"Sure, once you get past the Russian scowl and the fact that he leaves at the crack of dawn so he doesn’t have to run into me, you’re right… he’s a real treat."
She laughs softly. "And you’ve always liked the hard ones."
"I don’t like him," I say too quickly, though that’s not completely true. Not anymore… not after he almost kissed me last night, and I would have let him. "He’s a client."
"Mhm."
Silence stretches just long enough to make me uncomfortable.
"Are you sure this is all about work?"
There it is.
"Yes," I say. Then, firmer to make myself believe it too. "Of course it is."
Mom exhales softly. "Sweetheart… you don’t spend your entire savings to fly across the world for just anyone."
"I flew here because it’s my job."
"And because?"
"And because I’m not losing this account," I snap, then I soften because I remember that she doesn’t mean any harm by it. "I can’t."
She’s quiet for a moment.
"You don’t have to earn everything the hard way," she says finally. "Sometimes things are allowed to be easy."
Easy? Nothing about Luka Popovich, or this account, comes easy.
"I’m about to meet up with my ski instructor," I say, seeing Zack standing by the resort waiting for me further in the distance. "I have to go."
"Okay, okay." She sighs. "Just… don’t shut yourself off from something good because it scares you."
"It doesn’t scare me. Its just non-existent and it’s better that way."
I intentionally leave out that we almost kissed last night and that I’ve seen him naked twice in the short two days that I’ve been here. That would only spur her on.
Zack waves when he sees me inching closer. A smile was already pulling at his lips.
"Call me tomorrow," she says gently. "Tell me how it goes."
"I will."
That is, if I live to see another day after this lesson.
Chapter Eleven
LUKA
I leave because staying is no longer an option.
Steam still clings to the air when I pull on my base layer, the bathroom mirror fogged from a shower I didn’t expect to share—even without looking. My pulse hasn’t settled. My jaw aches from clenching it too hard, for too long.
I warned her.
I knocked. I gave her time. Told her I was coming in. She told me to wait, and I didn’t.
Now all I can think about is the water rolling over my shoulders and the subtle shift of her behind me, the awareness of her presence three feet away with nothing between us but steam and stubbornness.
