They crossed the line before either of them knew there would be a line.
Katharina Berger has worked too hard to become a footnote in somebody else's legend. When she is put in charge of Thomas Kern's image, she has one job: keep Austria's most famous skier focused, marketable, and out of trouble.
There is only one problem.
She already knows exactly what he feels like with the cameras gone.
Thomas has spent his life turning pressure into speed. Olympic gold is the last prize he has not claimed, and wanting Katharina should be one more distraction he can control.
It is not.
The closer they get to the Games, the more restraint becomes its own kind of obsession. Every look lingers too long. Every private moment risks becoming public.
And somewhere between races, training sessions, celebrations and disasters, Katharina stops feeling like the outsider hired to manage the team. She becomes part of it.
Which would be easier if the entire team hadn't already noticed the way Thomas looks at her.
They tease. They interfere. They make room for her. And the more Katharina finds herself belonging in Thomas's world, the harder it becomes to pretend that what is happening between them is temporary.
But belonging to the team is not the same as disappearing inside Thomas's fame.
Thomas thinks love means giving her everything he has: his name, his victory, his whole impossible world.
Katharina needs him to understand that loving her means seeing the life she is fighting to keep.
Winning gold may be the hardest race of his career.
Winning her without asking her to lose herself will be harder.