Page 279 of The Parkers' Handsome Holiday
I frowned at him. “Good?” I said. “We don’t have any idea how she’ll run the place. The last time I saw her, she was just a kid! Not that she is anymore, but I just don’t see what’s so good about her taking over the place.”
Was that a hint of a smile on Dad’s face?
“I just think it’s good,” he said firmly. “You need a woman in your life.”
I sputtered in shock. “She’s just the owner of the resort,” I said. “Nothing more than that.”
Dad nodded, but he did it in the same way that I would if someone made a comment that I didn’t believe. I frowned, wanting to protest more, but I knew that would only make him more certain that there was something more to things between Bailey and I. Which there wasn’t.
But besides, this wasn’t the kind of conversation I wanted to have around Ethan. The boy was old enough to remember his mother. Beth had only died a couple years before. I didn’t want Ethan thinking that I was disrespecting the memory of his mother. Nor did I want him, on the flip side, getting his hopes up that one day he might have a ‘new mommy’.
Anyway, I didn’t know what Dad was talking about. I didn’t need a new woman in my life. Ethan and I were doing just fine on our own, not to mention the fact that I didn’t exactly have time to start a relationship with someone.
But for the briefest of moments, I thought back to the Bailey that I’d seen the day before. Cool, confident. Infuriating, to be honest. I doubted she knew the first thing about running the mountain. I could still see those bright green eyes in my head. And suddenly, I was mentally stripping her down, pushing her onto the bed, climbing over her and kissing every inch of that tanned skin of hers.
No, I wouldn’t go there. She was my boss. Nothing more than that. She couldn’t be more than that.
CHAPTER 8
BAILEY
I was waiting for Kayla at the front desk when she arrived on Thursday morning. She paused, looking surprised to see me there. Then, she grinned. “If you’re trying to get me to play hooky with you today, I’m going to have to tell my boss,” she joked.
I laughed and shook my head. “Not exactly what I had in mind,” I told her. I shrugged and leaned in, keeping my voice down. “As you probably know, I don’t know very much about running a place like this,” I admitted.
I had done a lot of research the night before and a lot of thinking. I didn’t want everyone in the place doubting that I knew what I was doing, even though I knew that there were probably a lot of them who were already skeptical about my qualifications.
And I wasn’t looking to implement any major changes at the moment, anyway. But I did want to make sure I really had a handle on things around the place. And that meant getting some insider intel.
The previous day, when I had arrived at the resort, Kayla had acted like there hadn’t been a span of years since we had been close friends. She had acted happy to see me. I knew that of anyone at the resort, I could trust her. So if I needed help, and I needed someone who was going to be discreet about the help that I was getting, she was the person that I needed to talk to. I was sure of it.
“I have a feeling you know more about running this place than anyone else,” I said to Kayla.
“What makes you say that?” she asked in surprise.
“You’re smart,” I said simply. “You keep your eyes open. And besides, you’re right here in the thick of things. Not to mention the fact that you’re the kind of person who gets to know everyone. I could use that right now.”
Kayla grinned, and I could tell that she was preening a little. “I don’t know everything,” she cautioned. “But everything that I know, I’ll share with you.”
“That’s perfect,” I told her.
Kayla made a face. “You’re probably going to have to ask Adam some questions too, though. He’s your handyman, and I know he knows a lot more about the condos and snowmaking and some of the other operations stuff than I do.”
I nodded, making a mental note of that. I tried not to let excitement course through me at the idea that I was going to have to chat with Adam at some point. But I couldn’t help it. I knew that I needed to keep him at an arm’s length. He was my employee. And a damned important employee at that. I wasn’t stupid enough to think that it would be easy to replace a lift mechanic if I did something to offend him.
But I couldn’t stop thinking about how good he had looked the previous day. There was an air of mystery about him, too. He’d been cordial enough, but he hadn’t been the prankster that I remembered him being. There was something dark in his gaze, and I wanted to figure out what it was. Wasn’t he happy working here? Or had something else happened that gave him that darkness?
“Let me show you around,” Kayla said, glancing at her watch. “John, you don’t mind watching the front desk until I get back?”
John widened his eyes in mock fear. “But there are so many guests right now!” he said, gesturing towards the nearly empty lodge. It seemed like everyone who was here had already headed out to ski.
Kayla snorted and held up her cellphone. “You have my number. Call me if things get busy, but otherwise, I’ll be back in a little while.”
“No problem,” John said.
Kayla led me away from the front desk. “This means that we can catch up a little too,” she said once we were out of earshot of her coworker.
I laughed. “Well, what do you want to know?” I asked jokingly.
