Steam (Homecoming Hearts #4)(75)

Opposite the Texans was Bob, the resort’s down-and-out manager. He looked absolutely shattered and more than a little wary of the men to his right. Ashby noticed that Bob did not have a drink.

It was fine. Ashby didn’t anticipate they would be here for all that long.

“So, what’s this all about, princess?” Kiefer asked, sounding amused. “I was most surprised when my secretary informed me you had requested this meeting.” He laughed and looked to his buddies for approval. “I do hope I’m not in trouble,” he said as they forced out chuckles.

“Quite the opposite, Mr. Burton,” Ashby said in delight. “I’m very happy to inform you that I’m here to help.”

“Right,” Kiefer said slowly. “Mr. Willoughby, was it? Or should I call you Miss?”

“Mr. Wilcott will do nicely,” Ashby corrected cheerfully. Kiefer could play all the games he liked. He wasn’t going to ruffle Ashby’s feathers that easily today.

“Sure,” Kiefer said, his tone suggesting he couldn’t care less. “Well, I’m not sure what you could possibly help me with.”

The way his eyes traveled up and down Ashby’s body suggested he knew exactly how he would like Ashby to help him out. Ashby was impressed he managed not to gag. The idea of letting that asshole anywhere near him was beyond repulsive.

“It’s simple,” he said, opening the file in front of him. He took two identical documents out and slid one toward Kiefer and the other to Bob.

“What’s this?” Kiefer asked, tapping the top sheet of stapled paper without bothering to look at it.

Ashby beamed, excitement fizzing in his guts. He couldn’t believe he was actually doing this. “Oh, that’s just my proposal to buy the resort outright for twice what the nuclear power plant people were willing to pay for the land. In cash.”

The three Texans stilled. Bob’s tired eyes suddenly popped wide open and he snatched up the papers in front of him to flip eagerly through them.

“Cute,” Kiefer said, his tone clipped. “But it’s a done deal, son.”

“Actually, no it’s not,” Ashby said, enjoying himself probably a little bit too much. “I had my team of lawyers check. And according to them, any proposal to buy the resort has to be considered as to whether it’s regarded as the best option for the employees and community at large. You see,” he said leaning forward, “when I’m the owner and not you, I will be committed to restoring this business to the standard it should be. I’ll invest in it like an owner should and see that it starts turning a profit again. Quite a substantial one.” He waved his hand and leaned back in his seat again. “It’s all there in the proposal,” he said.

Trent’s hand snuck over to squeeze Ashby’s knee. It wasn’t even for a second, but Ashby appreciated it.

“As the owner,” Kiefer said with a tight smile, “I ultimately get to decide what happens with this dump. And I would personally love nothing more than to see it razed to the ground.”

“Now hold on there a minute, Burton,” one of the older Texans said, the large one. He had the proposal open and pushed it over to the other skinny guy, stabbing a finger at what Ashby guessed was the bottom line. “This is a ridiculously good offer. If this boy wants to throw his money at this shithole, I say let him.”

“Me too,” the lanky guy said. Ashby could see the greed in his eyes even from where he was sitting across the room. “It’s not like we have anything to lose. This place is a money pit.”

Ashby didn’t look away from Kiefer as he stared at him. He knew the point here was how much Kiefer wanted to hurt him and Trent for ‘beating’ him, as he saw it. But that wasn’t going to happen. Anyone could see that selling the resort as a fixer-upper was the far preferable option to bulldozing it. Ashby could see the dollar signs in Kiefer’s colleagues’ eyes. As stakeholders, they had just as much to gain as Kiefer did.

“Um, excuse me?” Bob’s timid voice floated across the room. “This, uh, means no one would have to lose their jobs, right?”

“Actually,” Ashby said. He clasped his hands in front of him and turned so Bob had his full attention. “It says that within nine months, that is, by the middle of next ski season, we should be able not only to offer pay rises for all current staff, but we should also be in the position to hire a number of new employees.” He looked back at Kiefer with a sweet smile. “You see, when you invest in things like remodeling, updating staff training, expanding services and proper marketing, it means more customers come and spend their lovely money. Like I said at the start. Simple.”

“Right, okay,” Bob said, nodding eagerly. “That. I want to do that.”

“On behalf of the resort’s employees,” Trent said. He pulled a folded piece of paper from inside his leather jacket pocket and opened it to reveal all the signatures they had collected. “I can confirm this is what they want as well.”

“Let’s do it,” said the large Texan on the left. “Where do we sign?”

Kiefer wasn’t quite done yet though. “We can’t do anything without informing our current business partners at the energy company,” he said irritably. “I say we still go with them.”

“And I say I’ll tell them myself that they have been outbid,” said the skinny Texan on the right. He pulled a gold pen out from his breast pocket and clicked it open. “You’re outnumbered, Kimmy. We’d be fools to turn down this offer.”