“You still good over there?” he asked her.
“S’like Christmas.”
“Yeah. You should actually see it at Christmas. It’s ridiculous.”
“Hmm.” A soft sigh escaped her lips.
Graham never—never—went up to Moose Springs Resort if he could avoid it. The place was one big playground for the rich, and they all seemed to find him down at the diner, no matter how hard Graham tried to avoid them. But he’d been there enough over the years, Graham could have driven to the resort with his eyes closed. He parked his truck by the hotel’s valet station and motioned the valets away when they hurried over.
Graham was more than capable of opening his own doors and collecting the drunk woman staring blearily at his dashboard. When she swayed on her feet, Graham called it a loss and simply scooped her into his arms. She squeaked at the change of elevation, leaving Graham to wave awkwardly at the staff as he strode through the hand-carved entry doors the valets held open for him.
“Nothing to see here,” Graham declared cheerfully to the startled desk attendant as he went past. “Continue your lives as normal.”
Halfway to the elevator, it occurred to him that he didn’t know where he was going. And the bookworm draped romantically in his arms was a solid little thing. That or maybe he needed to start going to the gym more often. Either way, he was going to drop her. So he turned around and headed back to the desk and to the stranger manning check-in, a curly-haired youth named…Grass? Seriously? Who named their kid Grass?
Grass must have been seasonal, because Graham knew all the locals. And none of them would have borne that name on a name tag.
When they reached the counter, Graham set Zoey down on her feet, keeping one arm around her waist to steady her. Upon seeing Zoey’s confused expression, Graham tilted his head to catch her dazed eyes. “Hey, Zo, you still in there?”
“Violent delights have violent ends.” She dissolved into drunken giggles, poking at Graham’s white T-shirt. “A sail! A sail!”
Shakespeare. She was quoting Shakespeare while trashed. “Good to know.” Glancing at Grass, Graham jutted his chin toward the woman he currently held upright. “This is Zoey. I think she’s staying with Lana Montgomery. How do I find her room?”
“Umm, we’re not allowed to give out a guest’s room location, sir.” The clerk typed rapidly at the computer in front of him, but Grass quickly twisted the monitor away when Graham leaned over to sneak a peek.
“Yes, but she’s not really all that mobile right now.”
“We can take care of Miss…” Grass hesitated, as if unwilling to even share her name. While Graham appreciated the safety in their protocol, it was late, he was tired, and there was a microwavable burrito at home whimpering his name.
“Just call Jackson. Or the Shaws. They know me, and they’ll give you the go-ahead. Oh, give me a key to her room too.”
Grass looked at Graham in horror. “I can’t call the owners or their son this late. It’s two in the morning in New York. I’ll get fired.”
Why was it always him who had to put out the fires? Didn’t the world understand Graham was much better left to his own devices? Pulling his phone out of his pocket, he dialed a number. It rang three times before a tired voice answered.
“This better be worth it.”
“Women always are,” Graham joked. “Hey, man. I’m at the big house. Tell them to call your folks. I need an authorization to drop off someone in her room. One of my customers decided to mix headache medicine and liquor.”
“Just let the hotel staff do it.”
“I don’t know the staff.” At the offended look from Grass, Graham shrugged. “What? I don’t know you, and you’re named Grass. It’s weird, man. Jackson says to let me through.”
“I didn’t say that,” Jackson reminded him.
“No, but you’re going to say that.”
“Let the staff handle it. I’ll see you in a couple days.” With a grunt, Jackson hung up on him.
“Good talk, Jax.” Graham turned to Grass. “Okay, let’s start this over. Hi. My name is Graham, and I want a burrito. Give me her room key, or I’ll kill you.”
Hmm, maybe that should have been his follow-up. The horrified-looking desk clerk reached for the phone and took a step back.
“I have a key.” Reaching in her pocket, Zoey pulled out a dollar bill. “Hmm, that’s not it.”
Tightening his arm around her waist to keep her from tipping over, Graham sighed. “You just called security, didn’t you?”
A wide-eyed Grass took another step back before nodding his head. “Sir, please remain calm.”
Things probably would have gone downhill after that, but a familiar voice pulled his attention. “Is that Graham Barnett in my hotel? The sky must be falling.”
Graham looked over to see the night manager coming down the hall. Every inch of her screamed business professional, from nose to high-heeled toes.
This person he knew. He’d sat behind her in middle school, poking her with a pencil to annoy her in hopes that she’d notice him. Back then, Hannah had been the prettiest girl in Moose Springs. Now, with runway model height, smooth dark skin, and liquid eyes, she was stunning. Hannah was also in the prime spot to take over the world-class resort as manager whenever the current manager retired.
For a long time, Graham had thought he loved her. Too many on-again, off-again, one-more-time’s, and this-will-never-work’s had disabused him of the notion. She had places to go Graham couldn’t follow. Still, he would never mind Hannah’s face coming through his door.
“Hey, Hannah, come upstairs with me.”
Hannah raised a perfectly sculpted eyebrow. “If that line didn’t work after junior prom, it’s not working now.”
Chuckling, Graham gestured to the woman slumping against his shoulder, her nose squashed into his armpit, dislodging her glasses. “Just doing my good deed for the day.”
“What’s wrong with her?”
“Growly Bear and two baby aspirin. Theoretically. I was only complicit in the first, not the second.”
Hannah waved away the security guards heading for him. “The day you invented that drink was the day I earned a permanent headache. Do you know how many blue messes the housekeeping staff cleans up? You owe them half your tips, Graham.”
“Probably,” he agreed. “But first I need to get Zoey here to her room so she can sleep this off.”
“Or you could just leave her with us,” Hannah pointed out.