Here Comes Trouble Page 0,68
She fished in the silverware drawer for a fork. “Thank you for saving some for me. And for cleaning up. You didn’t have to do that.”
“I didn’t mind.” He took another step closer. “Kirby—”
He broke off, and she paused in the act of forking up her first mouthful and glanced at him directly for the first time.
“I’m sorry,” he said, surprising her.
She lowered her fork. “For what?”
“Whatever’s going on with you. And for pushing last night. I just wanted to help out. I still do.”
“If I don’t fill this inn to capacity by the weekend and keep it that way until at least the middle of April, I’m going to lose the place,” she said, putting it out there without meaning to but too tired to get back into the verbal cat and mouse game they had played last night. “I don’t think there’s anything you can do about that, but I appreciate the concern.” She realized she sounded less than gracious and was certainly not on good hostess behavior, not by a long shot, but there didn’t seem to be much she could do about it. Brett was a guest, but he wasn’t exactly a guest. And he’d asked for the truth, so she refused to feel bad about giving him what he’d asked for.
“Actually,” he said, just as calm as he’d been before her less-than-cheerful reply. “I could. Help, that is.”
“How? You have a lot of poker buddies who need a place to hole up for a few months, get out of the desert for a while?”
He smiled at that. “You know, that’s not a bad idea. If Vermont had a gaming commission, I could probably get a game going out here, make you all kinds of revenue.”
“We have a lottery, but no gambling that I’m aware of.”
He didn’t respond right away, and it was clear his mind was spinning on something.
“What are you thinking?”
“I was thinking maybe something for charity. There are ways around the rules, or to make them work for you, anyway.”
She straightened from where she’d been leaning against the counter by the sink. “That’s—well, that’s actually a very nice idea, but if anything like that even looked like it was going to happen here, I can bet you the resort would find a way to co-opt it. They’d be equipped for it.”
“Yes, they would. And that would be exactly the way to go.”
She took her bite and then gestured to him with her fork. “So, how would that help me?”
“Because putting on an event like that isn’t just about bringing in a few players. It’s a lot more complex, and there are a lot of tentacles. I’m sure your place and any other place around here with rooms to spare would have no problem booking.”
“Is professional poker that big a draw?”
He didn’t say anything to that, and the light dawned.
“You’re that big a draw.”
“Do you want me to look into it?”
It was both a non-answer and all the answer she needed. Maybe it was time to do a little research on Brett. She’d been curious, but out of respect for his request, she hadn’t done any digging. Besides, in the past twenty-four hours, her thoughts had been on other issues. But with this offer, it appeared all bets were off when it came to leaving the past in the past.
“Could you honestly set something up that quickly?” She immediately waved a hand. “Forget I said that. I’m sorry. I have no business exploiting your fame, or livelihood.”
“I’m pretty sure I offered. That’s not exploiting.”
“You came here to get away from that. You’re a good guy, Brett, an incredibly nice guy, but I don’t want you to do something that you otherwise wouldn’t do.” She waved off his response again. “It’s amazingly generous of you to even offer. And I am appreciative, even if I don’t sound like it. But even if I was willing to let you do that, I think it would be too late to save me—the inn, I mean. And then you’d have done all of that for nothing.”
Now he closed the gap between them. He carefully took the bowl of pasta out of her hands and set it on the counter. Then he stepped right up into her personal space, pinning her back against the counter before he’d even touched her. Kirby could have scooted away. She could have done a lot of things. But she didn’t. And what that said about how much she’d learned regarding what she should