Chapter 2
VAL
“You’ve got to be kidding me.”
“You’re the best we have, Val. It has to be you,” said Tess. “Besides, Nolan Keller’s grandfather asked for you specifically.”
Grumbling, I shoved a pair of rental ski boots onto the rickety shelf in the storeroom. It was three days after Thanksgiving and Hale’s Peak had just opened for the season. I frowned at the meager pile of returned rental gear. After days of consistent powder, we should have had more skiers.
“You think buttering me up is going to work?” I asked.
It might. I liked Tess, my manager at Hale’s Peak for the past five years.
I called her my honorary hippie tía—she was always wearing colorful, billowy shirts and a tie-dyed bandanna to wrangle her copper ringlets.
And Arthur Keller had taught me everything I knew about my beloved Hale’s Peak over countless coffee chats in the library.
So while I loved the doting older gentleman like my own abuelo, I did not want to babysit his playboy billionaire grandson.
“You’ll get a raise,” Tess said as she tossed some raggedy ski poles into a nearby barrel javelin-style.
“Of course I will. And I want a new board.” I rapped my knuckles against my old faithful Burton snowboard I’d inherited from my older brother. “Time for this one to retire.”
“I’ll try to negotiate but no promises,” said Tess. “And save your sass for Frankie. We need to make a good impression with Nolan. Keller Resorts has big plans for us, I hear. Maybe the life-changing renovation kind.”
My eyebrows slowly raised. That was new intel.
Hale’s Peak had been slowly fading into the background for years, outshined by newer builds closer to Big Sky.
But widespread updates could entice more tourists—which meant more tips.
And boy, did I need the money. I heaved a long-suffering sigh at the prospect of toting around a straitlaced, butthead CEO, but it was half-hearted and Tess knew it.
Smiling at her victory, she said, “Lock up on your way out.”
Twitchy with agitation, I finished putting away the few rental supplies.
I wanted to help Arthur, but being Nolan Keller’s personal guide?
I wasn’t up to the task. Nolan had never shown his face here, and from my best friend Frankie’s daily gossip column recaps, I didn’t want him to.
With a reputation for being a righteous asshole who’d fire someone for breathing too much—not to mention his notoriety for running through women and discarding them with the same frequency as a punctual German train, at least before he’d met his recent fiancée—I’d put Nolan Keller squarely in the “heartless billionaire” category.
That was the last kind of energy I wanted to douse myself in this season.
But even though Tess had technically asked me, it wasn’t a request I could refuse.
Resigned to my fate, I zipped up the vintage ski jacket Tess had gifted me from her thrift store giveaway pile and ventured out into the cold.
The Rocky Mountains pierced the snow-swollen sky and small groups of skiers trickled into the bar for après-ski.
I smiled at the familiar bench where my papá had first helped me lace up my snowboard boots, the little café where I’d tried coffee for the first time, the sandwich place where papá would take me and my brothers after a day on the slopes.
Hale’s Peak was my one shining beacon in a childhood mired in sorrow. I loved it like a cherished family member. So yeah, maybe Tess had a point about me being the right person to show Mr. Stuffy CEO around.
Crunching down the shoveled walkway, I headed toward employee housing.
When I stepped into the lobby, a blast of heat hit me like a wall.
A fire roared in the hearth, and clusters of cushy chairs and couches sprawled about.
Since it was after dinnertime, many of my coworkers lingered, chatting and playing games.
“Val!” Frankie called from a seat by the fire.
“Hey, how was it today?” I asked, shedding my jacket as I plopped into a vacant chair.
Frankie made a face as she poured me a glass of wine. “Abysmal. I was stuck with a pack of little hellions who didn’t know their left from right. I had to bribe them with Skittles to get them to stop calling me a poop head.”
I laughed into my drink. “Did any of them successfully ski down the hill?”
Tapping her manicured black fingernails against her glass, Frankie said, “No. But one of them did successfully take out my legs, and we all fell in a heap. Took me forever to disentangle our equipment. If I had known being a ski instructor meant working with kids all the time, I would’ve asked Tess for literally any other assignment. ”
“You could work more shifts at the bar with me.” A tall teddy bear of a man in his mid-thirties slid into the seat next to Frankie. Between his flannel shirt and big beard, he resembled a true lumberjack.
“No thanks, Hugh,” said Frankie with a toss of her chin-length black hair.
“A few shifts per week is enough. I like drinking drinks, not making them. Anyway, did you guys hear? Nolan Keller is spending the season here.” She waggled her eyebrows.
“Can’t wait to see that hunk of man with my own eyes. ”
Hugh chuckled as he stole a sip from Frankie’s wineglass. “You leaving us for a billionaire? I could get behind that.”
Frankie snorted, snatching her wine back. “Of course not. He’s not my type, but he’s not yours either. He doesn’t swing that way.”
Hugh gave an unaffected shrug and refilled Frankie’s wine.
My stomach did a flip at the reminder of my new job. “And he’s engaged anyway.”
“Have you seen the way Nolan looks at her in interviews?” asked Frankie. “I regard moldy toadstools with more affection than he shows his fiancée. I’ve seen a few recent stories about how they’re on the rocks.”
“I tend to favor Jeopardy! reruns,” I said.
“And love match or not, he’s still not single.
Not that his relationship status is at all relevant.
” Tucking my chilly toes under my legs, I ignored the swooping feeling in my stomach.
Just anxiety about having to entertain such a bosshole for the next five months.
Frankie waved away my comment, the loose sleeves of her black sweater flapping like bat wings.
“I also heard he’s getting a personal tour guide, someone who has to spend all winter with him.
We know it’s not me because I would eat him alive, but I wonder who it is?
” Pausing, she swept her gaze across the room.
“It’s probably Jen. She’s peppy and friendly. ”
Sinking into my chair, I hunched over my wine. Hugh lifted a bushy brow, and I narrowed my eyes at him. Don’t you dare, I mouthed.
The exchange didn’t go unnoticed by Frankie. She noticed everything.
Gasping, she swatted my arm. “You lucky bitch.”
I felt anything but lucky. “I’m supposed to showcase the resort, convince him we’re worth expensive renovations, and make sure he has an enjoyable experience. That’s all.”
Frankie gave me a wicked grin. “‘Enjoyable experience,’ yes, I’m sure.”
Elbowing her, I said, “Stop it. This is strictly a professional relationship.”
“Ah, but it is a relationship.” Frankie’s smile held a hungry edge. Maneater, indeed.
“Okay, I’m done talking. Hugh, you take over.”
But Hugh chose that moment to become intimately fascinated by the wine label. Before Frankie could pounce on me any more, a guy with longish curly hair and suntanned skin approached us. “Hey, Val,” he said with an easy smile, and my already rising heart rate spiked.
“Uh, hey Austin,” I said. A brilliant opener. At that moment, I wanted nothing more than to become one with the chair and disappear.
Frankie and Hugh exchanged a knowing look. “We’ll see you guys later,” Frankie murmured. She shot me a thumbs-up behind Austin’s back before she and Hugh headed upstairs.
Austin, another snowboard instructor, took Frankie’s chair. He was only a few inches taller than me, and his compact form and lean muscles were perfect for shredding the slopes.
“Good opening week?” he asked as he laced his hands behind his head.
My eyes glued to the bottom of his shirt as it rode up, exposing a tanned stripe of skin and his taut abdomen. Focus. He asked you a question.
“Ah, yep. Ran some lessons, had some free time to ride. A solid week.” That sounded casual, right? Am I talking too fast?
“You ride Cobra today? It was the best I’ve ever seen that slope.” When his warm brown eyes settled on me, a dimple flashed in his cheek.
“Ah, yep.” Is that how I start all my sentences? God, I want to evaporate.
“We should ride together sometime.”
My eyes bulged and every coherent thought I’d ever had flushed down the drain.
I’d had a crush on Austin since he started working at Hale’s Peak last season.
We were cordial, but I’d always admired him from afar.
Talking to attractive guys was not a talent of mine.
When not faking being an extrovert for work, I surrounded myself with plants, books, and Frankie and Hugh. Dating was not in my social vocabulary.
“Um, sure?” I said. Are my hands sweating? My hands are sweating.
“Great. It’s a date. See you later.” Tossing a dazzling grin over his shoulder, Austin headed off as I stared stupidly after him.
A date? Is that what I had just agreed to?
I couldn’t believe it. Did I have magical powers and not know it?
Was I being pranked? A few other women employees in the lobby noticed the exchange and eyed me—some with curiosity, and some whispering behind their hands to each other.
I huffed. Resort life could be just as cliquey as high school.
In college and the several years since, I’d dated around, but my strict study schedule and jobs kept me too busy to have a personal life—until I’d started working at Hale’s Peak and Frankie adopted me as her best friend.
We stayed above the fray mostly, but Austin’s interest in me apparently put a target on my back.
Great. Just what I need to start off the season. Another reason to worry.
Grabbing my half-full wineglass, I headed up to my room, ready to transform into a hermit for the night. I decided to save the Austin date revelation for tomorrow since I was too tired to text Frankie.
Employee housing was in one of the older portions of the lodge, and my room was a small studio with a kitchenette and a tiny bathroom.
A papasan chair and a fluffy blanket crammed into the corner and twinkle lights dangled from the ceiling, completing my cozy nook.
With little space, I kept most of my books in plastic tubs under my bed instead of big, grandiose shelves like I wanted.
One day, I’d have my own library. The thought of all the books my little brother, Juanito, and I would read together had me smiling into my wineglass.
After changing into an oversized tee shirt and fuzzy socks, I collapsed into bed.
My new assignment started tomorrow whenever His Majesty deigned to show up.
The wine had taken the edge off of my baseline level of anxiety, but as I pulled the covers under my chin, unease tightened its grip.
Hopefully my stress wouldn’t trigger any nightmares or fever dreams.
As I drifted off to sleep, my thoughts wandered to Austin—his freckles, his easy smile—and then took a sharp right turn into Nolan Keller.
Frankie’s words from earlier swirled in my head.
“Can’t wait to see that hunk of man with my own eyes.
” Nolan’s exploits were well documented in the tabloids, but I never read them, so I definitely couldn’t identify him in a lineup.
But Frankie swore up and down that he could put the Greek gods to shame.
Even though I’d never admit it, I was curious to meet the man too.