Page 40 of The Love Ambush
“Uh-huh.” My nerves ratchet back up, because I hate to cause a scene or be difficult. She’s just a masseuse doing her job, right? I’m sure she knows what she’s doing, and I don’t want to be the woman who wimps out first on the massage table.
Is that a thing?
Maybe I’m overthinking this.
Belinda presses down hard into that spot on my back, and it hurts. Itreallyhurts.
But it’s a manageable pain. It’s nothing I can’t handle.
What’s not okay is that the knot she’s working out of my back seems to have moved into my throat, and it’s making my eyes burn.
She pushes and rolls the heels of her hands over the knot, and it’s like she’s pushing tears out of my muscles because they’re leaking out of my eyes. A storm of tears is rising, and I grit my teeth hard against it.
I want to ask her to stop, but I can’t speak around the sobs I’m holding in. I definitely don’t want to be the woman crying on the massage table next to two women I just met, but I can’t hold it in.
A whimper escapes and is followed immediately by another one.
Belinda stops massaging and asks in a calm voice. “Is the pain physical or emotional?”
“It’s fine,” I say. “It doesn’t hurt. I don’t know why—” A sob interrupts me.
“It happens sometimes,” Belinda says. “Our tears get caught up in the knots and they have to come out.”
And then, she goes back to massaging my back. It hurts so much, but it feels oddly good at the same time.
Except I can’t stop crying.
I sniffle and try to get a hold of myself, but another sob erupts.
“Oh, honey,” Daphne says. “It’s okay. Let it all out.”
Mortification washes over me. I’m the woman crying on the massage table, and everyone’s going to know what a train wreck I am. They’re going to look at me with pity.
I pop up, swing my legs around, and slide off the table, keeping my boobs covered as best I can. “I’m sorry. I can’t do this.”
“It’s okay,” Daphne says. “It’s good for you.”
“We can get you a private room,” Belinda says.
I grab my robe, throw it around myself, and I run.
Chapter Ten
Levi
“Daphne seems great,” I say to Brodie as he steers us out of the resort and back toward the main road.
“She is,” Brodie says. “She’s amazing.”
He seems sincere. “I really never thought I’d see the day you settled down.” I’ve said this a couple of times already today, but I still can’t get over it. I need to understand what changed for him.
“Get used to it, man,” Brodie says. “Me and her are forever.”
“So, what? You just reversed your opinion about marriage completely?” I mean, it’s been over a year since I’ve seen him in person, but this is a huge shift from the man I knew him as.
“I met a woman who is like no one I ever thought I wanted, but I want to wake up next to her every morning for the rest of my life. She challenges me, and takes care of me, and lets me take care of her. It’s all about meeting the right person, Levi. She’s my soul mate.” He pauses, tapping his fingers on the steering wheel, before glancing over at me. “She sees me for who I really am under all the bullshit, and she still wants me. You have any idea what that’s like?”
I really don’t. “You’re a lucky man.”
