Down for Her by Melissa Chambers (best e books to read txt) 📗

He doesn’t fit in with this crowd. He’s way cleaner cut than the rest of them. He reminds me of home.

“Hi,” I say.

“I don’t recognize you. Are you here with a friend who works at Destiny Dunes?”

“I just got a job there. I start on Monday. Do you work there?”

“Yeah. I’m Jack.” He proffers his hand, and I take it and shake it.

“Kylie,” I say. “What do you do at the resort?”

“I work in Business Affairs. Been here ever since I left college.”

“When was that?” I ask, a sneaky way to gauge his age.

He closes one eye, thinking. “Five years now, I guess?”

“Where did you go to school?”

“Cornell.”

Definitely feeling more at home with him, but I’ve got to remind myself that my old life is behind me now. I’m a pool attendant, and that’s how this guy will see me. “What brought you all the way down here?”

“I’m from Atlanta. This is close enough to home where I can head up there for a weekend if I want but far enough away not to make me crazy.” He tilts his cup toward me. “Where are you from?”

“Edmond, Oklahoma.”

He stares at me blankly, nodding.

“I went to OU in Norman though.”

“Ah,” he says, on more familiar ground. Most guys know OU because of their stellar football team. “You’re far from home, aren’t you?”

I run my toe through the sand. “You have no idea. So why Cornell?”

“It’s actually the number one school in the country for Hospitality Management.”

“So you knew going in that’s what you wanted to do?”

“It’s the family business. My dad’s pissed ’cause I didn’t come to work in his hotel in Atlanta.”

I chuckle. “I guess we have pissed dads in common. Mine is mad that I actually moved across the country from him.”

He holds up his cup to mine. “To pissed dads.”

I smile and touch my cup to his. “May they mind their own business.”

He smiles at me like I’ve just crossed a line from stranger to friend. “Do you live at the resort?”

What a loaded question. “Yes, I hope so, at least. They screwed up my housing reservation, and I walked in on a naked guy today.”

“Whoa,” he says with a concerned look. “Bet that was more than you bargained for. You okay?”

His reaction of concern instead of laughter is comforting to me in a strange way. I feel like I’ve been playing defense since I stepped into Brett’s house. It’s a nice break. “Yeah, I’m fine. Thanks for asking, though.”

“Who’d you walk in on?”

“This guy named Brett. His roommate’s name is Val, but I haven’t met him yet.”

Jack sports a rueful smile and hangs his head, shaking it.

“You know them?” I ask.

“I know Hargrove…Brett, I mean. Yeah.” He pockets his hand, lowering his chin. The expression on his face has soured.

“Not a fan?” I ask, because clearly, this guy has some beef with him.

“It’s a long story. Did you get the housing mistake figured out?”

“No, actually. We went down to the housing office, but it was already locked up tight. Brett’s letting me stay in his room until Monday morning, when we can get it all cleared up.”

He huffs a laugh. “I bet he is.”

“Nothing’s happening between him and me. Trust me.”

“It’s him I wouldn’t trust,” Jack says, looking past me. “Speak of the devil.”

I swivel my neck as a hand sweeps across my back and rests on my hip. Brett stands beside me, and my traitorous girl parts tingle from his touch. I’m this close to pulling away, but I’m too curious to see what his game is.

Jack returns Brett’s glare. “Hargrove.”

“Massey. I see you met Kylie. She’s staying with me this weekend.”

“Thanks to Housing’s screwup.” Jack turns to me with a wink. “I’ll call them tomorrow and get it straightened out for you.”

I’m about to open my mouth when Brett says, “No, thanks. I’ll handle it Monday morning.”

“Or I could call Robert right now and she could be snoozing in her own bed tonight,” Jack says.

“It’s handled,” Brett says. “Mind your own damn business. Why are you even here? I thought guys in your position didn’t make it down to the trenches.”

“Robert likes me to mingle with our employees. Keep my eye on morale, report back to him. You know, general right-hand-man duties.”

Brett lets a huff of air out of his nostrils, kind of like a dragon.

Tori slides into our tumultuous circle and takes my hand. “I think our newbie’s had enough of this testosterone for the moment. Come with me, girl. I’ll get you a drink.”

She pulls me from the man sandwich toward a keg with a bag of plastic cups beside it. “I take it they’re not besties?” I ask Tori.

“That’s an understatement. It’s kind of my fault though. I had a thing with Jack last year that ended badly. Brett’s like the overprotective brother I never asked for.” She grabs a couple of cups from the bag.

“Like a brother?” I ask, my curiosity getting the better of me.

She gives me a knowing grin as she pumps the keg. “Brett and I have known each other since we were little. We grew up in the same trailer park.”

I nod as if I’ve known lots of trailer parks in my time.

She rolls her eyes like she sees through me. “We’re both seven years older than our brothers. The two of us raised the two of them for the most part. So I guess he’s more like a husband than a brother.” She scrunches up her face. “Without the benefits, of course.”

I cut my eyes at her. “Never?”

“Fuck no. I was never interested, and besides that screwing our relationship up with sex was the last thing either of us needed back then. And now, it’s just way too late for anything like that. Besides, I could never be with a guy like him.”

“Like what?”

She nods, focused on something. I turn to find Brett talking to a different girl from the one he kissed just a little while ago. He takes her hand and pulls her to