Chapter 32 Aspen
Aspen
I don’t know what I did to deserve this.
I’m being punished.
Genevieve is sprawled out beside me, soft moans slipping from her lips while Caesar rubs oil into her back.
She sounds like she’s getting railed not massaged, and it’s driving me insane .
I swear she’s doing it on purpose her breathy little sighs, the way she bites her lip and hums. It’s sexy as hell and somehow makes the whole room feel hot.
Too hot.
I glance at the masseuses. Yep, uncomfortable. Meanwhile, I’m stuck here getting worked over by some dude named Gavin, trying not to die from a combination of jealousy and a stubborn boner I’m definitely going to have to deal with later.
After about an hour of being tortured by the sight and sound of Genevieve melting under another man’s hands, we make our way to the shared steam room.
And man… what a mistake not coming here sooner.
The spa at Smoky Pine Ridge is a paradise .
The heat, the quiet, the smell of eucalyptus hanging thick in the air.
It’s unlike anything I’ve experienced, and I work here.
Years I could’ve been doing this for free . What the hell was I thinking?
The steam curls around us like we’ve stepped into a dream.
I stretch out, pretending to let it “cleanse” my skin or whatever it’s supposed to do, but really I’m just trying to hide the fact that my towel is barely concealing the very real problem I have under it.
Between her moans earlier and the way the sweat beads on her glowing skin now, Genevieve has my restraint hanging by a thread.
She’s lounging a few feet away, looking too damn good, and I can’t stop myself. I shift closer, lean down and kiss her. The kiss is soft and a little damp from the steam.
“How are you enjoying yourself?” I murmur, brushing my thumb along her chin.
She smiles, lazy and content. “Everything has been amazing. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome, beautiful,” I tell her and it comes out rougher than I expect. I’m holding on by a thread.
I force myself to lean back and let the silence settle in again. I try to relax. But the only thing I can think about is her; how good she smells, how she looked on that table and how she’s looking at me now.
***
After the steam room, we hit the little spa store and buy the cheapest swimsuits we can find just so we can get into the hot spring. It’s dusk now and the steam rising off the surface of the spring looks ethereal, like something out of a dream.
We smear these silly mud masks from a kiosk over our faces, some miracle blend that’s supposed to make your skin look ten years younger. I don’t really buy it, but Gen swears by it, so I’m in. I’d do anything she asked me to right now, honestly.
Ten minutes later we dive under the surface, letting the water wash the clay away. The heat hits me like a hug; comforting, deep. The world goes quiet except for the slow ripple of water and the occasional sigh from Gen. It feels like we’re the only people on Earth.
“You know there’s history here?” I say turning toward her.
She raises her brows, curious. God, I love when she looks at me like that, like she wants to absorb everything I say. Like I’m interesting.
“Tell me,” she says and wraps her arms and legs around me. The feel of her body, slick against mine—lotions, oils, water, all of it—it’s so intimate I almost forget what I was going to say. I hold her easily, keeping her close, grounding myself with the weight of her.
I clear my throat. “So… legend has it, the couple who first bought this property over a century ago found this exact spring while hiking. They were madly in love, but hadn’t told each other yet.
Both of them had come from broken families, so they didn’t know if they believed in love…
or if they even could . But then, they jumped into this spring—just like we did—and when they came up for air, they shouted ‘I love you’ at the exact same time.
No planning. Just their hearts speaking for them. ”
Genevieve’s eyes stay locked on mine. She's quiet, listening.
“They were stunned. But they realized it was the truth. That the water had somehow stripped away all the fear and left only honesty. Since then, couples have come here hoping for the same kind of clarity… hoping the spring will help them speak what they’re too scared to say.”
She shifts in my arms, slipping out of my hold, standing just in front of me now. Staring at me with those wide, glassy, dangerous eyes.
I keep going. “My parents… were one of those couples. They came here. They were scared too, but after time in the spring, they told each other they loved each other for the first time.”
Her eyebrows lift in surprise—but then she blinks, like she’s remembering something.
“My parents were one of those couples too,” she says softly and the air between us changes completely. The weight of it hits me in the chest.
I’m stunned. “Wait. Seriously?”
She nods, “Seriously. They brought me here when I was little. Said the spring helped them fall in love. I always dreamed of coming back one day… hoping maybe it’d happen to me too.”
Something tightens in my throat. My heart’s pounding against my ribs like it wants out.
I laugh quietly, trying to wrap my head around it. “So you let me ramble through that whole story while you already had your own?”
“I didn’t know the details,” she says. “I just knew it was special. And now…”
Now we’re standing here, in the same water our parents once stood in, under the same sky, sharing the same kind of moment.
It feels like fate, like something bigger than us is at work here, something ancient and sacred.
“Genevieve,” I say her name like a prayer, stepping closer and picking her back up so she wraps herself around me again.
She doesn’t look away, doesn’t blink.
Then she says it. First. Brave.
“Aspen… I love you.”
My heart cracks open.
I don’t hesitate. “I love you too.”
And then I kiss her, not like before. This one is slow, deep, filled with something that makes my chest ache. Something real . She tastes like steam and spring water and forever.
And in that moment, I realize that I could spend every day for the rest of my life falling in love with her, over and over again.