Page 43 of It Had to be You

The masseuse's cheeks pinked. "He'll be covered in mud, too. But beyond that. I've never seen a couple come out of that mud bath with anything other than... romance on their minds."

Tatum lifted a brow at that. "Romance? Mud?"

The masseuse took a step back and covered her heart with her hands as she leveled a serious look at Tatum. "You'll see, miss. You will see."

Tatum smiled.

How could she do anything else?

"So, where is the changing room?"

The masseuse gestured toward the doorway at the back of the room. "You can change in there and the other doorway will take you out to the spring. Your man will be waiting for you out there."

When she stepped outside, she found herself in another corner of paradise. The air was warm, the sunlight shining down on her felt like a spotlight, but the most important element of the amazing venue was Alexander.

He was standing at the edge of the spring with an elegant flute of champagne in his hand.

As if he'd sensed her step into the sunlight, he turned and smiled.

She meant what she said earlier. He was attractive and hit wasn’t just his body, although that wasn’t a shortcoming at all. He was fit, but when he looked at her. When he smiled. When he showed how amazing his personality was. It was all…

Wow.

Her eyes and her heart moved up and down fromhis feet to his face and back again.

Even though she'd had the most amazing breakfast and the lunch they were headed to on the way back to the ship promised to be amazing, she was hungry.

Hungry for Alexander. Just seeing his body encased in the deep red, almost knee-length shorts, she was stunned to find a bone deep hunger bubbling to the surface. She'd found a number of men handsome throughout her life, some were even arousing in their forms, but she'd never had such an immediate reaction to a man's physicality as she had for Alexander.

He gestured for her to come closer so she set her bag down on a chair and made her way to his side.

"How was the massage?"

"Perfectly amazing." Tatum closed her eyes and shuddered a little, feeling the pleasant sensations rolling through her body at the memories of her massage. "I've never had such an amazing massage before."

Alex handed her a champagne flute. "We'll have to make sure that you have that opportunity again soon."

She shook her head. "I'm good. It was truly amazing. I feel like I've been tenderized like a fancy piece of meat."

Alex's laughter echoed in their private area, bouncing slightly off of the rock walls surrounding them. "It's not fair, Tatum. Now you have me wondering what you might taste like."

She blushed and felt every inch of her body warm at his words. "I doubt you'll feel that way after we're covered in mud."

He put his champagne flute down and took a step into the spring.

Tatum watched his expression closely and she saw his features tense for a moment before he lifted an eyebrow and almost smiled.

"How does it feel?"

Alex nodded and smiled at her. "Actually, good."

He took another step down and the tension she'd noticed in his shoulders fell away.

"Really good. I don't know what I expected this to feel like, but..."

Tatum set her glass down beside his and stepped up to the edge of the spring. Before she put her foot into the muddy water, Alex held out his hand to her.

She took his hand and felt her heart flutter in her chest.

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