Page 14 of Privileged (Adrenalin)

“Should I work without talking? You don’t seem interested in conversation today.” I hear his palms sliding together as he coats them in oil.

“No, I like when you talk. I didn’t mean to drift off. What were you saying?”

“I asked what your team says about the resort plans? Have they offered any suggestions?”

“What team?” My breath gets momentarily trapped in my lungs when his hands settle on my shoulders.That first touch gets me every time.

“The people who work for you.” Strong fingers work the knot at the base of my neck, pushing out the stiffness and replacing it with a soothing warmth.

“Just because they work for me doesn’t make them my team.” My eyes drift closed on their own accord.

“Of course, it does.” His hands glide over my shoulders, alternately kneading and smoothing the tightness away. “A group of people working toward the same outcome are essentially teammates. You all have the same goal, right?”

“That’s simplifying it,” I say to the floor. “No one in this town wants me here or thinks I can do this job. I’m not even sure my father thinks so. Why would I involve them, even if they want the same thing?”

“I don’t think that’s true. I think the town is scared. They don’t like being in the dark and have no idea what your plans are. Maybe if they knew they’d help find a solution.” His touch softens, like he’s ready to jump back if I take offense to that statement.

Coming from anyone else I probably would, but since his tone doesn’t hold any malice, I don’t.

“Sorry. It wasn’t my place to say that.” His apology interrupts my train of thought.

“Don’t be. I can handle hearing a different perspective, I’m just not sure I buy it. People already have it in their heads that I have no idea what I’m doing.”

“Did you ever consider they’re leery because they don’t know you, like who you are as a person?” Tentative fingers travel up my neck and tunnel into my hair, gaining strength as they massage my scalp. It’s all I can do not to moan.

“What does knowing me have to do with working for me?” My voice echoes around me, husky. Distracted. I’m not sure if that’s because I’m talking through a hole in the table, or because his fingers are like magic.

“Well.” My head bobs on the cushion as his fingers grip my scalp. “Every decision you make has the ability to affect the entire town since the resort is the largest employer here. People want to know that you understand that. When they see you as some overlord ruling from his mountain perch instead of getting to know them, they’re naturally going to question whether you’re plotting something that will change the way they live.”

His overdramatic description makes me chuckle. “The only thing I’m plotting is how to make this place succeed. And since my father is threatening to sell my dream to the highest bidder if I don’t reach profitability according to his timetable, I’m more inclined to focus on work than making friends.”

I wasn’t planning to go into that level of detail, but I can’t seem to keep my guard up around this man.

“Selling the resort?” Sloan gasps and his hands go still in my hair. “What?”

I lift my head and twist to face him. Slowly, he releases his grip and his fingers slip down my neck, coming to rest between my shoulder blades.

“Why do you think I’m here? The resort was dying, barely making money, and I can’t make the improvements it desperately needs to stay open because of some animal habitat. If I hadn’t come in, I guarantee some international corporation would’ve bought it and commercialized the hell out of it.”

“You aren’t trying to do that?” He gapes, fingers slack with surprise as he lowers his hands to his sides.

“Hell no. I trained here as a kid, and it was my favorite place on Earth. It was so different from the places my family preferred, the ones where everyone dresses like they ski but never set foot on the mountain.”

A sad smile pulls at the corner of Sloan’s lip. Growing up in Vermont, he knows exactly what I’m referring to; people whose sole focus is to look the part because it enhances their social status, not because they enjoy the sport or the weather or even the town.

Those visitors bring in much-needed tourist dollars, so they aren’t all bad. But when they start buying up real estate, as they often do because it looks good in their investment portfolio, they inflate the prices and make it impossible for the full-time residents to compete for housing. That’s when towns become a status symbol instead of a retreat. I don’t want that to happen here. I can see Sloan doesn’t either, so I continue.

“Katah Vista had an elite program, in terms of skill, not cost. To the kids in it, I wasn’t Charles Quinn’s son, I was any other kid with talent. We didn’t get off the mountain a lot because we were so busy training, but my memories of the town are similar. Ordinary people just enjoying life and where they live. There’s something about this place that’s different from anywhere else. People live in the moment here. My family wasn’t like that, but I got a glimpse of it in this town. That's why I came back.”

The smile on his face now is wistful. “It’s why I moved here, too. It feels like a simpler way of life.”

“It does. I want things to stay that way, but that’s going to be hard since the town and the mountain are so closely linked. I know the town can’t survive without the resort, but the resort won’t exist without the tourists to sustain it. I’m trying to figure out a way to meet in the middle, before my dad pulls the plug.”

“That’s why you haven’t said anything to your employees,” he whispers as realization dawns.

“I didn’t want to get people’s hopes up about a solution that couldn’t work, and I was right not to. The environmental report Ineeded to move forward with an expansion didn’t come out in our favor. Now I’m back to square one.” I drop my head back on the table, too exhausted and ashamed to wait for his reaction.

Chapter seven

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