Page 81 of Could Have Been Us
She walks backward, pulling me with her as she moves toward the door.
When we get into the room, there are two tables in the middle and candles everywhere. Some instrumental music is playing in the background, and Stella sighs deeply.
“You can both get undressed, lie face down on the table under the sheet, and we’ll be back in a few to get started.”
This isn’t what I was expecting.
The door closes, shutting us away in the softly lit space. “This is supposed to be relaxing? I thought thatyouwere giving me the massage.”
“How would that be relaxing for me?”
There are rules for dating, and I didn’t think another chick rubbing me down with oil in a room with sex music and incense was cool, but Stella is the one who set this up.
“I don’t know, but I’m not going to be in trouble for this later?”
She squints, shaking her head at the same time. “Why the hell would you be in trouble?”
“I’m about to get oiled up.”
Stella laughs softly and walks to me. Her hands rest on my chest, long brown hair falling down her back, making her look insanely attractive in the candlelight. “There is nothing sexual about them touching you. I promise, you’ll probably hurt afterward because they’re going to work out all the tension in your body.”
And she said this was supposed to be relaxing . . .
“Good to know. I’ll carry the memories of this day with me always.”
Stella sighs deeply and takes a step back. Her hand moves to her robe, untying the belt, allowing the terrycloth fabric to gape open. “Fucking hell.”
“You can go now or you can take your robe off and get on the table. If you stay, when we get home, I’ll let you wash all the oil off me. How does that sound?”
I do as she says, dropping my robe and loving how Stella’s eyes take me all in. “Enjoying the view?”
She grins. “Absolutely worth it. Don’t you think?”
“Yeah, you are. You’re worth everything.”
Chapter 24
Stella
“It’ll be fine,” I tell Jack while we stand outside of Grayson’s house.
“It’s going to be weird.”
“Yes, but it’ll be fine. Gray will give us shit, we’ll ignore him, and then we can go back to my place.”
Jack gives me a side eye. “Where Oliver is waiting?”
I sigh. “He’ll move out after the first night we have sex at my place. It’s time to rip off this Band-Aid so we can move past it.”
Jack and I have been living in a cloud of happiness. I survived camping and he endured the spa. We’ve had dinner together almost every night, worked on a few business plans, and have spent countless hours making love. I’ve been able to confide in Jack the way I always dreamed of doing.
He’s a partner, a friend, and one hell of a lover.
Jack squeezes my hand a little, shaking out his arms. “No backing out now. If you can attempt camping, and I didn’t kill you after the spa day, then we can handle dinner with your brother.”
He knocks on the door, and it opens suspiciously fast, as if my niece had been waiting for us. “Auntie!” Amelia yells and launches herself at me. I barely have time to catch her.
“Hey, Monkey!”
