Page 18 of You, Me, & Après-Ski
I strode into the security office packed with the standard wall-to-wall monitors. A bald man in his fifties swiveled around in a leather chair, straightening his black turtleneck sweater.
“Phil,” I said and shook his hand. “Mr. Huxby says you have something for me?”
“It will take some time for our security provider to dig through their servers. Since the footage you want is from over twenty years ago, they don’t keep anything on file for that long. But nothing is ever truly deleted, so it shouldn’t be a problem.” Phil leaned back in his chair and regarded me with a calculating gaze. “That’s hours of tape though. What do you need it for?”
My raised eyebrow had him stammering.
“I mean, if I knew what you were looking for, I could help you parse through it. Get some of my guys on it. Save you some time.” He gave me a thin smile, moisture beading on his shiny forehead.
“That won’t be necessary. I’ll have my personal security liaison review it.” I slid him a note with Jason’s email, making a mental note to keep an eye on Phil.
“Of course, sir. Is there anything else?”
I’d been about to say no, but I paused. “Do you have a list of current employees who worked here during that time? Has anyone been here that long?”
“There are some old-timers here. They love Hale’s Peak and will never leave.”
The wheels in my mind turned. If I could do some staff interviews while I was stuck here, maybe I could unearth my pen pal’s identity… “Get me that list.”
I slid into my regular seat at the bar where I’d first mether.But that’s not why I was here. Or, at least, that’s what I told myself. I’d just gotten off a two-hour call with an investor, and I needed a drink. It had nothing to do with any raven-haired women I may or may not have the chance of running into.
I loosened my tie as Hugh came over to take my order. “I’ll take that thirty-year Macallan you gave me the other night,” I said.
He rapped the bar with a knuckle. “Right away, sir.”
Fifteen seconds later, I had my drink and Hugh had earned himself a nice tip. I savored the liquor as it slid down my throat. Cressida was occupied with some sort of spa day thing that included a midnight meditation and starlight yoga—or something, I hadn’t really been listening when she’d told me this morning—so I had the rest of the evening to myself.
As the scotch warmed my insides, my thoughts drifted back to a dimly lit room. Val, clutching a towel to her chest. Her lips parting when I first walked out from behind the screen. The gorgeous pink tint to her cheeks as her eyes raked over my naked torso. I’d wanted to take her right there in that steamy, dark room. Lift her up on the table and bury myself so deep inside her, she’d forget anything else.
And thenVipulhad to be the one to touch her. The entire massage, all I could think about was how another man’s hands were roaming all over Val, touching her where I could not. And when she’d moaned—fuck. It set off a reel of filthy images in my mind as I’d imagined what I would do to get her to make that sweet sound again.
I regretted the day had ended with my misdirected frustration, but it was for the best. Any involvement with me would only ruin her, and I had no right to stain her with the complexities of my situation with Cressida. Val was definitely a relationship kind of woman, and even if I wasn’t tied to Cressida, that was something I could never give her. I was selling her beloved Hale’s Peak. If she didn’t hate me for inevitably breaking her heart as always happened with the women I dated, she’d hate me once the news broke about the sale. No, it was better to leave Val alone.
But that didn’t stop me from wanting her anyway.
Suddenly, a musical laugh from down the bar pulled me out of my melancholy musings.
Raven hair. Tawny brown eyes. Radiant smile. Curves just begging for my touch.
Val stood behind the bar with Hugh. The slopes had closed for the night, so the bar was filling with après-skiers vying for her attention and their libations. Val wore a low-cut black tank top that showed off her half-sleeve tattoo I’d noticed yesterday and tight jeans that hugged everyinch of those shapely thighs. As she smiled, something reached inside my chest and twisted.
I wanted to rip out the eyes of every man in the bar who dared to look at her.
She laughed again at something a taller man who looked like a ski bro said to her.
He was first on my list for the eye-ripping.
Too busy with working at a place she shouldn’t be working, Val hadn’t noticed me yet. She wiped her hands on a towel and said something to Hugh, then exited the bar from her end.
The reaction flooding through me was swift and fierce, my previous reservations discarded straight out the window. I followed her toward a secluded hallway that led to the bathrooms. She must have heard my footsteps—I wasn’t trying to be quiet—because she whipped around, curls flying.
Eyes wide, she said, “Mr. Keller? Do you need something?”
Something primal rumbled within me at the way she called me Mr. Keller.Fuck yes, I need something.
“I need to speak with you in my office.”
She narrowed her eyes at the order in my tone and crossed her arms in a way that pushed up her perfect tits. “Now?” she asked. “I’m in the middle of a shift.”
