Snow Job by Tara Wyatt (best classic books to read TXT) 📕

Red tinged the edges of his vision as they locked eyes. His heart throbbed in his chest, his grip on his board tightening. He forced himself to suck in a breath of cold air, and then another as she stared at him.

“Sebastian?” she asked, her voice thick with disbelief and disdain. “That was you on that…” She pointed in the direction of the half-pipe and then cleared her throat. “You’re our instructor?”

“Looks like,” he said, anger beating hotly through him. She had no idea what she’d taken from him. What she’d cost him. She’d played with his life like it was a game. A fucking toy. Because if she knew, she wouldn’t be standing here frowning at him like he was a rambunctious dog who’d just trampled her garden. He could feel the other three sets of eyes on him, but he didn’t care. As pissed as he was, he couldn’t seem to tear his gaze away from Kayla. “And I guess you’re my corporate retreat.”

“Looks like,” she echoed in a flat voice. Then she jutted out her hip, slamming her hand down onto it.

Lucky hand.

“Listen,” she said, all snark and business, “I don’t know if it’s appropriate for you to be involved with this retreat given your history with the company. I’ve worked really hard to put this together, and—”

He cut her off by taking a step closer, towering over her. “Trying to get me fired again, Kayla?” An energy he didn’t have a name for pulsed through him. It was anger and lust and need and frustration, all curled into one pulsing ball in the pit of his stomach.

Her eyes widened, her nostrils flaring. “What? I never got you fired. I’m just saying that—”

“First of all, you did. And second, I don’t care what you’re saying. My former role with Silver Stream has nothing to do with this. Nothing.”

“Well, I do care! I’m in charge of this retreat, and I think that—”

“Again, don’t care.”

He could tell she was fighting the urge to stamp her cute little foot and he bit back a grin. But then she jabbed a finger into his chest. Heat seared through him.

“Excuse me, but I’m the customer and I think what I say goes.” Her cheeks flushed a deeper shade of pink, and fuck, it was satisfying getting her all riled up like this. At work, she’d always kept her cool. Ruffling her feathers…yeah. It felt pretty damn good.

Deciding the best way to piss her off was to ignore her, he stepped away and smiled at the other three people in the class. “Hey, everyone. I’m Sebastian, and yeah, I used to work with you. But now I work here, so if there aren’t any further questions, let’s not waste any more precious lesson time with trivial stuff, okay?”

He glanced in Kayla’s direction, biting back a smile when he saw her scowling at him. As he demonstrated to everyone how to safely clip into their boards, he kept sneaking little glances at her. As everyone practiced clipping in and out of their bindings, he stepped closer to her, dropping his head so only she could hear him.

“You’re not practicing,” he chided, wanting to see how easily he could get a rise out of her. “Feel free to quit if you want. I mean, it’s pretty hard, so it’s not for everyone.”

At that, her head whipped around, her green eyes flashing at him. Fuck, he liked that, all that heat and intensity focused on him. Apparently, his lust for her still burned just as hot as it had when they’d worked together.

Not that this, here, could turn into anything. Not when she’d ruined his life.

Staring at him, she clipped herself into her bindings. Then, with a triumphant little smirk, she went to unclip herself, lost her balance, and landed on her luscious ass. His instructor instincts taking over, he immediately held out a hand to her, hauling her back to her feet. She popped up, almost colliding with his chest, and for a second, everything inside him went very, very still. With his gloved hand holding hers, their breaths mingling in white puffs, her body pressed to his, he met her eyes. Her pupils were blown, her chest heaving and fuck if his dick didn’t sit up and take notice. After a second, she snatched her hand away with a glare.

Fighting down the completely unexpected urge to haul her back against him, Sebastian cleared his throat.

“That’s great. Now that you know how to safely clip in and clip out of your boards, we’re going to get to the meat of the lesson. I’m going to teach you three things today, and if you can master these three things, you’ll be snowboarding in no time. Any questions?”

“How long have you been working here?” asked a smarmy blond guy named Davis who Sebastian had always loathed. He was an ass-kisser in the extreme but also thought he was better than everyone else.

Sebastian forced himself to smile. “I meant questions about today’s lesson.”

When all four students shook their heads, Bastian nodded. “Then let’s get started. The first thing you need to be able to do is the power heel squat. Let me demonstrate.” He strapped back into his board and started to slowly slide down the training hill, both feet facing forward. “You’re going to squat and shift your weight to the heel edge of your board. The more weight you transfer back, the slower you’ll go. You need to know how to safely control your speed. See how if I lift up my toes like this…” He did it, stopping smoothly. “I come to a stop. You control the board with your weight and where you’re shifting it.” He stepped out of his bindings and jogged back up the hill to the group. “The closer your toes are to the snow, the faster you’ll go. High toes lowers your heels, shifting your weight and making you slow down and stop. Let’s all practice this, and once you’ve