Chapter 15
NOLAN
“And you’re sure there’s nothing?” I barked into the phone. “Not a trace of any possible foul play, a suspect, a scrap of evidence the police might have missed?”
“There’s nothing, szef,” said Jason. “A whole team combed through the footage. Everything matched the police report.”
I let the dead air persist on the line.
“But I have a friend who owes me a favor. I’ll see if he can find anything.”
“Good.” I hung up, leaning back in the oversized leather chair in my living room. Phil had come through with the security footage and Jason’s people worked fast—that’s what I paid them for—and I had a list of long-time employees to interview that I had yet to sift through.
Since arriving at Hale’s Peak, my priorities had been all over the place.
I wasn’t an idiot. I knew what my problem was.
When Val called me for help last night, the possessive beast inside me had rumbled with pleasure.
But I knew I was only getting myself into even deeper shit.
Every time I decided to keep Val at arm’s length, she kept elbowing her way back into the forefront of my mind.
Who am I kidding? She’s always at the forefront.
Asking her to live with me, though, was an unnecessary risk—but I’d do it again in a second.
When Austin had so lazily thrown his arm around Val and offered to bunk with her, it took everything in me not to rip his arm off and punch him in the jaw with his own fist. The lie about the personal assistant thing had flowed off my tongue easily, and luckily, Val had bought it.
No, Val would not be living with anyone but me.
Even if having her so close would drive my self-control to the brink.
My laptop pinged with an incoming email and I returned my attention to the task at hand.
I’d long since determined my mysterious pen pal was fixated upon driving me fucking insane with their vague and maddeningly unhelpful letters.
If they knew something, why not just come out and say it?
Why the runaround? I figured they either knew something they shouldn’t and didn’t want to come up against charges like obstruction of justice or conspiracy, or they were just messing with me for their own sick enjoyment.
If it was the latter, I’d never figure out who it was.
The list of people who wanted to fuck with me was long. But if it was the former…
I pulled up Phil’s list of active employees as of January 2004 and a separate list of those who were scheduled to work on January 12.
I’d have Jason and his team interview every single person, but Phil had singled out those employees who still currently worked at Hale’s Peak—Bobby Suffolk, Barney Huxby, and Tess Mackey.
And I intended to speak to each of them personally.
Just then, a light knock sounded at my front door. I was still dressed in my work clothes, but I’d ditched the tie and jacket before my unhelpful call with Jason. If it was anyone work related, I still looked put together. When I opened the door, my heart thundered in my chest.
Fucking fuck. Keep it together.
Val stood on my threshold with a backpack and the snowboard I got for her. With that tentative smile on her face, surrounded by mounds of sparkling, fresh-fallen snow, she stole my breath.
“Come in,” I said. Her face paled, but she offered me a small nod as she stepped past me.
As the scent of her coconut shampoo wrapped around me, I was struck by the thought of what it would feel like to run my hands through those luscious curls, of how I would fist it and pull her head back as I thrust—
“So this is how the other half lives,” Val said. I cleared my throat and begged my cock to settle down, but I didn’t have to worry about her noticing my semi—she was distracted by the house. Then she turned to me, a playful curve to her lips, and said, “Yes, I think I could get used to this.”
At the thought of Val being happy here—with me—another wave of need pulsed through me.
But I steered myself away from that unhelpful line of thought and said, “I had the movers set up your things in the guest room. My master suite and office are at the end of the hall, and Cressida has the two bedrooms upstairs in the addition.”
From the kitchen, Val stopped fiddling with the espresso maker and snapped her head toward me. “You and Cressida don’t—?”
“We don’t share a room, no. Or a bed.” At least not in the literal sense. Our eyes locked and Val’s gaze darted to my lips and back up, quick as a flash. It was brief, but it was enough for me to know. She still thinks about the kiss too. “Cressida prefers her independence, which I fully support.”
Val bit her lower lip—fuck, did I want to be the one biting that lip—and the words squeezed out of her. “Thank you again for letting me stay here.”
“That’s a different tune than the one you were singing earlier today. You looked like you wanted to rip my head off and throw it at me like a dodgeball.”
“I still haven’t ruled that out.” But then she grew serious, scrutinizing me with those tawny eyes that always saw too much. “I know you only made the offer because you didn’t want me staying with Austin. But what I don’t know is why.”
“It was Arthur’s idea,” I answered automatically, but her observation irked me as much as it floored me.
Am I really that transparent? Jesus. A smart man would slap an NDA on the table right now, but I’d already proven myself to be an absolute idiot when it came to her.
I wanted to earn her loyalty and trust, not force her into it with a legal document.
“Sure it was,” Val said. A defiant notch flashed in her forehead and I stepped toward her, backing her up until she bumped into the counter. Fuck, I could not keep away from this woman. I thought I was strong enough to ignore the temptation. But her questioning, her prodding me like that…
I want her to know who she belongs to—at least for the winter.
I braced my hands on either side of her, caging her in, but I didn’t touch her. The tingles of her breath on my skin had me getting harder by the second. As her pulse jumped at the base of her throat, I imagined running my tongue along her skin, tasting every inch of her.
“You know why,” I said in a low voice. Her dark eyes turned even blacker and I raised a hand to—
The front door banged open, a blast of frigid air whipping through the house.
“I brought barbecue!” Cressida traipsed into the kitchen holding brown paper bags stuffed with takeout boxes. She kicked off her boots and dropped the feast on the counter along with a bottle of wine. “Thought we could celebrate our new roommate.”
Val’s face paled with terror as she jumped away from me, staring at Cressida, who looked like she’d just stepped out of the pages of Vogue with her intricately braided hair, black faux leather leggings, and fluffy red sweater.
Cressida beamed at her and said, “We don’t bite, Val.”
Val’s eyes shot to mine then back to Cressida, because she knew I most certainly did bite. When Val smiled back, she only looked slightly uncomfortable as opposed to ready to bolt out the door.
I pulled out a barstool and sat at the counter, the picture of ease. But internally, my thoughts were a riot. How did I think this would be a good idea? But it was too late now. I wasn’t about to kick Val out. And knowing Cressida, she would do her damnedest to play matchmaker and push us together.
Yeah, that won’t create any complicated dynamics at all.
Shit.
VAL
I’d thought being around Cressida would make things extremely awkward, but as we dug into the food, I was grateful for her presence. Otherwise, it would have been me and Nolan dining alone. Again. My cheeks warmed as I took a sip of wine.
You know why.
His words rocketed around in my head, lighting up every instinct I had to run away.
My fleeting attraction to Nolan was inconvenient but ignorable.
And I’d never act on it no matter how many times he insinuated that he wanted me too, even as he swore it would never happen again.
He was right—I wouldn’t do that to Cressida or to anyone else.
That’s not who I am. But Frankie kept insisting that the engagement was a ruse—her internet sleuthing and gossip column rabbit holes held whispers and conspiracy theories, but I didn’t put much stock in it.
They were still engaged, and that was that.
My stomach churned. Hopefully they repair the dorms quickly.
“What are you two getting into tomorrow?” Cressida asked, popping a bite of cornbread in her mouth.
“Oh, uh, I’m not sure…” In all the commotion, I had forgotten I had a job to do.
But now, my job had just gotten much easier.
I turned a devious smile to Nolan, who looked at me suspiciously over his plate of pulled pork.
“Now that you’ve given me access to your home, there are very few places you can hide from me and pretend to be working.
Arthur is a smart man. I see why he suggested this arrangement. ”
I still wasn’t convinced that Arthur had suggested it, and the feeling was solidified when Nolan ground his teeth together.
Cressida chuckled into her wineglass. “She’s got you there, Nolan.”
“I don’t hide,” he murmured with a scowl, shoving a last forkful of food in his mouth.
“Of course not,” Cressida said in a tone heavy with sarcasm.
“Why don’t you show Val to her room and I’ll take care of cleaning up the kitchen?
” Shooing us away and declining my attempts to help, she gathered up the paper boxes and bags.
A spark of surprise flitted through me. I’d assumed she’d call for the maid service as most of the cabin guests did.
Damn. I really liked Cressida.
Which made me feel all the more awful for what had happened between Nolan and me.