I watched Beck as he carried his and his father’s bags over to another guy who quickly grabbed them, and I couldn’t stop watching him as some girl who also wore a Clermont Bay Country Club uniform spoke to him.
I had no reason to be jealous. Beck owned this place, and this girl was clearly an employee, but she didn’t look like she was discussing business. She looked like her talk was anything but professional.
Not that I could talk. I was at work and I had let him be far too close to me to ever be considered acceptable.
I was sure it was the way Beck worked, all a part of his game, and as she leaned forward and whispered something in his ear, I couldn’t stand there and watch him do it.
I went through the front door and saw some guy at the front desk who looked overwhelmed. I walked behind the desk and tried to help him as best I could without a lick of training. He handed me a few keys to hand out to members and had me call the bar for a few orders that needed to be taken to carts.
I did everything he said, and I tried to work hard enough to fight the urge to look back out the front windows at Beck.
It didn’t matter if he was still with that girl. It also didn’t matter that I was bothered by that simple fact when he had been driving me crazy since the moment I met him.
School was starting tomorrow, and I was going to have to face it during every part of the day.
I set a cooler of craft beer on the back of one of the carts and a man with more gray hair than not thanked me.
Beck looked my way as I passed him, but I didn’t stop. I just continued to do my job and pretend like he wasn’t there. I tried to pretend like he hadn’t flipped a switch the moment he saw my father.
Sam was standing behind the desk when I returned. “What else can I do?”
I didn’t want him to think I was horrible at my job, even if I may have not made the best first impression.
“Can you head over to the bar? They need some more ice.”
“Of course.” That was something I could do. I had to fill the ice all the time in the dining room.
I checked my phone as I walked toward the bar that was connected to the course for easy access and saw a message from Allie.
I wish you weren’t working today. We could be shopping.
I wish I wasn’t either.
I had turned Allie down originally to go shopping. She needed school clothes and I didn’t. She would be able to dress normally, and I would be in some uptight uniform.
I should have gone. If I had gone, I wouldn’t be here, and I wouldn’t have seen Beck. I hadn’t told Allie about what happened with him outside of his father’s office, and I wasn’t sure if I would.
I grabbed the ice bucket and headed to the back of this wing of the building where the ice machine was kept. I was surprised by how big the grounds were. Of course, you could see the building was massive from outside, but once you were inside, it felt like a maze. The dining room and a few meeting rooms were at the center of the club. The golf course along with a gym, sauna, and pool were to the left, and I didn’t have a clue what was on the right. The farthest I had been that way was to Mr. Clermont’s office.
I hadn’t dared venture around without a chaperone. Not without Allie.
Today was the first time I had even been near the course.
The large metal scoop was heavy in my hand as I flipped open the lid to the ice machine. I needed to focus on work. Work, school, and getting out of here.
All three things would be vital to my success.
I needed the money, I needed my dad to give me what was rightfully mine, and I needed to get the hell away from this place.
The door to the machine slammed shut, and I jumped.
Beck was standing there, and I hadn’t even heard him. I was so lost in my head that I wasn’t paying attention.
“You scared me.” I dropped the scoop in the ice bucket and took a small step back.
He looked pissed off. He had no right to be, but it was written all over his face.
“What are you doing?” His hazel eyes looked almost black, and even though that should have put some fear in me, I found nothing but an ache low in my belly.
I looked down at the ice bucket and back at him. “Getting ice.”
“Don’t be a smart-ass.”
“I didn’t realize I was.”
“Why did you run off?”
“I didn’t run off.” I flipped the ice machine door back open and grabbed another scoop full. “I’m working. You know, work?”
He looked like he wanted to pummel me, but I kept going. “Some of us have to do that for a living.”
“Don’t play poor girl with me, Josie. I know who your daddy is.”
“I don’t live off my daddy.” I shoved the scoop back into the ice harder than I needed to. “What’s that like?”
“You don’t know shit about me.” His lips were stretched tight and his chest puffed in anger.
“And you don’t know shit about me.”
He stepped toward me, but I held my ground. I wouldn’t dare let him see that he intimidated me. Even if I could barely control the way my hands trembled.
His chest hit mine, and I let the ice scoop fall from my hand as I stared up at him. His chest heaved, pressing against mine with a force that did little to calm my own temper, but he didn’t say anything.
He just stared at me with a look on his face that was completely unreadable. He was angry, sure, but there was something else.
There was something he wanted to say that he wouldn’t. There was something that he was hiding.
“You should go.” I looked toward the door where he must have come in through, the same door that was still standing wide open. Anyone could walk in here and see him pressed against me.
“I think you should probably not tell me what I should be doing.” He touched my throat with gentle fingers that were in complete contrast to the rage in his eyes. I knew that he had no intentions of walking away from me right now. He didn’t care if he was putting my job at risk. He didn’t care about anything but himself.
“You hate my family,” I reminded him, and his eyes flicked from my throat where he was watching his hand on me.
“Trust me. I’m aware of the fact.”
I could have sworn his hand spasmed around my neck as if he wanted to press harder, as if the thought of me being one of them was going to cause him to lose control.
“Why?”
His gaze lowered to my mouth before moving back to my eyes. “Because they’re trash.”
That didn’t tell me anything. It didn’t tell me what happened between them.
“And you hate me?” I whispered because I didn’t want it to be true.
He didn’t answer me though. Instead, he smashed his mouth against mine, and his teeth felt like they would draw blood against my lips.
He wasn’t gentle or smooth. He was kissing me like he was trying to prove something, maybe to himself, maybe to me. I wasn’t sure.
But I knew that I didn’t want it to stop.
Even though he couldn’t even say that he didn’t hate me, and in that moment, I hated him, I still wanted him more than I had ever wanted anything before in my life.
But I couldn’t just let him have whatever he wanted.
I pushed against his chest and forced his mouth away from mine.
“That’s not good enough.” I shook my head and tried to clear the fog of lust.