She froze mid-step, threw me an annoyed look over her shoulder, then stomped off.
Maybe I shouldn't have told her that, but I figured she'd want to know if she looked like she just got back from a night of hot sex. I couldn't seem to do anything right with her. Not this morning, at least.
I headed for my room in the guest house and changed into casual clothes. Today was my day off, so I didn't need to wear either of my work uniforms—the resort version or the gypsy version. Jeans and a T-shirt would do fine today. Maybe I'd go nude later. Then again, maybe I shouldn't. Heidi was upset about last night, and seeing my nakedness might make her panic again.
Why did I care? She'd made it clear we weren't dating and never would be.
Maybe I wasn't a Casanova type, but I could get a date if I wanted one. No woman had ever turned me down, for a date or sex. Maybe that sounded a tad arrogant, but I didn't mean it that way. Could I help it if women lusted for me? Like I'd told Heidi, I gave awesome dating.
But Heidi wouldn't go on a date with me.
Had I ever actually asked her for a date? "Have dinner with me," I'd said when I approached Heidi minutes after she'd arrived at the resort. That wasn't a question. It was a statement, like I planned to throw her over my shoulder and take her back to my cave for a dinner of barbecued squirrel with pine nuts on the side. Was I being a dick today? No, I'd treated Heidi with kid gloves because I worried about freaking her out.
Maybe that was the problem. I was being too nice. She'd liked me yesterday when I'd told her "have dinner with me" and when I'd announced I loved whispering filthy things into a woman's ear. Last night, I held back and tried to show her my tender side. Maybe I was going about this the wrong way. Heidi might respond better to my rakish side since making sweet love to her had resulted in panic.
Couldn't hurt to try.
But I'd relished making love to her.
I went to Heidi's room, but she either wasn't there or refused to let on that she was. Knocking, even banging, on her door resulted in silence. Since I'd already changed into my off-duty clothes, I trotted downstairs to eat breakfast. Heidi wasn't there. I ate fast and split.
Outside the guest house, I bumped into Ollie. "Have you seen Heidi?"
He smirked. "Only when she was running out of your wagon with her clothes on backwards."
"You better not have said anything to her about that."
"I'm the good one, Damian, remember? You're the bad boy."
"Does that mean you haven't said anything to Heidi about how she, uh, was in my wagon with her clothes on the wrong way?"
My best friend snickered. "I kind of doubt she went into your little love nest with her clothes like that. But no, I didn't say a thing to Heidi."
I let out the breath I hadn't realized I was holding. "You don't know where she is now."
"No." He tipped his head to the side, studying me. "You like her a lot, don't you?"
"Mind your own business, Ollie."
I walked away—okay, stomped away—without giving Ollie a chance to say anything else that would make me irritable. Some guests were already on the lawn, including Ruth and Sylvester. I flopped onto a chaise beside them.
"Good morning, sunshine," Ruth said. She scrutinized me for a moment, then said, "I see storm clouds brewing around you. What's wrong? Did you and Heidi have a fight?"
"We're not dating, Ruth."
"You can have an argument even if you're not dating."
"I don't want to talk about Heidi."
Ruth clucked her tongue. "You two definitely had a fight."
Grumbling, I shoved myself up out of the chair. "I'm going for a walk."
"If we see Heidi, we'll let her know where you went."
I might've actually growled, like a wild animal.
Rather than heading for the nature trail, I veered across the lawn to take the almost-hidden path to my pilot project. Lenny and Georgie nickered when they saw me, but oddly, they were already standing at the fence near the gate.