Chapter Seventeen
Maybe bringing Mack as her pretend fiancée had been a tactical error.
Kayla tried to focus on being seductive as she stripped in the spa changing room, but all she could think of was the disapproving look on Mack’s face when she had caught Kayla and Skye touching.
It had been perfectly innocent, but it was clear Mack didn’t believe that.
The disapproval and the lack of trust stung.
Okay, maybe the lack of trust was justified given that Kayla had set this whole thing up to break up Skye’s wedding, but still.
Mack should have been on her side, and it hurt that she wasn’t.
That wasn’t quite accurate. It didn’t hurt that Mack wasn’t blindly allowing Kayla to go full scorched earth with the Plan of Seduction.
It hurt to see Mack look at her with that “I’m not mad, I’m disappointed” face.
No matter what happened in her life, she wanted Mack to respect her.
She needed Mack to respect her. Without Mack’s friendship, she didn’t have anything.
Unfortunately, her distraction over Mack’s opinion stole her opportunity to remind Skye exactly what her body looked like.
She’d meant to show off her best asset—a truly impressive set of tits—since she could tell Amy didn’t measure up to her there.
Before she realized what she was doing, however, she had stripped down to nothing but her bikini cut panties and threw her robe on without remembering to “accidentally” flash Skye.
Worse still, Skye was already wrapped in her robe and impatient to go.
“Ready for this?” Kayla asked, a suggestive lilt in her voice.
“Sure.” Skye sounded nervous and her eyes skittered all around the room, returning every few seconds to Kayla in her robe. And just like that, she was back on track.
The massage room was set up like a Japanese bath, complete with paper screen doors and a trickling water feature on one wall. It was oddly incongruous when mixed with the tropical heat and Caribbean scents permeating the room.
A pair of ridiculously beautiful women with their braids piled into elegant buns on top of their heads came in and asked them to lie down on their separate tables.
This time, Kayla made sure Skye got an eyeful, dropping her robe the moment she turned around.
Skye stared for a long moment before whipping around to drop her own.
Kayla’s smirk lasted all the way through her truly delicious massage.
“Wasn’t that divine?” Kayla drawled, leaning back on her hands and moaning as soon as their massage therapists had left them.
Skye didn’t fall for the bait this time.
She kept her eyes on the floor and her back to Kayla’s breasts as she slid off the table and struggled back into her robe.
In fact, she didn’t even answer and just scurried back to the changing room, leaving Kayla to catch up.
She was already pulling her T-shirt over her head by the time Kayla arrived in the room.
“Wait for me, would you?” Kayla dressed as slowly as possible, but Skye still didn’t look her way. “I don’t know if I can find my way out alone.”
She could tell Skye wanted to refuse, but she was far too gallant for that. She nodded and stared at her shoes as Kayla slipped her light sundress over her head.
“I won’t bite, you know,” Kayla said.
“It’s not you. I think the champagne gave me a headache.”
Kayla grabbed her hat and strode out through the door that Skye held open for her. “It was probably the massage. That happens if you don’t relieve the stress from your muscles regularly.”
“Maybe.”
They returned to the waiting room to find Amy and Mack laughing so hard that Amy was in danger of spilling her champagne. Mack wiped a tear away and said something Kayla couldn’t hear. Amy doubled over again and Kayla tried to ignore the little prick of annoyance at the sight.
“You never used to get headaches from massages when I gave them to you,” Kayla said loud enough for the others to hear.
“Those weren’t the kind of massages that were likely to give me a headache,” Skye said with a laugh, but there was a twinkle in her eye not unlike the one from earlier. She did remember those massages only too well.
Amy rushed over and gripped Skye’s bicep. “Oh, sweetie. You have a headache?”
“Yeah, but it’s okay. It’ll go away soon. I think it was the champagne.”
“Maybe you need some lunch. Come on, let’s get some food in you.”
Mack came over and threw an arm around Kayla as Amy dragged Skye off. “Maybe her headache is from you beating her over the head with your flirting.”
Kayla slapped her stomach playfully, but more than anything, she was relieved Mack was back to normal. Any hint of the disapproval she’d shown earlier had vanished.
“Hanging out with Amy seems to have put you in a good mood.” Kayla tried to keep the bitterness out of her voice, but it was hard.
“She’s not so bad when you get to know her.”
“I’m sure people said that about Eva Braun, too.”
“You realize that in this scenario, Skye is Hitler. I don’t disagree with you, of course, just pointing it out.”
Kayla’s laughter bubbled up like the champagne. “Whatever, I missed my AP History exam.”
“You were at Youth National Team camp, right?”
“Those were the days. Come on, we need to hurry to catch up with them.”
Mack sighed in that exasperated way that was becoming very familiar on this trip.
Far from being annoyed by it, Kayla found it charming.
She was pretending to be annoyed, which meant she wasn’t really annoyed, and that was enough to erase the disappointment over an only moderately successful couples massage.
They arrived, slightly breathless, at the restaurant’s hostess stand right behind Amy and Skye.
It would have been impossible to sit separately without being rude, but Skye’s scowl seemed to say she would rather have been rude.
Was she out of sorts because she had been reminded of what she lost when she left Kayla? Hopefully so.
Mack had certainly worked her magic on Amy, who insisted they sit next to each other. That left Skye with no choice but to cozy up next to Kayla. The Plan of Seduction was really working out for her today. Thank goodness for Mack.
“I’ll take the Cobb Salad and a Coke,” Skye told the waiter.
Kayla made a face. “A salad?”
Skye stared at her fork. “I’m trying to eat better.”
“A Cobb Salad sounds great. Make it two,” Amy said.
“It does sound good. I’ll take one, too,” Kayla said.
Once the waiter had left the table, Kayla leaned over to tease Skye just a little. “I can’t remember a single lunch we went to where you didn’t have a burger or tacos.”
Skye grumbled, “The burger did sound good.”
“A burger won’t help with your headache, babe,” Amy said.
Skye seemed to grimace at that. Or maybe it was the motherly way Amy patted her arm when she said it. “I won’t know unless I try. Maybe I should call him back and swap out for the burger.”
“Salt is supposed to help with headaches,” Kayla said.
Mack poked her arm. “You’re a terrible influence. There’s nothing wrong with eating a salad. You ordered one, too.”
Mack’s smile was irresistible, and Kayla teased back. “And you ordered the tacos like a true masc.”
Skye looked furious, and Kayla decided it was high time to poke the bear.
Normally she wouldn’t indulge in the weird gendering of food, but she knew how to stoke annoyance in Skye.
She leaned over and gave Mack a peck on the cheek, then leaned her head on her shoulder.
It was all going so well. Here was Amy, nagging Skye to sit down and eat her vegetables.
Skye hated nagging. Even the insinuation made her sulky and grumpy.
Unfortunately, Amy did not take the bait and nag further. She reached over and tucked Skye’s bangs behind her ear. “Well, if you’re a good little masc who eats all your vegetables, maybe you could shake that headache, and we could head back to the room for dessert.”
The statement was dripping with innuendo, and Skye was practically drooling.
Damn Amy and her unshakable happiness. What femme wouldn’t jump up and defend her girlfriend at a comment like that?
How could she possibly turn it into flirting?
If she wasn’t careful, Kayla was going to end up liking Amy.
That would make breaking up her marriage awkward.
Shame twinged through her, and she tried to ignore it.
This plan was getting far too complicated.
When lunch arrived, she took all her frustration out by attacking her stupid Cobb Salad.