"You knew Cranky Carl was gone?"
"Well, I didn't know know. But I'd heard." She winked. "And I saw a super hottie in a truck earlier, was that him? Judging by the look on your face, it was. It totally should have been me who went to check on the shower house. Damn."
Irritation rose in Kira. She didn't want there to be any look at all about her when it came to Nash. "What look on my face?"
Sasha did a little wiggly dance and her black curls bounced around her head. "That look!"
Kira stuck her hands on her hips and stared at her friend until she stopped dancing.
"Oh come on." Sasha laughed. "Judging by your face, I'd say you've just seen the sexiest man to ever set foot into this campsite. Am I wrong?"
She wasn't wrong. "I guess Nash is-"
"Nash?" Sasha put her hand to her chest and swooned. "That's his name? Oh my God. Of course that's his name. He would have to have a totally hot name. It suits him, don't you think?"
Kira shook her head. She was not going to have this conversation. She didn't even want to think about him and his steel-gray eyes that seemed to see right through her and sense her need. Or the way his lean muscles filled out his parks uniform, or- "I guess he's attractive, if you like that type."
Sasha snorted a laugh. "That type? Of course I like that type. Who doesn't like that type? Damn, girl. I only saw him from a distance, but that is definitely a type I'd like to see close up. Really close up, if you know what I mean?"
Kira knew exactly what her friend meant, and it wasn't going to happen. If Sasha knew Nash was really a wolf shifter, she would freak out. Probably. The alternative was that her friend would be even more attracted to Nash and the last thing Kira needed to deal with that summer was a relationship between a wolf and a human. Particularly when that human was her friend and wolves were … well, wolves.
"He's kind of a jerk," Kira lied. Truthfully, she'd kind of liked Nash. Even if he was presumptuous and forward with her. Hell, that was probably why she liked him. Kira had always liked her men strong. Really strong. There was nothing sexier than a man who knew what he wanted and was willing to go after it. And wasn't that the problem? Nash was sexy. Too sexy.
"Really?" Sasha walked with Kira toward the cabin. "That's too bad, but then again, we're used to dealing with Cranky Carl. He can't be worse than that, right?"
Kira shrugged. "I guess we'll see. Turns out Carl retired. Not that anyone bothered to tell me. But then again, why would they? I'm only supposed to be in charge around here. Speaking of which … " She turned to Sasha. "Shouldn't you be in the office?"
"Conner's in there. I needed a few minutes away. He's so foul these days. Maybe we can start calling him Cranky Conner?"
Kira resisted the urge to laugh. It would be a fitting name for the man whose attitude had only deteriorated since Kira was promoted to campground manager over him. But now that she was manager, more than ever, she needed to maintain some sort of professionalism and try to make peace with Conner.
"I'll have to have a talk with him," she said. "Especially if it's becoming a problem to work with him."
If Kira was looking for her friend to tell her it would be okay, she was definitely looking in the wrong place. Sasha shook her head, put her hands on her hips and looked Kira straight in the eye. "It's not going to be a problem. I'm sorry. I'm not trying to be a whiney employee or make trouble when there isn't any, but he's so hard to work with, Kira. I'll do my best with him but he's going to need to sort himself out, or I'm going to tell him how to-"
"No." Kira held her hand up. "I don't think there's any need to tell Conner anything." At least not what Sasha wanted to tell him, which no doubt would only put him in a worse mood, or put Kira in the middle of a very unfortunate argument. "I'll handle it, okay?"
Sasha nodded, satisfied for the moment, and Kira put dealing with Conner on her to-do list. Right under dealing with the Nash situation. Not that it was a situation, but it would be if she didn't deal with it. There was no way she was going to have a wolf working with her. Not in her campground. Especially not one as sexy as-no. It had nothing to do with his sex appeal. At least that's what she'd have to keep telling herself.
Kira sighed and refocused on her friend. "Take your break early then. I'll take over in the office and if I get the chance, I'll talk to Conner, okay?"
Sasha skipped off in the direction of the staff housing, and Kira resisted the urge to go with her. The promotion from last summer had been unexpected, and not necessarily what she would have chosen for herself, but it was a good job and considering she didn't have a whole lot of other choices-like going home-she needed to make the best of it. If that meant making some hard decisions and having some even harder conversations, that's just what she would do. But it didn't mean she had to like it.