His coat was open, showing a Henley shirt pulled tight across the muscled wall of his chest. His hair was light brown and spiky, and his eyes were the bluest I’d ever seen, even from twenty feet away, though he was closing that distance fast. I’d expected a ski pro to be lithe and limber, capable of reaching great speeds on the slopes, but this guy had muscles on top of muscles.
“I’m Kai,” he said, with an easy smile on his tanned face. “You must be Zoe.”
“Yes?” I stuttered and flushed as I realized it sounded like a question. Hopefully he thought it meant I was asking him what he needed, and not that I wasn’t entirely sure of my own name. But good god, just looking at him was enough to make me forget it.
”You’re a difficult woman to locate,” he continued. “I went to your room, but it was empty.” For some reason, an image of my room—the studio apartment I shared with two other students back in Haverford—flashed through my mind. Then I realized he meant here at the ski lodge.
“How’d you know where my room was?” It was the only question that I managed to formulate. Those blue eyes were mesmerizing. Like the sky on a perfect spring day.
“Because I’m your roommate. Your soon-to-be favorite roommate.” His voice was cocky and assured, but I happened to agree with him, since my other roommate was Asher, the chef with a superior attitude and a stick up his butt. That made Kai my favorite roommate by default—even if he let me die in a jumbled mess of limbs at the bottom of a mountain today.
His eyes swept over me as if in assessment. “Greer’s got you working at reception already? You must’ve impressed her.”
“Something like that,” I mumbled. Mrs. Greercertainly hadn’t seemed impressed by me yesterday and likely didn’t know I was back here.
Kai shrugged a duffel bag off his shoulder. It landed on the counter between us with a thud. “Got your ski suit.”
“My what now?” I stared at the duffel bag, wishing I could make my brain kick into gear. I’d seen good-looking men before. Hell, I’d ridden for three hours with one yesterday, albeit a very grumpy, ill-mannered one.
After I’d made notes about all my plans for this lodge last night, I’d spent a little time looking up skiing basics, but I’d been too tired to do much more. It had been a long day, both physically and mentally. Now I was awake and energized, but I felt unprepared, like I’d forgotten to study for a test.
“Ski suit, boots, and goggles, and so on. Get changed, and we’ll get started.”
“Changed?” I echoed.
I wasn’t usually this tongue-tied, but I had a feeling Kai had that effect on many women. Probably a lot of men, too.
His eyebrow raised at a cocky angle. “Do you need me to help you?” His voice held a note of amusement.
“No,” I said quickly, though that might not be true. “I’ve never worn any of this stuff before, but I’ll figure it out.”
“Just put the suit on, and I’ll help you with the boots out here.”
“All right.”
I pulled the duffel bag toward me and staggered as it fell into my arms. “What have you got in here, an anvil?” I tried for a casual tone.
“We don’t use those until lesson two,” he said with a wink. Then he tilted his head to the side, probably wondering what my problem was as I just stood there. I was wondering that as well.
Finally, he filled the silence. “The suit came from the shop upstairs. It’s Norwegian, and the best there is. They don’t do things by half measures here. I hope the size is right. Ash gave me his best guess.”
Wait, what? “Asher talked to you about me?”
Kai grinned at the indignation in my voice. “Yep.”
Crap. “I bet he had a lot of complimentary things to say about me.”
Kai’s grin widened at my sarcasm. “He did about your size.”
My cheeks flamed as I turned, lugging the bag. I didn’t even want to know howthatconversation went. I hadn’t seen the prickly chef this morning, which was a relief. If he wasn’t a morning person, that meant I didn’t have to start my day getting scowled at.
I was deeply uncomfortable with the thought that Asher had been examining my body last night—likelywhen I ran into him in the hall—but then again, hadn’t I done the same thing with him? My primary thought was basicallyhow could such an asshole look that damn good?Possibly he’d been thinking something similar about me.
Clara pointed me toward the employee restroom. This being The Fraser, the room was full of marble, floor-to-ceiling mirrors, and even a chandelier. This place was unbelievable. Kai’s scuffed-up duffel bag looked very out of place. Then again, so did I, probably.
The ski suit was black, and all one piece. The material was light but insulated. It did look to be very high quality, but that didn’t mean it was easy to get into. Even though it was padded, it was somehow tight at the same time.
After I tugged it over my jeans. I stripped off my sweater; otherwise, there was no way my arms were going to fit in the sleeves.
