Page 96 of Just Friends
She giggled. “Yes, of course.”
“Good God, Kat.” Emma busily fanned herself. “No wonder Reavo went for the ass grab in front of us. You’ve even gotmeworked up!”
“Well, Ihadto say something raunchy,” Katerina said after the laughs died down. “After he mentioned those ‘babes’ at the pool, I knew I needed to get him thinking about me again.”
I’d seen her and Derek enough to know that he was absolutelycrazyabout his wife.
I waved my hand at her. “You’ve got nothingto worry about, Kat. Trust me, Derek is not thinking about those girls at all.”
“Apparently, neither is Big Rig,” Austen said. “Curious, that.Hm, Piper?”
All eyes turned to me.
Oh, frick.
“Thatiscurious,” Emma said, playing along. “By the way, Piper, I seem to remember you making a promise to tell us about a certainsomething after our massages. What was it again …?”
I bit my lip and gnashed my teeth while they pretended that their memories needed jogging.
“Oh, hey! I think Iremember,” Ainsley chimed in. “Didn’t she promise she’d tell us everything about her and Big Rig?”
“Oh, yeah!”
“That’s right, she did!”
I laughed and groaned at the same time. “I’m not getting out of this, am I?”
“Nope!”
“And there’s plenty of time to tell us everything while we get ready!”
25
Jax
After a refreshing cold shower, Niko and I were ready for round two in thebanya.The piping-hot wood stove had only hummed along, burning hotter and brighter, while we were busy cooling down. As soon as we got into thebanyaand took off our swimsuits, Niko threw a splash of water over the stones. They hissed with their angriestPSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSyet.
A wave of balmy heat went up like a flash. Picking up right where we’d left off, my pores opened immediately, kick-starting the sweating process all over again. Like a leaky faucet, sweat fell from the tip of my nose with a steadydrip, drip, drip.
“Oh, hell yeah,” I said. “This feels great.”
Niko beamed. “Yes, yes. Now you see.”
As soon as the steam started to die down a little, Niko was ready with his ladle. I hung in there and battled, riding one furious wave of heat after another, until my whole body started to itch.
I scratched at my arms, my legs, my chest, my back—all over. “Damn. I’m itchy all of a sudden.”
Niko bobbed his head knowingly. “Dead skin. It come off now.”
“Ahhh.” Impressed, a smile tugged at the corners of my mouth.
“Banya,” he said, smiling, too.
“I’m starting to get the appeal, man.”
“Good. Is healthy.”
After twenty minutes, we were done with round two. Another cold shower got us cooled off and ready for our round three; our last round.
