Chapter 23

After Nick and Pilar made all the proactive calls they could, he kissed her, thanked her, and told her she should go back to sleep. Miraculously, within minutes, she had. Rather than risk waking her, Nick got dressed and went upstairs to wait for Tanvi to call with periodic updates.

Hearing noise from outside, he went to investigate. As he stepped out onto the edge of the upper deck, he saw that there were almost a dozen young people sitting in or around the hot tub. The center of their attention were cousin Opal and her traveling companion Kay. Seven of the bathers were women and not one of them was wearing a scrap of cloth from the waist up.

Opal spotted him before he could pull back and waved up at him. “Hey, Nick. You coming to join us?”

Even as tired and sated as he was, Nick wished he could say yes, but he held up his phone. “I’m waiting for a call - just thought I’d get some fresh air in the meantime.”

Opal shaded her eyes and continued to look up. “Is everything all right?”

“I don’t know. There’s a situation in New York. I think I’ve done everything I can for it. Now I just need to find out what happened.” Nick called back.

A person detached from the group and ascended the ladder leading from the lower to the upper deck. It wasn’t until her head, shoulders, and breasts were above floor level that Nick realized it was his cousin Inez.

“What’s going on?” Inez asked, wringing out her hair. Water beaded on her skin and one thick, heavy drop fell from her nipple.

Nick was concerned enough that he could focus and tell her without worrying too much about the fact that she wore only a small black bikini bottom. He hadn’t finished when his phone rang with a call from Tanvi. He asked a few questions, then went back to Inez. “Well, my friends are apparently not being arrested. My lawyer was briefly handcuffed and is threatening to burn down police headquarters, though.”

Inez smiled. “Ainsley does seem to have a lot of spirit to her from what I saw.”

Nick looked her over. “I really need to replace that hot tub in my place.”

Inez laughed and sat beside him. “You also need to find out who did this and make sure they never do it again, you know. You can’t let people fuck with the family like that.”

“It might have been an honest mistake,” said Nick. “I hate to say it, but it would be easy to imagine how people might think there was something nefarious going on at the loft.”

“I would be willing to bet a flight on a private plane to see Les Mis that it’s not,” said Inez. “It’s too specific, too clearly meant to embarrass you and by extension all of us.”

Nick smirked. “What do I get if I win this bet exactly?”

Inez held open her palms in a gesture that might or might not be construed to indicate her own beautiful, naked form. “What do you want?”

That got a laugh. His Stone cousins might be the death of him, but what a way to die. “I think I’d like to go see Les Mis with you in London actually. Anything that inspires such passion is obviously worth going to see.”

Inez turned to face him. “Really? You’re easy.”

“I suppose I am. I have a feeling I’ll have to stop being so easy eventually, but I don’t see how yet. I’ll run out of time to do that sort of thing long before I’ll run out of money.” Nick considered his cousin. “You’ve been rich your whole life. Am I missing something in my thinking?”

Inez considered the question. “I’m nowhere near as rich as you. My brother who holds the family purse strings is nowhere near as rich as you. And we would have to do something colossally stupid in order to ever run out of money.”

“Like marrying out?” Nick asked.

“Nick, I hope you don’t think I was crying poverty to you earlier. I have money in the bank. If my brother did cut off all my access to family funds, the wealth I’ve put aside will go on generating almost as much income as a professor’s salary every year. As long as we both kept working, we’d have a very comfortable upper middle class existence. I did really appreciate the reminder that I’d still have friends in the family, though.” Inez shook her head. “I’m thinking more like what Pilar’s father did.”

Nick looked at her when she didn’t continue. “It must be pretty bad if you stopped in the middle of a story about the family.”

Inez allowed a self-deprecating smile. “Actually in this case, I don’t know the truth. I tend to focus my research on parts of the family I’m not so close to. My Stone blood comes straight from Stone Island, so I study what happened out west a hundred years ago. I’ve heard Pilar talk about her father and it’s real Horatio Alger, pull-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps stuff. I’ve heard my father talk about his little brother and it’s like Romeo and Juliet told from the perspective of a disgruntled Capulet. The truth probably lies somewhere in between, but I should let Pilar tell you her version. It’s more stirring.”

“I’ve heard some of it,” said Nick. “Maybe I’ll ask her the rest.”

Inez looked down at the hot tub. “I should get back in the nice, warm water. Are you going to join us?”

Nick looked down at the beautiful, mostly-naked people relaxing, chatting, and sharing a casual intimacy that was very seductive. “That is ... incredibly tempting, but if I take something now, I might actually get close to a good night’s sleep before the wedding.”

“Take something?” Inez raised an eyebrow.

Nick nodded and rose. “I’m really bad at sleeping. I don’t really do it well without assistance or exhaustion or maybe the right company. But even when I manage to fall asleep, if I wake up in the middle of the night, I generally have to choose between dosing myself back to sleep or just being up for the day.”

Inez got up as well. “So, do you think Pilar is the right company?”

“Too soon to tell. She’s not obviously the wrong company. I managed to sleep soundly next to her most of the way to Montana when I wasn’t sure I’d be able to fall asleep on a plane at all.” Nick smiled at the memory of waking up and realizing they were already landing at Bozeman.

“Well, good luck getting to sleep then.” Inez turned to back down the ladder she’d come up. “If you’re just going to toss and turn and you’d rather have some company, there will probably be someone in the hot tub most of the night.”

Shelby was barely through the door of Alexis’s borrowed apartment before her friend was kissing her. It wasn’t a friendly kiss or a relieved-we’re-not-going-to-jail kiss. It was a kiss with real intent behind it.

She let the kiss happen and returned it eventually, but when it broke, Shelby gave Lexi a disbelieving look. “Are you turned on right now?”

Alexis nodded and placed a line of kisses down Shelby’s chin. “Should I tell you my fantasy?”

Shelby held her close, but looked down at her. “You do realize there are still a bunch of cops who think this might be a whorehouse right now the hall. Don’t you?”

“That’s not a ‘no,’ Shel.” Lexi stroked her hair. “After three years of trying to get to yes with you, my new strategy is to keep going until I hear a no.”

Shelby considered Lexi. Alexis Bellinger had been one of the first people she’d met in Brownfield Mills after Nick. On the surface, they were a lot alike. Lexi was the mayor’s daughter, Shelby’s father a career diplomat. The both came from what passed for wealth in an economically depressed area of upstate New York. Lexi had been an education in all the things Shelby, after years living in diplomatic compounds, desperately wanted to know better - clothes, makeup, dating, boys - the things that would make her a real American girl.

Alexis had even helped Shelby pick out her first boyfriend. She could remember sitting with Alexis’s laptop open to the school directory and Lexi explaining the pros and cons of different soon-to-be-senior boys. Corey was single, well-liked, and a huge Yankees fan. Shelby had heard the word “Yankee” used to describe all Americans so often that she couldn’t imagine anything more American than a huge Yankees fan. Lexi had introduced them, encouraged Corey to ask Shelby out, and provided the alibis when they started dating.

And the whole time, she’d been pining for Shelby herself. This was where the similarity between them ended. Alexis didn’t have a passive-aggressive bone in her body. She was genuinely a sweet, soft, giving person who liked people until they gave her a reason not to.

Shelby stepped back from her friend. “Why don’t we get ready for bed and you can tell me your fantasy?”

Alexis walked into the bedroom, unbuttoning her blouse as she went. She turned and made eye contact with Shelby when she pulled it from her shoulders exposing a lacy black bra. Shelby had seen Lexi naked more than once, but something about the combination of eye contact and deliberate exposure sent a little thrill through her.

“Can I ask something really irrelevant right now?” Shelby found herself suddenly wanting to fill the silence. When Lexi nodded, she asked, “Why did you start by taking your pants off in the game?”

Alexis grinned and unbuttoned her jeans, then sat on the bed and peeled them off, slowly and deliberately. “You love to compliment my legs. And, I think you’re right. I have great legs - and I was never going to compete with you and Emily up top. I don’t think I could take the ego hit of taking my clothes off and nobody bothering to look.”

Shelby smirked and pulled off her turtle tank. “I’m sure all the boys would have looked. You’re Alexis Bellinger - the girl every guy at school wanted.”

Lexi moved in closer to look at Shelby’s neck and trace the marks there with her fingertip. “Are these still from Beck?”

“Those are from Simon.” Shelby said. “I did the potato-water trick on them, but I’ll probably have to choose my summer wardrobe with an eye towards covering marks. We’re starting to get experimental.”

Alexis frowned. “How do you find these guys, Shel? First Beck, now Simon. What are the odds?”

“It’s not odds, Lex. I chose this.” Shelby tilted her head back to better show her neck. “I had to really push him to get it too. He was chickening out on our arrangement.”

“I don’t understand...” Alexis frowned.

Shelby hugged her friend. “I know ... and it’s something I love about you. I don’t expect you to get it entirely. But, you know who I am. Do you really think I was with Beck because I didn’t want to be?”

“You ... certainly complained about him to me often enough,” Alexis reminded her.

“I did ... because he’s a weasley, passive-aggressive little boy at heart.” Shelby scowled. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen him express an honest emotion. But, you’ve never heard me complain about how he touched me. Have you?”

“I guess not.” Lexi frowned. “I did wonder about some of the bruises you had. I figured you’d tell me about them when you were ready to.”

Shelby unhooked her bra, folded it, and placed it on a chair. “Tell me about your fantasy first.”

Alexis blushed and reached into her suitcase, drawing out a long, red t-shirt. As she pulled it on, Shelby asked, “What are you doing?”

“Getting ready for bed.” Alexis said.

“I thought you were going to try to seduce me.” Shelby sat on the bed next to her friend. “Let me see you.”

“Really? You’ve seen me naked before,” Alexis said.

Shelby looked her over. “You said you wanted to try to seduce me. Can I help?”

“Help?” Alexis asked, faintly hoarse.

“I have a pretty good idea what will turn me on,” said Shelby. “Would you like to know what they are?”

Lexi nodded like she didn’t entirely trust her voice. Shelby gripped the bottom of the long, red t-shirt, pulled it up over her friend’s head, and dropped it on the floor. “Look me in the eyes and take your bra off - just for me because you want me to see you and desire you.”

The blonde shivered, swallowed, and met Shelby’s eyes. As she undid her bra, Shelby held eye contact, staring into those beautiful blue eyes until the intensity of it made Lexi look away. Only then did Shelby look down at the perfect slopes of Alexis’s breasts, lean in and take a nipple in her mouth, flicking it with her tongue.

Alexis groaned and gave an unsteady laugh. “You’re not playing fair. I’m supposed to be seducing you.”

“And I’m helping you, Lexi,” said Shelby. “If I let you feel between my legs, will you believe I’m turned on?”

Lexi looked away. “If you let me do that, I might forget to care.”

“Then stop caring,” said Shelby, firm but seductive. “Let me worry about how I get where we’re going tonight. I love you, Lex. But even you don’t get to tell me I’m only allowed to want what’s obvious to me.”

Alexis looked her up and down. Shelby could almost see her friend torn between what she wanted and what she was afraid of. But, she finally nodded. “All right.”

Shelby rose. “I’m going to finish getting undressed and dressed for bed. While I do, I want you to tell me your fantasy, but I also want you to watch me - to really look at me and to not hide what you’re feeling, knowing I’m doing it just for you.”

Alexis gave a hard swallow. “There are variants, but it starts out with us in some kind of trouble.”

Shelby reached between her breasts and unhooked the clasp of her bra, meeting Alexis’s eyes the whole time. “What sort of trouble?”

Alexis’s eyes flickered to her breasts. “You ... mouthed off to some guys we couldn’t handle. We had to run.”

Shelby unbuttoned her pants and lowered the zipper fractionally. “Go on.”

“To get away, we have to steal a car. You hotwire it.” Alexis said. “We peel out of there in a spray of gravel. They chase us.”

Shelby slid her zipper the rest of the way down and began a slow, deliberate wriggle to lower her jeans over her hips. “On motorcycles?”

Alexis gave up trying to meet Shelby’s eyes and watch what she was doing at the same time. She nodded. “Yeah. These are real bad guys like those ones in East Milford who got in a shootout with the cops.”

Shelby slid her jeans the rest of the way over her hips and let them fall to the floor. “But, we get away?”

“Usually,” said Alexis. “We get away and pull into a garage where we can hide. You get out of the car. You’re all pumped up.”

Shelby allowed herself to wonder for a moment where the fantasy went when they didn’t get away, but that was an entirely different conversation. “I sound pretty wild.”

“You are. You’re amazing and on fire.” Alexis nodded. “And I’m freaked out because you could have gotten hurt or killed or ... I start yelling at you.”

Shelby hooked both hands under the little, black thong she’d chosen specifically for tonight. “Do I apologize and promise to never do it again?”

Lexi gave a shaky laugh. “No. You yell back - tell me I’m a scared, little mouse - that I’m too in love with being safe and that I don’t know how to take what I want from life.”

Shelby slid out of her panties and walked to the closet. The outfit she’d bought for tonight was a babydoll cut, maybe not appropriate to the biker-taunting chaos magnet of Lexi’s fantasy, but it was so gauzy and transparent, you could barely tell the shape in the room’s half light. “You are kind of mousy, Lex. You had three years to kiss me and you never tried.”

As Lexi swallowed again to find her voice, Shelby pulled the gossamer nightie over her head and let it flutter down around her.

“In the fantasy, I do. I kiss you just to shut you up at first, but it turns into something real.” Lexi’s voice was definitely hoarse now.

Shelby went around to the far side of the bed and lay down next to her dearest friend. “Then what?”

“After that, it gets pretty explicit.” Lexi said quietly.

Shelby reached up and stroked her hair. “Maybe you’d better show me that part, then.”

The first kiss Lexi gave her was intense and bruising and very real. It took Shelby’s breath away and made her pulse flutter. She pulled Alexis down so that their bodies were pressed together through the barely-there cloth, its nap rubbing rough against Shelby’s nipples. When Alexis’s fingers found their way down between Shelby’s legs, she spread herself open, then shifted the angle slightly as she discovered the difference between men’s and women’s nails. When Lexi rolled her clit between thumb and forefinger, she bucked and cried out.

A small, detached part of her mind wondered if the cops were still out there. She found that she liked wondering.

Lexi kissed her mouth and her jaw and long, purposeful lines along her throat. When Shelby realized she was kissing the marks Simon’s fingers had left, her core tightened.

When Lexi kissed her nipples through the fabric, teasing them with her wet little tongue, Shelby squirmed. When she moved down to Shelby’s stomach and lifted the skirt of her negligee, Shelby’s breathing quickened. When she kissed, Shelby spread herself wide.

There was an odd moment when Shelby buried her hand in Lexi’s hair where the enormity of the moment hit her. It would have been smarter not to do this. She could have lost her friend if there was no spark at all. She might lose Lexi if the spark they’d found guttered and died. She wasn’t sure how they would manage it if she never went back to Brownfield Mills, but Shelby wanted to stay friends with Lexi even once this summer was over and she’d jeopardized it for a little bit of sex.

But the moment passed and there was a warm mouth on her and fingers tracing her most secret places. Shelby lay back and let her body drive for a while. It turned out her body didn’t share her mind’s concerns and enjoyed what Lexi was doing very much.

And then her body liked it to much to process the signals properly. Shelby squirmed under the onslaught. “Lexi. Lexi, stop!”

Lexi might have heard and might have been stopping, but Shelby wasn’t waiting to find out. With her hand already in Lexi’s hair, she pulled the smaller blonde woman’s head away from her sex and close enough to kiss and taste herself on Lexi’s lips.

“Lie on your back.” Shelby demanded and pulled Lexi down to enforce the demand. Then, she said, “Take your fucking thong off.”

Lexi’s eyes widened as she wriggled out of her thong. Shelby’s hand found and rough-stroked her friend’s sex. Lexi whimpered and opened herself. Shelby climbed on top of her, straddling one leg so that her own pussy could rub against Alexis’s upper thigh. She lowered her lead to Alexis’s breast and flicked the nipple back and forth with the tip of her tongue. Alexis moaned and ground against Shelby’s hand.

“You like that?” Shelby asked.

“I do.” Alexis’s voice was a harsh whisper. “I also like when you swear at me.”

Shelby was surprised. She hadn’t even meant to swear and had been a little disturbed by how much she sounded like Beck in that moment. But, if Alexis liked it, she’d go with it. “Do you, you little bitch?”

Alexis closed her eyes and nodded. “I’d like worse.”

“Because you’re a whore?” Shelby asked.

Alexis nodded, eyes still closed. “Call me a cunt.”

“I ... really hate that word.” Shelby equivocated.

“Sorry. Sorry.” Alexis opened her eyes. “Me too. I just ... Maybe you could call me...”

Shelby chastised herself. What was a little gender treachery among friends? “Don’t tell me what to call you, cunt.”

Alexis groaned and bucked against Shelby’s hand. “God, Shel...”

“Are you coming?” Shelby sneered. “God, you are so fucking easy, you little whore.”

Alexis cried out. “God, Shelby. Please ... please...”

“Please what?” Shelby demanded. “Tell me.”

“Please lick my pussy,” Alexis moaned.

Ah. Shelby should have probably seen that coming. This was the part she hadn’t really prepared for. She’d avoided it when she and Lexi had been with Simon and again when she’d brought him Porno Jen. She might have done it the night she got really drunk with Jen, but she didn’t remember. Still, this was clearly part of really being with a woman and there was one final rubicon to cross. She slid to kneel between Lexi’s thighs, shifted one finger to tease her clit and one to the pucker of Lexi’s ass. “Say it again.”

“Please, Shelby. Lick my pussy. I need your tongue inside of me.” Lexi begged.

Lexi was completely hairless, which was a blessing. There was a musk to her that was strange, but not unpleasant. Her pussy was tangy with a taste Shelby couldn’t compare to anything else she’d had in her mouth. It wasn’t exactly a pleasant taste, but maybe it would turn out to be an acquired taste.

Still, it turned out to be just what the doctor ordered. Lexi cried out and arched her back like she’d been hit with a live electrical current. Her ankles locked together and as Shelby’s tongue and lips and fingers worked together, her whole body trembled violently.

“Shel-beeee.” Lexi’s voice rose a full octave or more as she cried out, then switched to a harsh whimpering. Shelby kept tormenting her for a while longer, proud of how thoroughly she was pleasing her friend. She probably could have gone on a lot longer, but she raised her head and kissed her way up Lexi’s stomach, between her breasts, and captured her lips, knowing Lexi would taste herself there. Lexi whimpered and kissed her back.

Shelby let her fingers slow, but didn’t withdraw contact, tracing lazy patterns on Lexi’s flesh. Lexi continued to arch against her for a long time, but her breathing eventually slowed enough for her to say. “I ... didn’t know I liked that. Steve never talked to me like that during sex.”

With her free hand, Shelby stroked Lexi’s hair. “It sounded like something fantasy Shelby would say, but I think I started channeling Beck a little there. Sorry about that.”

Lexi shook her head emphatically. “Don’t be sorry.” She stroked Shelby’s hair and looked in her eyes. “You’re not. Are you?”

Shelby kissed her and teased a second finger into her wet sex to roll her clit, making Lexi whimper. “Do I look sorry to you?”

Lexi bit her lip and shook her head. “You don’t, but I’d like to hear you say it.”

Shelby sighed indulgently and tormented Alexis’s tender flesh a bit more before kissing her again. “Alexis Greer Bellinger, I very much enjoyed making you come. I look forward to doing it again. And I am in no way sorry to have done so. Is that clear and unequivocal enough for you?”

Lexi nodded emphatically and looked at Shelby with such earnest affection that Shelby had to momentarily look away.

“Did you...” Lexi asked. “I couldn’t tell.”

If Lexi couldn’t tell, Shelby could have lied but it felt wrong in the moment. “I got really close. Probably next time.”

“Nick! Nick!” Pilar shook him.

Nick opened his eyes groggily. “Mawake...”

Pilar looked relieved. “Sorry. I couldn’t wake you for a minute. I got worried.”

Nick nodded, found his pill box and his water, and popped a pill. “I took something to help me sleep last night, like...” He looked at the alarm clock. “Five hours ago. Why are we getting up so early? I thought we were sleeping until ten.”

“Dietrich came by. He said Brody has a situation at the lodge that you might be able to help with.” Pilar said.

“Of course he does,” grumbled Nick, waiting for the pill he’d just taken to start to kick in. “Is the situation an emergency?”

“I don’t think so,” said Pilar. “He woke me up too. And, if it makes you feel better, I don’t think Dietrich was any happier to be awake at this hour than we are.”

It didn’t make Nick feel any better. Nick felt like his head was wrapped in a thick cotton towel the tail of which was wrapped around his throat and shoved in his mouth. He’d packed his strongest sleeping pills under the assumption that he’d probably only need them if he ended up sleeping alone, which should have meant he’d get a full night’s sleep. He hadn’t expected the NY fucking PD to raid the loft as soon as he fucking left.

In addition to feeling heavily sedated, Nick knew that he tended to wake up in a really dark mood if he didn’t sleep at least eight hours after taking one. He’d learned to check his own mindset. The world? Hated it. People? Hated them. Kittens? All right. He still didn’t hate kittens. He hoped Arwen had remembered to feed Greebo or that the staff had noticed if she hadn’t. This was one of his standard dark moods. He would survive it. He just needed to remember not to say the first thing that popped into his head or to let crises provoke a panic response for the next couple of hours. He would be fine.

“I’m not surprised Dietrich was tired. He was still in our hot tub when I came back to bed,” Nick decided to say. “If this isn’t an emergency, I’m going to piss and jump in the shower. Do you think you could find out about getting us some coffee?”

“Is it all right if I get dressed first?” The very naked Pilar asked.

Nick wondered if she’d answered the door for Dietrich undressed like that. “I guess. Clothing seems pretty optional at the chalet, but I imagine if the situation is an emergency, Brody can send the other one to tell us.”

Under the shower with an empty bladder, Nick started to feel better. The wake-up pill had just been 150 milligrams of caffeine plus some guarana and other bullshit herbs meant to make his feel better about taking caffeine pills to wake up sometimes. By the time he towelled himself off, he felt more human. The sight of the ruined ties hanging off the headboard made him smile. He really fucking hated ties. The only boss he’d ever actively disliked had been his manager at the marina for three weeks one summer. He insisted on everyone dressing like they were Mormons working in a fucking law office. Nick had kept his head down and worn the damned tie, but his coworkers had basically fragged the guy and he was gone before the month was out.

In case he wound up going straight from the situation to the wedding reception, he dressed in black slacks and a russet button-down shirt over a white athletic tee. Hopefully, that was formal enough for today. If it wasn’t, they’d have to chalk it up to billionaire whimsy.

In the main room, Pilar handed him a mug of coffee. Nick was already buzzing with the pill, but the rich, hot, bitter beverage felt good going down. As she sipped her own cup, Pilar asked, “Do you want me to come with you? Maybe I can help with whatever’s up.”

“That would be good,” said Nick. “I forgot to thank you for your help last night before you went back to sleep, by the way. Thank you.”

“I don’t think I did anything. My police contacts are farther uptown than you needed,” said Pilar.

“Couldn’t have known that until you made the calls,” said Nick. “So, thank you anyway.”

“How did things turn out?” Pilar asked.

“Like you’d probably expect,” said Nick. “The cops backed down and went home. Nobody got arrested. Ainsley got cuffed and she’s probably madder than hornets right now, but I can deal with that once we go home. Inez thinks I need to come down on whoever called this in like a crime boss.”

“Inez?” Pilar raised an eyebrow.

“She was in the hot tub with Opal and Kay and a bunch of mostly-naked cowboys, also mostly naked. We had a little chat while I waited for sitreps. I’m pretty sure I committed to flying to London with her to see Les Mis.” Nick gulped his coffee, enjoying the slightly painful burn. “Let’s go see what this situation is.”

When they got to the lodge, an older man shook Nick’s hand. “I’m Daniel. Brody and Goldie are up in the administrative office.”

Nick looked the man over. “Great Uncle Daniel by any chance?”

“Technically yes, but a man shouldn’t have a title with ‘great’ in it until he starts to go gray.” Daniel gestured at his brown, wavy hair. “So, just Daniel is fine.”

“Fair enough.” Nick followed as Daniel turned to head upstairs. “You’re my grandfather’s brother?”

“His younger, handsomer brother,” said Daniel over his shoulder. “He and Rachel should be here soon if you want to meet them.”

“I’ve met them. I didn’t know they were my grandparents at the time, thought.” As they ascended the stairs, Nick looked around the lobby of the ski lodge. Some of the furnishings were a nod to winter and skiing and there was a massive fireplace on one wall, but it mostly just looked like a modern hotel. “This place looks less like I imagine a ski lodge than the chalet does.”

“We do a lot of corporate retreats, particularly in the off-season,” said Daniel. “Businessmen like their amenities. How are you liking the chalet?”

“It’s gorgeous,” said Nick. “I might have to move in permanently.”

At the top of the stairs, Daniel turned to face him. “If you do, we should probably renegotiate the rent on this place. The chalet is our highest-margin offering by a fair amount.”

“Sorry. I keep forgetting I shouldn’t joke about things I could actually do now,” said Nick. “Montana’s a beautiful place to visit, but my friends and I are just getting used to New York. I don’t think we’ll be moving any time soon.”

Daniel nodded. “We’ve talked about the idea of the whole resort going condo at some point and getting out of the hospitality business all together. Your trustees haven’t been terribly amenable to the idea.”

“I have trustees?” Nick frowned.