Chapter 28
ZOE
The high I felt after doing such deliciously naughty things with Kai only lasted a day before reality descended.
I was here to learn about running a resort, not how to please a man—or get pleased by one in return.
Learning about sex would not lead to a good job, at least not a legal one.
Still, the worse the internship went, the more fun it was to think about what Kai and Asher had planned next.
And Landon, if he was still willing to get hands on in his position as the advisor.
I didn’t have the guts to ask him when I ran into him at the hideaway that evening, but I was glad to see him. Technically, I was supposed to be working until ten, but the front desk said they didn’t need me tonight, and Mrs. Greer never had anything productive for me to do.
“Hey,” Landon said. “Want a beer?” He already had one.
“No thanks. What are you up to?”
Landon pointed his chin toward the seating area. “I was going to sit over there and talk to my most attractive roommate.”
I grinned. “Funny, I was just about to do the same thing.”
Landon laughed as he padded past me. “That would be flattering except that I happen to know you have another roommate who looks just as good as I do.”
“Exactly as good.”
We sat on the sofa, shoulder to shoulder, and Landon spread a blanket over us. He always did that—maybe after he retired from the ski patrol, he could become a blanket attendant at a luxury resort like this one. But it was nice, being with someone so thoughtful.
Landon sipped his beer while I told him the story of Kai confronting Mr. Hartley, which he’d only heard a little about. I’d been in shock when it had happened, but now I could see the humor of it.
Landon shook his head, chuckling. “I’ve seen my brother hit on a lot of people, but never a horny old man.” Landon chuckled. “I’m actually surprised he didn’t swing first, ask questions later.”
“Me too, to be honest. But it still attracted a lot of attention. Everyone in the lobby saw it, and I know they reported it to Mrs. Greer.”
“So?” Landon took a big swig of his beer while I gaped up at him, shocked that he’d said that.
“This internship is very important to me, and now she’ll think I’m extra disruptive or something and never give me a good report.”
“But was she going to before?” Landon asked gently.
“No,” I said glumly, because he had a point. “But Kai still shouldn’t have made a scene.”
“No, he shouldn’t have. But he was standing up for you, in his own Kai-like way.”
I rested my head on Landon’s shoulder, thinking about what he’d said.
“So no, I don’t think he ruined your chance of a decent and accurate report,” Landon continued.
“I guess not,” I said softly. Mrs. Greer had—or maybe I had, by not finding a way to get on her good side.
Landon was silent while he looked at the fire, but his muscles were tense.
I could feel them as I leaned against him.
“I spent a lot of the past year wishing that things were different, wishing that John and I had gone a different route that way, or that our timing had been better. But wishing that things were different doesn’t do any good.
It just gets you stuck in a cycle, gets your mind trapped in a way you can’t get out. ”
“Is that where you are?” I asked quietly.
“I was. For a long time. But maybe things are starting to get a little better now. Time helps.”
“So you’re saying that after I get a bad review, flunk my internship, and end up working the night shift at a motel along the highway, I’ll feel better about it after enough time has passed?’
“Hell no.” The spirit in Landon’s voice took me by surprise. “No, you fight for what you’ve earned.”
What? “Fight Mrs. Greer?” If Kai had been tempted to punch anyone, I wish it had been her.
“Fight for your career. It’s like what all these seniors here say…. If one door closes, open a window. You’re brilliant, Zoe. I think that if you really tried, you could open any damn window you wanted.”
The sudden passion in his voice got to me. But still… I had to be realistic. “I think some of them are painted shut.”
“You’ve l got five months left before graduation.
You can test out a lot of windows before then, and if none of them open?
Then take a chainsaw and make your own. That’s what you did to get this internship in the first place, right?
You fought for it. And you’re about to graduate from one of the most prestigious private colleges in the nation.
You’re a fighter, Zoe. You’re a fighter and you’re brave. ”
Warmth filled my chest as I thought about his words.
Maybe there was something I could do. Not with Mrs. Greer.
Landon was right, she wasn’t going to change her mind.
But maybe if I thought hard enough, I might come up with something else that could help.
Maybe. But it was daunting. “Some days I don’t feel very brave. ”
Landon set his beer down on the coffee table, then turned to me, gripping my upper arms as he looked me in the eye. “You asked three men you barely knew to teach you how to have sex. That’s brave as fuck in my book.”
A smile threatened to burst across my face, and I wrestled with whether to hug him or kiss him. But then, I did neither. I laughed.
“What?” He had an indulgent smile on his face, as if he was already prepared to laugh with me.
“You forgot the absolute bravest thing I did.”
“What’s that?”
“I let your brother give me a ski lesson.”
He laughed. “There’s a thin line between brave and foolhardy. But speaking of my brother, he’s working at the bar tonight. Want to go hang out with him?”
“Sure.” I pushed the blanket away and stood up.
“Asher might be able to take a break and come hang out as well.”
Wait. Was Landon speaking a little too casually? He made it sound like we might all four end up in the same location completely coincidentally, which seemed a little suspicious because we spent a lot of time together. But I did want to see them. And trusting Landon had never led me astray.
He held my hand when we walked over there, and it just felt so good.
I’d always wondered when I saw couples on campus walking along holding hands, why they needed to do that.
Did they think they’d fall over if they didn’t?
Okay, sure, I knew that wasn’t the actual reason, but it just seemed so unnecessary.
But now I knew—it felt good to feel his warm, strong hand wrapped around mine.
It was a connection. It was comfort. I liked it.
He kept hold of my hand when we walked over to the bar, where a guy who looked just like him, only with a hundred times the chaotic energy, was behind the bar.
We settled at the far end and watched Kai, who seemed to be in his element.
He was playing to the guests, joking and flirting while mixing drinks.
Maybe he had a future in bartending when he was done skiing.
It kind of felt like he’d do well at any job that allowed him to show off and be admired.
But maybe that wasn’t fair. There was a lot to admire about him, whether he was flaunting it or not.
He came down to us after a couple of minutes. “Your drinks will be ready shortly,” he said, without a greeting.
“We didn’t order any,” Landon said.
“Don’t need to. You’re my twin. I know what you want.”
I laughed. “But I’m not your twin.”
He winked. “Which is a good thing, considering what we did the other night.”
I flushed. I hadn’t mentioned the extra lesson to Landon when I’d told him about the interaction between Kai and Mr. Hartley. “How do you know what I want to drink?” I spoke quickly to cover my embarrassment.
“I think I’ve done a pretty good job so far of figuring out what you like, right?” He raised his eyebrows suggestively.
I blushed. “Right.”
Then he looked at Landon. “Did you ask her yet?”
Landon froze. And so did I, wondering why he had. “Um, ask me what?”
Finally, Landon shook his head, giving his twin a long-suffering look. “You do realize I’m just the advisor here. You and the super chef in the kitchen are the instructors.”
Kai shrugged. “Okay.” He looked at me. “So, Zoe, do you want to—”
That was all he got out before Landon put his hand over his brother’s on the bar. It was definitely not handholding like we had just done. It was more like a silencing slap.
Then Landon looked at me. “Do you mind getting Ash? He should be here for this conversation.”
I slid off the stool, nodding. If Landon was about to tell off his brother, I didn’t really want to witness that. I still didn’t know what was happening, but taking a short time-out didn’t seem like a bad idea to me.
As I walked toward the kitchen, my stomach was tight with anticipation. When I first got here, I’d hated going down to the kitchen, interrupting Asher, having him look up from what he was doing, see me, and look disappointed. But maybe that wouldn’t happen tonight.
And sure enough, it didn’t. Before I even reached the door, he spotted me through the pass, gave me a jaunty little salute, and held up a hand for me to wait.
I did, watching everyone rush around in the kitchen like a choreographed dance.
Everyone knew what they were doing, and I suspected it had a lot to do with the head chef.
Asher gave instructions to a couple of the other chefs, and then he came out to join me. He didn’t ask why I’d gotten him. We just walked back to the bar.
“Pull up a chair,” Landon told Asher after I slid back onto my bar stool.
Then Kai was there, and everyone looked at me expectantly.
“I feel like I’ve been called into my professor’s office after I got caught cheating on a test.”
Asher snorted. “I don’t think you’d cheat on a test if lives were at stake.”
I smiled. “I guess it depends on whose lives we’re talking about.”
Finally, Asher took a deep breath. “All right. Since we are your professors, we, of course, have the curriculum set for the whole semester.”