on. The other girls had no idea why the photographer was being included in reaping the rewards of Jenna’s generosity and connections with top designers, but as they’d all said they wouldn’t be caught dead in those things, it wasn’t a major concern.
Caroline assured her that they felt that way because they couldn’t pull them off. Honestly, Mal couldn’t have said what the outfits actually looked like. They might be in her closet, but she wouldn’t have recognized them.
She’d gotten the pictures she needed there, assured Alexis that her nose looked fine, and agreed to only shoot Bethany from the left for the time being. Apparently, a blemish had sprouted, and she didn’t want anyone to know.
Jenna and Caroline and Grace were playing with the kids now, but the other girls were holed up in the house getting facials and manicures or something, which made no sense, as they would all be getting their nails done the day before the wedding anyway. But Mal was glad to be away from them. Her cousins, she actually liked, and Grace had potential to be on the good list as well. She was the least snobbish of the group, and certainly the nicest to Jenna.
The men were golfing today, and she was grateful for that. She needed time to think, and any more time spent around Hunter would cloud her head. Or she might end up snapping at him. It wouldn’t do more than get her fired and possibly blacklisted from high-end gigs, but she would at least feel better for it.
“Hey.”
She froze, groaned in the back of her throat, and adjusted her camera to take more pictures. She would love to ignore him, but common sense told her she couldn’t. “Hey,” she replied stiffly.