Chapter 13 Asher
ASHER
It was the nicest sauna I’d ever been in. And also the only sauna I’d ever been in.
It wasn’t like students or chefs had time for spa days. But anything to help out an old friend. If only he’d actually show up.
How long was I supposed to stay in here? Beads of sweat were already forming on my skin, especially where the towel wrapped around my waist.
The door opened, sending steam swirling through the small room, and Zoe walked in.
What the actual fuck?
She blinked, as if trying to clear her vision through the steam. Then her eyes settled on me as the door clicked shut behind her.
“Asher?” She said it like she hadn’t seen me in months instead of last night back at the hideaway.
Shit. What the hell was she doing here?
That was what my brain said. But my senses were on high alert, because she looked fucking amazing.
The white towel wrapped around her barely covered her breasts, the edge of the fabric straining against curves I’d been trying not to notice for days.
It ended high on her thighs, making her normally pale skin look darker by comparison—though still soft and smooth.
Her hair was up in a loose, messy bun, nothing like the severe style she wore when she was working. A few damp strands already clung to her neck.
And holy fuck, her legs.
I had no idea her legs were that good. Long and lean and—shit, that was not what I was supposed to be focused on right now.
“Why are you here?” She stole my line.
“I was supposed to meet someone.” I kept my voice even. “Why are you here?”
“It doesn’t matter.” Her tone was prickly—the kind that would’ve made the twins tell her to drink last night. “I’m not staying.”
She tugged on the door handle. The movement made her ass shift under that towel in a way I absolutely should not be noticing.
The door didn’t open.
“What the—” She pulled harder.
I got to my feet and crossed the small space. She saw me coming and jumped back like I was on a mission to steal her towel. Not that that wasn’t an entertaining thought.
I grabbed the handle and pulled. Nothing.
“Shit.”
I was pretty sure saunas weren’t supposed to lock.
Zoe had transitioned from pissed off to panicked. “We could die in here! How could anyone get accidentally locked in a sauna?”
Suddenly it hit me, and I groaned, backing up until I felt the wood of the bench behind me. I sat down heavily. “We haven’t been accidentally locked in.”
She tried the door one more time, yanking hard enough that her towel shifted dangerously low over her breasts. “I beg to differ.”
“We’re locked in,” I said. “But not accidentally. This was deliberate.”
“What?” She stared at me blankly.
“The twins did this.”
“What?” Her voice went up an octave. “Why would they do that? We have to get out of here.”
“Will you relax? We’re not in danger. We’ve been locked in by our friends, not accidentally.”
“How is that better?” she snapped.
“Well, presumably, they’ll let us out at some point. They’re idiots, not murderers.”
Though she didn’t look resigned to our fate, she sat on the bench opposite me. She crossed one leg over the other, a move that couldn’t help but draw my attention to the way the towel rode even higher on her thighs.
I dragged my gaze away. Barely.
“Why would they do this?” she asked sulkily.
“They must have some kind of warped twin logic behind this.”
“This had to be Kai’s idea.” It didn’t sound like a question.
“Both of them, probably.”
She shook her head. “Landon wouldn’t do this.”
“Maybe not now,” I admitted. “But he and Kai used to always get into trouble.”
She still didn’t look convinced. “How could it even be them? They didn’t know I was coming here.”
“But they knew I was. Landon told me he needed to talk to me privately. That he’d meet me here at this time.” Shit, I should’ve realized how suspicious that sounded. Guys didn’t hang out in saunas. Except maybe European dudes.
“Really?” She frowned. “But he couldn’t have known I was coming.”
“Why did you come?”
“Mrs. Greer asked me to. She’s been sending me to try out various aspects of the hotel, saying I need to learn how things operate.” Zoe’s frown deepened, for once pissed off at someone besides me. “Honestly, I think she just wants to get me out of her hair whenever she can.”
Huh. Old Lady Greer and I finally had something in common. “Did anyone hear her tell you to come?”
“I guess there were some people around, but not Kai or Landon.”
“They could’ve heard it secondhand. They have spies all over. Everybody loves them.”
She gave a delicate, ladylike snort. “Even Mr. Pierce?”
I almost laughed. “Especially Mr. Pierce. I can’t decide if he wants to be Kai or fuck him.”
This time, she did laugh, and the sound did something weird to my chest. “I had the same thought the first day I met him.”
She recrossed her legs, the other one on top now, and the towel slid even higher.
It took heroic effort not to stare at where it barely covered her. Instead, I let my gaze trace down her long, smooth legs. Such small, delicate feet. Her toenails were painted pink.
Shit, she was gorgeous. Why the hell couldn’t her inner beauty match her outer beauty?
“So why’d they do this?” she asked.
My attention snapped back to her face. Unless I was mistaken, her gaze had been aimed rather low, too. Had she been checking me out? I had my legs spread, but I doubted she could see under the towel from her angle.
And I didn’t give a fuck if she could.
I was hot, sweaty, and trapped with one of my least favorite people in the whole resort. I didn’t see how squeezing my legs together and crushing my cock and balls was going to help that situation. “I don’t know.”
“It doesn’t make any sense. Do they want us to kill each other?”
“That’s one possibility.” I shrugged. “Or maybe they want us to hash things out.”
“Hash things out while nearly naked?” She sounded skeptical.
“I can think of a few ways to do that.”
“Not interested,” she said firmly, scowling at me.
“I didn’t say I was interested. I said I could think of a few ways.”
For some reason, she took that as a challenge. “Yeah? So you’re telling me that if I took off my towel right now, you wouldn’t be interested?”
Heat shot through me, but I didn’t let my expression change. “You can try it and find out.”
“You’re such a pig.” She glared at me. “It’s a real shame you’re the last person I’ll ever talk to.”
She was being sarcastic, not serious, but I still detected a note of concern in her voice.
“We’re not going to die in here. It’s not even that hot. This can’t be the highest setting.”
“Yeah?” She was definitely eyeing my towel now. “You hang out in here often?”
I leaned back slightly, making no effort to adjust my position. “Yeah. During my free time, which is something head chefs have plenty of.”
I’d deliberately emphasized my title—the one she’d maligned yesterday when we’d argued over the New Year’s Eve menu.
But any way you looked at it, she’d been wrong.
Baked Alaska was a gimmick, a flashy dessert designed to impress unsophisticated palates.
Real chefs didn’t need to set things on fire to impress.
Plus, it made no sense. We were half a continent away from Alaska, and some of the oldest guests used oxygen tanks.
But Zoe was apparently thinking about other things. “I still can’t believe Landon was part of this.”
That again? It was like trying to convince a child that Mom and Dad bought those presents, not a big jolly man in a bright red suit.
“He told me he needed to talk to me and that he’d meet me here. Do you see him here?”
She actually turned her head to look, as if he’d magically appeared next to her. “All right, so he lied to you,” she said softly.
She wasn’t usually this slow on the uptake—maybe the steam was clouding her mind.
What I didn’t tell her was that while it had been a trick, it probably hadn’t actually been a lie.
Landon had been through a lot this past year, and he wasn’t the same man he used to be.
When he’d texted that he needed to talk, I’d left a nearly finished red wine reduction on the stove, trusting a line chef to take it off the heat right before it scorched—an assignment that had likely not gone well.
But I’d done it to be here for my friend.
And now, instead, I was trapped here with my least favorite person in the entire lodge. Though I had to admit that she wasn’t my least favorite person to see wearing only a towel. Far from it.
I admired pretty women, but I wasn’t the type to value their looks over their minds. Except with her. She was fucking gorgeous, that was for sure. But her inner beauty, if she had any, didn’t come close to measuring up.
“I still think this was Kai’s idea,” she said.
God, she was stubborn. “Think whatever you’d like.”
She glared at me, then folded her arms across her chest, looking away.
Which was a shame. I’d liked the view better when her chest was uncovered.
But even though she was a first-class witch, she seemed to have a soft spot for Landon. And that was probably a good thing. He hadn’t had an easy time of things lately.
A bit hesitantly, I said, “Landon used to be different.”
She turned back to me, her expression softening. “What happened?”
“It’s not my secret to tell. And it’s not a joke, either.” I paused. “It’s serious. Not like a nipple piercing or—”
I stopped myself, not wanting to go there. I was still pissed at Kai for threatening to tell my secret last night. I’d been ninety percent sure he wouldn’t, but with Kai, you could never be certain.
Finally, I sighed. “Landon lost his partner last year.”
Her face blanched. “That’s awful. Were they together long?”
“Not that kind of partner. His ski patrol partner. There was an avalanche, and Landon tried to get to him, but...” I swallowed. “It was too late.”
It still made me as sick to my stomach as when Kai had called and told me. Landon had always felt responsible for the people around him. So he’d not only lost a friend—he’d blamed himself for it.
But I didn’t tell Zoe that.
She was quiet, her face nearly as pale as her towel. She reached up, and I thought she was going to wipe the sweat from her brow, but instead, she brushed at her eyes.
Shit, was she crying?
It was bad enough that I had to fight the urge to stare at her lush body. Now I had to worry about her feelings, too? Until a moment ago, I hadn’t been aware that she had any.
So I kept talking to fill the awkward silence. “He used to be different. More like Kai, although not quite as chaotic. They got up to all kinds of things. Causing trouble, playing pranks.” I paused. “Hell, they used to share everything. And I do mean everything.”
Her eyes widened slightly, and a flush crept up her neck. That made it pretty clear she’d caught my meaning.
She shifted on the bench, suddenly looking very aware of how little we were both wearing. The air between us felt heavier, thicker.
I cleared my throat and changed the subject. “So you think Greer is trying to get you out from underfoot? Why does she hate you so much?”
“I don’t know,” she said, after a short pause. “I haven’t even figured out why you hate me so much.”
That was a loaded question—and one I didn’t want to get into. Not when it was far more pleasant to just sit back and study the woman with the horrible attitude but the fucking amazing body.
A bead of sweat rolled down the side of her neck, disappearing into the edge of her towel. I forced my eyes back to her face.
“Tell me,” she said, bossy as always.
I hated it when she got bossy. Actually, I hated it when anyone was bossy, but her especially. But I shouldn’t get into it. It was a long time ago. Maybe she’d changed since then. Or maybe not.
But hey, we were trapped. Maybe we should air things out—if that was possible in a small, airless room where we might die soon. So what did I have to lose? “Are you sure you want to know? It’s ancient history.”
“We don’t have a history,” she said stiffly.
I leaned back, my palms flat on the bench behind me. “Actually, we do.”
“We do?” Her tone was surprised, but not outright skeptical. Langley wasn’t a huge school.
“Yep.” I took a breath. “Sophomore year. I was very nervous the first time I led the kitchen at that student-run restaurant on campus. I’d spent weeks deciding on the menu and I knew every dish inside and out. Especially since the restaurant management class would be dining there that day.”
Recognition flickered across her face.
“Everything went well,” I continued. “I got glowing reviews from nearly everyone in the class. Except for one person.”
Her expression shifted—part understanding, part resignation.
“To this day, her review remains among the worst I’ve ever gotten. If not the worst.”
“I remember that.” She spoke slowly, like the pieces were falling into place. “You were the cook that day?”
“Yes. It was the first time I’d ever made fondant potatoes. Something you claimed last night that you loved. You sure as hell didn’t back then, according to that review.”
Her mouth opened, then closed. Finally, she ventured, “Maybe you’ve gotten better since then.”
“And maybe you didn’t know what the fuck you were talking about back then. Or now.”
Her eyes shot daggers at me. “Professional chefs need to learn how to take feedback.”
“I can take feedback just fine from people who actually know what they’re talking about.”
“I’m sure my review was fair.”
“I’m less sure of that. You know, me—the one who actually knows my way around a kitchen,” I could still remember specific lines from her review. “‘Potatoes were dense and under-seasoned.’ ‘The sauce lacked depth.’ ‘The overall execution was ambitious but ultimately failed to deliver.’”
She had the grace to look uncomfortable. “So you’ve hated me ever since?”
“I haven’t thought about you since,” I lied. “At least not until my advisor called me up and told me I needed to give some entitled hospitality major a ride up here.”
“No wonder you were so unpleasant in the car.”
“Yeah, I probably was. But what was your excuse?”
She looked away. “It’s getting really hot in here. Maybe we should conserve energy and not talk.”
“Fine by me.”
She looked off in one direction, and I looked in another.
But I was acutely aware of her presence. Of every small movement she made. The way she shifted her weight. The way the towel clung to her damp skin. The way her breathing had quickened slightly—though whether from the heat or our conversation, I couldn’t tell.
My own body was responding in ways I didn’t want to acknowledge. The heat, the proximity, the fact that she was gorgeous even when I wanted to throttle her—it was all adding up to a problem I really didn’t need right now.
I tried to adjust myself discreetly, hoping she wouldn’t notice, but I was pretty sure she did.
When the door clicked open a few minutes later, we both sprang up so fast we nearly lost our towels.