Page 103 of The Chalet Girl

She turned in a circle, looking around the lobby in astonishment.

‘Good afternoon Mr Du Kok,’ said a woman behind the desk.

‘Good afternoon Nieves, any messages?’

‘No sir,’ she said with a smile.

The lobby was bustling with people buzzing off the same excitement of being there. Of staying at the famous Vitreum hotel. It had appeared in fashion shoots,Architectural Digest,ForbesandVogue.It had been used in a James Bond film.The building was iconic in hospitality and architectural circles. Yet Emme had never heard of it until she moved here. She’d never imagined from Kristalldorf below that the sparkling glass hotel on the hill would be quite so spectacular up close.

‘How did everyone get here?’ Emme asked in awe. She hadn’t seen a single soul on the walk up the trail, aside from the deer, a mountain hare and three marmots.

‘There’s a tunnel that goes off the square. The one next to UBS with the travelator?’

Emme had seen it.

‘And from there, an elevator brings people up.’

‘That’s quite a ride!’ Emme said.

‘Come on,’ Tristan said, still carrying their groceries, to a series of elevators that took guests up to their rooms. He bypassed three of them and went to the one that had just the letter P illuminated above the door. He swiped his watch against the call button and the doors glided open in an instant.

‘After you,’ he said, holding out an arm.

As the doors closed on them, Emme was reminded of their moment alone in the gondola, only this ride would be over in seconds.

The lift doors opened onto an apartment at the top of the building; sweeping views of the Silberschnee were so clear and crisp it almost didn’t look real.

Emme was gobsmacked. The vast penthouse, with its luxe furnishing, capacious layout and impressive panorama was incredible, and so different to the cosy apartment in town, it made Emme even more acutely aware of all the different facets of Tristan.

‘Oh my goodness,’ she said, tucking her hair behind her ear. ‘This is insane! And it’s yours?’

Tristan nodded as he put the groceries down in a large plush kitchen with salmon-pink Italian onyx worktops under a huge copper pendant that looked more like an art installation than a light. In front of them was a sunken living room with a long thin lava fire and retractable window walls, firmly closed to keep the high flurry out. Emme walked to it as if she were a moth to a flame.

‘It’s… unreal!’ she said, smoothing her hand along the glass wall, not quite daring to touch it lest she leave a fingerprint.

‘You want a drink?’

Emme was distracted. It was like she was in a dream.

‘Erm, yeah, just a sparkling water thanks.’

‘Take your coat off, make yourself at home…’ Tristan busied himself fixing the drinks and a platter of bread, cheese and charcuterie.

Emme put her coat on the low cream sofa and looked around the apartment, aware that they were dizzyingly high up– the penthouse was designed to give the illusion of floating in the clouds, and it certainly worked. The interior looked like something Emme had seen onSelling SunsetorBuying Beverly Hills, yet it had been plucked out of California and placed on top of a Swiss mountain.

‘It’s incredible!’ she said quietly.

Tristan brought the glasses and a board of food over, set them on the coffee table, and handed Emme the sparkling water.

‘Cheers,’ he said.

They clinked glasses and he observed her for a second, before kissing her carefully on the lips. He winced as he leaned over.

She pulled back.

‘Still hurts?’

‘A little,’ he said, clutching his shoulder.