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I pull back just enough to look at his handsome face.
“You’re proposing we go back to my room and eat chocolate-covered strawberries . . . and talk. Without touching each other?”
Sounds like a very sketchy plan to me.
Hayden bites his upper lip as if to underscore my point. This plan has a ton of holes in it.
“I didn’t say we couldn’t touch each other.”
I must look pretty skeptical because he laughs, a deep, resonant sound that’s so much more real than his usual laugh.
“Mmm, OK then. I’m in.”
24
Hayden
“How was your massage?”
Oops. The lounge room in the spa is supposed to be a quiet room. Better for recharging positive energy or something.
“How was your massage?” I say again, this time in a whisper, as Ada lies in the lounger next to me. Her robe looks as if it’s eating her up. I can’t see a damn thing.
“So good. You should have gotten one. Although you’ve probably had a million massages in your lifetime. Chapter four. ‘On Pampering.’”
“What the heck are you talking about?”
A sly smile warns me this won’t be good.
“I wondered if there was a billionaire’s handbook or something. On things like, ‘Navigating the Nuances of Private Jet Ownership.’”
I laugh, apparently too loudly judging from the woman closest to us. Trying harder to behave, I stay quiet as Ada closes her eyes. I watch her for a minute until she opens them.
“I can feel your eyes on me,” she says.
“If I had my way, you’d feel a hell of a lot more than that.”
Smiling, she shuts her eyes again. I let her rest, knowing she has to be tired after getting less than four hours of sleep. We stayed up talking (and mostly not touching) until four in the morning.
“I’m surprised you showed up,” she murmurs, eyes still closed.
I told her I’d be waiting for her in here by the time she was done. I plan to prove to her that I’m a man of my word. A few late meetings and other minor incidences aside.
“It looked pretty cool last night when we walked through.”
It’s a large circular room, the walls painted a deep mustard, and the ceiling made to look as if we’re sitting outside watching the clouds. There’s a fountain at the center that resembles a waterfall.
“You have good taste,” I tell her.
Ada opens one eye and peeks at me.
“Sometimes I do.”
Cheeky Ada.
“Do you want to get going?” she asks.
I’m hungry, but I’m happy to stay here as long as she wants. Thankfully, she admits she’s a bit hungry too, so we change and head downtown for brunch. The downtown is exactly as she described. Consisting of about four blocks, it’s small but charmingly quaint.
