Page 322 of The Parkers' Handsome Holiday
But Ian grinned at me. “I was just going to tell you to have fun,” he said, spreading his hands.
I thought I could see the glimmer of something else in his eyes, but I left it at that. “Enjoy the skiing,” I told him. “I’ll see you later.”
Later, as I sank into a hot tub next to Kayla, I groaned, feeling the tension slipping away from my back and shoulders even more than it had during my massage. “This was the best idea,” I said to Kayla.
She grinned at me. “Yeah, I try to come here around this time every year,” she said. “I know I don’t have to deal with as much stress at the resort as you do, but it’s definitely still so busy all the time. It’s nice to unwind a little.”
“Definitely,” I said fervently. I shook my head. “To be honest, a lot of my stress right now is Ian.” The words slipped out before I knew it, but I knew Kayla wouldn’t judge me.
In fact, she giggled. “Yeah, he’s not exactly the cool older brother that I remember him being,” she said. “Maybe it’s just that we’re grown up now, but he really seems, I don’t know, intense?”
“Yeah,” I said, sighing. “I know he’s just looking out for me, but sometimes, I just want to shake him. Like, he hardly tells me anything about the casino business, just tells me that he has it all under control, but then he wants to turn right back around and try to take over my own business? After he originally told me he didn’t think it was a good idea for me to buy the place?”
I shook my head. “But I’m glad he’s here. It’s good to see him. It’s just, I can’t help thinking that things will be easier once he’s back in Nevada.”
“So you can have a little more alone time with Adam?” Kayla asked, her eyes twinkling with laughter.
I grimaced and stared down at my hand as I brushed it along the surface of the water. “We had sex,” I admitted. “We went for dinner the other night and then he came over to my place for a little while. And of course he had to get back home to Ethan, but then, I don’t know, I just thought that things were going better than they were.”
“What do you mean?” Kayla asked in surprise.
“He’s been avoiding me, or something. I haven’t seen him. I mean, it hasn’t been very long, this all just happened on Wednesday. But Thursday, he barely gave me the time of day. And I didn’t see him at all yesterday. I don’t know if it’s the Ian thing or what.”
Kayla frowned, considering her words carefully. “You have to remember that you’re the first woman he’s even looked at since Beth,” she finally said. “I mean, I think so anyway. I don’t know him all that well. No one does. Or not anymore; he used to be different, back before.” She shrugged. “But anyway, what does that have to do with Ian? Does he know about the two of you?”
“Oh, he knows,” I said, rolling my eyes. “Or rather, he suspects a lot more is going on than there actually is. He caught us kissing and totally chewed me out for sleeping with one of my employees. I don’t know why he doesn’t just go back to Vegas anyway. He’s got shit to do with the casino there, I know it. And as much as I want him here, I just didn’t even expect he’d be able to take the time off for the holidays, and now he’s coming on so strong. You know?”
Kayla looked uncomfortable, and I frowned at her. “What’s up?” I asked her. “What do you know?”
Kayla shook her head but then sighed. “I didn’t want to say anything,” she said. “I wasn’t supposed to hear this. But he was talking to someone on speakerphone one day in your office and I went looking for you and happened to hear part of the conversation. Um.”
“Go on,” I said, nodding encouragingly, even as my mind was reeling through different scenarios as to what she might have heard.
“Honestly, it sounds like things with the casino aren’t going so well at the moment,” Kayla finally said, and I could tell she was definitely reluctant to tell me anything.
As for me, I was shocked. “How is that possible?” I asked. “I mean, I’m not part of the company anymore. I still have some investments there, I guess, but I don’t follow all the news. But when I left, things were on the up-and-up. Getting better all the time.” I frowned, still puzzling over this news. Kayla must not have heard right, though. She had misunderstood something. “What exactly did they say?”
Kayla made a face and then shrugged. “Honestly, it sounded like Ian’s made some really bad calls with the company. Like he’s buttered up the wrong people and that sort of thing. I don’t know. But you may want to check with the casinos and just, I don’t know, make sure everything is going okay.”
I shook my head. “I can’t do that,” I groaned. “Not after I was so adamant that Ian had to stay out of my own business and quit checking up on me.”
“That’s your call,” Kayla said. “Just, I don’t know if Ian is really here just because he wants to check up on you. And if he’s been a little intense lately, there may be a reason for it. I guess. I don’t know. But you may want to talk to him, at least.”
I snorted. “I can just imagine how that conversation would go,” I said, thinking it over. No, Ian would never suffer to let me ask how the casino business was really going. And if I said anything about this supposed phone call, he would totally fly off the handle.
Besides, Ian couldn’t really be doing as badly as Kayla seemed to think. He had had quite a bit of responsibility in the company even before Dad passed away, and he wouldn’t have changed anything too radically since the funeral. I didn’t think so, anyway. Kayla must have just misunderstood something about the conversation.
Although, she was right. If Ian wasn’t doing well with the casinos, it could explain a lot of his behavior lately. The way he felt he needed to take over here, like he had something to prove. The way he felt the need to assert his position as my older brother and protector. The snippiness with everyone, from myself to Adam to other people around the resort. The fact that it didn’t seem like he really had a timeline on his return to Vegas.
So many things that could be explained away if the casinos weren’t doing well. But no, it couldn’t be that. He was just trying to help me out, and coming on a bit too strong in the process. He had chilled out the past few days, and things were going to get better from here. I firmly believed that.
CHAPTER 36
ADAM
By midway through the next week, I could barely believe that I had thought I was all caught up on my duties, enough so that I had been able to take last Saturday off. Once the tourists had really started arriving in droves, it seemed like everything went to hell, and fast. From blown lightbulbs to malfunctioning appliances, from finicky lifts to broken snowmobile belts, it seemed like every time I turned around, there was something else wrong.
Right now, it was the lights in one of the conference rooms. We were due to have a group of ski instructors from all around the country convene in there that afternoon for some indoor training followed by outdoor training the next three days. But at the moment, half the lights weren’t working. I finally managed to narrow it down to the fact that one of the bulbs had blown; apparently, this place was wired like a Christmas tree so that if one bulb went out, the rest wouldn’t light either.
