down the hallway toward the main lobby. The door to Levi’s office was closed, and after a quick glance at his watch, he knew his sister and sister-in-law must be using the room to interview another applicant for the waitress position.
God!
He was glad he wasn’t the one who needed an assistant. Even though he understood why the girls needed someone to help in the store, he hated the idea of anyone other than family working on their land. He knew it was stupid, the person would be an employee and nothing more, but they’d offered lodging as well, and that opened up a whole new can of worms.
Now they would have to be extra careful when shifting into their bear forms, and if they made a mistake? If the new employee saw more than they should? They could be blackmailed, or exposed to the world, or both. And, because the person would be living on their property, that didn’t mean they would automatically leave if they were fired. They might have to evict the person, and sometimes those battles went on for a long time.
Surprisingly, he’d been the only one against hiring someone, and even though he’d fought hard, he’d been out-voted at the family meeting. The next day, his sister had put an ad in the paper, and online, and they’d already had quite a few applicants. Unfortunately—for everyone else at least—they’d all been losers just looking for a permanent place to party without actually having to do any work.
At that thought, his face lit up in a grin, and that’s how he greeted Levi.
“Okay, what’s with the shit-eating grin?” Levi growled.
“Nothing,” he shrugged. “Just thinking about all the losers the girls have interviewed so far. I don’t think they’ll ever find someone suitable.”
“That’s because you don’t want them to find someone,” Levi said, his voice deadpan. “I get it, trust me, I do. But this one is different, and I think you’re going to have to come to terms with having someone else around here real fast.”
“Different. Right,” Lael laughed. “The loser brigade has been traipsing in and out of here all week. You’ve already said three of them “had potential” and we saw how well that turned out. I doubt this one is anything special.”
“I guess we’ll just have to wait and see,” Levi said.
“I guess so.”
Ugh, Levi was using his rational, big-brother voice, and Lael wasn’t in the mood. He’d come to ask his brother for a favor, and now Levi was studying him with that fucking all-knowing look. Fuck! He should have never brought up the stupid interviews.
“What’s going on with you?” Levi asked. “Out of all of us, you’re usually the one ready to meet someone new and make new friends. Why are you really fighting this?”
Shit!
This was not the way he wanted to bring up his search for a mate. He looked around the lobby, trying to form the words, and noticed the bike outside leaning up against the window. It was the same bike he’d pulled off the rack a few hours ago, and a wave of anger swamped him. His brother was right, normally nothing bothered him, but today, especially now, he was sick-and-tired of annoying tourists.
“She brought back the bike again?” he asked.
He knew he didn’t have to get specific. While he was definitely the winner in the diva category when it came to guests, all of his siblings have had to deal with those types of people. Minus the touching. He was the only one cursed in that department, and while he once welcomed the attention, these days it was getting really old.
“Yeah…said there was something wrong with it, and that she wanted her money back. Liam saw her at the shack and told her to leave it and fill out the form, but she wasn’t having it. She was a real piece of work, too. How many times did she exchange it?”
“Three, and the last time was the worst. She made an offer through the guise of lessons, and I shot her down. Told her to try fishing, but only if she knew how to tie a hook to the line.”
“Oh, I’m sure she loved that. I wish I could have seen her face.”
Lael turned back to his brother and scrunched up his face, mimicking the woman, and they both burst out laughing. He knew he didn’t do the woman any justice, but that didn’t matter. It felt good to laugh again, especially after the day he’d had.
That