Chapter 12
Okay, this is better. Much safer territory. Now there are two other people in the room there’s much less opportunity to share confusing moments with my best friend’s little brother. And I have to say the massage is amazing. Enya started with my legs, smoothing and gently pummelling, and she’s now moved up to my back.
‘We’re using a blend of essential oils today,’ explains Ric. ‘Rose, for arousal, and bergamot, a mood booster.’
Not sure I need much help with either of those. Or is it all the essential oils’ fault?
I hear Luke sigh happily and I can’t help it, I turn my head to the side and open my eyes to look at him.
He’s already watching me.
‘That good, huh?’ I ask in one giant exhale as Enya works on my shoulder blades.
‘Pretty good,’ he says, Ric’s hands gliding across his glistening back. ‘I’m used to sports massages which usually just hurt like hell.’
‘Do you get them a lot?’
‘Used to, when I was playing. There’d always be some knots to work out after a game, or some twinge to ease. I hated them at the time but I kind of miss them now.’
‘Do you ever wish you could go back?’ I ask. ‘Wait, sorry, you don’t mind talking about this? Because we can change the subject.’
‘No, it’s cool.’
‘I meant, do you wish you could change your path somehow? Not pick up that injury that put a stop to your tennis career?’
‘No,’ Luke says in a heartbeat. ‘I’m not saying it wasn’t tough, it really was. But if life had turned out differently then I wouldn’t be here right now. With you.’
‘I am pretty great.’ I grin, presumably so relaxed by this massage that I’m suddenly bigging myself up.
‘Agreed. You’ve been a great friend to Stella so, in a way, you’ve been a huge support to me too.’
‘I, erm …’
‘Don’t know how to deal with compliments?’ he offers, eyes bright.
‘Exactly. It’s not very British to accept compliments, Luke. You’ve spent way too long in America.’
He laughs at this. ‘I called a tap a faucet the other day and Stella looked like she was going to punch me.’
It’s my turn to laugh, now. ‘You should be careful, no one wants to face the wrath of Stella.’
Including me, I think. What would she say if she knew I’d been flirting with her sibling while half naked in a couples massage orchestrated by Emerald? I can only imagine.
‘Speaking of siblings, you’ve got a brother, right?’
‘James, yes, certified disaster zone.’
‘How so?’
‘Oof, well, it’s a long story but basically he had this huge falling-out with my mum and dad back when I was at uni. Pretty much cut all ties with them. There were things said on both sides that shouldn’t have been said, the whole situation was horrible, but I think James has always had this entitled streak in him. Like, he thinks people owe him a favour. And when Mum and Dad wouldn’t help him out with a new business venture, he just upped and left.’
‘Wow.’
‘Yeah. Mum was devastated. Dad was furious. They’re such good, kind people.’ I shake my head. ‘So when I finished uni, I went back to my hometown. I’d planned to stay in Manchester – I’d been working part time in a bookshop to fund uni and they had a permanent job coming up. But when it all kicked off with James I just felt this need to go back home. Does that make sense?’
Luke nods. ‘You wanted to support your family.’
‘Yes. So I went home and a job came up at the local paper and, well, here we are.’ I pause, once again finding myself sharing personal stuff with Luke.
‘Do you still speak to James?’
‘Mm hm,’ I say. ‘Things were tricky for a while but we’re still in touch, and his relationship with my folks has turned a corner now. But we’ve never been super close like you and Stell.’
‘Family dynamics, hey?’
‘Right.’ I smile, as we’re both instructed to turn onto our backs.
This is only the second massage I’ve ever had, and so far I have a hundred per cent strike rate of falling asleep in them. Not today, my friend. Every single part of my body is alert to Luke’s presence. The room is thick with the smells of rose and citrus, the air warm and cocooning. It’s heavenly.
‘The other benefit of no longer being pro is that I can eat what I like,’ Luke’s saying. ‘And I developed a serious thing for plant burgers in the States.’
By now I’m lying on my back, nothing but a towel covering my boobs as Enya sets to work on my arms. It feels so nice that I let out a groan of delight.
‘You really like plant burgers, huh?’ says Luke.
‘Oh my god.’ I laugh. ‘That was for the massage, not the plant burgers. Although they do sound good. Are you vegetarian?’
‘Vegan,’ Luke says.
‘No way!’
‘You sound surprised.’
‘You’re just so … big.’
No . I did not just say that?
I look over to see Luke pretending to look hurt. ‘Vegans can be strong too, you know.’
‘Clearly.’ I chuckle. ‘I’ve been vegetarian since I was a teen. Mum was horrified when I made the big announcement.’
Luke laughs. ‘You know what I’ve missed most about the UK? Chip shop chips.’
‘Oh come on! First you expect me to believe you’re vegan and now you’re claiming you love chips? It’s all lies, surely.’
‘Says the girl who claims never to have fallen in love.’
‘Why’s that so unbelievable?’
Luke looks at me like I’m from another planet.
‘Just look at you, Jessica Jones.’ He shakes his head. There’s something about the way my full name sounds on his lips that is as hot as hell.
So much so that I have forgotten all my words again, other than to let out a gasp as the masseuse moves on to knead my thighs.
‘You’re just … I don’t know. You’re a catch, is all I’m saying. Beautiful, funny, kind … And so small, too.’ He’s grinning now. ‘I could carry you around in my pocket.’
I can’t help but laugh at this. ‘Where would we go? The chip shop?’
‘I can think of some other places.’
Jeez. Heat pools around my body and my heart starts racing at this.
I clear my throat. ‘Jess and Luke’s Pocket Adventures. Maybe I could write a book on it. I’d have us going to Cappadocia in Turkey, where we’d take a hot air balloon ride over the famous cone-shaped caves.’
Luke shoots me a look. ‘That’s on my bucket list.’
‘No! Same. It looks fascinating. I might be a bit nervous in a hot air balloon though, I’m not great with heights.’
‘Ah but you’d be in my pocket so you’d be very safe and cosy. I could just let you know when to come out and look at the best bits.’
I giggle, delighted by this idea.
‘Speaking of caves, we could also go to—’
‘Petra,’ we both say at the exact same time.
‘Stop it,’ I say. ‘Don’t tell me that’s on your list too?’
‘A city carved out of rock? For a man who’s quite into architecture? Of course it’s on my bucket list!’
I love this about Luke.
‘You know you can take a camel ride down into Petra itself?’ I say, getting carried away with our imaginary escapades.
‘Woah, not sure about that,’ wavers Luke. ‘Maybe I’ll have to go in your pocket if we’re going down that route.’
‘I’m going to need to get some bigger pockets,’ I say. ‘What’s up with camels?’
‘They look kind of weird?’
‘Rude.’ I laugh. ‘Poor camels.’
Luke grins. ‘I apologise to all camels. You know, all this sightseeing is very cultured of us. I think the Pocket Adventures could probably do with some beach time, too.’
‘Totally.’ I nod in agreement. ‘You could also take me to the Maldives in the pocket of your boardshorts. I could climb out onto your lap once we hit the sand.’
Luke turns to look straight at me, a huge and very sexy smile on his face.
‘Jess,’ he says, voice low, ‘this was all extremely wholesome until you mentioned climbing onto my lap and now my mind has gone somewhere very different.’
My heart is pounding by now, and I’m pretty sure I can’t blame the rose essential oils, but somehow I manage to say: ‘Has it gone to the bookshop to buy Jess and Luke’s Pocket Adventures ?’
Luke laughs softly at this. ‘Let’s go with yes, for decency’s sake. Do you mind me asking you a personal question?’
‘Shoot,’ I say, feeling both super relaxed and very alert.
‘I just … uh … I got the impression at the garden party the other day that you might, I don’t know, be into somebody else?’
I cast my mind back, remember that Em and I came up with my fake crush on some footballer to throw poor Stella off the scent of my real crush. The look on Luke’s face when he saw Stella pointing out my red herring romance. It’s mad enough to think that he might like me now, let alone on Saturday just a day after we’d met.
‘Ah. You’re talking about Terry Carver, the footballer?’
‘Pretty sure it’s Perry Carver, world famous midfielder.’
I smile. ‘I mean, I think the fact that I still don’t know his name tells you all you need to know about that.’ There’s no way I’m going to explain the embarrassing fact that Em and I had to come up with a decoy crush so Stella wouldn’t figure out just how much I fancy her little brother right now. For a moment Ric is standing between Luke and me, but when he moves, we’re both still looking at each other. I say, ‘I’m not into anybody else.’
Luke’s eyes twinkle with what looks like relief and he gives me that full wattage smile. I get the impression that he’s about to say something more, but our massage has stopped and Enya asks: ‘Would you like to try some moves on each other?’
Luke’s eyebrow is arched as he looks at me for an answer.
My heartrate is through the roof, my fingers already imagining what his skin would feel like under them.
‘You know, Jess, my shoulders could still use some TLC,’ he says, swinging his legs off the side of his table and smiling mischievously at me.
And I can’t help it. I know I shouldn’t even be here in the first place, let alone entertaining the thought of rubbing arousing oils into Luke’s mostly naked body. But apparently I have fully lost all forms of self-restraint here in this massage room.
‘Fine,’ I say, rolling my eyes as if this is a massive inconvenience when we all know I cannot wait to get my hands on him. ‘Enya, could you pass me my robe please?’
I stand in the corner, with my back to the room and slip the robe back on, very aware that Luke is right behind me as I dropped the sheet to the floor. But then I swallow and turn to see Luke looking really quite pleased with himself. He rolls back onto his front as Ric pours a few drops of essential oils into my hands and encourages me to warm it in my palms and breathe in the heady scent.
The next thing I know, my hands are on Luke’s strong, solid back and I’m making gliding motions from the base of his spine up to his shoulders. I’m trying very hard to follow Ric’s instructions, using my thumbs to work deep into Luke’s taut muscles, alternating the pressure of my touch, but it’s not that easy now that I’ve developed a one-track mind. Luke lets out a low moan so I repeat that move again. Temptation to fling off the towel covering his lower body: high. Temptation to bend down and trail kisses down his back: off the charts.
‘God, you’re good,’ Luke says, stretching up into a low cobra as I finish up. ‘If you’d have been my sports masseuse I’d never have quit. May I return the favour?’
‘I think we’re out of time,’ I say, nodding towards a discreet clock in one corner of the room.
‘Oh man,’ says Luke, flashing me a look. ‘In that case, I definitely owe you one.’
‘Here,’ I say, handing him a robe as Enya and Ric leave the room.
‘Thanks,’ he says, wrapping it around himself. ‘Time just melted back there.’
‘Must be my magic hands.’
‘I think it was.’ He smiles. ‘Devastatingly, I have to get back to work.’
‘That’s cool, I’ve got a very busy schedule of swanning around the spa to crack on with.’
‘Okay.’ He grins, stepping towards me and leaning down to brush the side of my cheek with a kiss goodbye. My senses are struck at once with the warmth of his body and the smell of his skin.
‘Hopefully see you again very soon, Jess,’ he says.
Em is loitering outside the treatment room when we emerge, eyes darting between the two of us, her face lighting up in a smile.
‘You have got to get a grip,’ I hiss as we walk off together.
‘I take it that went well,’ she says.
‘I need a cold drink.’
‘To the bar, then,’ Em says.
So apparently, daytime drinking is my new thing. We’re sitting at the spa bar – not the one in the restaurant, this hotel has myriad options for throwing back alcohol – and Em has ordered us both iced cocktails.
I sip mine shakily, grateful for the shot of booze.
‘You look like you need to calm your nerves.’ She grins.
‘Stop looking at me like that.’
‘Not until you tell me how the massage went.’
I sigh. ‘You’re like a dog with a bone.’
‘Give me the tea.’
‘Right, well, this is going to sound a bit mad, but I think Luke was flirting with me.’
‘When you say you think …’
So I explain the ‘beautiful’ comment, and the fact that he asked about Perry Carver. ‘I’m making it up, right? They used rose essential oils for “arousal”, and obviously I nearly died when they told us that, but I reckon that’s got to my head?’
‘WRONG!’ Em spins a cocktail stirrer around excitedly. ‘OMG, JESSIE! He was definitely flirting with you. You just can’t tell because it’s been so bloody long for you, you poor thing.’
‘Hey!’ I say. ‘Well, actually, you’re right I guess. So long.’
‘So very long.’
‘You really think he was flirting?’
‘Oh my god, yes!’
‘It definitely felt that way, I think. Or, at least, my heart was beating way too fast and my stomach felt like it was swirling around and I swear my pupils were massive, like they just wanted to allow as much of Luke as possible into my brain. Does that sound normal?’
‘Yes, babes. That’s exactly how I felt with Henry.’
‘Which one?’ I couldn’t help it.
Em ignores this. ‘That’s how it should feel! I’m so pleased for you, Jessie.’
I take another sip of cocktail.
‘And the whole pact thing …’ I hedge.
‘We’ve already established that it’s not even a thing.’
‘But I did say to myself that it was,’ I reason. ‘Only now, after this, I feel a bit more determined to not worry about it? I don’t know, Em. I really like him.’
‘That pact was so long ago.’ Em’s on the edge of her bar stool. ‘We were just kids.’
I nod. ‘So I’m wondering if maybe it is okay to feel like this, about Luke. And that even though it seems crazy to think that he might feel the same—’
‘Not crazy.’
‘That, I think, if he carries on flirting with me like this then I’ll properly reciprocate. Because oof, Em. The way he makes me feel!’
‘Praise be!’ Em beams, holding her hand out for a high-five. ‘I am thrilled for you, my friend. Ooh, to be a fly on the wall the next time you two hang out.’