Page 51 of Second First Kiss

“So I suggest we all work together and solve these problems,” Brynn added.

“Fine. But we tackle the security breach first. And I get to hire who I want,” Nolan said.

Which meant it was Nolan’s time to follow through on his word and find someone who knew as much about computers as he did investigating. Because while he could locate a lost hiker in ten square miles or find enough evidence to put away the bad guys, he knew jack shit about computers. At least the interworking of the lodge’s interface.

“I’ll start putting out feelers today.”

“And just who would you be feeling?” Brynn asked with a mischievous grin. “The girl who’s been driving your truck around like it’s your letterman’s jacket?”

“Your truck?” Harris asked, aghast. “That’s the equivalent of handing over your balls.”

“Oh, he handed those over months ago,” Jax said, and Nolan wanted to throttle him. He may have told Jax, in confidence and over a pitcher of beer, that he had a little thing for Kat. Jax swore to take it to the grave.

So much for brotherly loyalty.

“Screw you,” Nolan threw back. He did not, repeat, did not want to discuss him and Kat. At least not until he’d had a proper discussion with Kat. She was jumpy enough about what was happening between them as it was, he didn’t need his bonehead family making matters worse by butting in.

“You’re not my type, but you should look into that since you clearly aren’t getting any.” Jax laughed.

“No one likes a bragger, Jax,” Brynn said. “No one. And I think it’s sweet that goodie-goodie Nolan has a crush on the town’s bad girl. And I give that title with respect.”

“She called you sweet,” Harris joked, and Nolan felt his inner grizzly being prodded. He was an easygoing guy most of the time. This was not one of those times. Between the bad girl comment and his crush being sweet, like he was some lovesick teen, his irritation was at an all-time high.

“I have a name for you,” he said to Harris. “Want to hear it?”

The whole table went silent at the growl in Nolan’s voice. His siblings all exchanged looks and Nolan knew he’d made a mistake. He’d given himself away.

Harris let out a low whistle. “So it’s like that?”

“It’s like that.”

“Which is why you’re going to hire her instead of a company that specializes in creating firewalls?”

“I’m going to add her résumé to the pile because she’s the best.” And if the family and IT team thought she was the best fit, it would be a pay increase. In fact, Nolan would make sure it paid enough so that she could quit her day job and bartending, and just head up security for the lodge’s IT department.

Jax looked at his twin. “You going to let him hire a woman he’s sleeping with? You blew a gasket when I started dating Milly. And she was a contractor.”

“Kat will be a contractor until the project is finished,” Lucas said. “And I trust Nolan will do the right thing.”

Jax snorted. “Yeah, good luck with that, bro.”

Lucas was right. Hiring her would make her off limits. He couldn’t, in good conscience, date someone whom he was in a position of power over. Yet he’d only had a taste of her and he wanted more, and he wasn’t sure that something like an invisible moral line would stop him.

Shit, what was he even thinking? When it came to his moral compass he knew right from wrong. But being with Kat had felt so damn right. Sleeping with her would be inappropriate on so many different levels, but not offering her the job made him an even bigger ass.

“Change your mind?” Harris asked with an all-knowing smile.

“Nope, just thinking this project through.”

“Well, whatever you’re going to do, you need to do it soon. I don’t want Mom and Dad finding out about this at Emma’s birthday party,” Harris said, referring to his almost four-year-old daughter. “And I don’t want her big day to be overshadowed by Dad freaking out about things and wondering if he made the wrong decision in letting us take over.”

“One whiff and he’ll spend his vacation sticking his nose into everyone’s business and making a mess of things,” Lucas warned, and he had the most to lose. As the former CEO of Sierra Vista Lodge, Kent Carmichael had a hard time handing the reins to Lucas, even though Lucas had spent the past five years running the business.

But Kent suffered from extreme FOMO, which meant that he was constantly checking in on his kids to make sure they were running things right. Which they were. But if he found out “right” wasn’t “his way,” he’d sell their retirement house in Santa Barbara to relocate back to Sierra Vista to oversee things. And Nolan couldn’t let that happen. His parents worked hard to give their kids everything they could hope for, a safe environment that was filled with unwavering love and support. The perfect balance between guidance and the space to become the people they were meant to be. They’d sacrificed so much over the years that Nolan wanted to make sure that this was their time. All the siblings felt that way.

His job was to keep the guests, employees, and hotel safe and he’d failed multiple times in the past weeks. Something he planned on fixing. Even if it meant he’d cock-block himself.

There was a gentle tap on the door and then it opened. Lucas’s latest assistant, Jane, nervously peeked her head in as if there were an IED on the other side of the door.

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