Page 44 of Timeless Pages
This time I went with the one-piece. With Nova and her men around, I wasn’t comfortable wearing the bikini. True to her word, at the five-minute mark, Nova knocked on my door.
When I opened the door, her eyes trailed over my body quickly before meeting my eyes. I braced for her reaction to the scars she could see, expecting to see pity in her eyes, but all Nova did was give me a beaming smile and grab my hand to pull me behind her.
”Come on. I think we both need this day.” Nova led me down a staircase. I hadn’t had a chance to explore last night, so I didn’t know there was a down. When we reached the bottom, we passed an impressive-looking gym, through the glass door at the end of the hallway, and stepped into a concrete oasis.
It reminded me of a mermaid’s grotto. There was a naturally shaped pool in the middle, surrounded by tropical plants. To the left was a hot tub big enough to easily fit ten people. To the right was a sauna. All of this was under a glass ceiling that cast rainbows everywhere. Past the covered area was an open patio with two posh covered cabanas and some of the greenest grass I’d ever seen.
Nova pressed a button on the wall, and the ceiling split open the area to the sky. “What do you think?” Nova asked. “It was my engagement present.”
”I want to live here,” I replied. Everywhere I looked, a new detail jumped out at me that made the area that much better.
”Right! What’s really nice is that there is a whole wall system that closes this area in during the winter, so we have year-round water activities. Come on, let’s get a drink and then hit the hottub first. I just finished a week-long summer baking class at the orphanage, and while I love working with the kids, it was a lot to deal with. Rewarding, but exhausting.”
I followed Nova to the bar behind us to the right that I hadn’t noticed where Ben was mixing a giant bowl of Sangria.
“Two, please,” Nova said.
Instead of ladling two glasses of Sangria, Ben slid two glasses of ice water with mint leaves and a slice of lemon in front of us. “Water first, then Sangria.”
Nova pouted prettily at Ben while I grabbed my glass and drank my water. I didn’t need to be told twice.
”I mean it, Nova. And don’t be surprised when I make you drink more later. We aren’t going to have a repeat of the Bahamas.”
Nova rolled her eyes but chugged back the water. “One time,” Nova hissed as we took our glasses of Sangria to the hot tub. “I drank too much one time and had the hangover from hell the next day, and now he will never let it go.”
We stepped into the hot tub, and once we were settled, Nova hit the button for the jets, and we both moaned as they started beating against our tense muscles. “So,” Nova said, taking a sip of her drink, “How is it going with DEN?”
I snorted at her referral to my guys as their business entity and took a thoughtful sip before answering. “Good? It’s been crazy and they’ve been my strength through it all.”
”I wouldn’t give them all the credit, Isa. You have plenty of strength within you. Your battle scars tell that story well.”
And there it was. Nova finally addressed the elephant in the room, except I didn’t see any pity in her eyes. Instead, there was a vengeful fire swirling within her blue eyes. I didn’t get close to many people. I never learned how, not really, so seeing someone who could become a friend look at me like that made me feel a sense of safety.
”Thanks for saying that,” I replied awkwardly. Just because I felt safe didn’t mean I wasn’t still wildly uncomfortable talking about myself or my scars. “Did you guys set a date yet?” When you don’t know what to say, change the subject.
”Not yet. We’re… in debate… over it. I think we should have a Christmas wedding. Ben and Linc believe we should have a New Year’s Eve wedding, and Grant says we should elope to Fiji or something.”
The door opened, and laughter and talking broke our relative peace as our men joined us in the grotto in their swim trunks.
”Stop!” Nova ordered. All six men stopped in their tracks. “Now turn around and go away. Unless you are here to feed us or bring us another glass of sangria, you are not welcome here. It’s girl time. No boys allowed. Find something else to do.”
”But, Sugar—”
“Don’t but, Sugar, me,” Nova said, cutting him off. “If you guys come out here, you’ll get all handsy and steal our attention. Not today, Satan, go rack some balls or something. There is an entire game room for you to entertain yourselves in. Unless you bring offerings, don’t come back.”
They all wanted to argue, but they also didn’t want to cross Nova. Nate’s eyes slid to me. “How do you feel about that, Isa?”
I tossed back the rest of my drink and winked at Nova. “I support it,” I replied as I held my empty glass out. Dom rushed forward to grab it before anyone else could and refilled it. When he handed the glass back to me, he winked, then leaned down to kiss my forehead.
”Have fun, Beauty. You deserve it.”
Nova snickered as he walked back into the house. “That man knows how to earn some brownie points, boys.”
Linc refilled Nova’s cup, and then they all left. “That’s better,” Nova sighed when we were alone again. “I love them, but damn if a girl doesn’t need a break sometimes.”
”I haven’t reached that point yet,” I admitted.
”Give it time,” Nova chuckled. “Don’t get me wrong, they’re my favorite humans on the planet, but they need a hobby. Or another big product launch.” She waved her hand and sat up a little straighter. “Ok, enough about me. What about the bookstore? Was anything salvageable?”
