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Chapter1
Ethan
My gaze drops again to the document in front of me, my eyes scanning the pages I’ve read a million times before. The degree in business. The early graduation with honors at the top of her class. The recommendations. It’s all there, all perfect, everything I could want in someone I’m mentoring for the management program here at Badger Creek.
My eyes flick up to the name printed across the top of the page.
Zoey Holden.
The name that is more than just the name of my employee, a woman who’s actually worked here for longer than I’ve owned the place.
It’s also the name of ski royalty. Anyone who’s anyone in the skiing or snowboarding industry knows the Holden name.
What they do.
What they make.
What they’re worth.
Yet despite all of that, here she is working for me, earning an entry-level graduate salary in a job she could easily bypass in her family’s business and doing a damn good job of it too. I mean, I knew she’d be good at her job, given she’s worked here for the past couple of years while she finished her degree, but now that I’m working with her directly, I can see it’s more than that. She’s incredibly intuitive and unbelievably smart, but there’s also a maturity to this woman that far belies her twenty-two years.
Prior to these last couple of weeks, I hadn’t had a lot to do with her, but I’d certainly seen her around. Shit, just a few months ago, when the avalanche hit, I saw a lot more of her when I discovered she was good friends with Delaney, one of my instructors who got caught up in it all.
They’d been rescued, thank god, Delaney and Alex, one of the new park crew guys who is currently finishing off his degree so he can help me get this new ski academy set up. But until all of that happened, I hadn’t realized Zoey had been such good friends with them, and when they were missing, I’d seen a lot more of her than I’d ever seen before.
Which was good.
And also not good. Sort of.
“Mr. Morrison?”
I look up to find my PA, Cameron, standing in my office doorway, his knuckles still resting on the doorframe, telling me he’s already knocked at least once to get my attention, probably said my name too, and I haven’t heard. The guy’s been with me since Seattle, and when I left to come here, he didn’t hesitate to follow, which is good because, besides being an incredibly hard worker, he is loyal to a fault.
“Yep, hey, Cameron, what’s up?”
He smiles. “Your four o’clock is running a few minutes late,” he says, glancing at the iPad in his hand. “You want me to shift your four-thirty a few minutes?”
“No, keep the four-thirty,” I say quickly, turning to my computer. “If Declan wants to be late, that’s fine, but he doesn’t get to mess up the rest of my schedule as a result,” I add, checking my calendar to confirm what I already know.
Zoey Holden is my four-thirty.
Cameron chuckles like he expected that answer. “That’s what I thought. I’ll be sure to move things along at four-twenty-nine,” he says with a smile.
“That’s why I keep you around,” I reply, returning the smile.
His grin widens as he grabs the door handle and moves to close the door. “Pretty sure that’s not the only reason, Mr. Morrison.”
Laughing, I wave a hand at him, calling out, “Oh, and Cameron?”
“Yes, yes,” he says, sticking his head back inside my office. “Call me Ethan, I know. Never going to happen, though,” he adds, giving me a grin before he closes the door.
By the time Declan finally arrives, he’s wasted fifteen minutes of his negotiation time, but I couldn’t give a shit. I never even wanted to have this meeting with him, only throwing him a bone because we went to college together back in Seattle over a decade ago.
We weren’t exactly friends back then, just had a couple of classes together and mutual friends in common. But after I made the mistake of talking to him when I went back to Seattle for my best friend’s engagement party late last year, he’s been up my ass ever since.
I know what he wants, and while I want no part of it, I pretend to sound interested as he tries to convince me why I should let him buy into my company so he can use my money and name to set up a ski lodge north of Seattle.
A chain of lodges is how he puts it, but not only am I not interested in a chain, I’m also not interested in selling any part of my company. Not to him, anyway. I didn’t work my ass off to get to this point in my career only to hand part of it off to someone I barely even know.
