Chapter Eight

The knock at my door came at eight in the morning. I was awake but definitely not awake enough to go into a gym. What was I thinking when I’d agreed to go? I was way too amenable last night. The alcohol had smoothed out my edges temporarily, but this morning I was feeling wrinkly again.

“It’s too early,” I groaned after finding Chance already dressed in his workout gear. He looked sexy as all hell in his low hanging running shorts and sneakers, but even that wasn’t enough to help my dragging ass. He caught the door as I turned back to my bed and slipped back under the cover.

Chance ripped the toasty blanket off of me.

“What the hell?”

“Rise and shine, Princess.”

“I don’t feel like getting up.”

“You’ll feel better after we do it.”

I cocked an eyebrow and he smirked. “Ah. I think I’ve corrupted you. Who’s the pervert now?”

“A pervert is someone who has sexual behavior that is wrong or unacceptable.” Word for word, I recited the definition he’d given me when we were arguing over my not admitting to masturbating.

He chuckled. But also scooped me up from the bed and carried me to the bathroom. “Did you see the size of that burger you ate yesterday? I need to go the gym, and you’re coming with.”

I pouted. “Are you telling me I’m fat?”

“Not at all. I’m telling you I like looking at that shapely ass of yours and I’m selfish. I want to keep it that way.”

I rolled my eyes but went into the bathroom and washed up. When I came out, Chance was lying in my bed, both his hands behind his head as he leisurely watched a European soccer game.

“Do you miss playing?” I asked. It was a stupid question. I regretted it the minute it came out of my mouth.

“I do.”

“Can you get back into it somehow? I don’t mean playing. Maybe coaching or managing a team or something?”

“I’ve thought about that.”

“And—”

“I never actually finished my education. I went pro in my second year of college. Most universities and even high schools want their coaches to be educated. Sets an example for the students.”

“So go back to school.”

“I suppose I could. Might keep me busy for the next two or so years.”

I walked to the suitcase and got out my little workout top and matching spandex leggings. “I’ll just be a minute. I need to change.”

Inside the bathroom, I pulled my hair back and dressed in my workout gear. I yelled to Chance through the bathroom door as I brushed my teeth. “What are we doing? I like yoga.”

“Yoga isn’t a real workout. I usually weight train and run on the treadmill for forty-five minutes for my cardio.”

“Okay. Maybe the gym will have both¸ and we can do our own thing.” I opened the bathroom door and walked out, ready to go.

“That’s what you’re wearing to the gym?”

I looked down. My tummy was bare, but I didn’t think it looked too suggestive or odd. “What’s wrong with this?”

“Nothing.” He turned off the TV and grabbed my hand on the way to the door. “Guess I’m doing yoga today, too.”

We actually compromised in the gym. He took a yoga class with me, and then we ran on side-by-side treadmills for a half an hour. After, we were both starving. Last night, we’d talked about staying another night, so I broached the subject on the way to breakfast. “Were you serious about wanting to stay again tonight?”

“I’d stay forever if we could.” Those little things he said gave me hope, even though he’d all but written the words never gonna happen on my forehead.

“Well, then tonight is my night. You got to pick what we did last night. Now, it’s my turn.”

Chance squinted and held my gaze for a heartbeat too long. “I’m game.”

“Great.” I smiled. “I want to go visit Esmerelda Snowflake this morning. She’s probably scared.”

“We’re paying a pampered pet place eighty dollars a day to babysit that thing. They give him three squares, and it sleeps in air conditioning, when it normally lives outside and walks in front of speeding BMWs. And you’re worried it’s scared this morning?”

“It’s my day. Did I complain when you got to pick whatever we did?”

“I only got a night. Why is it that you’re getting a whole day and night?”

“Because.”

He chuckled. “Good answer, Counselor. Do you argue that well in court?”

“Shut up.” I grasped for something. “I get a whole day and night because you made me go to a strip club and get a lap dance.”

“Table for two,” Chance said as we arrived at the hostess station of the buffet. Then he turned his attention back to me. “You liked it. I think you even got a little turned on.”

“I did not.” My face reddened.

Chance spoke to the hostess as she seated us. The woman was probably in her late sixties, not that he cared. “She got a lap dance from a stripper last night and won’t admit to liking it.”

The woman smiled and shook her head. Her Jamaican accent was thick when she spoke. “No shame here, sweetheart. What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas. You enjoy a little shakity-shake if you want to. Can go back to being your conservative self on Monday. I’ll grab you some coffee, and you can help yourselves to the buffet whenever you’re ready.” She walked away.

“Come on. Admit it. You liked it. That woman’s ass grinding down on you.” Chance shrugged. “I know I liked it.”

“Why do you enjoy making me admit things that are embarrassing?” I’d already confessed one embarrassing thing; I had no intention of offering anything else.

“You mean like when you admitted you pleasured yourself?”

I felt the temperature on my face heat. I stood to head to the buffet line, even though I’d just sat down. But Chance grabbed my wrist and stopped me. “Don’t ever be embarrassed by pleasuring yourself or enjoying a lap dance. It’s beautiful, and so are you.”

Taking an early afternoon stroll, we’d just returned back from visiting the goat. Sweet boy got really excited and jumped all over Chance, licking his face when we arrived. Poor thing probably thought we were never coming back.

“Esmerelda Snowflake was so cute when he saw you.”

“My face is still sticky from that attack.”

“You know you missed him.” I chuckled.

“What are we gonna do with that thing anyway?”

“That thing? Don’t refer to him like that. He’s like our adopted child.”

Chance came to a halt and looked up at the sky, cracking up. “Our child?”

“Yes! He has no one but us in this entire world.”

“Seriously, though, Aubrey. After we part ways, what are you going to do with him? You can’t keep him.”

My heart suddenly dropped.

After we part ways.

My mind was trying to grapple with the fact that he’d implied that this trip was definitely it for us. In typical Chance fashion, just when he’d given me a little bit of hope that something was developing between us, he’d go and ruin it.

I was silent for a while before I forced myself to speak. “I’m gonna try to find a farm that I trust. I’ll keep him with me somehow until I’m certain it’s the right fit.”

“Fair enough. He’s lucky to have you.” He was searching my face, trying to read my sullen expression. “Have you thought about what you want to do for the rest of the afternoon?”

“You know what? I really don’t care. You decide.”

Chance stopped walking again and turned to me. “Wait. You want to forfeit your ability to choose whatever we do today? Why on Earth would you do that?”

Because you just basically admitted that I mean nothing to you, and I don’t really want to be around you at all right now.

“I’m just not in a decisive mood.”

“There’s a dark cloud in the air, Princess. I don’t know what I did or said this time, but I feel like I know you well enough now to know that something suddenly pissed you off.”

“Drop it, Chance, okay? We don’t have much time left here. Don’t waste it trying to read me. Sometimes people get into bad moods. End of story. Just pick something.”

His face turned serious. “Are you alright?”

“Yes. I promise.”

“I know I was joking about it earlier…but is it your time of the month?”

“No!”

He scratched his chin as we stood facing each other in the crowded promenade. “I think I have just the idea of what you need, something that’s going to relieve all of the tension that has been building up inside of you over the past few days.”

“Oh really?”

He wiggled his brows. “Oh yeah. Wait here.” He walked away to make a phone call out of earshot.

As I stood there in the middle of the dry heat, I vowed to try to keep my mood in check moving forward. I had to accept this situation for what it really was—a road trip, nothing more, nothing less. I needed to enjoy these last hours with him and stop overreacting.

Upon his return, his mouth spread into a wide smile. Those dimples. A reminder that my new stance wasn’t going to be easy.

Grabbing my hand, he said, “Come on.”

I had no idea where he was taking me. I couldn’t have told you if it was out to ice cream or up to his bedroom. After a five minute walk, we ended up back at the hotel. Following him into the elevator, I noticed that he pushed the button for a different floor than where our rooms were located.

“What’s on the third floor?”

He winked. “You’ll see.”

When the doors slid open, I saw the sign: Tranquil Waters Spa.

“We’re going to the spa?”

“Well, we’re getting you a rub down.”

Before I could ask him to elaborate, he walked up to the receptionist. “Couples massage appointment under Bateman.”

I couldn’t help but laugh and shake my head. “Couples massage?”

“Yes. We’re getting one together. I could use some tension relief myself.”

An attractive woman approached and batted her eyelashes at Chance. “Right this way.”

Bitch.

We followed her down a long hallway and into a room with dimmed lighting. “Take off everything but your underwear and wrap yourself in these towels,” she said. “Your masseuses will be in shortly.”

It was completely quiet except for the sound of soothing instrumental music. The room smelled like mint, and there were flickering electric candles sparsely arranged around the space. It would normally be a relaxing experience were it not for—

“You heard her. Take off your clothes,” Chance said gruffly.

A chill ran through me upon hearing the dominant tone of his voice.

“Do you really think I’m going to just disrobe in front of you right now?”

Instead of answering my question, he grabbed at the material of his shirt. I watched every movement of his rippling ab muscles as he slowly lifted it off. If that vision were a gif on tumblr, I would have replayed it over and over.

He unzipped his jeans and slid them down before tossing them on a chair. He stood before me in nothing but navy boxer briefs as he blatantly stared at my chest. “Your turn.”

“Turn around then,” I said softly.

“Do I have to?” he joked and flashed a wry smile before he moved to face the wall.

Removing my tank top, I stared at the defined muscles of his back and then down to his ass. He was standing right under one of the bulbs of the recessed lighting. It shined onto his delicious derriere like a spotlight. The crack in the middle of it was perfectly outlined through the fabric. He had the most phenomenal ass. I wanted to bite it.

When I unsnapped my bra and threw it on top of where his jeans were strewn, his breath hitched.

I wrapped myself in the plush white towel and lay down stomach first onto my table. This was supposed to be a relaxing experience, but I definitely felt a little nervous.

“You can turn around.”

“You’re no fun,” he said as he lay down on the table next to me.

“What did you expect me to be standing in front of you stark naked?”

“One can only dream.”

We were both on our stomachs with our heads turned toward each other. His eyes would occasionally travel down the length of my body.

He whispered, “You okay, Princess?”

Something about the tone of his question tugged at my heartstrings. I mentally cut them with an imaginary scissors. I was going to stick to my vow to keep my feelings in check if it killed me. “Yeah. I’m okay.” When he raised his eyebrow skeptically, I smiled. “Really. I am. This was a good idea. Thank you.”

“I’m glad you’re pleased.”

After ten minutes of waiting, I was starting to wonder if they’d forgotten about us when the door slowly creaked open. A small Asian woman named Anna walked around to the other side of Chance. To my left was a large, muscular man who resembled the actor Joe Manganiello.

Chance’s eyes darkened, and he turned to the woman. “He’s gonna do her?”

“At least someone’s gonna do me,” I muttered under my breath.

“Yes. We find that it works best this way. Men tend to be more comfortable with a female masseuse, and our female clients really enjoy James. Is there a problem?”

Chance was just looking at me, his mouth agape.

“No. No problem at all,” I answered, looking straight into Chance’s eyes. “I prefer a man.”

James’ voice was low and deep. “Please unwrap your towel and slide it off. You can stay on your stomach.”

This was too good to be true. Cocky’s plan totally backfired.

Chance’s eyes were glued to every movement as I removed the towel from under me. Then, his gaze landed on the sides of my bare breasts pressed against the table.

Anna dripped hot oil down the length of Chance’s back. He should have been closing his eyes and relaxing. Instead, he was looking straight at James pouring the same oil on me. I could see his back rising and falling as his breathing quickened.

James started to rub the oil into my skin. At one point, his hands were massaging the very bottom of my back and were practically kneading the top of my ass. Chance’s gaze then turned into more of a death stare. He was seriously pissed, but I couldn’t help feeling happy about it.

Watching the woman touching Chance in the same way was also getting me very riled up, but I was too preoccupied with his observing me to figure out whether I was jealous or turned on. Probably both.

After several minutes of watching Chance follow every movement of James’ hands, I couldn’t help but ask him, “Are you okay?”

His voice was hoarse. “No.”

He was seriously burning with jealousy. I couldn’t figure him out. If he only knew that the entire time, I kept imagining it was him touching me. I wanted that more than anything.

“How much longer?” Chance asked the woman.

“Try to relax, sir. You’re extremely tight.”

Forty-minutes later, our massages ended. Chance hadn’t taken his eyes off James’ hands the entire time. I suppose the only reason I knew that was because I hadn’t taken my eyes off of him watching me.

Things were extremely quiet when Anna and James left us alone to get dressed.

Chance’s back was toward me when I asked him, “How do you feel?”

“Tighter than when I walked in.”

“Why is that?”

“Because I just paid 350-dollars to watch a man touching you for an hour.”

“It’s okay for a woman to touch you but not okay for a man to touch me?”

He suddenly turned around before I was dressed, prompting me to cover my breasts with my shirt.

“It’s not okay for a man to touch you when I fucking can’t,” he snapped before turning back around, allowing me to finish getting dressed. After several seconds of silence, he finally said, “I’m sorry, Princess. I acted like a fucking asshole.”

I really loved his jealousy.

“You’re lucky I’m drawn to assholes. Cocky bastards, too.” Pulling my arms through my shirt, I said, “Turn around, asshole.”

“Since I’m batting zero, I’d like to give you back your pass to choose what we do for the rest of the day.”

“I’ll take it. I think we both need to cool off. Plus, we’re all sticky from that oil. Why don’t we just hang out at the pool?”

“I’m down for that.”

“Wait…we don’t have swimsuits.”

“We’ll buy them at the shop downstairs. My treat if I can pick yours.” He winked.

“Deal.”

“Really?” He looked surprised. “You trust me?”

“Yeah.” I smiled. “I do.”

This was the new Aubrey. Carefree. I wasn’t going to get attached. I was going to loosen up and have fun with him.

“Alright.”

Chance surprised me with his choice of bikini. There were some really skimpy string ones, but he chose one with a modest sports bra top and a bottom that covered most of my ass. It was white with little black polka dots and had a small ruffle over the back of the bottom. He also bought a pair of sleek black swim trunks for himself that hugged his ass beautifully.

We found two white lounge chairs next to each other and had brought snacks and magazines. It was late in the afternoon, so the pool area wasn’t as crowded. We’d both taken a dip together before returning to our spot to chill. So far, this might have been my favorite part of the trip.

“What do you want to drink?” he asked.

“Something frozen and fruity.”

Chance got up to head to the bar. A few girls were ogling him as he sauntered toward the other side of the pool. He didn’t seem to notice how often people checked him out. Maybe he noticed but just wasn’t affected by it.

After he returned with two daiquiris, we drank in silence.

Playing with the paper umbrella in my drink, I looked over at him. “This is nice.”

He smiled. “I’m pretty sure if there was anything I could choose to be doing in the world right now, it would be this.”

“This pool is beautiful.”

“It’s not just the place. It’s the company.”

As he looked over at me in that moment, his eyes were telling me a story. They were telling me that he’d truly meant what he said. I believed that Chance wanted me, that he wanted to be with me, but that he truly couldn’t. Whatever it was that was holding him back was something out of his control. Those pesky feelings I’d been trying to suppress began to creep up again, so I buried my face in an InTouch Weekly magazine. Chance was sucking on a red Pixy stick when I got a sudden craving for sugar and asked, “You have any more of those?”

“I just might,” he said, winking as he dug into the plastic bag we’d brought and handed me one.

I started to suck on it and barely anything was coming out. Then, I looked down and noticed that there was a hole at the bottom end of the stick. The orange powder had spilled out onto my stomach.

Chance laughed. “Messy girl.”

“Do you have a napkin?”

“No need,” he said. “Let me.”

Faster than I could blink, Chance leaned over me and lowered his head to my stomach. He slowly ran his tongue along my navel, licking upward in one straight line to just inches from my breasts. I writhed under him, feeling a total loss of control as he lapped up all of the powder.

“Mmm,” he moaned as he sucked the last bit of sugar off of my skin and licked his lips.

My breathing was ragged when he returned to his spot on the lounge chair. He’d left me sitting there, completely aroused but in shock. We didn’t talk about what he’d done. He said he had to use the bathroom at one point and disappeared for a bit.

Just like that, all of the resolve I’d built up today was obliterated.