“Well, look what the cat dragged in.”

Ashby smiled at Kiefer as he and Trent entered one of the resort’s only conference rooms. Like the rest of the place, the walls were beige and the carpet a faded and threadbare brown. A sad-looking potted fern sat drooping in the corner. Poorly painted watercolors of the mountains hung in frames on the walls.

A cream oval table with eight chairs dominated most of the space in the room. Kiefer sat toward one end with two other guys, all still wearing their Stetsons. One was large, the other tall and lanky. Ashby’s English sensibilities were offended by the bad manners of wearing hats indoors, let alone to a meeting, but he smiled and ignored the cultural clash. Let them think this was their meeting.

“Mr. Burton,” Ashby said cheerfully. “How lovely to see you again. You’ll be delighted to know Mr. Charles Sr. was reunited with his beloved dog Merlin. I know you must have been terribly worried after your faux-pas the other day.”

Kiefer took a sip of whiskey from the tumbler he had in front of him, as did the two men flanking him. “Of course,” he said dryly and licked his lips. “You seen any more reporters on the premises? I’d hate for you boys to have been bothered any further.”

Ashby hummed as he and Trent took their seats down at the other end of the table. He wouldn’t have been surprised if Kiefer was inviting the paparazzi in with open arms to harass him and Trent some more. Luckily, there hadn’t been any other incidents so far.

“Oh, we’ve got far more important things to worry about than some silly photographers,” Ashby said with a wave of his hand, his bangles chinking quietly together. He placed the file he held down on the table and offered the other men a sweet smile. Trent sat in silent support beside him.

Ashby had thought very carefully about what he wanted to wear today. He knew first hand it was tricky to come across with authority to people who were narrow minded if he presented as too feminine. But he also knew he was more confident when he looked like himself. With Trent beside him, he had decided to push his gender boundaries as much as he felt able to for this occasion.

He had on his favorite black boots with the small heel and black leggings with a white shirt loosely tucked in. But he finished the look with a beaded necklace under the collar, one of his flowing cardigans in teal that reached down to his knees, and had slicked on a little eyeliner. He could feel the other men in the room casting suspicious gazes over him. But this was a conservative look to Ashby. Just enough to make him feel like a bloody warrior.

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.”

“It is a ludicrous amount of money,” Ashby said with a sigh, shaking his head.

Both the Texans had already signed the contract. The big one pushed the papers in front of Kiefer and raised his eyebrows.

The vein on the side of Kiefer’s head was visibly popping out. He ground his teeth and glowered at Ashby and Trent. “Fuck it,” he snarled, snatching up the pen and scrawling down his signature. “I hope it makes you bankrupt.”

“Oh, I don’t know,” said Ashby as he reached over and pulled the papers back to him. “I am obscenely rich and I’m not an idiot.” He batted his eyelashes at Kiefer as he downed the last of his whiskey. “Or an arsehole. I’m prepared to actually do some work and make this place flourish. It was a pleasure doing business with you. Now, please leave my resort. We have certain standards to maintain.”

Without another word, Kiefer rose to his feet, buttoned up his blazer, and stormed out of the conference room. The other two Texans seemed to pick up that the insult wasn’t directed at them, as they took the time to come around and shake Ashby’s hand before they left. Bob watched them go with an open mouth.

“Right, Bob,” Ashby said, catching his attention. “Would you like to go over some more of the proposal? I’ve got so many ideas that I’m very excited about discussing with you. I’ll give Darnell a call and see about having some refreshments brought over. We’re celebrating after all.”

Bob looked at him, then giggled, like a child. He clapped his hand over his mouth, but it didn’t stop the mirth from shining out of his eyes. “I can’t believe you saved us,” he said once he found some of his composure. He looked like the weight that had been sitting on his shoulders had finally lifted, and he appeared years younger for it.

Trent took Ashby’s hand and smiled at him. “That’s what he does,” he said. Ashby saw the pride in his eyes and could have died from happiness there and then. “He’s a hero.” Trent leaned over and kissed Ashby softly on the cheek. “I’ll leave you guys to discuss business. I’ll see you at home.”

Because of course Ashby had bought Trent’s cabin for them as part of the agreement. He had plans to expand on it and make it a real home.

“Bye,” he said softly, watching his boyfriend leave and close the door. He couldn’t stop smiling.

Finally, he’d done something of real value with his life. And he had the man he loved by his side as he did it.