Snow Job by Tara Wyatt (best large ereader .txt) 📗

hand to Kayla’s forehead. “Just making sure you don’t have a fever, because this is a pretty dramatic turnaround.”

“I know. I know it is. But…” She stared into her tea, warmth suffusing her at the memory of everything she’d shared with Sebastian that weekend. Not just the sex, but connecting with him on a deeper, more emotional level. “For once, I’m deviating from the plan and following my heart. It’s scary, but it feels right. It feels good.”

Willa reached out and squeezed Kayla’s knee. “Then I’m happy for you. Surprised, but happy.”

“Surprised but happy sums up how I’m feeling, too.”

“Does anyone else know?”

“About me and Sebastian? I don’t think so. But it’s not a secret. It’s not like he’s my boss anymore.”

At that, Willa’s cheeks went pink and she took a long sip of her tea. “Yeah,” she said after a minute. “It’s always a bad idea to get involved with the boss.”

Kayla shifted on the couch slightly, an idea forming. “You know, Bastian mentioned that it’s Max’s birthday soon. Not this coming weekend but next, I think? He’s coming into the city and Theo and Lauren should be in town, too. If there’s a dinner or a drinks thing, you should come. You know, because you’re my friend and you’re close with Lauren and Theo.”

Willa looked at her, hesitation written all over her face. But then she nodded slowly. “Maybe, yeah.”

“Good. I’m going to go take a shower and try to get some stuff organized for tomorrow morning. I have a feeling Stammler’s going to want to see me first thing to debrief about the retreat so he can make sure I know how unhappy he is with how everything went.”

“Eep. Good luck with that.”

“Thanks. I think I’m going to need it.” She carefully rose from the couch, happy to find she could put more weight on her foot than this morning. “And Willa? Thanks. For being so cool and understanding and not giving me a hard time about this.”

She grinned. “Why would I give you a hard time? I just want you to be happy. Go. Take your shower. I have broken code to fix.”

“I know you just wanna drop in and catch air, I get that,” said Sebastian, his arms crossed in front of his chest. Chase said nothing, just stood there with his hands in his pockets, pretending he wasn’t listening. “But you can already land crazy tricks. That’s not what we need to work on. If you want to improve, we have to focus on the supporting skills. That’s why we’re doing steering drills today. When you drop back into the pipe, you don’t steer into it enough, which costs you speed, and losing speed costs you the ability to get your rotations in. This especially happens on your toe side wall. We’re going to work on dropping back in and when you do, dropping your lead shoulder down too, making sure your hip and front knee are lined up right.”

“I know how to ride,” he said sullenly.

“Listen, if you just want to ride, there’s a time and a place for that. Book a lift ticket and get out there. But this is a lesson. It’s my job to help you improve.”

Chase looked up at him, squinting through the hair swooping over his eyes. “But, like, what if I try, like really try, and I don’t get better?”

Sebastian laid a hand on Chase’s shoulder. “Listen to me, kid. You have tons of talent. You do. You’re already way better than I was at your age. But anyone can improve with practice and the right help. Anyone. Especially if it’s what you really want. Is getting better what you want?”

Chase hesitated, shuffling back and forth on the spot on his board. “Yeah. Cause, like…there’s like this competition? In a couple of weeks? Over in Killington?”

Sebastian grinned. “Yeah? You wanna do it?”

“I mean, kinda? But my mom said it was stupid and too far, and like, you need an actual coach to like, enter you and stuff.” He tilted his head, looking at Sebastian. “Like, if I did it, do you think that you could maybe enter me? Like as my coach?”

He leaned forward, an excited feeling taking over his entire body, making his chest feel like it was expanding. “Yeah, dude. I think I like totally could.”

For the first time since they’d started working together, Chase smiled. Not a snarky, sarcastic, smartass smile, but a real, genuine one. “Really?”

“Sure. Bring me the forms next time you come.”

“Okay. I will.”

“And listen, I’m sorry your mom isn’t on board with this. I had a similar experience and I’m here to tell you that it’s okay. If you want it, you need to go for it. She might not believe in you, but I do.”

“That’s super corny.”

“Saying corny stuff is part of a coach’s job. Come on. Let’s work on those steering drills.”

Sebastian: So I’m officially coaching Chase at a big competition in a couple of weeks. He asked me to.

Kayla: That’s amazing!! With all of your experience, I bet you’d be an awesome coach.

Sebastian: Thanks, baby. I’m excited. Mentoring Chase feels really good. Like it’s what I’m supposed to be doing.

Kayla: I love that. I’m really excited for you!

Sebastian: How’s everything going at work?

Kayla: It’s only Wednesday morning and Stammler has yelled at me four times this week. I walked out of his office this morning and told him to reach my admin if he needed anything. He was really pissed, but damn that felt good.

Sebastian: Good! I wish I could’ve seen the look on his face when you walked out on him. You’re a fucking VP, he can’t talk to you that way.

Kayla: You know, at first I thought I was being paranoid about him talking down to me and giving me work that isn’t appropriate for my position, but I don’t think I was. He talks down to all of the female execs.

Sebastian: He’s such a fucking pig.

Kayla: Agreed. And speaking of