Billionaire Bear Shifters A Paranormal Romance Complete Series Boxset - Brittany White Page 0,103

body count this time? I don’t know if I can handle another round of assuring guests they’re not going to be accidentally caught in some crossfire because we have to fight off my brother’s mate’s kidnapper or whatever.”

“I’ll see what I can do,” Cody said wryly.

Connor seemed to accept that. He made himself a cup of coffee to take with him and disappeared again, probably to head back to his giant office and think about ideas for the fall season.

The moment he was gone, Cody checked on the quiches. They were ready and he set one on a plate with some garnish and wrapped up an endive salad and put it on a platter with a bottle of iced tea from the fridge.

He checked his watch once more. In a few minutes, Jessie would take a fifteen-minute break in the employee lounge at the back. She never took enough time to eat.

He knew because he’d asked.

There were three employee lounges at the lodge and Cody could always find Jessie at the smallest one on the second floor that had a wide window looking out on the lake beyond. The room was like a smaller dining hall outfitted with its own small kitchen, tables, chairs, a few couches, and a flatscreen. The TV was playing cable news on mute.

Cody spotted Jessie right away. She was sitting on one of the couches, ignoring the TV and staring blankly at her phone.

Cody almost felt bad seeing a couple other employees eating lunch that weren’t quite as fancy as his quiche. But to be fair, they did enjoy a steep discount in the kitchen and at any of the eating establishments at Black Bear Lake Lodge’s shopping promenade.

“Jessie,” Cody said. He had a tendency to grin like a dope around Jessie and he tried to contain himself as he swept up to her bearing his platter.

Jessie looked up with a start, her eyes growing large. “Oh! Cody, you didn’t.”

“I know you never eat lunch... ”

Jessie blushed and got to her feet and he set the platter down at an empty table, humming as he lifted the lid over the tray and unwrapped the salad.

“And for today’s lunch, we have a shallot and mushroom quiche with endive salad and passion fruit iced tea... ” He gestured dramatically as she sat down at the table and he took a seat beside her. “I hope it wasn’t presumptuous.”

“It’s sweet,” Jessie said. She batted her dark eyes at him and he wondered if she was doing it on purpose. Jessie had hair as dark as his own except that hers reached her waist. It was often up in a practical braid but today she’d pinned it in two braids wrapped around her head. It made her seem a little younger and more girlish to Cody, not that she wasn’t already. Except that Jessie nearly always seemed tired or stressed out.

He had made it his mission to make her day a little better.

Jessie had warm brown skin and when she grinned as she did now as she poked into her quiche, she lit up the room with her bright white teeth.

Goddess, Cody thought briefly.

“You have a heart-shaped face,” Cody muttered. He hadn’t intended to say so aloud.

“Hmm?” Jessie took a bite and blinked up at him. She had doe eyes; big and glossily brown. Like a cartoon princess. They seemed to sparkle.

“Nothing,” he said, shaking his head.

“You shouldn’t play favorites, you know,” she said, wagging a finger at him. “It’s not fair to the others.”

“Stuff the others,” Cody said. “I’ll give you a free lunch if I feel like it.”

Jessie rolled her eyes at that and she took a bite of quiche, moaning a little. Cody swallowed and tapped the table with his fingers. It was the sort of noise Jessie might make when she...

“How’s your day going?” Jessie said. “Because I am exhausted.”

“My day’s fine,” Cody said, shrugging. “I run the kitchen too well. Half the time I have nothing to do. At least in summer. Winter is busier. And you work too hard.”

“All the other maids work just as hard as me!” Jessie said. “Except Marcie. She is so lazy-” Jessie clapped a hand to her mouth, her eyes comically large, like startled dinner plates. “Oh my gosh! Pretend I didn’t say that! I forgot I was talking to one of the bosses. It never feels like I’m talking to a boss when I talk to you. But I wouldn’t want Marcie to be fired. Otherwise, I’ll