I stared at him for a moment and then nodded slowly, leading the way back to my office.
Ian grinned as he sat across from me. “So, seriously, how are things going? I know Bailey’s been putting a lot on your plate lately. But she said something about hiring you a helper or something?”
“An apprentice,” I corrected. I shrugged. “It’s fine. He’s fine. He does things the way I tell him to.”
“That’s good,” Ian said. He paused. “Look, I know I’m probably the last person that you want to see right now. I fucked up. I shouldn’t have been so tough on you, and I shouldn’t have done what I did with the casino.” He cleared his throat. “To be honest, I was hoping that Bailey would come back to Vegas to stay. You know, come back to the family business and everything. I know that she was miserable there, but I don’t know, I thought that she would realize that this wasn’t everything that she wanted and would head home.”
“Okay,” I said slowly, wondering suddenly if he was here to tell me that that was exactly what had happened; that Bailey had decided that she didn’t want to be in Utah anymore and Ian was here to let me know that she wasn’t coming back after all.
Or worse, what if she had decided to let him have Brooks Mountain while she went back to Vegas and ran the casino business? If that was the case, I’d be out of a job by the end of the day, I was sure of it.
But Ian shook his head. “Honestly, I was jealous that you got to have her. That you were pulling her away from me. That’s why I was so hard on you. I thought that you were the reason she wasn’t going to come back home. And I’m sorry that I was such a jerk to you over it. It was totally uncalled for.”
I nodded slowly. “I appreciate the apology,” I finally said, because what the hell else was I supposed to say? There was a part of me that wanted to throw him out right now, or to list off all the ways that he’d been a jerk. But that wasn’t going to help anything.
There was also a part of me that wanted to ask if he knew when the hell Bailey was coming back, or if she really was planning on coming back. Maybe Ian was just here because he already knew that he had won. But I didn’t ask.
“Bailey doesn’t want to be in Nevada,” Ian said, surprising me. “You should see her around the casino. I mean, she does everything that she needs to do, and she charms the pants off everyone in the process. But it’s not like when she was working here. She’s just not passionate about it. She really wants to come back.” His mouth twisted. “I don’t know if she’s told you, but the board of directors wants her to stay in Nevada for another month.”
“Yeah, she told me,” I said.
“So I want you to come to Nevada with me,” Ian said.
I stared at him in shock, wondering if I had really just heard those words come out of his mouth. Was I really supposed to believe that Ian had gone from hating my relationship with his sister to wanting to improve it? That would be an extremely sudden change of mind. But he looked dead serious.
I shook my head. “I’m currently in charge of things at the resort here,” I reminded him.
“I know,” Ian said. “But I’m sure we could find someone to take things over for you. Just for a weekend. Bailey would really love to see you.”
“If she wanted me to come to Nevada, she could ask me herself,” I said.
Ian shook his head. “You know Bailey,” he said. “She’s got herself tied into knots over you guys. She’s afraid that you might say no.” He grinned at me. “She really seems to like you. Fuck if I know why.”
I rolled my eyes. “If you don’t want us together, then why are you here?” I asked bluntly.
“Because,” Ian said, shrugging. “I owe my sister one. I owe her big time. And I need to make things right. She’s been there for me, and I need to do something for her. Besides, like I said, I was too hard on you before. If Bailey really likes you so much, we need to put the bad blood behind us.”
I continued to stare at him. Take off to Nevada for the weekend? I was sure that Dad could watch Ethan for the weekend. And I was sure that the other employees here at the resort could handle things in my absence. There was nothing about the administrative stuff that couldn’t wait until Monday. And my apprentice knew enough about the general maintenance and lift operations already that he could handle things on his own, or at least follow my instructions over the phone if worst came to worst.
Not that I expected anything would go wrong. I’d put in a lot of time over the holidays making sure that everything was running smoothly, and especially since Bailey had gone to Nevada. I’d put in a lot of hours trying to forget about the fact that she was gone.
It was entirely possible for me to take off for the weekend. Ian was handing me the golden ticket.
And it would undoubtedly be good to see Bailey again. To talk to her in person. To confirm that she really was intending on returning, or to try my damndest to change her mind if she wasn’t.
But what if she wasn’t planning on coming back and my showing up in Nevada ruined things between us? What if Ian was really doing this as a ploy to get me away from my job, to prove to Bailey that the resort didn’t need me? Or what if Bailey and I really had been just some seasonal fling that now was over?
Ian got to his feet. “Look, it’s your decision,” he said. “And I’m not trying to pressure you either way. But I really do think Bailey would be happy to see you. If you want to come, meet me at the airport this evening at six.” With that, he left me alone to my thoughts.
I stared at the wall for a long time, trying to figure out what to do. I forced myself to go back to work, forced myself to focus on all the things that I had to do. Before I knew it, I had finished everything on my list. If I did leave for the weekend, things would be fine without me.
But should I really leave for the weekend? I still couldn’t decide.
I headed home. “You look distracted,” Dad said, peering at me as I walked into the living room where he and Ethan were watching a movie. “What’s up?”
“Ian showed up at the mountain today,” I said slowly. I wasn’t sure that I wanted to talk to Dad about this. I knew he had been happy when Bailey had come into my life. That he thought I needed a woman in my life again, even though he himself was a total loner. He would probably agree that I should go, that I should let Ian whisk me off to Vegas for the weekend so that I could see Bailey.
But I needed to discuss this with someone, and Dad was the only person here other than Ethan. And I didn’t really think the six-year-old would grasp any of this.
“What did Ian want?” Dad asked neutrally.
“He wants me to come to Nevada with him for the weekend,” I said, glancing at Ethan. I didn’t really want to say Bailey’s name in front of him. Fortunately, Dad seemed to get it.
“I can watch Ethan for a weekend,” Dad said, just like I knew he would.
I shook my head, though. The more I thought about this, the more the whole thing seemed like a terrible idea. If Bailey wasn’t planning on coming back, why torture myself with a weekend in Nevada with her? It was only going to make it more difficult when I eventually lost her. And I had to come back at some point. I certainly couldn’t just stay in Nevada.
“Nah, I told him I didn’t think it was a good idea,” I said to Dad. “Anyway, I’m going to head into the kitchen to get dinner started.”
I turned around and walked away, trying to put the idea of a weekend in Vegas out of my head. When I got into the kitchen, I glanced at the clock out of habit. Five-thirty. Ian had said to meet him at the airport at six.
For a moment, I paused, thinking about it again. Dropping everything to fly off to Nevada for a woman that I wasn’t even sure was really interested in me was madness. But at the same time, maybe I needed a little madness in my life. Things had been so structured ever since Beth had died. I had forced myself to follow a schedule, to do things a specific way. Maybe it was time to let go of a little of that control.
52
Bailey
&nb
sp; I checked the time on my phone again, feeling more and more ticked off. I hadn’t seen or heard from Ian all day. He should have been there, helping out around the casino. I didn’t know what the hell he was up to instead, but I was ready to rip him a new one when he finally arrived.
The board of directors was looking for responsible behavior from him. They wanted to know that they could count on him to run things properly. And disappearing for whole days at a time, doing God knows what, was not a sign that he could run things properly.
I tried not to think about the fact that if the board of directors thought he was being irresponsible, they would ask me to stay there for longer than a month. That was a conversation that I didn’t want to have with them. I wondered what the hell Ian was even doing. He wasn’t answering my calls.
I stalked over to one of the managers. “Hey, have you seen Ian?” I asked, trying to sound pleasant when really, I wanted to knock some sense into my idiotic brother. Maybe this was his new form of lashing out over the fact that I didn’t want to stay here in Vegas. First, he had tanked the business, making all sorts of changes that he had no right to be making, and now he was going to go AWOL and get caught drunk off his ass at strip clubs or something.
We didn’t need any more bad press at the moment.
The manager looked uncomfortable, and I knew that my tone had been too harsh. But she just shrugged. “Haven’t seen him all day,” she said.
I rolled my eyes and stalked off, trying unsuccessfully to call him again. Still no response.
I finished with work for the day and headed home. If he was there, I was really going to chew him out. But when I got home, the house was just as silent and empty as it had been when I left that morning. No sign of Ian anywhere. “Where the fuck are you?” I muttered, wondering if I should start searching the city for him. I knew all of his favorite places, of course.
But I really didn’t want to go out looking for him. If he wanted to tank his job, well. This was the last time I would step in and help him. Seriously.
My phone rang. It was Ian. I scowled and answered it. “Where the fuck are you?” I snapped. “No one’s seen you around all day. And I swear to God, if you’re drunk, you’ve got another thing coming. I promised that I’d help you get back in the board’s good graces, and the investors’, but you can bet your sorry ass that that’s not happening if I find out you’ve been fucking around with your thumb up your ass all day.”
I was surprised to hear Ian laughing on the other end of the line. “Relax,” he said.
“This isn’t funny!” I snarled. “You can’t just not show up to work for a day without any warning. That’s totally irresponsible!”
“I know, and I’m sorry,” Ian said, but he sounded more amused than contrite. “Can you come to the airport?”
“Why?” I asked suspiciously, even though I was already heading for my keys. Whatever the fuck he had done, at least I knew where he was now. Not that I really wanted to see him, after this little stunt.
“Just do it,” Ian said, hanging up the phone.
I rolled my eyes and headed for the airport. When I got there, I called Ian again. “Where are you?” I snapped. “Assuming that you’re here.”
“I left you a gift,” Ian said. “It’s at the bar. Flying Q’s.”
“Ian,” I started to say, but he hung up before I could. I grumbled to myself as I found a parking spot. I didn’t know what the hell he was playing at. Was he drunk? Was I going to have to carry him out of there? Or did he think that he could buy me a fucking vacation and we could just jet away for a weekend? We had responsibilities here. The casino didn’t shut down on the weekends, and that meant that unless he cleared things with everyone, he needed to be here. And at the moment, if he needed to be here, then I did as well.
Otherwise, I would have been back in Utah already.
I stalked into the airport, shooting murderous glances at anyone who happened to look at me. When I got to the bar, I looked all around for Ian, but I didn’t see him anywhere. Where the hell was he?
Then, I thought back to his words. He had said that he had left me a gift at the bar. Maybe if I asked the bartender, he would know something about it? When I saw Ian again, I was going to kill him.
I took two steps further into the bar and froze, suddenly seeing a familiar profile, albeit not the one that I had expected to see. Ian wasn’t at the bar. But there was Adam, sitting there nursing a beer and watching the hockey game on the screen behind the bar.
I did a double-take, sure for a moment that it couldn’t be him. I was imagining him, seeing who I wanted to see. It was a trick of the light, because like every other airport bar, Flying Q’s seemed to favor the sort of dim lighting designed to hide the signs of sleepless nights of travel, frizzy hair, and greasy foreheads.
But no, it really was Adam, I was sure of it. I took a step closer, and he seemed to feel my eyes on him. He turned towards me, smiling like he had been expecting me. And I suddenly remembered, again, what Ian had said. He had left a gift for me at the bar.
Was it possible that that’s where Ian had been all day? Arranging this little surprise for me? I would barely have believed it from him. I knew that he still wasn’t stoked about Adam’s and my relationship. But then again, the night before, he had seemed to accept things.
There was a big difference between accepting things and this, though.
I felt tears prick the corners of my eyes. I had missed Adam. There were so many things that I wanted to say to him. But more than that, it was so good just to see him. All my worries about us disappeared. Surely he wouldn’t be here if he thought we were just a fling.
I crossed the bar towards him and put my arms around him. He wrapped his arms around me in turn, nearly crushing me with the strength of his hug.
53
Adam
Somehow, I had forgotten just how beautiful Bailey was in the three weeks since I had last seen her. Had she always been so tall, so curvy, so drop-dead gorgeous? I was bewitched by those emerald eyes of hers, wanted nothing more than to kiss those lush pink lips of hers. I had known that I missed her, but seeing her now hit me like a punch to the gut, driving all the air out of me. God, I had missed her. More than I had even realized.
I could see the shock in her face when she saw me sitting there. Then something like relief, followed by an emotion that I couldn’t quite figure out. But the next thing I knew, she was there in my arms, her body pressed against mine. I laid my cheek against the top of her head, breathing in the familiar scent of her perfume.
“Hi,” I said quietly.
Bailey laughed quietly. “Hi,” she said, finally pulling away from me. My body immediately missed the warmth of her pressed against me. “What are you doing here?”
I shrugged. “Ian brought me,” I told her. “But don’t worry, I’ve managed to do as much as I could around the resort so that they shouldn’t need me for the next couple days. And if anything goes wrong with the lifts or anything, I’ve made sure that the apprentice knows what he’s doing. And I’ve given him the number for one of the other lift mechanics over at another resort so that if he really needs help, we can get someone in as a stand-in. It wouldn’t be the first time.” I cleared my throat. “Anyway, hopefully nothing happens either way.”
Bailey shook her head. “To be honest, I don’t give a damn about what arrangements you’ve made at the resort,” she said, sounding almost shy. “I know that’s not good business practice. But I can’t tell you how good it is to see you right now.”
“I’ve missed you too,” I told her, grinning. Somehow, it was so easy to admit that to her.
“Hey, have you eaten already?” Bailey asked. “Do you want to get some dinner?”
“That sounds great,” I said.
“I know just the place.” I followed Bailey out to her car. She paused beside it. “Hey, is Ian with you?”
“Nah, he took off to give us a little alone time,” I told her. To be honest, I wasn’t sure
if Ian wanted to give Bailey and I some alone time or if he just didn’t want to be around me any longer. He had warmed up considerably towards me since the last time I had seen him in Utah a few weeks ago, but it was nothing like the friendship that he and I had once enjoyed. Instead, it felt more stilted. Polite, but vaguely uncomfortable at the same time.
Bailey nodded and slipped into the driver’s seat, and I followed into the passenger’s seat, trying not to feel nervous. To my surprise, I wasn’t worried anymore about whether I had made the right decision in coming here. Those feelings had plagued me for the whole short flight, but the moment I saw Bailey, they seemed to have evaporated. It helped that she seemed so glad to see me too. Something about that settled something inside of me.
That said, I still felt nervous around her. This was my first relationship since Beth. If, indeed, relationship it still was. Ian seemed to think that Bailey wanted me here, and that gave me some hope. But I wondered what Bailey herself was thinking about us. Had she started to get used to the idea that maybe we were just a relationship of convenience in Utah, something that had only happened because we were attracted to one another and because we were in the same place at the same time?
And most importantly, was she ever planning on returning to Park City, or was she more than happy to be back here in Nevada with her brother and the casino business that she was familiar with?
“So how have things been going, anyway?” I asked Bailey as we sat down in the burger joint she had brought us to.
She sighed and shook her head. “Honestly, it’s been frustrating,” she said baldly. “I mean, the work isn’t all that difficult. I think things are going to be all right for Ian. It’s not like he doesn’t know what he’s doing, he just went a little overboard trying to make things better. He had all these ideas, and he just pushed them all through at once without thinking about how the changes would affect one another. And he didn’t listen to anyone else at the company in the process.”
One Shot At Love: A Billionaire Single Father Romance Page 30