Page 86 of Accidentally Wedded To A Werewolf

Fun, Luna reminded herself.I am having fun.

Itshouldhave been fun, was the thing. It should have at least beenrelaxing. The masseuse’s hands had left her muscles loose and bendy. The aloe skin rub had left her shiny. Now they were reclining in the mud bath, which supposedly had healing properties from local mud pools. Luna used to go crazy for this type of thing. But she was sitting here in the pool, and she didn’t feel revitalized. Didn’t feel like she’d gotten “a new lease on life” like the brochure had promised. She felt like she was sitting in a hot tub full of mud. And shestillwasn’t warm enough. She sunk lower into the mud, glad that she tied her hair up before she went in.

Hector plucked a cucumber slice off his eye and took a bite. He glanced over at Luna and laughed. “Having fun there?”

“You know it,” Luna said, as chirpy as she couldmanage. Her cucumber slices were currently lost somewhere in the ooze.

Hector slipped the other cucumber slice into his mouth. “Really? ‘Cause you kinda look like you’re trying to drown yourself in mud.”

“Just trying to get the full effects,” Luna said, her mouth barely visible above the mud. It was making her sweat, sure. But that was warming her from the outside in. Not from the inside out, like a certain werewolf had done, with his huge hands and deceivingly soft eyes once he finally stopped scowling. Even that last time they were together, she’d felt it. An echo of it, anyway—small and golden, almost lost in the blur of sensation as he thrust into her.

She thumbed the almost-healed cut on her finger where Oliver had pressed the knife.I had such a fun time with you,she’d told him. What kind of cop-out crap was that? It was what she said to people who came to her parties. Oliver deserved more than that.

Her phone vibrated on the tiles next to her head.

“Hey,” Hector complained as she shot up and grabbed her towel to dry her hands off. “We’re relaxing! Peak cute, remember?”

“I know,” she said. “I’ll be extra adorable on the day, I promise. I’m just going to answer this email.”

It was Beth again. She was emailing to thank Luna for putting her in touch with a marketing expert, who had given Beth and many other shop owners a crash course on gift bags.

My to-do list is a million miles long, but I’m so excited,the email concluded.Anyway, g2g, coffee with Sabine. She’s so sweet!!! Hope you’re having fun at the spa!!! I looked it up, and it seems so fancy. Does the mud really cleanse your spirit???

Luna started typing out a reply about the dubious qualities of the mud, which she was less than hopeful for. She heard a wet squelch behind her as Hector sidled over.

“Don’t,” she warned as he hovered a muddy finger over her cheek.

“I won’t if you put the phone down,” he replied, turning his finger in a lazy circle.

Luna sent the reply—proud of u, yay sabine hang!!!!—and put the phone back on the gleaming tiles. “There! Try and mud me now. I dare you.”

“Well, if youdareme…”

She ducked out of the way. He grabbed her, hauling her back and shoving his mud-wet chin into her cheek.

She screeched, grinning. “Come on! Stop it!”

“You dared me,” he reminded her, rubbing mud into her cheek.

Luna giggled. It wasn’t as loud as usual. She turned in his arms, bumping their noses together. Trying to drag back the girl who was wholly entertained by Hector’s playful roughhousing. Part of her was. But mostly, it was like playing with dolls. After you hit a certain age, you couldn’t see the Barbie battlefields anymore. It was just you in your bedroom, holding a doll over a makeshift spike pit made of hairbrushes.

At least he didn’t notice. His grin was simpleand easy as he asked, “Want to try flotation therapy next? They had a cancellation and can fit us in.”

Luna thought about being alone in a tank with her own thoughts. The last time had been fun, it had beenrelaxing, but she didn’t have much on her mind back then except designing party invitations and planning their next trip to Paris and how she was going to remodel the kitchen. She’d laid there in that dark tank thinking happy thoughts about paint swatches. She didn’t want toknowwhat weird, tangled thought spirals she’d get in that tank now.

“Not today,” she said.

Her phone rang. Luna lunged for it, elbowing Hector in the face when he tried to stop her.

He reeled back, blinking in shock and pain. He’d been teasing. Luna’s elbow hadnotbeen teasing when it dug into his nose.

Luna tossed back a nervous giggle as she climbed out of the mud pool. “Sorry, babe!”

“Um,” said Hector, muffled by the hand over his mouth. He dabbed at his nose, then checked his hand. “’S fine. Not bleeding.”

“Great,” Luna said, grabbing the phone. Sabine was FaceTiming her.

Luna clicked into the call to see Sabine’s scarred face smiling at her, Beth crowding into the screen and waving. They were in the back room at Beth’s store, Luna recognized from the wallpaper.

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