Page 26 of Release Me

Both Tracy and Brandon laugh, Brandon also coughing out, “bullshit,” before he continues. “Ethan, please. It’s obvious you like her, why don’t you just ask her out.”

I glance over at him, sitting in the front passenger seat. “Okay, one, I’m her boss,” I start. “Two, I’m like ten years older than her. She’s not gonna be interested in dating someone that old. And three, we work together, it could be…” I trail off, not needing to list all the ways that could make things awkward.

“Okay, it’s interesting how in listing these lame ass excuses, you never actually denied liking her or wanting to ask her out,” Brandon says. “So, to address these points. One, being her boss doesn’t mean you can’t date her, just keep it on the down-low and make sure she knows this isn’t a power-play thing. Two, what’s ten years? That’s nothing these days. And three, working together…see first answer. It doesn’t have to be this hard, Ethan.”

I roll my eyes at him. “Uh huh, okay and then four, what if Zoey isn’t actually interested?”

Tracy scoffs from the backseat. “Oh, she’s interested alright.”

“Yep, she sure is,” Brandon says, slapping a hand on my shoulder. “Just go for it. She’s great, perfect for you.”

“I don’t know,” I say, exhaling.

“You worried about the money thing?” Brandon asks, knowing it’s always been something we’ve both needed to watch out for.

I let out a laugh. “No, that’s actually the one thing I don’t need to worry about, trust me.”

“Really?” Brandon asks. “Why’s that?”

I take a deep breath, letting it out slowly as I make the turn into the resort. “It just isn’t,” I eventually say, not wanting to divulge who Zoey’s family is. Even though it’s not exactly a secret in this place, it’s still not my secret to tell and maybe Zoey doesn’t want too many people knowing that about her, considering she’s clearly trying to make a name for herself, workwise.

“Okay, interesting,” Brandon murmurs, his hand on the car door. “You coming up so we can continue this over a whiskey?”

I laugh, turning to face him. “Didn’t you have wedding night activities to run through?” I tease.

Brandon grins, even as Tracy groans from the backseat. “Actually, good point. Okay, we’ll see you tomorrow, yeah, we can continue this conversation when we come back to your place.”

“Conversation? Don’t you mean interrogation?”

Brandon just laughs, squeezing my shoulder once before he climbs out of the car. “Call it what you want, Ethan, it’s still happening. See you tomorrow, after I’ve spent the afternoon with Zoey!”

“Fuck, behave yourself!” I call out, shaking my head at the way Brandon tosses his hand up in a wave. I wait until they’ve walked inside before driving off.

And as I make my way back up the mountain to my place, Brandon’s words churning inside my head, I can’t help but wonder if what they said is true.

That maybe Zoey is interested.

And what that would mean if she is.

Chapter10

Zoey

Iroll over the next morning, my eyes struggling to adjust to the brightness that is streaming through the slats in my blinds. One negative about living on a mountain is that the sun loves to reflect off the stark white snow, sending a blinding reflection everywhere you look.

It’s not so bad when I’m not just waking up after a night of too many wines and a dinner with my incredibly attractive boss.

I reach for my phone, checking the time and that’s when the panic sets in. It’s an hour later than I would normally wake up and I have to be at work in ten minutes.

Now when I worked the mountains, I will admit that I struggled to get up early. I would always make it on time, but I think I gave Elissa a scare a few times. I was always flying through the door, scrambling to get my gear on and then rushing out to meet a client for lessons or fumbling to find my lift card to get the damn mountain opened. None of this was because I had my family to fall back on or that I didn’t think work was important. I just am not a morning person. All of that changed when I took the job in the hotel offices, and I knew I had other people I oversaw. I can’t let anyone think I landed my job because of my family name. I want to make sure I build a name for myself and that starts with my work ethic.

But here I am, waking up late, disoriented and desperately trying to get myself together so I don’t walk in there looking like a mess.

Too late.

I come in the back entrance of the offices, not that I’m trying to sneak in or anything. Okay, I am because I’m now twenty minutes late and embarrassed that this is the first time this has happened to me. I don’t want Ethan thinking I’m taking advantage of him since we’ve had dinner a few times and we’ve gotten to know each other. Even more than that, I don’t want the people I work with to think this is happening either.

I finally make it to my office without anyone noticing that I’m late, resting my head on my desk, I let out a hard sigh. I hate the feeling of being rushed in the morning, but today feels exceptionally off. I close my eyes, feeling like I could literally fall asleep on my desk, when a knock comes on the door.

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