Janet beamed. “Absolutely. We’ve got a package deal today, if you’re interested. There’s the couples deep tissue massage, with a European facial, pedicure and Vichy shower.”
“Swap out the shower for a manicure and you’ve sold me.”
Janet smiled. “Of course.” Her eyes fell eagerly on me. “Do you want the manicure or I could throw in a haircut and style, too.”
“I know you want to,” Victor said, holding his hand up in a stopping motion. “Gabriel’s already claimed her hair, and he’d kill me if I let her anywhere near a pair of scissors.”
Janet started a soft pout. “You need to convince Gabriel to come work for me.”
Victor laughed.
Janet led the way around the front desk and down a narrow hallway. She opened a door near the end, and ushered us inside.
The room was wide, with two massage tables in the middle. The front of the room had a wide window that overlooked a garden with a second koi pond and fountain. There was another fountain inside against the wall, the water trickling down into a small cluster of bamboo plants in what looked like an antique tub.
“There’s a partition,” Janet said, pointing to a white wicker folding wall near the corner. “There’s robes and towels behind it. Would you like me to set the partition up between the tables?”
“No, thank you,” Victor said absently, entering further into the room.
Janet flashed a smile at me, shared a wink. “Adam and Lei should be with you shortly. They’ll get you started.” She closed the door.
Victor turned to me the moment Janet was gone. The fire eyes were lit up to a gentle roar. “I think you’ll love this.”
“It’s a pretty ... room,” I said, wanting to be excited as he was but unable to comment much. “Janet is nice.”
“She’s my favorite. I love this place. There’s spas downtown but they’re always so stuffy. Janet loves her work.”
“This is her place?”
“She worked pretty hard to build it up,” Victor said. His hands went to his shirt. He started unbuttoning. “I think she did great with it. I want to say I wish it were in town, but I don’t want any of those snobs knowing about it.”
My eyebrow lifted as he removed his shirt, and tossed it onto a nearby chair. “What are we doing, exactly?”
He blinked at me. “Getting massages,” he said. He untucked the ribbed undershirt, pulling it up over his head. He tossed it alongside his shirt.
“Am I ... um ...” I wanted to ask a question but the sight of his bare chest was causing my mind to blank out.
He grinned at me, his hands going to his hips. “Yes, you get naked. Or maybe ... no, you can leave your underwear on if you want. I usually don’t.”
“O—oh,” I said, half turning toward the wall, my eyes going to the open wide window. “What am I supposed to do?”
Victor chuckled. “I’ll go behind the partition, okay? Get undressed.” He moved to the white foldable wall. He reached behind it, finding a small towel and handed it to me. “Put this around your waist and climb onto that table. Lay face down. There’s a pillow for your head there.”
I held back a whimper, eyeballing the table. It looked comfortable, but I wasn’t sure if I was ready for massages.
Victor disappeared behind the partition. I could hear him unbuckling his belt. I hurried to get undressed. I wanted to be down on the table before he came back out. I threw my clothes off, including my underwear, and tossed them next to Victor’s things. I scrambled indelicately onto the table, realizing too late I probably needed to wrap the towel around my waist first before I climbed up. I readjusted the towel around my hips awkwardly before lying face down onto the padded table.
I was just in time before Victor came around the partition again. Maybe he’d seen quite a bit of my body earlier when he found me in the shower, but now my modesty was catching up with me. To be honest, being flat on my stomach and with my butt covered, he probably saw more of my skin when I wore my bathing suit. My important parts were covered, but I felt so exposed. It wasn’t a horrible feeling with him. I trusted him. I just wasn’t sure what to think of it.
Victor clutched his own white towel around his hips. The cord with the silver medallion still hung from his neck. He strolled over to me, lowered down until he planted a kiss on my forehead. “You’re going to love this. Don’t look so scared.”
“What does your medallion mean?” I asked. I’d been wanting to ask for a while and kept forgetting. Now I didn’t have anything else to talk about and I didn’t want to think about being naked anymore.
He moved back and leaned against the second massage table. His fingers fluttered up until he was touching the medallion at his neck. “This thing?”
“Yes,” I said. “Does it mean something? I thought there was a heart in there, but I wasn’t sure.”
His eyes lit up, the smoldering roaring to life. “My mother gave it to me when I was younger. It was on one of those trips to Europe. You see the heart?”
I nodded. The interweaving lines in the middle made a heart, but it was broken up by another symbol that I wasn’t sure at first.
“The other symbol is a triangle shield—protection. Protect your heart. My mother used to tell me that.”
“Why?”
His lips twisted in his smile, as if he was hesitant to tell me. “My mother always used to warn me that girls were going to be a problem.”
I almost wanted to mention that Silas had once told me that girls were throwing themselves at him because he was a famous, rich musician. “Are they a problem?”
“Oh god, yeah,” he said. “They’re monsters. They bat their fake eyelashes like they’re about to go blind and tell me to buy them things. No ... telling me isn’t the right word. Demand? Demanding in a high-pitched voice that more resembles whining? That’s probably closer to what it is.”
“What do they ask for?”
“Expensive things.”
“Like birthday cards?”
He smirked. He reached out, popping me on the bare thigh with his palm. “Shut up or I’ll buy you a car or a yacht or something.”
“Don’t buy me a car.”
“You didn’t say no to the yacht, so I’ll get you one of those.”
“Victor!”
He was still laughing when the door opened. Two male attendants entered. My cheeks flared hot. I knew this was going to happen, but I guess I wasn’t prepared for it as much as I thought. I lowered myself more, until I was nearly squishing my breasts into the table. I tucked my arms into my sides, trying to mask my nakedness a little.
“Good morning, sugar dumplings,” the taller one said, with Adam written on his nametag. “Ah. A new face. Let me introduce myself. I’m Adam. This is my partner, Lei. Victor, I’ve seen you before, welcome back.”
“Hi, Adam,” Victor said. He pushed himself onto the second massage table. He lowered himself onto his stomach and propped himself up on his elbows. He nodded toward me. “This is Sang.”
“Sang,” Adam came closer. He picked my hand up, untucking it from my side and pressing his lips briefly to my knuckles before releasing it. “Any friend of Victor’s is welcome here. Lei’s going to be your partner today, okay?”
“Okay,” I said in a quiet voice. I had a choice?
“We’re good with a deep tissue massage this morning? And then manis and pedis and a facial? Oh god, her hair. Tell me we’re playing with her hair.” Adam reached out, his fingers smoothing over a lock that had fallen out of the clip in my hair.
Victor leaned up on one elbow, his face in his palm. “I don’t even know if I’m allowed to let you touch it. Gabriel’s claimed her.”
“That rotten bastard. I won’t cut it but will you let me style it? Please? I won’t even charge.”
Victor’s eyes met mine. “It’s up to you.”
I didn’t know what to say. My face lit up similar to Victor’s eyes. “If Gabriel won’t be mad.”
Adam grinned. “I won?
?t tell him if you won’t. Or I might. He’s cute when he’s pissed off. I keep thinking one of these days he’ll come bat for our team.”
I shot silent questions at Victor but he only slightly shook his head. He wasn’t going to answer me now.
Adam snapped his fingers. “You two relax. It’s time for us to take over.”
I don’t know what I had envisioned before when Victor talked about the spa. Maybe it was from reading about them in books or from watching something in a movie, but I’d always thought they’d be uncomfortable and boring.
I was uncomfortable for a total of sixty seconds, just long enough for Lei to warm up his hands against my back.
After that point, I think I was in a daze. I’m pretty sure I moaned louder than at any other point in my entire life. It only took a few minutes before I totally forgot I was naked. I didn’t even care anymore. Lei’s hands were magic.
After about an hour, Lei released me. The muscles in my body had been massaged thoroughly.
I sensed Victor getting up. “Sang,” he called to me. “Princess. Time for round two.”
“Nu uh,” I said, slurred since I was talking to the pillow my head was on. “I want round one again.”
Victor laughed. His hand dropped down on my thigh and he tugged at me. “Come on. You’ll like this next part, too.”
Victor’s promise was the only thing that got me up off that table. We were given robes and directed to another room. This one had warm, enveloping chairs that leaned back. A couple of girls were called in, and they dipped our feet in warm tubs of water, massaging our calves as we soaked and softened. My girl used a scrub against the bottom of my feet. I felt on edge during it. Lei made me comfortable despite not knowing him. Now, I wasn’t so sure I liked being touched by people I didn’t know. I wasn’t sure why.
“I can tell you go barefoot way too much,” the girl said.
“She loves it,” Victor said.
“I’m okay without shoes,” I said.