Chapter 12 #2
“Please take off your clothes and lie down,” Cara instructed, gesturing to the tables and the small white sheets that lay on top of them. “Ring the bell when you’re ready, and I’ll be right in with your other masseuse.”
She smiled at them and left the room. Kendra glanced at Lucas, already blushing.
“I promise, I didn’t ask for a couple’s massage.”
“Neither did I.”
“And if I’d known that ‘relaxing’ meant ‘massage,’ I would never have asked Susie for it.”
“It’s okay, Kendra.” Lucas smiled his charming smile. “I know that.”
They both hesitated, then Kendra let out a sigh. “I guess there’s nothing for it. Just — turn around, okay?”
“You too.” Though Lucas was grinning a little.
Kendra turned her back to him, focusing on the painting of ocean waves that hung on the side wall.
Her cheeks still flushed and her heart still racing, she slipped off the dress she’d chosen that morning, then her bra and underwear.
She was all too conscious of Lucas behind her, especially when she heard the telltale sound of a zipper being undone.
He was just as naked as she was and only a few feet away.
Kendra’s breath came a little too shallow.
Ignore him, she reminded herself. Just get through this.
Quickly, Kendra climbed onto the table and pulled the sheet over herself to cover as much as possible. She’d had massages before, and she’d never been uncomfortable about stripping down in front of the masseuse like some people were, but this was very different. This was with Lucas.
“Are you ready?” Lucas asked. Kendra sneaked a glance over and saw that he was lying on his table too.
The sheet covered most of his back and upper legs, but she could see the tight cords of his shoulder muscles.
Even his calf muscles were defined. Annoyingly, he’d tucked his hands beneath his chin in a way that looked very relaxed, as though he were lounging in bed or sunbathing on a beach.
For her part, Kendra felt like she was waiting for a root canal.
“I suppose.”
Lucas rang the bell that rested next to his bed, and Cara returned with another masseuse. Kendra couldn’t stop blushing, and she hid her face in the headrest as the two masseuses began.
“I feel some tension here,” Cara said as she gently rubbed a sweet-smelling oil into Kendra’s skin.
“Nope,” Kendra said.
“You definitely are a little bit tense, especially in your shoulders.” Cara continued the massage, her hands firm. “Try to relax.”
But how could Kendra relax when she was practically naked in front of Lucas, and Lucas was practically naked right next to her?
She forced herself to take a few deep breaths and managed to loosen her muscles enough to almost enjoy the massage.
Almost. She was conscious the whole time not to make any noise and not to look at Lucas.
She wanted to forget he was even there, but that wasn’t possible.
After what felt like an eternity, Cara and the other masseuse finished up.
“Next, you have an hour in the hot tub,” Cara explained as she walked toward the door. “Just follow the signs when you’re ready.” She and the other masseuse left, shutting the door behind them.
“Look away,” Kendra insisted. She rolled off the bed, her muscles instantly tense again, as she grabbed her bikini bottoms and pulled them on.
Next, she pulled out her bikini top, which tied in a series of complicated bows behind her back.
She managed to get most of them, but the tie that went directly across her back was in an odd position.
She shouldn’t have even packed this suit.
She hadn’t worn it before, and when she’d tried it on in the dressing room, Annalise had had to help her with the ties.
“Ready?” Lucas asked.
“No!” Kendra twisted to reach the final tie, but it was no use. Her arms didn’t bend that way. Already blushing, she gathered herself with a deep breath. “Lucas?”
“Yeah?”
“You can turn around.” Kendra turned toward him. “So, I’m having trouble with my swimsuit tie. Stupid bikini. Can you help?” She nodded to the back part, where she was holding the suit closed with her hands.
“Of course. Turn around.” There was something in his voice, something a little deeper than usual.
Kendra turned back to the wall, and a moment later, Lucas took the ties from her hands.
His fingertips brushed the bare skin of her back, making her shiver, as he carefully did the final tie.
He pulled it into a bow, and then he hesitated.
One of his fingers brushed against Kendra’s shoulder blade, the touch so light that she was almost certain she’d imagined it.
She could feel his warmth behind her and hear the soft sound of his breath.
Warmth flooded her, and her knees felt weak.
She wanted to lean back into his touch, but she stayed frozen in place, hardly daring to breathe.
Lucas pulled away.
“All done.”
“Thanks.” Kendra still felt a little weak and warm from his closeness. Or, more likely, from the warmth in the room and all those sweet-smelling oils.
They gathered up the clothes they’d shed before the massage and headed outside. Once again, Kendra tried not to look at Lucas’s bare chest, but she still managed to catch sight of his impossibly flat and well-muscled stomach. Did he live at the gym?
They followed the signs to the hot tub, which they had to themselves.
Smiling awkwardly, they slid into the warm water.
Kendra gathered her hair into a bun so that it wouldn’t get wet and found a spot on the opposite side of the tub from Lucas.
Unlike during the massage, though, Kendra found that she was able to relax now.
They could still hear the crash of the ocean and the twitter of birds in nearby trees over the whoosh of the tub’s jets.
The water was warm and deep enough that she could comfortably sit submerged to her shoulders.
“I think we’ve learned a valuable lesson today,” Lucas said, lifting his arms from the water and resting them on the side of the tub.
“Oh?”
“Whatever we tell Susie that we want to do, it’ll backfire on us.”
Kendra laughed. “That’s true. When we tried to tell her we didn’t want to do any activities, she made us go kayaking. And when we said we wanted to do something relaxing, she made us get massages.”
“To be fair, I’m sure these would be fun things for most couples,” Lucas said, grinning.
He traced his hand over the surface of the water, and Kendra shivered despite the water’s warmth as she remembered his fingertips brushing her back in much the same way.
“She just doesn’t know that we’re not a couple. ”
“True.” Kendra tilted her head back so that she could look up at the blue sky and the palm leaves overhead, instead of at Lucas. “But she keeps calling me Mrs. Moran, even though I’ve asked her not to, like I’m an old married lady or something. Even though I’m certain she’s my age.”
“How old are you?” Lucas asked.
“Hey, you should never ask a lady that.” She sat up, raising her eyebrows at him. “Especially not your wife.”
“My apologies.” Lucas grinned.
“But, if you must know, I’m twenty-seven. You?”
“Thirty,” Lucas replied. He was still lazily tracing the surface of the water with one hand.
“It’s strange that we don’t know these things about each other,” Kendra said.
“True. Usually, when I impersonate someone’s husband to get around a resort’s couples-only policy, I make sure to find out how old they are first.”
Kendra laughed. “Okay, fair enough. I guess there aren’t really any rules for this situation. It’s a little strange.”
“You can say that again.” Lucas smiled, his eyes crinkling. Kendra’s heart skipped a beat. “How often does this kind of thing happen?”
“About as often as a sleeping princess is awoken by true love’s first kiss, or a trickster helps someone weave straw into gold,” Kendra suggested. “In other words, never.”
“Fairy-tale references?” Lucas smiled. “Okay, I think I’m piecing together a picture of who you are.
” He lifted his hand, holding up a finger.
“One, you’re a wedding photographer.” He held up another finger.
“Two, you like fairy tales. And three,” he said, holding up another finger, “I don’t really know what else to say, but I felt like I should say three things. Oh! I know. You like classical music.”
Kendra chuckled. “Who says I like fairy tales?”
“You picked a fairy-tale metaphor,” Lucas pointed out. “Or would that be more of a simile?”
“I’m not sure.” Kendra was getting warm, so she sat up and lifted her arms out of the water. “But you’re right. I do like fairy tales. So, what conclusion have you drawn from my job and two of my interests?”
“I get the feeling you’re a romantic,” Lucas said. “Am I right?”
Kendra blushed. “A little bit.” That was a bald-faced lie.
She loved rom-coms and romance novels, books of fairy tales with gold print on the covers, and classical compositions that made her feel like she was dancing at a ball with a handsome prince.
And she’d planned the most magical fairy-tale wedding she could have imagined, which should have been deeply romantic.
Of course, though, it had ended in disaster — exactly what happened every time Kendra let herself lean into her romantic side.
“But maybe I don’t want to be a romantic anymore. ”
“Why?” Lucas asked.
Kendra shrugged. “You know… I was supposed to be married, and I’m not.
” She didn’t want to explain the whole situation, but that should be enough for Lucas to understand the problem with romantic daydreams. Real life never matched up, and Kendra always got hurt.
The same thing had happened with the kid who’d asked her to marry him in kindergarten during first recess but had ended up married to Isobel Perez by lunchtime.
And the same thing had happened in high school when Kendra had arrived at prom, all dressed up, and was never asked to dance.
And again in college, when her one semi-serious boyfriend had flirted with all her friends and then dumped her the night before summer break.
“The guy you were supposed to marry wasn’t the right guy, then,” Lucas said.
“Maybe there aren’t any ‘right guys,’” Kendra countered. “Maybe being romantic means getting your heart broken.”
Lucas smiled. “Normally, I’d agree with you.
I’m probably the least romantic guy in the world.
When James Bond falls in love in movies, I fast-forward.
And when my acquaintances get married, I usually send a gift and skip the wedding.
But you shouldn’t let one nonexistent wedding stop you from believing in love.
” He was looking at her, his fingers still tracing the surface of the water, his expression serious.
It made Kendra’s heart race, which wasn’t right.
“Wow. Lucas.” Kendra met his eyes across the hot tub. “That was surprisingly deep for a Missouri farm boy.” The joke broke the tension between them, and Lucas laughed.
“I told you I was from Missouri, but who said I was a farm boy?”
“I did — but I’m not wrong, am I?”
“I’ll have you know that I lived in a town, not on a farm,” Lucas said.
“Well, did you see a cow every day?”
“Not every day.”
“But often?”
“The neighbors did have cows, so yes, I suppose I saw them fairly often.”
“Then you were a farm boy. Simple.” Kendra smiled at him.
“And let me guess — you were one of those California surfer girls who boys like me were always warned about.”
“I was not a surfer.” Kendra chuckled. “Surprisingly, I managed to grow up in SoCal without ever setting foot on a surfboard. I have to know, though. What exactly did they warn you about?”
“Well.” Lucas leaned a little closer, as though letting her in on a secret. “They told me that you California surfer girls would ambush us on airplanes and take us away to fancy resorts.”
“In that case, I guess ‘they’ were right.”
“Sorry to interrupt.” They both looked up, surprised to see Cara standing beside the tub. “But your hour is up. You’re welcome to stay longer, but we also have you booked for lunch in about half an hour.”
“Oh! Thank you.” Kendra glanced at Lucas.
To her surprise, she didn’t want to leave.
She wanted to stay here, with him, in the hot tub, joking around and finally getting to know a little more about him.
But of course they should leave. Just that morning, she’d reminded herself to keep her distance from Lucas, and already she was here in a hot tub with him, talking about romance and joking about their home states.
“Of course. We’ll get out,” she added quickly.
“Yes, of course,” Lucas echoed. They got out of the water, took their towels and clothes and headed inside to shower.
They went separate ways at the end of the hall, Kendra to the women’s changing room and Lucas to the men’s.
Inside, she went straight to the shower and turned the water on.
If she were a different person, she might have turned the water cold in hopes of shocking her system, but she didn’t like cold water.
Instead, she let the warm shower beat down on her head and shoulders.
That morning, she’d decided not to let herself forget the real world while she was here.
But maybe that had been the wrong decision.
After all, the real world hadn’t been kind to her lately.
Maybe it was okay to just have fun, tease Lucas, and pretend that she was a different person.
Just for a few more days. She wouldn’t let herself imagine they were falling in love, but she could let herself be friends with him.
Then, hopefully, she’d feel strong enough to go back to LA and face her parents’ disappointment and her friends’ pity.