As kids, he’d seen her cry more times than she could count. Everybody had. It was like, her thing. She’d change it if she could, but she’d already spent far too much of her life wishing to change parts of herself. It was pointless.
Her hands curled into fists.
She was who she was. But she wasn’t weak.
Spinning, she faced him. “Fix it,” she demanded.
His head snapped back as if she’d slapped him, and his mouth fell open. She knew he was reacting more to the tears than her harsh tone. She quickly brushed them away.
“Go on. Fix it. Get me out of here. Now.”
“Listen,” he said carefully, “it’s going to be okay. It just may take some time to get the door open. You didn’t have plans did you?”
“Of course I had plans,” she snapped. “I always have plans.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Okay.” He dug his phone out of his pocket. “I’ll call Magic and tell him we have a problem. He can sort it out with the lock company.”
His thumb slid around the screen for a second before he put the phone to his ear, walking toward the back of the spa. Beth turned to stare at the door, hoping to hear the lock suddenly click open. But all she heard was the low rumble of Renner’s voice while he spoke on the phone.
Chapter Two
Renner hung up with his sister. He’d promised to update her as soon as he and Bethany were officially “locked in”. But of course, he left out the part about making her cry.
What the hell was that about anyway? It wasn’t like they were stranded under an avalanche with no way out. He’d just wanted a couple hours with her, to get to know her. Maybe impress her with his electronic skills or something. Whatever the case, he didn’t need Layna taking a swipe at his balls.
He returned to the front to find Bethany staring at the door as if it had slapped her mama. Her arms were crossed under her chest. Besides her uniform shirt and khakis, she had a lightweight cardigan on and she was wrapping the thing around her body like it was twenty degrees in the place.
This was all wrong. This wasn’t what he’d had in mind at all.
“Hey… it’s going to be a while. You might as well get off your feet. Why don’t we wait in the back where it’s comfortable.”
“How long?” she asked, not looking at him.
Renner unbuckled his tool belt and threw it on the floor next to his tools. “A couple hours or so, I’d guess.”
“Hours?” Her voice rose as she rounded out the syllable. “I can’t stay here for hours.”
Renner rubbed a palm over his five o’clock shadow. “It won’t be so bad,” he tried, but she pegged him with a furious glare. Her eyes, normally a gorgeous shade of green that reminded him of a brand new evergreen tree before its needles darkened, still held remnants of tears, and her face was splotchy.
Even still, she was beautiful enough to make his heart speed up.
“Alright. Fine.” He sank to the floor, leaning back against the wall, resting his arms on his knees. “We’ll do this the uncomfortable way. Seems like a waste with the couches just in the other room, but whatever.”
She was quiet, staring at the floor for too long before she spoke. “Why don’t you go on in there and use the couch and I’ll just stay here and wait for them to fix things.”
Renner’s brows fell low on his face. They were stuck in this place, and instead of talking to him like any normal person would, instead of having a conversation… she suggested they each wait in separate rooms until the door was fixed? What. The. Hell.
Rising from the floor, he jammed his hands in his pockets. “Do you have a problem with me?”
Bethany glanced at him and then quickly back to the floor. “Not… not really. I’m just… not one for conversation.”
“Is that right?”
She nodded.
“You’re not shy. You talk to everyone else. Just not me.”
She shook her head. “I’m tired. I just want to get to my room and sleep. I don’t want to be here.”
He eyed her. Her body was rigid, where earlier, when he’d watched her, she’d been relaxed and fluid. His plan was a fail. She wasn’t going to open up to him like this. She looked miserable.
Whatever her reasons for avoiding him, this was a mistake. One he could fix with a simple text.
He flipped through his phone to Magic’s number and sent the words that gave the okay for him to override the locking system and set them free.
Open Sesame.
It would only be a matter of minutes now.
Silently, he studied Bethany.
“That isn’t very nice you know?” she said.
“What?”