Page 17 of The Christmas Exchange

“It’s unconventional. It’s uncharted territory, but I’m okay with this.”

“Are you sure?” Miles questioned me this time.

A smile pulled on my lips as I repeated the same words back to him.

“I’ve never been more sure about anything else in my life.”

CHAPTERTEN

Breakfast came to an interesting end before I told the guys I was going to go have a spa day. I needed some space from them. I needed to clear my head and since we were snowed in here, I decided I was going to pamper myself. Miles tried to come along, but Julian wouldn’t let him. I silently thanked him and was extremely grateful to have the time to myself.

After all, the three of us were stuck here for another night, all sharing the same bedroom. With what we’d discussed lately, I had a feeling all this built-up tension was finally going to come to a head. There would be no avoiding it tonight after the three of us were back in the same room together.

I was still terrified to take the leap with them. What if things went badly? What if it didn’t work out? What if it ruined our friendship?

I was laying on the table as the massage therapist was working the knots from my muscles. Letting my eyelids fall closed, I pushed the negative thoughts away from my mind. There was no sense in dwelling on the what-ifs. If Miles and Julian felt it was worth the risk, I had to trust them. They wouldn’t set me up for failure and they weren’t in the habit of self-sabotaging.

The rest of my day passed without any lingering thoughts. I tried my best to forget about Miles and Julian waiting for me to be done. I wasn’t sure what they were doing with their day. They assured me they would find something to do when I mentioned wanting to go to the spa. They agreed I should go, that I deserved to be pampered.

After rinsing off, I changed back into my clothing and made my way to the front desk of the spa. There was a girl, probably in her early twenties, sitting at the reception area. She was there when I checked in this morning. She smiled brightly as I walked over to where I was to pay for the services I took advantage of here.

“How was your day here? I hope you’re feeling refreshed and rejuvenated.”

I smiled back at her, feeling the aftereffects of my massage still rippling through my body. I was thoroughly relaxed and feeling much looser than I was when I first walked in. In a way, it was almost an intoxicating feeling.

“I most definitely do. It was absolutely amazing.”

She nodded. “That’s what we love to hear. What’s your name so I can get you checked out?”

I told her my name and she began to type it into the computer system as she looked for everything I had done. Her eyebrows pulled together and she tilted her head to the side before looking back at me. “It looks like everything has already been paid for.”

I stared at her for a moment, my brow furrowing. “What do you mean?”

She grabbed the computer monitor and turned it so I could see. “Someone called earlier and spoke to my colleague Annie before she left and had it charged to the room.”

I wasn’t able to conceal the shock on my face. It took me a moment to recover and for the reality of it to set in. Either Miles or Julian had to have been the ones to call down to have it charged to the room. I snapped out of it and smiled back at the girl and nodded.

“Thank you so much.”

I left her on that note and headed back up to our room with a bone to pick with two men. It felt like the elevator was moving in slow motion and took an hour to get up to the room. That was an exaggeration, but that was how it felt time was moving.

When I walked through the door, I heard Julian and Miles talking, but I didn’t pay attention to what either of them were saying. Miles was laying on his stomach on the bed and Julian was sitting on the floor. Both of them were facing the TV, watching some sports channel, but that was all I took in before I opened my mouth.

“Why did you pay for it?”

I looked directly at Miles. The room was under his name, so I wasn’t sure Julian even had the authority to charge it to a room that wasn’t in his name. It also had Miles' card linked to it, not Julian’s.

Miles stared at me for a second. “Because I can?”

“Don’t bother arguing with either of us, Raegan,” Julian said from where he was sitting. “We told you that you deserved to be pampered. The least we could do was pay for it.”

Miles cleared his throat. “You mean, me pay for it.”

Julian cut his eyes at him. “The only reason you paid was because your card was already on file and mine wasn’t.”

I looked back and forth between them as they argued about who should have paid and who actually did. Lifting my hands up, I clapped them loudly, gaining their attention.

“You two are exhausting. I don’t care who paid for it, but I will pay you back.”

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