Chapter 27
NOLAN
Straightening my tie, I walked into the resort’s bar. It was early morning a few days after the gala, so the VIP crowd and paparazzi had mostly moved on, leaving Hale’s Peak a ghost town.
I checked my phone for the millionth time, looking for news alerts about Val and I, but Cressida had worked her crisis comms PR magic.
The only tabloid stories from the gala were of me and Cressida, grinning and dancing.
We weren’t out of the woods yet, but another week and the media cycle would turn over to the next thing.
There was no denying that what happened the night of the gala had been reckless.
Selfish. Exhilarating. And fucking amazing.
If I was being honest, part of me wanted us to get caught.
It would have forced everything out into the open.
My engagement would be over. I wouldn’t have to lie to Val—or live a lie with Cressida—anymore.
But being discovered like that would have been devastating for all of us.
We’d have no control over the narrative.
But at least we’d be free of all the lies.
Since Val had given herself fully to me, we’d spent every night together.
And what a wild few nights it had been. But it wasn’t just about her exquisite body and how much she turned me on, because fuck yeah, did I love the way her eyes lit up whenever I showered her with praise or shocked her with dirty talk.
It was everything about her—and the man I was becoming because of her.
The urge to protect her, to block out all the darkness in the world that people like Erica threatened us with.
To hold her and share in quiet, intimate moments.
To hear her every thought, every wish and make them come true or help her to get there herself.
Val had consumed me, and I was better for it.
I never thought I’d want to be anything but CEO of Keller Resorts.
Up until this point, everything in my life had been driving me toward that goal.
But now, a more important role unearthed itself before me: I wanted to be Val’s.
Val’s whatever. Whatever she wanted me to be.
And I wanted it to last beyond just this season even though it was impossible.
It wasn’t like I could ask her to sign on for a lifetime as my secret girlfriend, but the thought of breaking things off with Val in less than two months and never seeing her again gutted me.
And now, I was beginning to have the delusional thought that if I told her the truth about selling Hale’s Peak, maybe she’d understand.
Yeah, after you spent the entire season lying to her, sure, she’ll forgive you and she’ll definitely still trust you.
I was fucked.
I’d waited too long to speak up. I was in too deep. But things between us could never last, and because I was a selfish bastard, I wanted to keep Val for as long as I could.
And if I told her the truth, I would lose her right now.
That, I couldn’t handle.
With the secrets I’d been keeping from Val, I felt like I owed her. And I wanted to help her. So after a deep breath—I’d been practicing those, at Val’s instructions—I squared my shoulders and prepared to face my younger brother for the first time in years.
Dominic hunched over a cup of coffee at a small table in the bar, looking—well, hungover as fuck.
His tanned Italian complexion and dark wavy hair resembled our father, whereas I’d taken after our mother.
We hadn’t talked much at the gala, which had me feeling awkward.
But despite our rocky relationship, I did love and care about him.
I reached out a hand and Dominic shook it. He looked most like my brother Raife, but unlike him, Dom had piercing green eyes. Which lifted to focus on me.
He didn’t smile. I didn’t smile.
I sat in the seat across from him as Frankie approached and asked me, “Café Americano?”
“Thanks,” I said.
Frankie’s eyes swept over my brother, assessing him with a slight arch to her brow. “You need anything, handsome? Maybe some Advil and a heating pad after all those shots you took last night?”
Dominic choked on his coffee. He wasn’t shy, but he also wasn’t as forward as Frankie. I don’t think anyone is as forward as Frankie. “Ah, just a refill. Thanks.”
Frankie left to get our drinks, her laugh tinkling in her wake. Dominic looked after her with a weird expression on his face, almost like…hunger.
“Thanks for sticking around,” I said. “I know you need to get back to the ranch.”
“They can manage a few days, and I had business in the area,” Dominic answered, his eyes still on Frankie as she bustled behind the bar. I didn’t ask him what the fuck would bring him to Montana, nor did I pester him about what his deal was with Frankie. “What do you want?”
“Relax. I’m not here to drag you back to the family business. I need a favor.”
Dominic’s only response was a twitch of his eyebrow.
“It’s for my—Val,” I said, then cleared my throat. “She wants to start her own community farming operation, and I thought you might give her some advice. Or at the very least, connect her with the family that owns the ranch so she can consult with them.”
Dominic stared at me for a long moment. The silence between us grew heavy and uncomfortable. “Who’s Val? What happened to Cressida?”
Fuck. I hadn’t thought this through, which was unlike me.
Mercifully, Frankie dropped off our drinks, then left, and I gulped down the scalding liquid.
“Nothing happened to Cressida.” Then I had a thought.
“Val is Frankie’s best friend and my…personal assistant this season.
She does great work and I want to help her out. ”
At the mention of a certain ball-busting tattooed Chinese woman with a penchant for all-black attire, Dominic perked up in his seat. Yeah, I know exactly what kind of “business” he had in the area.
But at the stubborn slant to his brow, I knew he wasn’t going to make this easy for me. “Years of silence, and now you want a favor? Now you want to talk?” He sat back, crossing his arms. And waited.
Guess we’re going to have it out in the middle of the bar. “The phone works both ways, Dom. And with as much as you traveled, I never knew how or when to reach you.”
“So it’s my fault. Sounds about right.”
I gritted my teeth. “I didn’t say that.” I wanted to be angry, but the truth was, I was jealous of his freedom and ability to be anonymous even if it was working a string of random gigs as he bopped around the world making pottery or whatever.
“But I could have tried harder to stay in touch. Honestly, I thought you wouldn’t want anything to do with me after I started the leadership track at Keller Resorts. Raife called me a sellout.”
Dominic snorted, his stony exterior thawing a bit. “I’m not Raife.”
“Yeah, nobody can possibly compete with that level of assholery.”
We shared a grunt-laugh and the tension ratcheted down a few notches. I almost confided in him about the letters and our mother’s possible murder, but stirring up shit without having any concrete evidence wasn’t what I wanted, especially now that we’d reached a tenuous truce.
Instead, I gave him the words I should have said years ago.
And after seeing Val with her own brothers, well, it had me missing mine and regretting my actions.
Even with Raife. “I’m sorry, Dom. I shouldn’t have assumed you’d feel the same.
I got so caught up in the daily slog, and before I knew it, years had gone by.
It’s no excuse, and I should have done better. I will do better.”
Dominic stared at me for a beat, then cracked a small smile. “I’m sorry too. All right. Enough raking yourself over the coals. Plenty of time to make up for years of being a stuck-up bastard—starting with comping my room service bill and bar tab for this week.”
I let out a laugh. “Done. Although by the looks of it, I might regret agreeing to that undoubtedly hefty bar tab.”
When he chuckled, I knew we’d be okay. Repairing our relationship would take more than a shared laugh, but I was pleased to be on speaking terms again. “Val will be here in a second,” I said. “I have a meeting, so I can’t stay. But help her if you can?”
“Okay, big bro. Only because I’ve never seen you have that look on your face before, especially over a woman.”
“What look?”
“Like you won the fucking lottery and don’t have a care in the world.”
I snorted a laugh. I most certainly did have a care in the world, but I was grateful to have Val by my side—at least for a couple more months.
A hand on my shoulder had my head turning up to see Val smiling at me, looking radiant in a teal sweater and a denim jacket.
She slid into the seat beside me and stuck out a hand to Dominic.
“I’m Val,” she said.
“I’ve heard. I’m Dominic.”
“Right,” she said, “the absolute legend of a younger brother who’s traveled the world and done so many things I’ve only ever dreamed of doing.”
Dominic chuckled. “I see my reputation precedes me.”
“I assure you, I did not label you a ‘legend,’” I said as I stood to go. Something swelled in my chest, bantering with my brother like this. Must be heartburn. “I’ll leave you to it.” I subtly brushed my thumb across the back of Val’s neck before turning to go.
A smile pulled at my lips at the two of them already talking animatedly together like old friends. The swelling feeling in my chest grew. I was either in the early stages of heart failure or it was…something else I wasn’t sure I was ready for.
As I headed to my office, a gnawing thought wormed its way to the forefront, and I wondered if solidifying my position as CEO was worth what I’d have to give up in order to do so.
VAL
“Thank you for making the time to meet with me,” I said.
“It’s no trouble,” said Dominic. The man was gorgeous, although a bit more haggard than the night of the gala. “I was in Bozeman for an art show anyway.”
“So you’re an artist?” I prompted. A hot and artsy cowboy? Eat your heart out, Frankie.
“I enjoy making ceramics and I sketch a bit, but I like getting my hands dirty.”
Right on cue, Frankie came over to bring me a coffee. But I might as well have been invisible—her eyes prowled over Dominic, a sultry smile spreading across her lips. “I like my men dirty and good with their hands,” she said.
Dominic actually blushed. My gaze swung between the two of them and Frankie smirked. “Uh, Frankie, this is Nolan’s brother, Dominic.”
“Yeah, I know. Met him last night during my shift when he was pounding shots of moonshine with Bobby.”
“Oof,” I said. No wonder the guy looked like death warmed over. Bobby’s moonshine was no joke.
“If you like getting messy, come help me disembowel some pomegranates,” Frankie offered. “Those things are the fucking worst and stain like hell. I look like an axe murderer after I’m done.”
Dominic ran a hand across the day-old stubble on his jaw and gave her an assessing look. “I can think of something else I’d rather do with my hands.”
Frankie’s eyes widened, then she grinned.
But he held up a pallet of charcoal and gestured to his sketch pad on the table, a sly curve to his lips.
“And here I almost thought you were going to be a good time, Dom.” Frankie laughed, heading back to the bar. Dominic stared after her, a thoughtful expression pulling at his green eyes.
Interesting. I’d dished to her about Nolan and I finally going all the way, and she’d devoured all the dirty details.
But it looked like now she owed me some gossip about what happened last night.
I cleared my throat, refocusing on Dominic.
“So, what’s your favorite place you’ve traveled to? ” I asked him.
“Chiang Mai, hands down. Their street markets are amazing…”
Dominic regaled me with tales of his experiences and entertained all of my questions. At the end of our conversation, I was itching to get started on my own business plan, ready to dig into farming research and map out potential site visits whenever I had the budget.
Before he left, Dominic scrawled his number on a napkin and slid it across the table. “If you think of any other questions or just want a sounding board, feel free to call me any time. Just, ah, maybe don’t tell Nolan I said that. He’s the jealous type with his assistants.”
I pocketed the napkin, but a thrill went through me at the idea of belonging to Nolan, even if Dominic thought I was just his employee. “He certainly is.”
Dominic stood, giving me a smile that brought out his adorable dimples. “Good luck, Val. I’ll see you around.” But he made sure to swing by the bar and chat up Frankie before he left.
A few minutes later, I sidled up to the bar. The place was starting to fill up with the breakfast crowd, and Frankie was prepping a vat of Bloody Marys.
“Want to tell me what the hell all of that was?” I asked.
“Just messing around,” Frankie said as she measured some tomato juice.
“Dominic likes you.”
“He’s a straight man. He likes anything with boobs.”
“You like him.”
“I like flirting,” Frankie countered, upending a bottle of vodka into the tomato juice mixture.
“What did he say before he left?”
Frankie’s lips twitched as she dumped olives into a garnish container. “He asked me to have a drink with him after my shift.”
My eyebrows shot up. “So he’s sticking around at a place I’m sure harbors painful memories for him in order to have the chance to buy you a drink?”
“I’m pretty sure Nolan’s the one buying the drink. And it’s not a big deal. Dominic’s not my type anyway.”
But I didn’t miss the way her cheek dimpled before she ducked below the bar for another bottle of vodka.
Seemed I wasn’t the only one who had fallen under the charming spell of a Keller brother.