Chapter 12 Landon
LANDON
There were raised voices when I got back to the hideaway late in the evening. Since Kai was by my side, I couldn’t blame him for this one.
That left two people.
We saw them as soon as we entered, standing in front of, but ignoring the fire as they snapped at each other. Ash looked like lightning bolts were about to fly out of his eyes, and Zoe looked ready to take a swing at him. Kai and I stopped dead, trying to figure out what was going on.
“You’ll get it when you get it,” Ash growled.
My twin, with his perpetually horny, pea-sized brain, opened his mouth to say something dirty about that, but I elbowed him, hard.
“She wants it now,” Zoe insisted.
“I’m the head chef,” Ash insisted. “I call the shots in the restaurant.”
“You’re only the head chef one month out of twelve. Mrs. Greer is in charge year round.” Though she had to look up to meet his eye, Zoe stood as tall as she could, standing her ground.
“Not in the restaurant. She doesn’t know the first thing about what it takes to run a high-end restaurant like that, and neither did you.”
I winced. That seemed like a low blow. True, Zoe wasn’t a chef, but her major was hospitality, so it wasn’t like she knew nothing about the food prep side of things.
I elbowed Kai again, but this time in a completely different way. When he looked over, I jerked my chin in Asher’s direction. He knew what I meant.
He strode over to Asher, getting between him and Zoe. I followed and tugged at Zoe’s arm. “Come sit down,” I said softly to her.
Kai was less gentle, giving Ash a shove toward an armchair. Then, like a true bartender, Kai went over to get some bottles out of the fridge.
I led Zoe over to an armchair on the opposite side from Asher, who’d reluctantly sat and accepted the beer Kai brought him. I half hoped my brother had shaken it a bit. Ash deserved it for yelling at Zoe.
When Kai brought over the other beer, Zoe shook her head. “I’m going to my room.” Kai and I both shook our heads as she stood up.
“We’re roommates for what, three more weeks? You two need to work this out,” I said, making sure Asher could hear me as well.
She wanted to refuse. She’d told me earlier about all the stress she was under, and Asher’s inexplicably bad attitude around her wasn’t helping. But she also wanted to excel at her internship, and for that, she needed to get along with the head chef
“Please sit,” I said softly.
Kai cocked his head at her. “How can you resist him with those big blue eyes?”
I rolled the aforementioned eyes. “They’re just like yours.” I didn’t point out that Zoe had already proven that she could resist him. Eventually.
“Yeah, but on me, they’re smoldering. On you, they’re more like sad puppy-dog eyes. And what girl can resist a sad puppy?”
That was taking things a bit far, but apparently, it was working on Zoe. She sat down, a little stiffly, pulling her feet up and tucking them next to her on the oversized chair. As Kai handed her a bottle, I gave her a blanket, in part to keep Kai from looking at her legs.
Which, of course, I’d been looking at too.
It was hard not to. Zoe was beautiful with her creamy skin, wavy hair, and dark, flashing eyes.
With her hair often in a bun and a stern expression on her face, it was like she was doing her best to hide her looks, but that wasn’t possible.
And I knew I wasn’t the only one who thought so.
I sat on the couch between the dueling interns, and Kai joined me after plucking fresh beers out of the little fridge. It was turning out to be a good thing that we had access to a well-stocked bar.
“So, what the fuck is the problem with you two?” Kai began, in the worst possible way. Except he’d said it good-naturedly, in what he evidently thought was a charming voice. And over the years, I’d seen far too many women and even a few men fall for that charm.
Ash answered succinctly. “Her.”
“Him,” Zoe replied, almost as quickly.
“Great, we’ve got that cleared up,” Kai said.
“You’re both here for the same reason,” I began. “You should be allies.” Jesus, now I sounded like a baby boomer discussing WW2. I needed to get back to Colorado where I sounded like a normal twenty-six-year-old. Usually.
I turned to Ash. “I’ve seen you show incredible patience when training brand new chefs. Why can’t you show any of that patience to Zoe?”
“I don’t need him to be patient,” Zoe said before Ash could answer. “I need him to be a damn professional, but I’m not even sure he knows what that means.”
“Drink,” Kai told her.
“What?” she sputtered, distracted.
“I’m implementing a new game. Every time you—any of us, I mean—answer in a bitchy way, you have to take a drink.”
Zoe’s eyes seemed to glow red. “So just because I’m a woman who speaks up for myself, I’m a bitch?”
“Nope.” Kai was unfazed. “Ash is being a bitch, too. In fact, by the time this conversation is over, I think three of us will be sloppy drunk.”
Clearly, he thought I’d be the sober one, which was valid. But it also was mildly insulting. I could be hot-headed and speaking strongly about something I believed in. Or at least I used to do that.
“Answer the question,” I said to Ash. “Why are you riding her so hard?”
I groaned as I could feel Kai snap to attention. I slapped my hand over his mouth before he could say whatever perverted thing he had in mind. “Drink,” I told him before letting go.
“Just from what I was thinking?”
“Yes.” Ash said it at the same time, and Kai laughed.
Then Asher raised his bottle. “I’m taking a preemptive drink.
” Since he downed half his beer, I was suddenly unsure if I wanted to hear what he had to say.
But it was too late for that. “She had barely set foot in the lodge when she was already telling people what to do and how to do their jobs. People that’ve worked here for years.
But that doesn’t matter. She thinks she knows better than them and isn’t afraid to tell them. ”
“That’s not fair,” Zoe sputtered.
“Isn’t it?” Asher’s eyebrow quirked up, reminding me of Kai’s most arrogant look. He took another drink, and it made me worry he was gearing up to say something even worse.
But Zoe wasn’t done. “No, it’s not. First of all, I didn’t do that, and besides, even if I had, that’s not why you’re being such an asshole.
” She took a quick gulp of her beer for her choice of words and then continued.
“You were rude from the second you met me back in Haverford. Did the way I put my suitcase in your trunk somehow offend you, too?”
“Yes.” Ash took another drink. Kai was right, the two of them were going to be drunk soon.
But maybe not Kai. He was handling this fairly well.
Perhaps that was because he and Ash were a lot alike…
or because he wanted to get into Zoe’s pants.
Or, rather, those straight little skirts she usually wore.
“Are you sure you two never hung out back at school?” Kai asked. “Because you’re acting like exes.”
I’d been thinking they were acting like children, but actually, Kai’s response seemed more spot on. It really did feel like they had a history. But Zoe shook her head, and after a moment, Ash did too.
Finally, I spoke. “All right, if you’re sure there’s no history to dissect, let’s talk about the future. About how you can get along, at least for the next few weeks.”
That brought about silence as Zoe looked at the floor and Ash stared at the fire. Great, this was going well.
But for the first time in a long while, Kai and I were on the same page. “What’ll it take to keep you two from jumping down each other’s throats?” he asked.
“She could leave,” Asher said, taking another drink. I was genuinely confused by his attitude. I’d never seen him like this before.
“You could leave,” Zoe countered.
“Fine. Have fun making fifty meals a night.”
“You have fun—”
“Stop,” I held up my head. Then I turned to Zoe. “Drink, for whatever you were about to say.”
“I have an idea,” Kai said. He was still working the problem as he sometimes did when he got a new ski student with bad habits to correct.
Both of them were looking at Kai, so he continued on. “Ash, you say one nice thing about Zoe. One genuinely good thing that doesn’t require taking a swig. And then Zoe, you say one nice thing about him.”
All he got for his troubles were two no’s.
“Ah, but you haven’t heard the incentive yet. People catch more flies with honey or whatever that saying is.” Kai’s eyes gleamed as he looked at Zoe. “If you say one good thing about Ash, I’ll tell you a secret.”
She frowned. “Why would I care about a secret?”
“Because it’s about me. About us,” Kai corrected. “And it’s a good one.”
Uh-oh.
“I already know all your secrets,” Ash pointed out. “So what’s in it for me?”
Kai was way ahead of him. “Easy. If you say one nice thing about Zoe, then I won’t tell her your secret.”
Shit, that was a low blow. Kai and I had promised not to tell that to anyone.
“So she gets a perk and I get blackmailed?” Ash glared at us.
“Works for me,” I said. “You in?” I asked Zoe.
“I don’t care about your secret,” she said. “So why would I try to come up with something nice to say about him?”
Kai grinned. “Because then you force his hand. He’ll have to say something nice about you in return or have his deepest, darkest secret revealed. And trust me, it’s a good one.”
“You wouldn’t,” Ash said flatly.
“Excuse me? Have you ever met my twin before?” I pointed out. Ash grumbled and finished his beer. “You’re up,” I said to Zoe.
In a way, I admired my brothers’ villainous side. Once we got too old to ski, he had the makings of a fine evil genius.
Zoe looked torn as her gaze went from Kai and me, then over to Asher and then back again. “It’s a really good secret,” Kai taunted. “And once you know it, you’re not going to be able to stop thinking about it.”
She looked intrigued in spite of herself. “The secret about you and Landon or the secret Asher doesn’t want you to tell?”
“Both.” Kai’s voice was smug.