“What?” He had an indulgent smile on his face, as if he was already prepared to laugh with me.
“You forgot the absolute bravest thing I did.”
“What’s that?”
“I let your brother give me a ski lesson.”
He laughed. “There’s a thin line between brave and foolhardy. But speaking of my brother, he’s working at the bar tonight. Want to go hang out with him?”
“Sure.” I pushed the blanket away and stood up.
“Asher might be able to take a break and come hang out as well.”
Wait. Was Landon speaking a little too casually? He made it sound like we might all four end up in the same location completely coincidentally, which seemed a little suspicious because we spent a lot of time together. But I did want to see them. And trusting Landon had never led me astray.
He held my hand when we walked over there, and it just felt so good. I’d always wondered when I saw couples on campus walking along holding hands, why theyneeded to do that. Did they think they’d fall over if they didn’t? Okay, sure, I knew that wasn’t the actual reason, but it just seemed so unnecessary. But now I knew—it felt good to feel his warm, strong hand wrapped around mine. It was a connection. It was comfort. I liked it.
He kept hold of my hand when we walked over to the bar, where a guy who looked just like him, only with a hundred times the chaotic energy, was behind the bar. We settled at the far end and watched Kai, who seemed to be in his element. He was playing to the guests, joking and flirting while mixing drinks. Maybe he had a future in bartending when he was done skiing. It kind of felt like he’d do well at any job that allowed him to show off and be admired.
But maybe that wasn’t fair. There was a lot to admire about him, whether he was flaunting it or not.
He came down to us after a couple of minutes. “Your drinks will be ready shortly,” he said, without a greeting.
“We didn’t order any,” Landon said.
“Don’t need to. You’re my twin. I know what you want.”
I laughed. “But I’m not your twin.”
He winked. “Which is a good thing, considering what we did the other night.”
I flushed. I hadn’t mentioned the extra lesson to Landon when I’d told him about the interaction between Kai and Mr. Hartley. “Howdo you know what I want to drink?” I spoke quickly to cover my embarrassment.
“I think I’ve done a pretty good job so far of figuring out what you like, right?” He raised his eyebrows suggestively.
I blushed. “Right.”
Then he looked at Landon. “Did you ask her yet?”
Landon froze. And so did I, wondering why he had. “Um, ask me what?”
Finally, Landon shook his head, giving his twin a long-suffering look. “You do realize I’m just the advisor here. You and the super chef in the kitchen are the instructors.”
Kai shrugged. “Okay.” He looked at me. “So, Zoe, do you want to?—”
That was all he got out before Landon put his hand over his brother’s on the bar. It was definitely not handholding like we had just done. It was more like a silencing slap.
Then Landon looked at me. “Do you mind getting Ash? He should be here for this conversation.”
I slid off the stool, nodding. If Landon was about to tell off his brother, I didn’t really want to witness that. I still didn’t know what was happening, but taking a short time-out didn’t seem like a bad idea to me.
As I walked toward the kitchen, my stomach was tight with anticipation. When I first got here, I’d hatedgoing down to the kitchen, interrupting Asher, having him look up from what he was doing, see me, and look disappointed. But maybe that wouldn’t happen tonight.
And sure enough, it didn’t. Before I even reached the door, he spotted me through the pass, gave me a jaunty little salute, and held up a hand for me to wait. I did, watching everyone rush around in the kitchen like a choreographed dance. Everyone knew what they were doing, and I suspected it had a lot to do with the head chef.
Asher gave instructions to a couple of the other chefs, and then he came out to join me. He didn’t ask why I’d gotten him. We just walked back to the bar.
“Pull up a chair,” Landon told Asher after I slid back onto my bar stool.
