Then his hands were on my hips, warm and firm through my jeans, guiding me into the side-to-side motion. My breath caught.
“Pretend you’re going downhill,” he said, his voice close to my ear. “You’d have ski poles in either hand, so you need to get lower.”
“Lower how?”
“Lean forward. Bend your knees. Stick your ass out.”
I started to straighten up, bristling. “Excuse me?”
His hands tightened slightly on my hips, keeping mein place. “Believe me, I’m not just being a pervert. This is how it works.”
Maybe he could tell I was skeptical—or embarrassed—because he kept talking. “At the gym in Aspen, they’ve got this whole setup with a screen in front of you. Makes it look like you’re doing a real downhill course. The owner wanted to rig it all up in a VR headset, but it made everyone get dizzy and fall over.”
While he talked, his hands stayed on me, guiding me through the motion. And slowly—grudgingly—I let myself relax into it. Bent my knees. Stuck my butt out. Brought my chest down like I was leaning into a slope.
After a moment, he stepped to the side, watching me continue the movement on my own.
“How am I doing, coach?” I asked after a minute or two, trying not to sound winded, but this was harder than it seemed.
“Looking good.”
With that low, rumbly tone, I couldn’t tell if he meant my form or something else. Heat crept up my neck.
“How much longer do I need to do this?”
“Ready to try something else?”
“Yes. Unless it’s jumping on that box or standing on that balance board.”
He chuckled and reached up, offering me his hand. I took it and stepped down, my legs feeling like jelly. “I’ll let you keep your feet on the ground,” he said, soundingas if he was making a great concession. “Since this is your first day.”
Myonlyday doing this, I thought. But I found myself wondering what the rest of the internship would be like. Would I even see him again? He’d be off giving ski lessons to other guests, and I’d be running around the resort, learning everything I could—if Mrs. Greer ever let me do real work.
I’d at least see him in the staff quarters at night. What did people call it again? Oh yeah, the hideaway. The thought of sitting next to him in the dark, on the sofa in front of the fire wasn’t exactly an unpleasant one.
Kai led me to the far wall where those straps I’d noticed earlier hung from the ceiling. “TRX suspension trainer,” he said. “Great for core strength and balance.”
He grabbed the handles and demonstrated, lowering himself down in a controlled motion. Even through his shirt, I could see his abs tighten, every muscle defined as he held himself there for a beat before pulling himself back up. He made it look easy, but I suspected he’d engaged a lot of his powerful muscles.
“Your turn.”
We switched places, and he adjusted the straps for my height, showing me where to grip. “Start with pulling the straps down. Just straight down and keep your core tight.”
I reached up, grabbed the handles, and pulled. Myarms shook as I tried to pull the handles down with some degree of control.
“This is harder than it looks,” I muttered, managing two more reps I eased the straps up to the starting point.
I kept my arms up, gripping the straps. “I really need to get back to my actual job. I’m not here to increase my upper body strength.”
“The goal isn’t to give you biceps of steel. We’re trying to help you loosen up and move fluidly—both out on the slopes and in here. You’re holding your muscles so tight. Your shoulders are hunched, and it’s affecting every step you take.” He paused. “There’s a sauna upstairs. You should check it out sometime.”
An image flashed through my mind—Kai with a white towel wrapped around his waist, steam curling around him—and heat flooded my face.
His eyes darkened like he knew exactly what I’d been thinking. “But if you don’t have time to work out anymore, or hit the sauna, or get a massage...” He took a step closer. “I know another way to help you loosen up.”
The hunger in his expression was unmistakable, and my breath caught in my throat.
He was just standing there, maybe a foot and a half away, but I couldn’t move. Not frozen with fear, frozen because I didn’t want to move. Not when he was looking at me like that.
