Chapter Two
She walked down the corridor to the gym module. In some spots, cold seeped through the walls. The generators struggled to keep up. Knox was already there, sleeves rolled up, resistance bands arranged neatly. He looked up when she entered, his pale eyes taking her in with a single glance.
“Weather has deteriorated further overnight,” he said. “Slopes are under watch. We work now, before any restrictions tighten.”
Nora stepped onto the mat. She noticed right away how much bigger he was—his height, the broad set of his shoulders, the quiet strength in how he moved. Inside the narrow module, with the storm pressing outside, she felt small.
“On your back. Knees bent.”
She complied. He knelt beside her and set both hands on her knees, pushing them slowly outward until the stretch along her inner thighs turned deep and insistent. The position left her open. He held the angle with steady pressure, thumbs resting high on the soft inner tissue over her pants.
“Breathe into it. The cold will lock the hips if we allow it.”
Nora exhaled. The stretch bit deeper. Heat gathered low in her belly almost at once.
He kept her there, watching her face, before shifting her into a tighter variation that forced a soft sound from her throat.
He did not ease off. He held her open and made her take the intensity while the wind hammered the outer walls.
They moved through progressive hip openers.
Each one placed her in a more vulnerable shape.
Each one involved his hands—guiding, correcting, pinning with controlled force.
During a seated straddle, he sat behind her, chest close to her back, and used both palms on her inner thighs to ease her wider.
The contact was firm, the stretch sharp enough that her breath turned shallow.
She felt herself growing wet, the fabric between her legs dampening.
“You’re already responding,” he said near her ear, voice low over the sound of the storm. “The body does not distinguish between types of stress out here. Use it.”
Nora’s pulse climbed. She did not deny the reaction. She only breathed and let him open her further.
They moved on to core work. He held her planks with his hand on her lower back, corrected her slow bird-dogs with the heel of his palm at her waist, and kept two fingers at her sternum during dead bugs to prevent any collapse.
Each correction reminded her of their size difference.
Each long hold made her more aware of the heat building between her thighs.
The module seemed smaller. The storm felt closer.
He put her on her back again for deeper figure-four work.
This time he took full control of the leverage, one hand wrapped around her shin, the other pressing her knee toward the floor with unyielding pressure.
The stretch burned deep into the hip. Nora’s head tipped back.
A low sound escaped before she could stop it.
“Stay,” he said. “Do not pull away.”
She stayed. Outside, the wind rose into a sustained howl. Somewhere in the station, a metal panel began to vibrate under the force.
Knox shifted her into a long bridge, one heavy hand braced across the front of her hips to keep her elevated and open.
The weight of that hand pinned her in place.
Her thighs trembled. The position forced her pelvis into a tilt that made the wetness between her legs impossible to ignore.
She was certain he could feel the fine shake running through her.
“Hold,” he ordered. “Longer.”
She held. Seconds stretched. Her breath came harder. The burn in her glutes and the ache between her legs braided together until she could no longer separate them.
A sudden, violent jolt shuddered through the entire module.
The lights flickered. A deep, low rumble rolled beneath the station, followed by a sharp electronic alarm that cut through the gym like a blade. Three piercing tones, then the mechanical intercom voice:
“All personnel. Avalanche activity detected on eastern approach slopes. Multiple slides confirmed. Full isolation protocol now in effect. Outer doors sealing. No external movement authorized. Repeat: full isolation protocol now in effect. Outer doors sealing.”
Heavy mechanical thuds echoed through the station as the outer doors locked one after another. The sound was final.
Knox’s hand remained on her hips for three full seconds after the announcement ended. Nora lay beneath the weight of it, chest rising and falling, the stretch still burning, the reality of the sealed doors landing while she was still open under his palm.
Only then did he lift his hand and sit back. His expression had changed. He was still controlled, but now his look was sharper, the physician fully present in a crisis.
“We’re locked in,” he said quietly. “No aircraft. No surface travel. No resupply until the slopes stabilize and the system clears. That could be two weeks. Possibly longer.”
Nora pushed herself up on her elbows. Her legs still felt the ghost of his pressure. The fabric between her thighs was damp. The station had just become a closed system with eight people inside it, and the only physician was the man who had been holding her open when the doors sealed.
“The protocol stands,” Knox continued. His voice was calm, absolute. “In full isolation, the conditioning becomes critical for circulatory stability and stress adaptation. We continue. If anything, we increase the loading.”
He looked down at her, noticing the flush on her face, the way her pulse still showed at her throat, and the clear evidence of how her body had responded while the avalanche locked them in.
“You’re soaked,” he said, not unkindly. “The isolation will intensify every reaction. Including this one.”
Nora met his eyes. She could have asked to stop. She could have requested a lighter session now that the doors were sealed. Instead, she held his gaze and answered evenly.
“Then we keep going.”
A dark, approving look crossed his face. He stood and offered his hand. She took it, and he pulled her up in one smooth motion, keeping her close for a moment longer than needed, his large hand steady at her waist. Its size made her feel even smaller inside the newly sealed station.
“Tomorrow,” he said, voice low. “Same time. Longer holds. Less recovery. The margin for error just closed.”
Nora nodded. Her own voice came out quieter than she expected. “I’ll be here.”
She collected her water and walked to the door of the gym module. Behind her, the wind continued its unbroken assault on the walls, but now it was the sound of a world they could no longer enter. The outer doors were sealed. The avalanche had made certain of it.
She stepped into the corridor carrying the residual ache and the clear, unmistakable wetness between her thighs.
The outer doors were sealed. The wind sounded like it was locked outside with them.
The professional distance had thinned to almost nothing at the exact moment the station became a closed system.
Tomorrow he would take the protocol further. She already knew she would let him.