Page 20 of You, Me, & Après-Ski
“I’ll double your pay.”
“It’s not about the money, Nolan. I do it because I love this place, and I love Frankie and Hugh. I want to help.” Maybe I was an idiot for refusing a double paycheck—lord knew my brothers needed it—but Nolan’s domineering attitude made me want to dig my heels in. He couldn’t justbuy me.
Nolan walked toward me with the leashed power of a panther on the prowl. But even as my anger burned through me, he set me on fire in more ways than one. When he stopped inches away, he spoke. “So you’re refusing my offer.” Heat coursed off of him in waves, consuming me, as I drowned in his inescapable eyes.
I swallowed and stood my ground. “I wasn’t aware that it was an offer since you all butcommanded me. But yes, I am. Refusing.”
The blue in his eyes disappeared, engulfed by black. Before I could blink, he fisted my hair at the base of my neck and crushed his mouth to mine.
All thoughts of struggle, of anger, ofanythingincinerated as I melted into him. When he pulled my lower lip between his teeth, sparks zinged through my body and something dark and unknown rose to the surface. I wanted to tear him apart, to break past that icy exterior and get to the heart of the real man beneath.
Our tongues clashed, fighting for position as I grabbed the front of his shirt and yanked him closer.He pushed me against the door, his body fitted against mine all the way down to my toes.
Nolan didn’t just kiss me, he possessed me. He waseverywhere.In my hair, on my waist, grabbing my hips, my breasts, grinding against me like he wanted to fuck the disobedience out of me, and I had half a mind to let him. Because if his lips felt this good? God. I didn’t know if I could handle the rest of him, but damn if I didn’t want a taste.
His tongue traced my lower lip and a surge of needwent through me. My fingers found his belt—
The warmth of him disappeared as he flew to the opposite side of the room, leaning over his desk, looking thoroughly undone. Eyes blistering. Chest heaving. Lips swollen.
Stunned, I could only stare at him.Oh my god. No no no nonono what the hell just happened? What did wedo?
“Ohmygod,” I said. “We shouldn’t have—I didn’t mean—”
“Get out, Valeria,” he said in a soft voice with an undercurrent of danger. “While you can.”
Not knowing what else to do, not able to eventhink, I pushed on the door and stumbled into the hall.
But even through my distress, the ghost of the words I had been about to say lingered on my tongue:What if I want to stay?
Chapter 11
NOLAN
Afterbarricadingmyselfinmy office, I prepared to endure an endless day of meetings. I’d canceled the morning’s ski session with Val—because I wasbusy,not because I was avoiding her or because of my…issue with ski lifts. When my first meeting ended, my father called me on a private line.
“Nolan,” Cyrus said in greeting. On the video chat, he brushed a hand over his perfectly styled salt-and-pepper hair. “Been seeing a lot of you in work meetings recently. Are you not taking your grandfather’s assignment seriously?”
I clutched my computer mouse in a fist, hoping it didn’t explode, and ignored his taunt. “I can’t disappear from all meetings and then show up in six months with a radical proposal and expect the board to back me on it. Especially if word gets out that I’m out here playing in the snow with Val.”
“Arthur will be very interested to hear you’re not holding up your end of the bargain.”
“Yet another bargain you’ve forced me into.”
He glowered at my jab about my arranged marriage. I’d had an inkling that he’d been the one to put this ridiculous idea of exiling me to Hale’s Peak into Arthur’s head, and it looked like I was right. Cyrus wanted mesequestered where I couldn’t interfere with whatever competing offers he was fielding from prospective buyers. “I’ll be keeping a close watch on you, Nolan.”
Without another word, he ended the call.
I rubbed my face with a sigh.Regular Cyrus check-ins. Another fucking problem to add to my list.
A few days had passed since I’d spoken to Phil, and he needed at least a week before he could get me anything. Things weren’t movingfastenough. I had no leads on who had sent the letters, and now the only other lead Ididhave, I had to wait around for it to come through.
The truth was, if I cared to admit it to myself, I had thrown myself into work to avoid thoughts of Val.Of what her mere presence did to me. Of that fucking kiss. When that fire of rebellion had flared in her eyes as she told me off, it lit up every instinct toclaim her. And when she doubled down? I’d plunged over the edge, dragging her with me. The feel of her tongue against mine, of how responsive she’d been—I had beenso closeto letting her hands continue their exploration, consequences be damned.
My phone pinged with a message, interrupting my thoughts. It was from Val.Cooking lesson at The Gilded Fern tonight at 6! See you then :)
We hadn’t spoken much since the kiss and I didn’t know how she felt about it. But a smiley face had to be a good thing, right? Or was she just giving me the accommodating facade she showed to everyone else?Jesus, I thought, catching myself. Now I was mooning over a text like a sappy idiot?Get ahold of yourself, Keller.After firing off a quick reply, I shoved the offending brick into my pocket.
My attraction to Val was a risk I didn’t need. If she talked to the press about our kiss, or toanyone,for that matter, it would destroy the alliance between the Kellers and the Sharpes and result in a hell of a media shitstorm. This engagement was Cressida’s only protection from hervindictive parents, and I would not abandon her. And if the engagement fell apart, so would my career. It would be the end of my dream to make this company into something my mother could be proud of.
