Tessa had decided to wait a few weeks to tell her family she wasn't returning home. With the plane crash and Trinity's abduction, she was seriously reconsidering whether she should stay. The staff was great, and she was settling into a routine, but the job was less than challenging.

How would she be able to prove herself to her family if there were no guests in the hotel?

It had to be a sinking ship. Tessa knew the cost of running the hotel and knew the current income didn't even begin to cover it, even if you included the restaurant, which was a huge hit with the locals.

Josiah had been focusing on running Shaw Holdings while Levi and Trinity recuperated from their different ordeals. Tessa was glad she could help manage things at the hotel, but felt like she was collecting a salary for doing nothing. She had been busier running her father's house than she was running the hotel.

One way or another, she had to figure out her next steps, and the only way to do that was to meet with Josiah and tell him what she was thinking. That thought was what brought her to knock on his door after lunch on a cold April morning.

"Come in!" he called.

When Tessa opened the door, her heart skipped as she saw Josiah's handsome, smiling face laughing at something the other handsome man in the room had just said.

"Tessa! Come in and meet Trinity's brother, Ben Emerson." He waved her over.

Tessa held out her hand with a calm smile. "The author?" she asked.

"One in the same." Ben grinned.

"I enjoy your books." Tessa smiled. "I don't suppose we could rope you into a book signing at the hotel?" The thought had immediately jumped into her head. She had been looking for a way to pull people from the local communities into the hotel. She might have something to build on if she could make it a weekend getaway.

"I think it can be arranged." Ben nodded, then picked up his coat. "I see you're not accustomed to this cold weather either."

Tessa wore a long wool coat, which had been her big investment with her first paycheck.

"Texas girl." She gave him a true smile and turned to include Josiah in it as well, but noted his smile had faded a little. Perhaps he was mad about her asking Ben to help them out.

"Georgia boy." He nodded again, then turned to Josiah. "Dinner tonight?" he asked, then turned back to Tessa. "I insist you join us; it will allow us to discuss the book signing. Josiah will give you the details." Then, with another smile, he was gone.

Tessa watched Josiah after Ben had left and he seemed tense. Suddenly, he looked up from the papers he was examining on his desk, and his eyes met hers.

Tessa stopped breathing. She wasn't sure what she read in his eyes, maybe confusion and concern. After a moment more, Josiah's gaze broke from hers, and he moved to the chair in front of his desk as he motioned for her to take the other one next to it.

"Are you angry about my asking Ben Emerson to participate in a book signing?" she asked as she removed her coat and sat.

Josiah shook his head and gave a slight smile. "No, I'm only disappointed I didn't think of it. What's the point of having good family connections if you can't take advantage of them occasionally?"

Family connections? What did that mean? He and Ben had looked mighty friendly, almost like brothers.

Tessa gave a tense smile.

"So, Tessa, what did you want to discuss?" Josiah concentrated all his attention on her, and that coupled with her reason for visiting made her blush.

"I'm wondering if I'm the right fit for the job," she blurted. It was best to get to the point.

Josiah's hand, which had been smoothing his tie, stilled, and his face was a mask.

"Why is that?" he asked, clearing his throat. "Is it recent events?"

"Not particularly. They are concerning, but something that I can work with."

Josiah smiled at her choice of words. "Then what can't you work with?" He leaned forward, focusing more on her, and Tessa couldn't help but lean forward too. They were inches from each other, which should have been awkward, but instead, created a feeling of intimacy and friendship.

"I don't have enough to do. I don't know if I'm the right person to grow the hotel. I want a challenge, and if I'm being honest, this isn't challenging. Some people might think they've landed a dream job, with not very much to do, but I'm bored." She took a deep cleansing breath.

Josiah reached out and squeezed her arm before leaning back in his chair. "This is my fault."

Tessa followed his lead and leaned back in her chair, relaxing a little.

"How so?" she asked, swallowing hard as he ran a hand through his thick, wavy hair. He was so handsome it hurt.

"With everything that happened this last month, I forgot to tell you about a little deal we're in the process of striking with one of the nation's leading spa companies. Levi wants to create a conference center and spa retreat."

"That would mean expanding and putting more money into a sinking ship?" Tessa frowned.

"Levi doesn't think small, he never has. It's also about time to open the summer cabins that Levi rents." Josiah pulled out his phone and looked at his calendar. "Are you free next week to tour them with me? Levi said they need some work."

"Cabins?" Tessa's head was spinning. "Are they part of the hotel?"

"No, they belong to Levi, but if you don't have enough to do, maybe you could take them on?" He looked at the calendar on his phone. "How about Thursday? You'll need to take a bag. We'll need to assess them; there are eight, so it might take a few days."

"As long as we don't have a book signing that day, it should be fine," Tessa said vaguely as she tried to wrap her head around all that he had just shared.

"What spa company?" she asked.

"We're considering two, but a few things have popped up over the last few months that slowed the final decision."  Josiah reached behind him, grabbed two files off his desk, and handed them to Tessa. "These were the best of the best, but we're not crazy about either one of them."

Tessa knew both of the companies by reputation. "You don't want Springfield, they're shady." She shook her head as she bypassed that file, opened the one for Country Day Spa, and skimmed it.

"They're small but might be good." She nodded and looked up at Josiah, whose face was a mask again.

"Did I overstep?" she asked, handing him back the files.

"No, but how are you familiar with the companies?" He sounded very suspicious.

She hated to do it, but she figured it was time to come clean about her family. She knew a lot about the industry and it would have to be explained eventually, but she couldn't help but wonder how it would change things. But it was good to do it now, while she was still trying to decide if she was going to stay.

"The Baker family owns the Platinum Regency Hotels. I grew up in the industry." Tessa nervously cleared her throat as she removed her glasses and cleaned them with the hem of her skirt. It was a nervous habit she hadn't done in a long time, and she caught herself mid-motion, stopped, and placed them back on her face.

There was a long silence, and Tessa refused to look at Josiah.

"Why aren't you working for them?" he asked.

Tessa gave a strained smile. "I'm the youngest of five. My mother died when I was in high school, so my father's life became my job. I asked to be let into the company, but it was a hard and fast no, other than the occasional summer job."

"So, what were you supposed to do?" Josiah's voice was soft and thoughtful, giving Tessa the courage to meet his gaze.

"Marry my father's Director of Operations. Then we would live in my father's house so that I could continue to manage both of their lives." Tessa shuddered at the thought.

"While having a few grandchildren, no doubt," Josiah added, and Tessa's eyes flew to his to ensure he wasn't making fun of her. She couldn't handle it if he thought she was overly dramatic.

"I'm not dramatizing it," she said defensively.

"I don't think you are, you're not the dramatic type," he assured her with a frown. "Do they know you're here, working?"

"No, this is my chance to prove myself, but I want to make sure I've made the right choice before I tell them this is more than a vacation, but I do need to tell them soon."

"Hence our meeting today." Josiah nodded.

"Yes," Tessa softly agreed.

"Thank you for trusting me with that information. I'll keep it to myself." Josiah said, standing and reaching for a rolled-up piece of paper on the corner of his desk. "Join me over here, Tessa."

Tessa stood and followed him to the low coffee table in front of the long couch in his office. He sat and unrolled the map, placing weights in the corners to keep it from rolling up again. 

Tessa was forced to sit next to him on the couch, and his proximity and smell were a little thrilling. He smelled like leather and citrus, an odd combination.

"These are the cabins," he explained. Then, he spent the next hour catching her up on their plans to make Sweetwater the premier western getaway.

When she got home that night, she felt rejuvenated and brave enough to call her family and tell them she wasn't coming home. It did not go well.

*******

That evening, Josiah decided to work until it was time to meet the others for dinner. He wanted an extra day to help Levi on the ranch over weekend because Levi hadn't been one hundred percent since the plane crash, and Josiah knew he would be thankful for the extra pair of hands.

He stopped for a cup of coffee and stood, looking out the window at the lengthening shadows of the mountains in the distance, and his mind turned to Tessa as it did often lately.

He told himself it was only because she was a bit of an enigma—soft on the outside but strong on the inside—an interesting blend of confidence and self-doubt.

She was smart and dependable, and she had kept what had happened with Trinity to herself without needing to be asked. He hadn't even doubted for a minute that she would. When she smiled at Ben this morning, he felt a stab of something he had never felt before.

The look he and Tessa had exchanged, followed by the intimate moment of leaning into each other where he had gotten a magnificent glimpse of her creamy skin, made him suddenly aware that she was a woman, and a very soft and inviting one. When she had mentioned her father wanting her to marry, he had instantly thought of her as a mother. The image was bright and clear in his head, only it was himself he thought of as the potential father not some nameless corporate man.

They were thoughts he had never had about anyone else, and thoughts he shouldn't have about her, so he had pulled out the map to distract himself, but too late he realized she would need to sit close to him to look at it.

She smelled like flowers and spring.

Tessa's family's loss was his gain. He only hoped they didn't convince her to move home again. When she announced that she was thinking about leaving, he felt something in his gut tighten, and he knew it was because he had come to depend on her, but there was something else he was too afraid to examine. Something that had to do with her warmth and smile.