“Stupid goddamn…”
Nathan rubbed his chin, the scruff growing in rough on the pads of his fingers. He’d been flirting with growing out a beard, but he hadn’t quite decided yet. The light scruff was a good look though. He always got more looks from women when he had some scruff on him. It went with the whole sexy handyman thing, he supposed.
“You need a shave.” His little brother Eric sat down across from him with his coffee and smirked. “Actually…you know what, nevermind. It looks good like that.”
Eric Strauss was the youngest of the four Strauss brothers. He was also the concierge at Black Bear Lake Lodge where Nathan was the handyman. But they both held equal rank along with their brother Cody. It was Connor who really ran things, but they all had an equal share. They’d bought the place themselves with a chunk of the sizable Strauss family fortune. It was a life Nathan would never have predicted for himself. But he found that he loved the place and he loved running it with his brothers.
“Thanks for your approval,” Nathan said sardonically. He shoved the computer in Eric’s direction. “I need a new evil machine.”
“You mean a laptop?” Eric raised an eyebrow. “Jesus. It’s like your Amish.”
“I just bought this one and I already need a new one,” Nathan said. “What a scam.”
“It’s like five years old!”
“Exactly,” Nathan said, shrugging.
“Oh my God.” Eric chuckled. “I think you can afford it. You could afford to buy the company that makes it if you wanted to. I’ll order you a new laptop, no worries.”
“Will you set it all up?” Nathan said warily. “I dunno how to do all that shit.”
“Yeah! I’ve noticed. Sure, of course I will. And I know you haven’t backed this shit up lately, so hopefully, it’s in the cloud or I can rescue your data.”
Nathan squinted at him. “The cloud is like…you don’t mean an actual cloud, right?”
“Jesus,” Eric snorted. “You’re so Amish.”
“We’re bear shifters. We should be Amish really.”
“For a guy who wants to live without technology, you sure like the hot tub in your suite.”
“I mean that’s really just hot water,” Nathan said, grinning because he was caught out.
He had been wary of working at a place like Black Bear Lodge when Connor had first convinced them all to buy the place and run it, not because they needed the money but because it would be fun. But Nathan had just come from years of running on his own, away from family and all the obligations he’d thought came with it. He’d been young then, wild and more than a bit rebellious. He’d spent some years in the wilderness making trouble and doing some things he’d never confessed to anyone (mostly due to falling in with an asshole of a bear named Rawley). But after that, he’d come home for good.
To their credit, his brothers had never begrudged his time away from them. Not even Connor had been angry. It was as if they all understood that he had needed to see what was out there in the great beyond before he returned. After that, he’d never wanted to leave his family again. And as it turned out, playing handyman for the luxurious resort they now ran in Big Bear Lake was his dream job.
The lodge was right there on the mountain, surrounded by glorious woods where he could run and fish and play with his brothers in his bear form. It also boasted four luxury suites in the east wing, one for each of them. Best of all, he considered handyman to be the easiest job at the lodge because things didn’t break down badly very often. In cold weather, the pipes were the biggest problem. He did some maintenance here and there, but the rest of the time, he was usually fixing something minor or waiting around to be told what to do next or helping out his brothers if they needed it. But for the most part, he had run of the place. He couldn’t have asked for anything better.
“Oh, before I forget,” Erica said, tapping his fingers on the laptop. “There’s a busted bathroom sink in twenty-seven and it’s just been booked.”
“I’m on it. Pipes are all fucked up stuff. Usually, just have to run hot water through em’. But I’ll check it.”
“Alright.” Eric nodded. “You want to go on a run tonight? I know you like night runs when you think you might freeze to death.”
“Yeah!” Nathan said. “Sounds good. See if we can wrench Connor away from his office and Cody from the kitchen?”
“Cool cool.” Eric got to his feet, taking his coffee and Nathan’s laptop. “See ya later.”
“Yep.” Nathan gave himself a few more minutes to drink the rest of his coffee and read the local paper on his phone. He still hated reading from a screen, but the hard copy of the newspaper always went missing as soon as it reached him.
“Wish I was Amish,” Nathan muttered.
Finally, he got to his feet and headed off to the maintenance stock room at the back of the lodge to grab his tool belt. He had no other work orders yet today but he didn’t like to laze about too much, especially with bookings picking up for their busiest season. He planned to check up on the gondola and look at the recent inspection report. They’d never failed to pass inspection but if the report mentioned things like even slightly worn parts or dirty windows, he wanted to check them out himself.
Nathan whistled tunelessly as he headed upstairs to Room 27, a spring in his step because he liked the busy season and all the people around, even when they were demanding or a little ridiculous. He found it all fairly entertaining and he wasn’t in charge of enough business at the lodge to stress about anything. That was Connor’s job.
“Hey, Nathan!”
“Nathan! Good to see you again!”
“How’s the season been so far, Nathan?”
There were a lot of regular guests at the lodge. They always seemed to want to talk to him and he was happy to oblige.
When the Strauss brothers had bought it, the Black Bear Lodge had been functional at best but nothing very special. But together, they’d turned it into one of the most popular and luxurious ski resorts in Colorado, always popping up in Top Five lists on travel sites alongside Aspen resorts.
The place as sprawling and boasted any amenity a visitor with some money in their pocket might possibly want. They had powder almost year-round, hot springs, an indoor pool, a full spa with saunas and a gym. They even had a shopping promenade with so many well-stocked vendors that the brothers themselves rarely needed to go into town. The food was gourmet quality all under the supervision of Cody Strauss, who took food very seriously.
But what Nathan liked best about the lodge was that, despite its obvious luxury, the place felt homey. At least to him. The old fashioned wood paneling gave the place a mid-century feel and the oil paintings of bears on the walls had been custom painted, all depicting scenes of Nathan and his brothers in their bear forms, some based on photographs from their childhood. Nothing was old at Black Bear Lodge, all the furniture new and sturdy and at once classic and modern. But the place had an old feel to it so that when guests visited they felt at home, as if visiting some rich uncle’s mansion instead of just feeling as if they were in a hotel. Cody had taken on that idea and run with it in his menus for the dining hall, creating twists on comfort food like macaroni and cheese with gruyere or grilled salmon pizza.