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For once, Eric felt well-equipped to handle his dad’s interest in local history, his knowledge grounded in nearly a month of fielding guest questions at dinner. On top of that, he’d heard numerous tales about the hotel from Adrian, at times just off-handed remarks that made Eric go,‘Wait, what, a glacial spa? Also,whodid you say stayed here?’
He started off with Turner and Ruskin, known for their landscape paintings inspired by Swiss scenery, and moved on to the ghost of a mountaineer said to roam the hallways of the Gletscherhaus. By the time they rounded the final bend and the hotel appeared in all its timeless glory, he must have been talking for ten minutes straight.
“Definitely not a tourist,” Olivia said when they pulled to a halt out front so they could unload the trunk. Something rang in her voice that Eric couldn’t quite read.
He shrugged, smiled, and went to help with the bags.
Eric’s sister was intimidating.
Adrian showed her to her tiny room, tucked away at the far end of the first guest floor, and all the while, he felt oddly self-conscious.Maybe it was because the closest thing he had to a sibling was Martin, and that claim would raise eyebrows, so… Either way, it wasn’t anything Adrian could really point to—Olivia was perfectly nice, seemed to enjoy the historic vibe, and asked questions about running a hotel that were curious but not intrusive.
“We’re around the same age, aren’t we?” she asked after Adrian had walked her through a few of his daily tasks.
He leaned against the chest of drawers that sat next to the door, aged wood that someone had hand-carved decades ago. “I’m twenty-nine.”
“Thirty.” She nodded. “And honestly, I’d feel nowhere near equipped for that level of responsibility.”
“This is my home,” he told her. “I’ve always known it would fall to me one day, you know?”
“Huh.” She assessed him with a clear gaze, eyes the same warm brown as Eric’s. “You seem nice.”
It sounded like she was leading up to something, so Adrian chose to respond with a careful, “Thank you?”
“My brother is under the impression that the two of you have a casual thing going on.”
Casual. Right.
It hadn’t felt casual this morning—Eric’s quiet smile and how he’d turned into Adrian after the alarm had been silenced, skin sleep-warm.
Adrian shifted his weight. “Um.”
“Good answer,” Olivia said. “Are you planning to screw him over?”
“What? No.” What the hell had brought that on? “I don’t even…He’sthe one who’ll be leaving at the end of the season.”
Olivia studied Adrian with an expression he couldn't quite read. As far as he could tell, he’d given her no reason to mistrust him, so he straightened and met her scrutiny with a level gaze.
“Okay, look, if I’ve done something wrong, tell me. Because otherwise, I may have to throw down the none-of-your-business card.”
“You’re a straight-shooter. I like that.” Her face cleared quite suddenly. When she sent him a small smile, it looked so much likeEric’s that Adrian found it hard not to smile back. He managed, though.
“Yeah. And you were being just a tad presumptuous.”
“That’s fair, I think.” She sat down on the edge of the twin bed and folded her hands in her lap, brown hair falling in waves over her shoulders. Hesitation touched the corners of her mouth before she fixed him with a direct look. “Let’s just say that I’ve had a very recent and unpleasant breakup, and I’m trying not to fall into the all-men-suck trap. Seems like Eric and I are genetically predisposed to dating the wrong people.”
Adrian fought the knee-jerk impulse to defend himself—ridiculous given that he and Eric weren’tdating.
“I’m sorry,” he offered. “Not much I can do to help, but we’ve got an excellent chef and a big stash of chocolate.”
“Kojo?” Her smile looked slightly more real this time, and right, of course she’d know him. “He is excellent—good catch on your part. I don’t think chocolate’s quite what I need, though. What about a punching bag? Eric says there’s a gym.”
“Gym yes, sadly no punching bag. I’ll put it on the list for when I scrape together the money for a renovation. Unfortunately, there are about a dozen other things on that list, so … could be a while.” He hadn’t meant to be quite this honest with her. Must be the eyes.
“Is the hotel in trouble?” Her voice held no judgement.
He shook his head. “No, not as such. But there are things I want to do, only they would require a significant investment. It’ll be awhile until I can afford that.”
“You know, it’s nice to see someone who’s so… Someone who’s exactly where they’re meant to be, I guess. Who’s not just living for the next far-flung holiday destination.” Olivia considered him. “Eric seems at home here.”
