Chapter 5
VAL
After fighting with my stubborn snowboard boot laces, I tossed my braid over my shoulder, grabbed the rest of my gear, and headed downstairs to the lobby.
I made it exactly one step out of my room before Frankie ambushed me.
“You were fired?” she hissed, grabbing my arm and charging us down the stairs.
“I think so?” My footfalls were heavy and awkward in my boots, and I nearly toppled over. “Can we slow down? I feel like Frankenstein clomping around in these things.”
Last night, I’d sent her a quick text before hiding in my room.
After my, er, train wreck of a first encounter with Nolan, I’d felt a panic attack clawing its way out of my chest and wanted to be behind closed doors when it hit.
This morning, I’d awoken feeling wrung out but ready to hit the slopes and snowboard it all out of my system.
Parking us on the beat-up leather couch in the corner far from prying eyes, Frankie fixed me with a stern gaze. “Spill it.”
“No chance of getting a coffee before we have this conversation?”
The determined set of Frankie’s brow gave me my answer. With a sigh, I recounted my meeting with Nolan, sparing no details.
“And then I essentially told him he didn’t know how to have fun and that his CEO work wasn’t important,” I finished.
Frankie gasped and smacked my arm. “I am so proud of you. Exactly what I would have done. It’s about time you start standing up for yourself.” She pulled me into her side and tugged on my hair. Frankie only had a year on me but never missed an opportunity to act like my overbearing big sister.
“Let’s hope the similarities end there,” I laughed.
“So, is he as hot in person as he is in the tabloids?”
Right on cue, my cheeks flamed bright red. You could probably cook a pancake on my face with the force of the heat that flared to life.
Frankie shot me a wicked smile. “So you agree!”
While, yeah, I freaking agreed, I needed to get those kinds of thoughts out of my head.
I’d stayed awake most of the night in utter distress over the fact that I was even remotely attracted to Nolan.
I didn’t want anything to do with him. But just having the thoughts at all made me feel awful and set off another anxiety spiral.
It was a good thing he’d fired me as his tour guide so I wouldn’t have to worry about seeing him all the time now.
“C’mon, we’re going to be late for our lessons.” I stood and tried to drag her with me, but Frankie the Maneater had other ideas, pulling me back to the couch.
“So that’s it? You’re just going to give up and let him fire you?”
“What am I going to do, tie him up and force him to go cross-country skiing?”
“The tying up part sounds interesting.”
“Shut up. If he doesn’t want to tour the property, I can’t make him. He’s a grown man. And our boss. He tells us what to do.”
With a snort, Frankie said, “I don’t even let a man tell me what to do in the bedroom, let alone that pompous man.”
I chuckled at the thought of anyone daring to order Frankie around.
Maybe one day, she’d meet her match, although I doubted it.
The woman was a force of nature. “That’s kind of in his job description,” I said.
“Er—the telling us what to do part. Not in the bedroom. You know what I mean.” I cut off at the salacious look on her face, not wanting to swim any deeper into those complicated waters.
“Fine, fine,” Frankie said. “I’ll think of something.” I opened my mouth to stop that train of thought before it barreled out of the station, but then she said, “Oh, incoming. I’ll see you later.”
She left me with my mouth hanging open as Austin fell into the seat she’d just vacated. Gotta find something else to do with my face besides gawk at everything all the time. Nerves fluttered in my chest as he smiled at me.
“I thought I wasn’t going to see you much because of your new assignment,” Austin noted.
“Change of plans.” Is it hot in here? I sat on my hands to keep from tugging at my collar. Talking to anyone I found even slightly good-looking made me sweat bullets. I don’t know how I survived my encounter with Nolan without turning into a bucket of Val soup.
Perking up in his seat, Austin asked, “You’ll be on the mountain today, then?”
“Looks that way.” I smiled and hoped it didn’t look crazed.
“Cool. I’ll see you soon.”
The shrill ring of my phone saved me from looking like a complete idiot as I waved goodbye to him, answering on the fourth ring.
“Hello?”
“Valeria.” A harsh voice blasted into my ear like a burst of wintry wind.
“Who’s this?”
“Cyrus Keller.”
“Cyru—Mr. Keller! How are you!” Híjole, how did you get this number!
“How I am is irrelevant. I’m calling to hear your plans for my son’s first day at Hale’s Peak. I want regular progress reports from you. Where you go, what you do, any ideas he might bounce off of you.”
That’s a little weird. My mouth went dry and I coughed. “About that. I met with Nolan yesterday and he said he would not be requiring my services.”
A chilly silence ensued.
“I see.”
I wanted to die. Mortified, I started rambling. “I’m so sorry. I could try talking to him again and—”
“That won’t be necessary.”
“Okay, but—”
He disconnected.
Mierda. Did that mean I was really, truly fired from my job?
Or just fired from being Nolan’s babysitter?
I had to find Tess. She’d know. Heading outside, I went toward the rental shop, huddling into the hood of my parka.
To minimize my time in the cold, I detoured through the lodge.
Once I stepped in the lobby, my phone rang again and I fished it out of my pocket, answering without looking at the screen as I narrowly avoided careening into a guest.
Maybe Cyrus Keller decided to give me a second chance. “Yes, hello?” I said, breathless.
“Hi, Val!”
My heart warmed at the sound of my little brother’s voice.
“Juanito! Cómo estás, hermanito?”
“I’m good! I wanted to tell you that I got an A-plus on my spelling test yesterday. Miz Brown told me I got the highest grade.”
I could envision my little brother bouncing at the kitchen table, a toothy grin on his face. “You’ll be valedictorian of the third grade in no time,” I said.
“What’s that?”
“It means you’re the smartest one in your class.”
“Oh yes! I want to be that. Valley-dicktian.”
I chuckled. “Hey, let me talk to Diego. Te quiero, little dude.”
“Te quiero, Val. Bye.”
Some shuffling as he handed the phone to my older brother.
“Hey, how was opening week?”
Man, I did not want to talk about that. “It was good!” I cut to the chase. “Did you get the last deposit I sent? It should be enough to cover Juanito’s prescriptions this month and maybe next.”
“Yeah, I got it. Picked up the meds yesterday.”
“Good. He’s doing okay on the new ones?”
“He seems to be adjusting fine. He misses you, though.”
My heart lurched. Bombarded by the slew of seasonal jobs, it had been a while since I’d made it home to Sun Valley, California.
Diego worked odd jobs too, picking up extra gigs to afford rent and caring for Juanito.
“I know he does. I miss you all too.” I paused, picking at my fingernail. “Any word from Antonella?”
I felt the air between us shift. “No. She calls, but we don’t pick up. If she knows what’s good for her, she’ll stay away.”
“Hal hasn’t tried to pick Juanito up from school again, has he?” I ground my teeth, thinking of Antonella’s lowlife of a boyfriend.
“No. The school knows not to let him do that now. Only I am allowed to pick him up.”
“Good.” Nothing killed the mood faster than talking about our mother and the wreck she’d made of our lives. “I’ve got to go. I’ll talk to you soon.”
“Love you, Val.”
“Love you too.”
I disconnected, feeling unsettled. I needed this job.
While there were fewer rich tourists every year, the ones who showed up did tip well—especially after imbibing at après-ski—and Juanito’s meds weren’t getting any cheaper.
My brothers needed me, and they needed me to be dedicated and responsible, unlike our mother.
Trudging through the lobby, I headed to find Tess. Before I could take another step, a rough hand grabbed my arm and pulled me into a nearby room.
“Wha—?”
The door slammed shut behind me and a hush fell across the deserted space—the ballroom—as I took in the person before me. I blinked a few times, certain there was something wrong with my eyes. Am I having a stroke?
Nolan Keller, looking devastating in a rich blue suit, azure eyes blazing. Standing inches away from me. I took a step back, bumping into the wall. If Austin’s presence made me nervous, Nolan’s sent me into the freaking stratosphere, my heart flapping in my chest like a trapped pelican.
“Mr. Keller, how can I h—”
“You tattled to my father?” A dangerous current threaded through his voice as he leaned down to drop the full force of his fury on me. His snide tone snapped at that long-dormant part of me that Antonella had crushed under her boot in my childhood. I was not his prey, and I had done nothing wrong.
You’re not a doormat, Val. Stop acting like one.
I drew myself up to my full height—five-two, not very much compared to his well over six feet of tautly muscled man—and stared him down as best I could. “He called me. He asked for a progress report, and I told him you fired me. You want me to lie to my boss’s boss?”
His pulse throbbed in his temple as he clenched his fists.
I knew that last comment would rile him because I didn’t think Cyrus was technically his boss, and I took sweet pleasure in seeing him frustrated for things that were his own damn fault.
What right did he have to be such an ass to me for merely existing and doing my job?
Closing his eyes, he took a sharp inhale through his nose. “Valeria.” Chills skittered across my spine at the timbre of his voice wrapped around my name. Well, that won’t make our working relationship any more awkward, no sirree. “I require you to resume your duties as my tour guide.”
I made a strangled noise as the unexpected comment cracked my armor of anger. “You—what?”
He opened his glacial eyes, pinning me with a sharp glare. “I do not enjoy repeating myself.”
I blinked, shocked. Before the nerves could constrict my throat, a long-lost voice in my head took over.
“Ask me nicely.” Where the heck did that come from?
I blanched at my own boldness but managed to hold my ground.
My conversation with Diego about Antonella had me catapulting myself back to my younger years, dealing with a drug-addict mother and sticking my head in the sand instead of sticking up for myself.
Every day, I fought to avoid falling into the mindset of that scared little girl.
But I was a grown woman now, and I needed to remember that.
Nolan’s mouth twisted and something—amusement?—flitted across his expression before his carefully curated mask fell back into place. He stood close enough that his scent of spice and teakwood clouded my head. Nope, stop smelling him right now.
“I’d like you to do me the honor of showing me around Hale’s Peak this season,” he said.
Again, the voice that had never had the guts to speak aloud before came out of my mouth. “I didn’t hear a ‘please’ anywhere in there.”
His lips twitched. “I do not beg, Valeria.”
And that set off a riot of visions in my head that had absolutely no business being there. Grabbing my dignity with both hands, I looked up at him with what I hoped was a confident expression. “Okay, Mr. Keller. I’ll see you in the lobby in an hour. No complaints.”
His eyes twinkled. “No promises.” Then he left me alone in the ballroom to melt against the wall.
I got what I wanted, but why does it feel like maybe he did too?