“Oh, I hiihto before I walk!” Klaudia unzipped her coat.
“Did you guys see her on the moguls?” Noel removed his hat and goggles. “She got amazing air. Everyone on the lifts was cheering like we were at the Olympics.”
“It was good mountain.” Klaudia admitted. “A little easy, maybe, but still fun.”
Aria let out a sarcastic snort, which made everyone stop and stare. Noel walked over and sat down in the studded leather chair next to Aria. “Hey.”
“Hey.” Aria answered in a monotone, staring at her pruned hands. They’d probably never go back to normal.
“Where did you disappear to?” Noel asked. “I kept looking for you on the slopes but didn’t see you. I figured we’d meet up on the top of the mountain after Ski School.”
Aria wanted to dump the hot chocolate on his head. “Sorry, but Ski School didn’t teach me to ski moguls. But I hope you and Klaudia had a good time.” She hated her tone of voice, but she couldn’t hide her feelings any longer.
A crinkle appeared between Noel’s eyes. “You were the one who didn’t want her to give you a lesson. Don’t be mad because she went off and did her own thing.”
Aria balled up her fists. Of course this was her fault—Klaudia was totally blameless.
“Hey, do you guys know what time it is?” Christopher interrupted. “Hot tub!”
“Sweet!” Eric gave his brother a high five.
“I love poreammeita!” Klaudia jumped up and down like a kindergartner.
Noel looked at Aria. “What do you say? A soak in the hot tub before dinner? You’ll love it. I promise.”
Aria stared at the melting marshmallows in her hot chocolate. The sulking, pissed-off girl inside her just wanted to go upstairs, take a long shower, and watch a foreign film on pay-per-view. But she was freezing. Maybe a soak in the hot tub would melt away her irritation, too.
Fifteen minutes later, Aria had changed into her bikini and wrapped herself in one of the lodge’s terry-cloth bathrobes. She scampered across the freezing outdoor pool deck to the hot tub. Steam rose high into the air. The jets bubbled. The Kahn brothers were already soaking and drinking bottles of beer. When Noel saw Aria, he moved over to make space. She stripped off her robe, shivered in the subzero air, and slipped into the tub next to him. Ahhh.
“This is beautiful.” Aria tilted her head up to the sky. Tons of stars twinkled brightly. The moon blazed just over the mountain. The glistening, falling snow on the mountain looked like a scene inside a snow globe.
“Told you you’d like it.” Noel squeezed her hand.
Eric Kahn leaned back and stretched his arms out on the deck. “I can’t wait to hit the slopes tomorrow morning.”
“I heard Klaudia say she’s really eager to go back out, too,” Noel said.
“That girl could really carve,” Christopher murmured. “I wonder what else she’s good at.”
The older Kahn brothers snickered crassly. Aria stiffened and stared hard at Noel, daring him to laugh too. Luckily, he didn’t.
Then, as if on cue, the door from the hotel opened. A figure appeared in silhouette. “Hallo?” Klaudia’s chirpy voice pierced the snowy air.
“Hey!” Eric yelled for Klaudia. “Come on in! The water’s awesome!”
Klaudia pranced over to the tub. She wore a similar bathrobe to Aria’s, the belt knotted tightly around her waist. Her blond hair spilled over her shoulders. Her bare legs protruded beneath the hem. The Kahn boys watched her, their tongues lolling like dogs. Then, slowly, like she was performing a striptease, Klaudia undid the belt to her robe. It dropped to the floor. She shrugged out of the robe and let it fall, too. Noel gasped. So did Eric. For a moment, Aria’s eyes couldn’t focus—all she could see was skin, lots of skin, like Klaudia had worn a flesh-colored bikini.
But then she realized. Klaudia wasn’t wearing anything at all. She was totally and completely naked.
“Holy shit,” Christopher blurted emphatically and appreciatively.
“Whoa.” Eric groaned softly.
Noel gawked at her, too. Klaudia just stood there like a freaky Finnish exhibitionist, her boobs swinging for the whole world to see. Not a single one of the Kahns told her to cover up. Why would they?
It was just too much. Letting out a pent-up scream, Aria pushed out of the tub, grabbed a towel, and ran for the door, barely feeling the frigid air on her skin or the icy concrete beneath her feet. Once inside, she wrapped the towel around her, staggered toward the elevators, and pressed the call button repeatedly. Of course this would be the one time the elevator decided to stop on every floor.
“Ahem.”
Aria jumped and turned. Noel stood in the doorway, steam misting off his half-naked body. There was a trail of wet footprints from where he’d come in. “Where are you going?”
Aria pressed the call button again. “To my room.”
“Shouldn’t you apologize first?”
She whipped around. “To who?”
“Klaudia didn’t do anything wrong, Aria.”
She gawked at him. “Are you kidding me?”
Noel just shrugged.
It felt like a billion blood vessels just burst in Aria’s brain. “Okay. Okay. Whatever. If you want to have your little foursome with Klaudia, that’s fine. But not in front of me, okay? I didn’t think I actually had to watch.”
Finally, the elevator dinged and the doors slid open. Aria marched inside, but Noel pulled her back out. His green eyes were full of hurt. “Aria, Klaudia’s crying out there. She didn’t realize she was supposed to wear a bathing suit in the hot tub. In Finland, nobody does! Guys go naked in hot tubs. Girls go naked in hot tubs. They’re not as prudish about it as we are. You shouldn’t have screamed at her—I would think that you of all people would understand the meaning of cultural sensitivity.”