We exited the highway to the road leading to the airport. Merrick pointed up ahead. “There’s a cell phone lot right over here. Customer service said to follow the signs to passenger pick up and go into the office in the baggage claim area. Hopefully it won’t take too long, but why don’t you drive around and wait in that cell phone lot. I’ll text you when I have it.”
“Okay.”
I wanted to ask more questions, but I thought Merrick might have intentionally changed the subject.
“How’s your ass today?” he asked. “That shard was in there pretty deep.”
“It’s sore. But I looked this morning, and it’s not too red or anything.”
“If you need a second opinion, just let me know.” He winked, and it set off a flutter low in my belly.
Lord, crushing on this man was such a dead-end road. Not only was he my boss, but we’d both had disastrous relationships with people we worked with. And my sister had been right to remind me that Merrick’s battle was harder. He had to move on from a ghost. Yet the more time I spent with him, the more I liked him, and even worse, the more frequent my fantasies became. Could there be something to what Kitty had told me?
We pulled up at the terminal. I walked around to the driver’s side to take the wheel, and Merrick went in. Before I could even get back to the cell phone lot we’d passed, he’d called to tell me he had his luggage. So I headed back.
“That was fast,” I noted when he opened the passenger door.
“Yeah, it was pretty painless. The office was empty, and my bag was sitting to the side with a few others.”
“Do you want to switch places and drive?”
“Not unless you want me to.”
“No, I’m good.”
Merrick clicked his seatbelt on. “I was thinking, since Marvin is at the house, why don’t we take a little detour?”
I shrugged. “Sure. Where to?”
“You said your Airbnbs aren’t too far from here, right?”
My eyes widened, and I smiled. “They’re only about a half-hour drive. Part of it is on the way back to Kitty’s, but I get off the highway earlier and head east for a bit.”
“Let’s check ’em out. I’ve never stayed in a treehouse or a campsite.”
“That’s glampsite.”
Merrick smiled. “I stand corrected.”
I shifted the car into drive and started on my way. “I’m so excited. I’m not sure if they’re rented or not, but I can check the website when we get there. If they are, I’ll just show them to you from the outside.”
“Sounds good.”
For the entire drive, Merrick let me rattle on about all the different things I’d done to make what I thought was the perfect rental experience. “Both the treehouses have two large skylights, so there’s a ton of natural light during the day, but it’s absolutely incredible at night. The property is sixty acres, so there isn’t too much light pollution, and on a clear night you can lie in the bed and see the stars.”
I felt Merrick’s eyes on my face, so I looked over. “What?”
“Nothing.” He shook his head with a warm smile. “You just light up when you talk about them.”
“I do? Well, then I must look like a Lite-Brite because I’ve been chewing your ear off for the entire drive.”
Merrick chuckled. “It’s alright. I enjoyed it. It reminds me a lot of when I started my company. I talked about it all the time.”
I pointed to a road coming up. “This is it. The entrance is a mile or so down there. Then there are dirt paths that lead to the different rentals.” I put my blinker on. “I’m just going to pull over once I turn and check the website to see if they’re vacant.”
“Sounds good.”
I don’t think I’d ever been so excited to see two of the places not rented today. Both the glamping site and one of the treehouses had guests who’d checked out this morning. I nearly squealed as I put the car into drive again. “There’s one treehouse open and the glamping site. Which one do you want to go to first?”