Chapter 9
The air is filled with steam as Olivia steps into the generous sauna on the lower floor, with only a small hand towel wrapped around her.
William, Emil, and Pontus are already sitting on the top bench, and their eyes are immediately drawn to her breasts.
Let them look. Olivia smiles to herself. She isn’t especially shy, and has nothing against skinny-dipping in the summer. She knows she has an attractive body.
William leans forward and hands her a beer; the bottle is cold and covered in condensation.
“Make some room,” Olivia says, giving Amir a push. He does as he is told, and Olivia settles down. She rests her head against the wall, reveling in the heat.
Outside the wide window, the ?re valley is resting in shadow.
The sun sets shortly before four, and the lifts close at three.
They managed only a few hours’ skiing today because they spent the morning unpacking.
It was also bitterly cold, minus seventeen on the slopes and all the way down to minus twenty-three by the VM8 lift, which is one of ?re’s most notorious cold spots.
It was nice to get back to the warmth of the house. Olivia has been looking forward to the sauna; she has always enjoyed allowing herself to be wrapped in the intense heat.
Maybe she has some Finnish blood in her?
The door opens again, and Filippa appears.
She is wearing a red-and-white striped swimsuit and a tense expression, as if she isn’t entirely comfortable with being here.
Olivia gives her friend an encouraging smile and beckons her in.
Filippa doesn’t know the boys as well as she does, and she can be a little reserved.
She has seemed kind of subdued all day, and Olivia hopes she isn’t regretting her decision to come along.
The idea is to have a fun week together, after all.
“Shut the door,” Pontus grunts. “There’s a draft.”
Olivia frowns at him. Why does he have to sound so bad tempered?
“Sorry,” Filippa says, quickly closing the door.
Olivia shuffles along the bench, and Filippa sinks down beside her.
“Here,” Amir says, handing Filippa a beer.
“Thanks.” She takes a small sip, then starts picking at the blue nail polish on her toes.
“Sk?l,” Olivia says, clinking her bottle against Filippa’s with a big smile. “Don’t you just love a sauna!”
She has almost finished her beer, and notices that the towel has slipped down, exposing one breast. But so what? It’s not as if the others haven’t seen a naked girl before.
Out of the corner of her eye, she sees Pontus react; there is something sticking up beneath the towel he has placed over his crotch. Olivia is both amused and slightly disgusted at the same time. She wouldn’t let Pontus anywhere near her—no chance.
He isn’t in her league—not by a long way.
“Time to roll in the snow!” William announces enthusiastically.
He leaves the sauna and opens the patio door, which leads directly outside. Then he hurls himself into the deep drifts.
“Fuck, that feels good,” he shouts, challenging the other guys. “Come on, you cowards!”
Olivia follows and throws herself down beside him, gasping with shock as the snow envelops her. It is so cold it makes her teeth tingle, and the adrenaline surges through her body. In a second any hint of tiredness is gone.
William smiles appreciatively as she lies naked beside him. Pontus and Amir are racing around shrieking and laughing, without a stitch on.
Filippa is standing just inside the door, frowning as she watches the others.
“Come on, Filippa—it’s amazing!” Olivia yells.
But Filippa shakes her head.