~ Dakota ~
Dakota had loved spending time with Alek at the bar. It had made her eager for their couples massage. He was warm, friendly, sexy, and that tiny bit of socially awkward that she found adorable. He was already at the spa when she arrived. She smiled and he took her hand and pulled her to him and kissed her hand.
Jazel giggled and asked. “Aren’t you glad you found him? All in all he doesn’t seem any the worse for the wear.”
Dakota smiled at her friend and replied. “We’ll have to see what we can do about that.”
Jazel laughed again and whispered. “My God, Dakota you are so bad.”
Alex just rolled his eyes and she slipped her arm through his.
Nares came out and they followed him into a room that was set up a little differently. There were two massage tables side by side. The lights were low, incents were burning and there was soft music playing. They changed into their towels and got onto the tables on their stomach facing each other.
Dakota could tell why it was called a couples massage. It was nice to have a massage while talking and visiting with someone you cared about. Alek seemed to like it as well. They held hands and talked quietly as Nares took turns with their massages.
“I am sorry about the other night at the bar. It is unfortunate that I draw attention the way I do. I guess I have gotten used to it over the years but it must be more difficult for you because you tend to shy away from the limelight.”
“It is a small price to pay to be with someone like you. I have never felt so attracted to a female before. I must say you have a way of making me feel interesting and attractive, even though I know I’m not. I feels nice to have a beautiful woman’s undivided attention for a while.”
“You’re more attractive than your realize. I hope your interest in me lasts because most of my relationships don’t.”
He touched her face. “Is that why you date dozens of males and rarely the same one twice? Are you afraid to get close to males because you don’t believe the relationship will last?”
She smiled, looked slightly embarrassed. “I have been looking for someone special that’s all. A lot of times you can tell in a date or two if it feels right. I have had short term relationships in the past that went nowhere and I am tired of that. I think my problem is that I am not a very good girlfriend. I have come back after many a hunt to find that my gentleman friend had moved on.”
He looked at her intently and opinioned. “Perhaps they can’t understand how important your work is to those you hunt. It can be the difference between life and death. That is a mistake someone like me would never make.”
“I think you would be a very supportive love mate. Did Selene give you my thanks for thinking to put up the ransom money for that little girl? It generated a lot of calls.”
“She did. I wanted to do something to help you with the case. I know how it feels to be out there separated from your loved ones and hoping someone will find you. She also gave me your personal message. To be quite honest when I heard that you were with Durk again and dancing with every vampire in the bar I kind of thought that maybe you had gotten over whatever it was we had for so briefly and moved on. When Selene told me that you were sorry about asking for two months and you would have preferred to spend that evening with me it was…well it was the nicest compliment I have ever received from a woman. It also gave me hope that maybe whatever was going on with you had not driven me from your memory.”
“You are possibly the nicest person I have ever met. Not being able to see you for two whole months has been difficult. I just had to put some time between us to be sure we weren’t both mistaking the heightened emotions of hunting and feeding for something more intimate. I get so mixed up sometimes about the people I hunt. You learn so much about them it can lead to a false sense of intimacy.”
Alek sighed. “Well getting to know me must have been pretty boring for you.”
She smiled and replied, “Learning about you was a pleasure because no strange skeletons came tumbling out of your closets. You can’t imagine how rarely that happens when I hunt for wealthy high powered businessmen.”
He looked embarrassed and said “I guess you know pretty much everything about me. You reviewed all the information from my computer, looked at all my personal possessions and reviewed my financial records. You probably know how much lint is under my bed. I suppose we can kiss the getting to know you phase of relationship building goodbye.”
Dakota tilted her head slightly and explained. “That’s not my method. I always respect my client’s right to privacy. I use the same computer crew every time I hunt. The guys I use to hack the systems sign confidentiality agreements, review information from the computers and only float information to my attention if it could impact the investigation. I gave everyone strict orders not to look at your financial records at all. I really tried not to be invasive because you were known to me and I didn’t want to totally piss you off. I was especially careful about the financial piece because you have worked your whole life to build your business and I felt like there was nothing that would aggravate a high powered businessman more than people going through his work computer and his financial records.”
He looked extremely relieved. He reached over and took both her hands in his, brought them to her lips. “Thank you for that. I have been in no position to judge you for what you did to find me but to be quite honest thinking that you had seen all my private information has been bothering me more than I like to admit considering there is nothing remotely interesting in there.”
She smiled, kissed him lightly on the lips. “Well rest assured your private affairs are still private. That is kind of how I feel about my weapons room by the way. I don’t really have anything private in there and all the weapons are under double lock but I still don’t like people in there. It feels invasive for no logical reason I can think of. I always thought I was the only strange person who felt that way.”
When he didn’t speak, she continued, “By the way, you are anything but boring. I was extremely intrigued by the gorgeous male vampire that everyone including your abductors described as the nicest guy you could ever meet. It was a little strange that everyone we talked to said you were so nice they couldn’t imagine anyone wanting to do you harm. In fact for weeks I just thought you must just burry your secrets deep then I realized you were probably just a genuinely nice person. Did you know that your vice president offered to put up a substantial reward for information out of his own money? He was very supportive of our search.”
Alek looked embarrassed. “You have a way of making boring sound just wonderful. As far as my VP goes he is a good person so that doesn’t surprise me at all.”
Dakota said, “At the end of all the hunting I only had two questions. Will you answer them for me?”
Alek nodded his head in agreement. “I could not for the life of me figure out why you didn’t have a female friend. Several years is a very long time for a drop dead gorgeous guy to go with only marginal attention by a masseuse one or two times a week.”
He smiled slightly and said, “Next question please.”
“The combination of your safe. Why did you choose that date? We tried several different combinations then Arianna looked so strange when she gave me the date to try.”
“Maybe the answer to the second question will give you a hint about the first question.” I chose the combination because it was the date I met you for the first time…at a Christmas Eve party I think.” He sighed and explained, “I am not so different from the men at the bar Dakota, we all have been crushing on you for years. I’m afraid you are the only one who thinks I am any different.”
She looked surprised and insisted gently. “Believe me, you are different. I remember thinking you were extremely attractive the first time I met you. It was that Christmas party at the academy. You had nice hair and you carry some muscle mass in your upper body that I find quite attractive. You looked extremely well put together that night…you were wearing a nice black suit with a ruby red shirt. I remember you had a red band in your hair instead of the black one you always wear.”
Alek looked surprised and Nares interjected, “Those are some fairly specific things to remember two years later. Did you tell him about your sketches of him?”
She giggled and said, “Tell Edward I said the wedding is off. I knew I couldn’t trust him to refrain from blabbering every single thing I told him to you.”
Nares just smiled and continued with their massages.
Alek raised an eyebrow. “What sketches?”
“You already know that I sometimes sketch my hunts as a way to get my emotions out and move on. I showed you some of the sketches of your hunt. Well I kept on sketching during the time I spent at your house. Some of those sketches included our time together….and some of them were a pretty fair representation of the sexier things we did together…like in the shower, that time in bed and even the time we spent on the beach.”
Alek seemed both surprised and pleased. “I definitely want to see those sometime.”
She ran one thumb over his bottom lip. “Perhaps.”
Alek had to admit that Dakota was absolutely right about Nares. He had large strong hands that seemed capable of smoothing away every single stressor. It was the most relaxing experience of his entire life. Next Nares laid warm stones down their backs.
Dakota murmured dreamily, “This it normally the point where I fall asleep.”
Alek replied “I can easily see why”. He was secretly relieved that she only got regular massages.
He leaned over and kissed her on the shoulder and whispered, “I certainly hope you can stay awake for me.”
Dakota shook her head no, earning her a strange look from Alek.
“Sorry, I wasn’t shaking my head about being able to stay awake for you, which goes without saying by the way. It just feels strange when you kiss me here because I am not used to experiencing those types of feelings when I am at the spa.”
He seemed a little confused. She clarified, “You know…sexy feelings.”
He smiled shyly, glanced down as he ran one thumb gently over her hand and replied. “I didn’t realize that is how getting kissed by me made you feel.”
“Then you are grossly underestimating yourself as a male.”
He brought her hand to his lips and kissed her gently on each knuckle. She ran her fingers through his hair. The conversation flowed smoothly between them and she seemed to love spending time with him and saying complimentary things to him. It felt incredibly nice.