Page 16 of Ms. Fortune
Did he? I had no clue. It wouldn’t surprise me because around every corner, Risky had a different hidden talent that took me by surprise.
“No degree. I did work for a lawyer who transitioned into politics for several years. One tends to pick up things in that type of environment. Such as it’s always the person pointing the finger who has something to hide.” Risky chuckled and dropped a hand on my shoulder. Warmth immediately gathered under his palm, and my temper, which was just about to boil over, returned to a manageable simmer. “Should I start looking into what you’ve spent your career burying, Sheriff?”
The older man went stonily silent and glared at the man stepping up to protect me.
“If one wants to get technical, don’t you get paid to keepeveryonein Blue River safe? That includes Lucky. Regardless of your personal bias and history with her.” Risky laughed again and tugged me backward until I was standing at his side. “If anyone has a legal complaint that will hold up right now, it’s her.”
Realizing he’d talked himself into a corner and that he couldn’t bully me when someone had my back, the sheriff adjusted his belt and dropped his sunglasses over his eyes. He told me he would be back in touch with me about the deck and assured me he would send a copy of his report for my records once it was written. I could tell he was glaring at the man next to me the entire time he made his exit. He left before pacifying the angry family, which led to more dirty looks sent my way and more threats of legal action. Overall, it was a shit situation that wasn’t going to have a simple resolution.
“I thought you were retired.” I couldn’t stop the snarky statement from slipping out when I turned to face Risky.
I appreciated him jumping in to save the day, but I was surprised after his earlier hesitation.
“I like this job.” His gilded gaze slid along the mountain range. “I like this place.” He turned to look at me, the corner of his mouth hiking up in an entirely too tempting way. “And my new boss is interesting. I’ve got more than one reason to stick around. If that means I have to semi-unretire, so be it. I’ll do my best to help you fix whatever is going on.”
I noticed he hadn’t said he liked me, but that was fine. It was better if he stuck around because he was curious and not because he had any soft and romantic feelings for me. Romance always went south and soured when I was involved. Interesting had no stakes. If he got bored or suddenly decided I was bland and basic, he would move on to the next adventure without a backward glance. If there were messy, emotional entanglements—I shivered when I recalled the last time I’d tried to walk away from someone who had feelings for me.
Nothing about Risky gave me the impression he was mentally unstable and had the propensity to be unhinged, but I’d been burned by a normal guy before. Considering Risky was the opposite of normal, I didn’t dare imagine all the ways things might go wrong if we became entangled.
“We really need to pinpoint who wants the lodge shut down by any means.”
We paused the conversation to deal with the disgruntled family. I’d thought they were going to check out. Instead, they decided to stay until the matriarch was released from the hospital. There was more noise about refunds and legal action. However, once everyone watched the video that clearly showed the grandparents ignoring my warnings and pushing their way onto the deck, the group quieted down. I still needed to feed these people while they were still considered guests at the resort, so I headed to the kitchen after the family settled down and meandered back to their rooms.
Risky followed behind me, patiently waiting for the list he’d asked for.
I tried to compile a mental note of anyone whom I might’ve wronged over the years, but there were too many names to keep track of without writing them down.
I sighed and let my mind drift while I whipped up a bunch of club sandwiches to serve for the late lunch I’d promised the remaining guests.
“There are two lists. One is people who would benefit from me no longer being in the way of selling the lodge. That list is mostly my relatives, my mother and father, in particular. There are also numerous real estate developers who have been hounding me to sell the property for years. And people like thesheriff, who think I’m a disgrace because I didn’t come home and take care of things right after my grandfather passed away.”
I gave him a bland look and nudged him to help me take everything I’d just prepared out into the dining area. It was nice to have a second pair of hands helping. I needed to get a move on with hiring the rest of my staff before the weather changed and business picked up. I couldn’t wait until I had all the wrinkles surrounding the reopening ironed out.
“The list of people who might have a personal grievance with me is much longer.”
Risky snagged a bag of potato chips and watched me with curious eyes. “My former boss used to say if you have at least five people ready to take you out at any given moment, you’re doing something right.”
I blinked at his statement, waiting for him to tell me it was a joke.
Risky met my look with a shrug. “She’s a unique woman. One who also has her fair share of enemies.”
I hummed a sound of disbelief because I couldn’t find the words to aptly describe how I felt when he compared me to such a formidable-sounding woman.
“I hate to say it, but my parents could go on the personal list as well. Their lives would be a whole lot easier if I were out of the picture. There’s a roommate from college. I inadvertently stole her long-term boyfriend, and she always swore she would ruin my life if given a chance. There’s a ski patrol guy whose leg got broken when we collided on a run when I was a teenager. I destroyed his hopes of Olympic glory. I got a teacher’s assistant fired for getting handsy with me sophomore year. My boss at the hotel I worked at in Denver got arrested after I turned him in for embezzling money.”
There were all of those people in my past with no mention of the strange figure I had seen the night of the storm.
“I can’t forget my former boyfriend’s family members.” I cleared my throat as ugly memories assaulted me. My hands curled around the back of one of the dining room chairs, and a cold sweat dripped down the side of my face. “He wanted to be together forever. He proposed to me, and when I turned him down and broke up with him, he took his own life. His entire family blamed me for what had happened even though he was significantly older than I was and had a long history of mental instability. His younger brother particularly held me responsible for the way everything had gone down. And you’ve seen how the locals feel about me and what happens when there’s an extra-troublesome guest to deal with. The options are endless.”
Risky chuckled softly. “You do leave quite the impression on people. Tell me more about the ex-boyfriend. That feels promising. Unrequited love is a real bitch.”
My knuckles turned white as I held on to the chair for dear life. “Baker Canton. If you google his name, you’ll find all the information you need.”
It had been a horrifically splashy and tragic breakup that made numerous headlines.
“I don’t want to google. I want you to tell me what happened.” His voice was gentle, and his gaze was warm and compassionate. However, there was a cunning glint in his eye that reminded me I shouldn’t underestimate him just because he was kind to me.
“I met Baker at the same hotel where I had gotten the boss fired. He was the only other person who agreed to be a witness to the theft. All the other employees turned against me and did their best to get me fired because they hated the new management that came in after him. We got close fairly fast. That should’ve been the first hint that something was off. He was skilled at reading between the lines and picked up on the division between me and my parents. He always walked the linebetween father figure and romantic partner. I don’t let people in very easily.” With him being the newest exception.
